There was a show several years ago about oxy-contin addiction in small towns in coal mining areas.  I had never heard of oxy-contin before seeing this show, but the addictions shown were horrifying.  True Life did their viewers a huge favor by highlighting this problem long before it became a national media story.

The second episode that had a huge impact on me was the young people in poverty.  The young black guy, living in rural poverty, just wanted to get into the Army, and the young girl living on her own as a waitress were so sad.  Life had dealt both of these young people a bad hand, and the Black guy needed legal aid to expunge his conviction.  Of all the tough situations these two people seemed to be able to deal with it, and I give them a lot of credit.  I would like to know what happened to them.  Major props to True Life for showing these two episodes.

What I don't understand is how MTV can be so progressive in showing gritty "real" young people in "True Life", and yet devote so much of their other programming to the most brainless, moronic, and idiotic shows.  Why they would give a New York minute to that ass Diddy, that moron Paris Hilton, or the mind numbing idiots on Real World is beyond my comprehension.  What are the executives thinking?  I know that MTV is a cash cow for Viacom, but hopefully they would have some pride in their product, and focus on the good stuff, and dump the moronic programming.