Julia Allison Makes Her MTV Debut
God. Damn. As both an incredible commentary on where MTV has gone and how far Julia Allison's managed to take herself, we present to you Ms. Julia Allison's MTV debut, on Alexa Chung's new show.
"Try not to seem lame," Julia admonishes the youngsters of America while she counts down five tips for dating in a tech-oriented world. It's solid advice. On that note, things to watch for: Julia's hostility and skepticism of men being projected on her young audience, Alexa Chung's visible discomfort when talking about sex tapes with teenagers ("I've always...found myself...to be offended by those"), and Julia's orbit orange mane, god bless it. It's wavy!
In the greater context of MTV, this represents two things, I guess: the first being that there's some crossover between the tech world and the cable network, which is maybe trying to get hip to the game of figuring out what people are connecting to on Those Goddamn Internets (operative term: "hip," ironic term: "hip"), the other being that Justin Timberlake's complaint that they should show more music videos has very clearly been wiped from the agenda. Somewhere, Mark Knopfler is maybe crying and The Buggles are maybe celebrating and Kennedy is definitely like fuck this noise. God, I miss Kennedy.
And yes, I know: groan, not her again, we're sick of her, it's Julia Allison (or so goes the typical party line around here). But realize, for a moment, that in the greater context of Julia Allison, this represents a watershed moment: being referred to as a Carrie Bradshaw-type on MTV has to feel pretty good for her. On the other hand, her day-gig's still on an obscure digital cable channel, she's shilling for Sea World, and her dog has yet to be fully house-trained (unless she has it shitting on command).
She comes across a little strong in contrast with Chung, no? Maybe it's because we're used to her outsized personality that she's not afraid to fling onto the far-reaches of the internet, but her appearance with Chung is a little shocking, in a way. Do you think the kids in that room were prepared for that? I feel like she's drunk cousin Hailey lecturing the young'uns
The greater question remains: what's the endgame for Julia Allison? Is she still trying to promote Julia Allison, The Brand? Is she now just aiming for a career of TV punditry, like her short-lived career as Star's editor-at-large? Or does she want moneybags to invest in her as a personality that transcends brands and mediums?
Whatever it is, it inexplicably keeps moving along. Hopefully, for her sake, towards something besides a ceiling. Then again, she's proven such things penetrable. Like my brain, after writing this post.