Five decades of MTV programming

The MTV owl first hit Finnish TV screens on 13 August 1957, with the first broadcast being an interview with company executives.

The early years and the 1960s

In the early years of MTV Oy advertisements were broadcast live as was the bulk of other programming for a long time. The start of 1958, the company’s first year in operation, saw the launch of MTV’s TV doctor, which became one of the longest-standing series in Finnish TV history. In September 1959 MTV began daily broadcasts, with daytime transmissions also launched. Many advertisers created and sponsored popular daytime shows targeted at audiences including children and stay-at-home mums.

The decade saw many popular entertainment shows and quizzes. MTV also became renowned for the special sports broadcasts, such as the Finland versus Sweden athletics and boxing events. The Miss Finland Pageant was among Finland’s most popular TV shows for decades. The TV departments of advertising agencies also wanted to produce programmes and were hugely productive in this, with examples including many of the popular entertainment shows of the 1960s, many focusing on music.

In addition to producing their own shows, advertising agencies were keen to acquire foreign TV series. Initially it was practically impossible to broadcast them, however, because the 30-minute broadcasting time granted for MTV was not enough for the transmission of an episode as well as the adverts agreed. The situation improved when the Finnish Broadcasting Company YLE agreed to MTV exceeding the 30-minute limit on one in four Mondays. The first foreign feature-length films shown included Anaconda. One of the first series to appear on Finnish screens was the children’s western Rin-Tin-Tin, which had "simple dubbing in Finnish" – which guaranteed success among the youth of Finland.

In the 1960s TV series established themselves, with the nation glued to family comedies such as Father Knows Best, Life of Riley plus Lassie and the action series Highway Patrol, The Invisible Man, Sea Hunt and The Third Man as well as animated cartoons like Felix the Cat and Heckle and Jeckle. This development was greatly promoted by companies such as the international giant NBC, which agreed to sell TV series to not only the national broadcaster YLE but also MTV for a token rate of 1 markka for a while.

Many Finnish TV hits launched in the 1960s remained on the air for decades, including the music panel show Levyraati, the sitcom Hanski and the quiz Tupla tai kuitti, the ”double or quit” game show broadcast continuously for almost 30 years. There was also Sitsit, an entertainment show with plenty of political satire, which broke new ground in Finland at the time and was subject of extensive debate, plus at the other end of the scale uncontroversial and hugely popular family programmes such as the homemaking show Tänään kotona and the Saturday soap Me tammelat. Finland’s legendary and beloved comedy trio Spede Pasanen, Vesa-Matti Loiri and Simo Salminen began their partnership in the late 1960s, with their countless comedy series and game shows (Spede-Show, Spede-Visio, Speden Saluuna, Vesku-show, Speden spelit, the Uuno movies) providing Finns with endless laughs throughout MTV’s history.

1970s

There was an outpouring of emotion in front of Finnish TV sets at the start of the 1970s when YLE discontinued a show broadcast under the Finnish name Pikkukaupungissa and MTV began to show it under the name Peyton Place. The series was an instant phenomenon that still remains strongly in the minds of Finland’s older population today. Girl power was brought to TV screens by hits such as Charlie’s Angels, and a hunger for romance and faraway places was satisfied by The Love Boat, with entertainment for the entire family provided by The Muppet Show. Happy Days was another popular American comedy, originally broadcast in Finland by MTV.

The decade also saw a host of Finnish hits ranging from quality drama and soaps to game shows and sketch series. Music was a major element in many of them, with shows such as the annual MTV song contest and the Saturday night live music and dance show attracting huge audiences.

1980s

The 1980s were the golden age of entertainment and quizzes in Finnish programming. Among the most popular were the comedy shows produced by Pertti "Pertsa" Reponen for MTV. Perennial favourites were the pioneering dating show Napakymppi and the legendary quiz show Kymppitonni. The decade also saw the launch of the Seinäjoki Tango Festival, broadcast on MTV every summer. A milestone in Finland’s TV and media policy history was the introduction of MTV’s own news broadcasts on 1 September 1981.

