120 Minutes was, and once again is, MTV’s premier alternative music video series in the United States. The program originally ran from 1986 to 2000 on MTV and from 2001 to 2003 on MTV2. In 2003, MTV2 replaced it with its one-time successor, Subterranean. In 2011, MTV2 resurrected the program, now known as 120 Minutes with Matt Pinfield. Here, we outline the full history of the long-running series.
Introducing 120 Minutes
In 1986, MTV designed a show called 120 Minutes, which was created to play two hours of light-rotation videos each week. MTV hired Dave Kendall to produce the show, and he took the opportunity to introduce a new, upstart series featuring college radio-style, alternative music to MTV’s audience.
120 Minutes premiered on March 10, 1986, at 1 a.m. on MTV, hosted by J.J. Jackson, the venerable, beloved late VJ. This late Sunday night time slot would be the home of the program for the next 17 years.
In the early years of 120 Minutes, the channel tried out a number of hosts, including Alan Hunter, Downtown Julie Brown, Carolyne Heldman, and Kevin Seal. MTV continued to experiment with the program’s format during this time. Finally, in 1989, producer Dave Kendall became the first “solid” host, Jim Shearer said.
After Kendall left 120 Minutes in 1992, he was followed by many other hosts over the next eleven years. Lewis Largent, along with rotating guest hosts, hosted for the rest of the early ’90s, until MTV selected another permanent host.
In 1995, Matt Pinfield officially began hosting 120 Minutes. Over the next four years, he became known as a walking music encyclopedia and remembered as the most recognizable host of the series – both remain true to this day.
From MTV to MTV2
MTV2 (known as M2 until 2000), a 24/7 music video channel, debuted on Thursday, August 1, 1996. While 120 Minutes remained on MTV for years after M2’s debut, viewers began to notice an increasing amount of mainstream music videos being added to the 120 Minutes playlist in the late ’90s.
A number of mainstream rock music videos may have been played on 120 Minutes because it was one of the only official places for any rock acts to appear on MTV at the time.
In the late ’90s, MTV had no other show designed to play rock videos, outside of the short-lived Mattrock Daily, before The Return Of The Rock premiered in 1999. Also at this time, M2 was still showing a 24/7 freeform mix of music videos.
Nevertheless, some of the videos on 120 Minutes during the late ’90s were truly “alternative” and couldn’t be seen elsewhere, continuing to make 120 Minutes essential viewing.
After a few years of being on MTV and M2 a combined total of 10 to 15 hours a day, Matt Pinfield departed from the network. Other guest hosts and VJs, most notably Dave Holmes, picked up hosting duties for the remainder of the ’90s.
In 2000, 120 Minutes began getting pre-empted by MTV’s Real World, Road Rules, Loveline, Undressed, and other shows. After a few “ghost town” episodes of 120 Minutes during the spring and summer of 2000, the last show on MTV aired.
120 Minutes moved to MTV2 as part of its January 1, 2001 relaunch. MTV2 picked up where MTV left off, returning 120 Minutes to a more experimental, independent, and groundbreaking style that MTV2 viewers had come to expect at the time, though without the fanfare and viewership it once had on MTV.
Hosts of the show on MTV2 included Jancee Dunn, Chris Booker, and finally Jim Shearer, who began hosting in March 2002 and continued as the host until the finale of the original 17-year run of the series on May 4, 2003.
MTV2 cancels 120 Minutes
In its 2001 reincarnation, 120 Minutes returned to its roots, featuring weekly guests and videos from underground bands. On a few special occasions, live performances made a long awaited return to the series, such as with Tegan and Sara.
Throughout 2002 and 2003, 120 Minutes was pushed further into the night on MTV2, moving from 11 p.m. to 1 a.m. ET. Rumors of the program’s cancellation started in late April 2003 on the MTV2.com message board. Those rumors were more-or-less confirmed during the last segment of the April 27, 2003 episode, in which host Jim Shearer instructed the viewers to tune in for a “very special” edition of 120 Minutes the following week.
This website (then called “The unofficial 120 Minutes site”) was, for better or worse, the only place on the Internet for viewers to learn definitively about the cancellation of 120 Minutes. MTV2 did not maintain an official website for the series at the time, and MTV had left its 120 Minutes website abandoned since 2000.
