MTV Turns 25

JULY 19
2001
MARIAH MELTS DOWN ON TRL
''Mariah Carey just walked in wearing a T-shirt, pushing an ice cream bin.'' That was how Carson Daly introduced Carey's surprise visit to TRL, during which the loopy diva handed out Popsicles and performed an awkward striptease as Daly tried to keep it together. Says the diplomatic host, ''I think a week later she made an announcement that she was gonna take a little time off. Anyone who watched that day probably saw that was a good idea.''

MARCH 5
2002
THE OSBOURNES DEBUTS
Maybe it was after savvy matriarch Sharon threw that ham into her neighbor's backyard, or the moment shambly Ozzy Osbourne bellowed, ''Bubbles?! I'm the Prince of [bleep]ing Darkness!'' But at some point in the spring of 2002, Ozzy Osbourne went from '80s metal has-been to the head of America's Favorite Family, and he and his kooky clan did it by just being their warmhearted, filthy-mouthed selves. By exploring one simple idea — how do famous people act when they're at home? — MTV created the celeb reality sitcom, a genre that has since included the sublime (Newlyweds), the ridiculous (The Anna Nicole Show), and the beyond-all-comprehension (Britney and Kevin: Chaotic) . ''[Those shows]pale in comparison,'' says Sharon. ''Some of them were fun for a while, but there was nothing as good as what we were doing.''

AUG. 18
2003
AMERICA LOVES THE NEWLYWEDS
As soon as middling pop stars Nick Lachey and Jessica Simpson were betrothed to MTV, a phenomenon was born. The couple's opposites-attract act — who knew confusing fish and fowl could be so funny? — turned them into the household names they'd always hoped to be (but didn't quite become through their music careers). Movie and TV offers rolled in, as did relentless media scrutiny. Tense second and third seasons followed...and concluded, off camera, in 2006 with what might just be the first divorce ever caused by a music network.

SEPT. 28
2004
MTV'S DOCUSOAP EXPLODES
Laguna Beach, a not-so-veiled shot at The O.C., aimed to prove that scripted teen dramas were predictable and uninspiring. By following a group of actual (we're told) high school kids living their totally genuine (they say) lives in their natural Orange County habitat, MTV reinvented the docusoap — a genre that has no need for things like character development or snappy dialogue. By the end of season one, 2.2 million viewers were hopelessly hooked.

AUG. 28
2005
R. KELLY'S VMA PERFORMANCE
The R&B singer acted out every lyric in his bizarro musical soap opera, with mesmerizing results. Marvels VH1 pop culture commentator Hal Sparks, ''I've had to listen to people ramble about relationship crap; I've never had it passed off as art, though. I didn't know anybody who didn't yell into the next room, 'Hey, the dude who [allegedly] peed on the kids is singing some weird crap on TV, you gotta see this.'''

AUG. 31
2006
VMA SIMULCAST
Pseudo-lesbian lip-lock? Surprise appearance from thought-to-be-dead rock star? Whatever happens at this year's VMAs — we hear Beyoncé is one of the performers — MTV is planning a media assault that'll mean fans can watch from almost anywhere: a computer, a cell phone — even a plain old TV. Backstage drama will be documented on Overdrive (MTV was the first major network to launch an Internet channel, in 2005), while VMA highlights will be streamed to cell phones and the Web. In other words, if your teenagers don't have ADD yet, they soon will.