In the fall of 1988, MTV had built a reasonably successful early evening block with Dial MTV, Remote Control, & The Half-Hour Comedy Hour, the latter pair airing four nights a week due to the Top 20 Video Countdown, by this time now hosted by Adam Curry, airing on Fridays.
Some genius thought it might be a good idea to expand the block into primetime. The first experiment, though, didn't have the staying power MTV thought it would.
Mouth to Mouth was a call-in interview series hosted by comedian Steve Skrovan, and debuted on Halloween night. Three months later, it was gone, a victim of low ratings because teens were likely ceding the television to the parents by 8 pm most nights. If you're wondering what took over the 8 pm (ET) berth, I've an easy answer for you. MTV welcomed back prodigal daughter Martha Quinn in February 1989 with Deja Video: The 80's Revisited, aka Classic MTV, which was only a half hour, as opposed to Mouth being an hour long show. I can imagine the ratings took off like a rocket upon Martha's return.
In this sample clip (no complete episodes), Skrovan is joined by Kiss vocalist Paul Stanley.
No rating. Never saw the show.
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