"Caged" will be a series about young people growing up Louisiana and looking to make something of their lives through MMA. It's looking to showcase how the dramas of their everyday lives affect the work in the ring and how the two cannot be separated.
After having just watched the movie Warrior, the premise sounds like they took events of that movie and made them younger to appeal to a 20-something crowd. The participants in "Caged" are all high school graduates with a variety of home issues such as young families and disapproving parents.
While the series isn't set to start until January 9th 2012, you can catch the first episode on MTV's website: http://www.mtv.com/shows/caged/series.jhtml
Initial reviews from some willing MTV posters seem to mostly be positive. The participants they picked are all fairly good looking young men. At a minimal, they will provide nice eye candy for all those pining over the fact that they don't get to see any new shots of a half-naked Taylor Lautner for another 11 months when the last Twilight installment is released.
It is unclear based upon what is written so far if they are going to take the franchise forward like they did with "Real World" and explore MMA in other cities and states. I'm sure MTV executives will probably weigh these options after they see how the new series does during its first season. If it survives, who knows where the series might go to next.
It seems MTV continues to completely abandon its "music" roots and move further and further into the world of reality TV. Perhaps one day, we may come to find it is no longer called "MTV" and instead renamed itself to "RTV".
Still, as much as I miss my days of "Video Killed the Radio Star" (which by the way for all of you out there too young to remember this was the first video MTV ever played back in 1981… yes I am that old, and older still), I have to admit that MTV has had a knack with developing shows that truly appeal to their near 20 or young 20-something demographic. From "Real World" to "Jersey Shore" to "Teen Mom", they have made the pains and traumas of young adults today headline news. They've allowed for the bridging of generations and opened conversations and options to some very real issues that this demographic faces in today's society.
So will "Caged" be the next big hit for them? Will we be seeing Wes and the other fighters dawning the covers of major magazines? Will next year's "it" costume be a "Cage" wanna-be like Snooki's was in the past?
Will you be watching as "Caged" premieres this week?
I'd love to hear your thoughts, before or after. Come join me in either the forums here or on Facebook and let me know.
