BIOGRAPHY: "I WANT MY MTV"
A&E, 9:00 p.m. ET
DOCUMENTARY PREMIERE: It was August 1, 1981, when a new cable channel called MTV launched – and took the “launch” designation seriously, by building its opening campaign around images related to a manned space launch to the moon. The MTV flag was “planted” on the moon with colorfully animated variations, and to this day, the MTV Video Music Awards handed out are in the shape of flag-wielding “moon men.” I was a TV critic in Akron, Ohio, then, watching and reviewing MTV the moment it launched: The first video it showed was by the Buggles: the somewhat prescient “Video Killed the Radio Star.” Today, A&E gives MTV itself the Biography treatment.