MTV has always tried to capitalize on the lifelong reality TV known as high school. They have that stupid and pointless high school stories show, that make me feel that for some people high school was the high point of their young lives. They ran the football drama ”Two-A-Days.” Now, they bring the newspaper staff of a high school paper front and center as its new reality series in ”The Paper”.

Basically, ”The Paper” is ”Two-A-Days” with newspaper students rather than football players and cheerleaders. The high school drama combined with an extracurricular activity that is both time consuming and stressful. The problem with this type of TV is that it exploits these kids and puts more unnecessary pressure on them. Newspapers in high school can be a stressful thing, combined with the other high school issues kids may face, the cameras just magnify the situation even more and a record of your faults in the most vulnerable time of you life is kept for the world to see.

At least, football players anticipate this type of attention, which is why ”Two-A-Days” worked. However, newspaper students aren’t typically the type to create compelling dramas about every day work. MTV is doing a masterful job creating characters with what they have. They have the ditzy, unlikeable boss, the likeable second-in-command and the budding relationships. It’s not fair. It’s one thing for the Real World cast to be vilified by the cameras, but a high school kid isn’t someone who deserves this.

Is MTV really that desperate for original programming? That they have to find high school drama. What’s next? High School Band Drama called ”The Band?” Choir practice? Yearbook? It’s pointless to keep rehashing the same concept – “the activity that is 1000x more difficult than it really is.”

Football? Yes. Making a newspaper in high school? No.

The funny thing is, what makes this newspaper special? They go through the same thing most high school papers go through – petty arguments that do not impact their lives. At least Hoover High was a dominant high school in Alabama.

It makes me think whatever happened to the show - ”I’m from Rolling Stone.”