The 120 Minutes series finale aired the night of Sunday, May 4, 2003, at 1 a.m. ET, hosted by Jim Shearer. He was joined by the two “pillars” of the long-running series, Dave Kendall and Matt Pinfield. They helped him send off the original 17-year run of the series, which was then thought to be the end of the program forever.
An extended version of Jim Shearer’s interview with Dave and Matt, never seen on TV, was later published exclusively here at The 120 Minutes Archive.
Just 5 days after its cancellation, on Friday, May 9, 2003, the legacy of 120 Minutes continued on with the premiere of the program’s intended successor, Subterranean on MTV2, which was also hosted by Jim Shearer until 2007.
Subterranean
As we knew it, Subterranean was MTV2’s official replacement for and modern-day successor to MTV’s flagship alternative series, 120 Minutes. It premiered the night of Friday, May 9, 2003, at midnight, just a few days after the cancellation and series finale of 120 Minutes on MTV2.
When Subterranean started in 2003, it was billed as the next generation of 120 Minutes. The idea was to take the classic MTV format and apply it to the next generation of alternative music. The series was hosted by Jim Shearer and featured interviews with alternative artists and bands every week until 2007. It aired first on Friday nights and then later on Sunday nights.
Therefore, we like to think of Subterranean as the flagship mid-2000s iteration of the alternative music show in that classic MTV format – the VJ host, the interviews with bands and artists, the live performances, and the like, in between music videos. For almost 4 years, Subterranean stayed true to that format with host Jim Shearer at the helm. However, all good things must come to an end – once again.
The dark ages
In February 2007, MTV2 fired its studio production staff and converted all of its remaining music shows into pure video blocks. No hosts; no band interviews; just music videos and commercials. Terrible, low-budget commercials.
Sitting through 20 minutes of those late night commercials only to see a handful of seemingly random music videos did not make any sense in 2007. Jim Shearer was shown the door at MTV2, but in his place, MTV2 offered nothing. Subterranean no longer felt like a show; it was reduced to a “ghost town” like MTV in 2000. Segments with guests, if featured at all, were done in a monologue format with no host.
Jim Shearer himself stopped by The 120 Minutes Archive to answer all kinds of questions while MTV2 was undergoing the format change in 2007. We compiled all the questions and his answers into a special feature, Jim Shearer Q&A.
Regardless, MTV2 continued to air the Subterranean hour through 2011, albeit with a shuffle of time slots that saw the block moved from Sunday night, to Tuesdays and Thursdays, to early Wednesday morning. MTV2 began posting the videos and guest segments, if any, at MTV.com for more convenient viewing.
120 Minutes with Matt Pinfield
With the remains of Subterranean languishing in the graveyard slot on MTV2, it was somewhat of a shocker that MTV announced in March 2011 that they would bring back 120 Minutes as a monthly program on MTV2, with an online counterpart, 120 Seconds. They also brought back the show’s biggest star, Matt Pinfield.
120 Minutes with Matt Pinfield, as the program is now known, premiered late in the night of Saturday, July 30, 2011, at 1 a.m. ET on MTV2.
Now a monthly show, the concept of 120 Minutes was overhauled for its newest incarnation. Each episode now features somewhere between 7 and 14 different interviews and/or live performances with a variety of big names, emerging artists, and industry friends.
The new program continues the trend started by the 2001 incarnation of 120 Minutes on MTV2 by featuring a wide variety of music well beyond the “alternative” rock style that the original MTV program made famous throughout the ’90s.
Although we would have liked to see the program airing on the main MTV channel and/or in a better time slot, we appreciate that Matt Pinfield and crew are making a legitimate effort to put on an entertaining, intelligent show that’s packed to the brim with compelling content for fans of indie music of all genres.
Perhaps the time and channel doesn’t matter as much as it once did. Between the DVR, full episodes on MTV.com, and special features on MTV Hive, viewers have plenty of options to catch 120 Minutes with Matt Pinfield.
A moment for us
What a strange trip it has been since 2003, when The 120 Minutes Archive first hit the Internet. In what was incredibly bad luck at the time, we launched about a month before 120 Minutes on MTV2 was cancelled. Now, we’ve stuck around and survived long enough to see the resurrection of the series over 8 years later.
Join us at the home page of The 120 Minutes Archive for our definitive library of music video nostalgia that now spans more than 25 years of Music Television, from one of the first episodes of 120 Minutes in 1986 to the latest episode that just aired this month. We’re ecstatic to continue to bring it to you.
