14 DAY TRIAL // MTV is on a roll, trying to make a name for itself as a network that can deliver better programming that Snooki’s drunken nights out in “Jersey Shore” or the dramas of “16 and Pregnant.” The first 8 minutes of “Teen Wolf” were shown at the MTV Movie Awards 2011.
“Teen Wolf” is another effort on MTV’s behalf to recapture audiences with scripted programming. It’s also a not-too-subtle effort to capitalize on the vampire / werewolf craze that is still generating massive profits for anyone involved in this type of projects.
As such, what better venue to promote it than its own movie awards show.
At the MTV Movie Awards 2011, MTV introduced the first full 8 minutes of the first episode in the series, which premiered shortly after the awards. See the full clip below.
Created by Jeff Davis (who is also behind the hit series “Criminal Minds”), “Teen Wolf” stars Tyler Posey as Scott McCall, an asthmatic high school boy who struggles to be accepted but it’s his very nature that is working against him.
The video shows Scott and best friend Stiles (Dylan O’Brien), as they go out at night into the forest in search of adventure: half of the body of a young woman has been found, police are looking for the culprit and the boys want to be part of the investigation – unofficially.
As Stiles’ father, the policeman in charge of the search party, finds his son wandering through the forest and sends him home, Scott is left all alone.
Predictably, this is when he and the animal responsible for the killing of the young woman meet: Scott manages to get away by running for his life, but he is still bitten.
In a review of the pilot episode that aired immediately after the awards show, Entertainment Weekly notes that “Teen Wolf” stands excellent chances of putting MTV on the map of scripted programming.
“In general, the show pulls off a tricky thing: It capitalizes on the current werewolf trend in pop culture (Twilight, True Blood) without piggy-backing on it, if you’ll excuse the mixed-creature metaphor,” the review says.
“In the current TV landscape, a show such as Teen Wolf has cable competition from at least two directions. The first is ABC Family, with its highly successful slate of tween programming. The second is HBO, where the werewolves can bite down on more naked flesh more lustily. Clever and fresh, Teen Wolf falls somewhere in between,” EW adds.
See the first 8 minutes of “Teen Wolf” below and decide whether this is something you too want to check out on TV.