Highlights in foreign programming were glossy family dramas such as the legendary Dallas and Dynasty. With yuppie culture and swanky lifestyles emerging, racing into TV screens in their flashy cars were the likes of Knight Rider and Miami Vice while the grittier side of policing was seen in Hill Street Blues. Family life and relationships were explored in series such as China Beach, The Cosby Show, L.A. Law, Thirtysomething and Moonlighting. The youth could associate with the growing pains of the stars of Fame while children enjoyed the company of those little blue creatures, The Smurfs.

1990s

The biggest revolution in Finnish TV since the VCR was the 1992 launch of the daily soap The Bold and the Beautiful, while entirely different winds of change were blowing with producer-director David Lynch’s masterful Twin Peaks, which was followed by a host of series with non-realistic, mysterious and abnormal or slightly off phenomena and characters such as The X-Files and Ally McBeal. Other massive hits were series set in quirky small-town America, including Picket Fences and Northern Exposure, as well as their big city cousins such as Beverly Hills, 90210, Melrose Place and Friends. Viewers also entered the fascinating world of hospital emergency rooms when ER hit the screens. Children’s programming entered a new era when the incredibly popular Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Biker Mice from Mars and Pokémon began their battle against the baddies.

MTV’s Finnish programming was dominated by several immensely popular drama series. The year 1999 saw the launch of the Finnish daily soap Salatut elämät, with no end in sight to its massive popularity today. The 1990s also featured the successful and exceptional Finnish talk show Hyvät, pahat ja rumat. Young people received something unique when Jyrki, the Finnish version of the music show MuchMusic, began in the middle of the decade, while another imported format Bumtsi Bum! (Lyrics Board) drew the entire family to the TV on Saturday nights. Onnenpyörä (Wheel of Fortune) was another big hit, with “Buy a vowel!” the catchphrase everyone remembers. The emergence of the concept of celebrity chef began with the 1999 launch of the massively popular Kokkisota (Ready Steady Cook), which was broadcast for five years.

In sports MTV focused on the Finnish professional ice hockey league and created the Hockey Night brand. Formula 1 broadcasting began in 1993, and has gone on to become MTV’s biggest sports programming effort in its history, reaching new levels as a product in 2006 with the launch of pay-TV and other new distribution channels.

In the 1990s MTV sold the last of its in-house production (excluding News and Current Affairs) and began to buy all programme-making from independent production companies.

2000s

Undoubtedly one of the most important foreign series around the turn of the millennium was HBO’s Sex and the City, with its style and power to generate trends and break conventions something never seen before. This created a ”singles genre” that took the entire world by storm. Other hit series in the genre included Cold Feet. Another new programme genre that totally broke the bank was reality TV, providing viewers with access to the deepest recesses of people’s souls with shows such as Survivors, Amazing Race and Joe Millionaire. The new arrivals were counterbalanced by the second coming of traditional crime series, led by Jerry Bruckheimer-produced hits C.S.I., C.S.I. Miami and C.S.I. New York – and of course 24. Traditional relationship dramas with an original twist have included Six Feet Under and The O.C.

Finnish programming in the 2000s has pampered viewers with its range of quality drama, while reality TV in its many manifestations has ranged from the Finnish versions of Survivor and Joe Millionaire to Popstars and Pop Idol. Another mega-successful Finnish version of an international format is Huuma (Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Takeway), which filled the Saturday slot previously occupied by Finland’s Lyrics Board, BumtsiBum! Lifestyle programming featuring decor, cooking and gardening is here to stay, and it is largely due to MTV that alpine skiing rose from a marginal position to a major sport in Finland. Phenomena bringing the entire nation together and becoming larger than just TV shows have included Tanssii Tähtien Kanssa (Strictly Come Dancing), Maajussille morsian (Farmer Wants a Wife), Idols (Pop Idol) and Formula 1.

The MTV family got a new member in the 2000s – Subtv – and in 2006 it was time for the launch of four pay-TV channels: MTV3 MAX, Sub Leffa, MTV3 Fakta and Sub Juniori and later the 2008 additions MTV3 AVA, MTV3 Sarja and MTV3 Scifi, each providing more TV content for viewers and securing MTV's future. To be continued...