My Super Sweet 16

My Super Sweet 16
Directed by	Lucy J. Lesser David L. Bowles
Opening theme	"Sweet Sixteen" by Hilary Duff
Country of origin	United States
No. of episodes	61 (List of episodes)
Production
Producer(s)	Jordana Starr Lucy J. Lesser David L. Bowles
Running time	22 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	MTV
Original run	January 18, 2005 (2005-01-18) – June 15, 2008
External links
Website

My Super Sweet 16 is an MTV reality series documenting the lives of teenagers, usually in the United States, Canada and UK, who usually have wealthy parents that throw huge coming of age celebrations. Parties include the quinceañera (a sweet 15), the sweet 16, and other birthdays including a My Super Sweet 21 (which was broadcast during MTV's Spring Break party) and My Super Swag 18. The show premiered on January 18, 2005. The opening theme is "Sweet Sixteen" sung by Hilary Duff.

The show has also covered a number of celebrity coming of age parties. Bow Wow, Sean Kingston, Aly and AJ, Chris Brown and Soulja Boy Tell Em have all had their parties featured on the show.^[1]

A UK version of the program was also produced, and also a Spanish version entitled "Quiero mis quinces" or "Super Dulces 16" produced by MTV.

In 2008, MTV launched a spinoff titled Exiled. On the show, a number of parents of participants on My Super Sweet 16 banish their teens to remote countries in order to see if their "sweet sixteener" will survive the harsh conditions.^[2] In 2009, MTV announced their newest addition to the franchise, My Super Psycho Sweet 16, a horror movie based on the concept of the show which aired on October 23, 2009, featuring Julianna Guill.

In March 2010, MTV International commissioned Maverick TV in the UK to make a new, international version of the Super Sweet franchise. Casting has begun globally on a series of 10 episodes, and interested parties are encouraged to go to the casting website.^[3] The brand has been extended to include people having birthdays aged 13–24.

Contents 1 Mysupersweet16.com 2 Criticism 3 In pop culture 4 See also 5 References 6 External links

Mysupersweet16.com

MTV’s Mysupersweet16.com is the online component of MTV’s eponymous show which focuses on extravagant coming outs, sweet 16s, quinceaneras and more.

Created as a place for girls and guys to memorialize their parties and share them with the world, the social networking site has experienced continued growth due to networking features, profile creation tools, and a newly implemented Facebook widget.

Party hosts create and customize their profiles by uploading pictures and videos of their parties, or by “snagging” the planning, style, or thematic choices of other users. Users are then awarded with distinct rating-style “badges” based on their level of profile completion – those with more profile content get better ratings than those with less.

Parties can be browsed by most-anticipated, upcoming, and recently wrapped parties, or through the “party finder” map which allows users to locate parties anywhere in the US.

One Party of the Week is chosen each week to commemorate a particularly noteworthy party, but this distinction is not necessarily reserved solely for the most lavish and ostentatious.

Stefanie White (NY), one of five semi-finalists of a late June on-air contest, was selected by site voters to have her party filmed by MTV which aired during a later episode of the titular program.

The site is one of MTV's newly launched vertical sites.

Criticism

The show has been criticised for its excesses and the effects of presenting such over the top parties as an aspirational norm to impressionable young people.

The Daily Mail said: "In an age of celebrity, where anyone desperate and rich enough can get their 15 minutes of fame, the series is a depressing indictment of our next generation's goals and aspirations" displaying "the crippling excesses of fame and capitalism that have come to symbolise our society."^[4]

British satirist Charlie Brooker discussed the show on BBC4's Screenwipe, calling it a "stonehearted exposé of everything that's wrong with our faltering, so-called civilization" and calling the protagonists "unbelievably spoiled rich and tiny sod[s]" who throw "despicably opulent coming-of-age part[ies] for themselves and their squealing shitcake friends." He also described the show as "an Al-Qaeda recruitment film."^[5]

One teen (Audrey Reyes) is seen screaming at her mother and saying she "hates" her after having received a new Lexus, costing US$67,000, before, instead of after, her party.^[5][6][7] However, after the episode aired, she apologized for the tantrum.^[8]

In pop culture

• The show was mentioned on an episode of Nickelodeon's Drake & Josh ("Battle of Panthatar") was broadcast on April 15, 2007. Both Drake and Josh were intent on crashing a sweet sixteen in their area that is to be featured on the fictional MTV program Dude, I'm Sixteen!^[9]
• The show was mentioned on an episode of CW's Veronica Mars ("Un-American Graffiti"), broadcast on May 1, 2007. Both Logan and Parker are such fans of the program that Logan even throws Parker a somewhat high-profile sweet sixteen.^[10]
• Hip-Hop artist Common made reference to the show as well as Exiled in a line from his single "The Game", 'Watching Sweet Sixteen, Bitchin-ass rich kids Who don't know in life you gotta go the distance'.
• The Comedy sketch show Pretty Thingsss, parodied the show in a sketch that was intended, but never appeared on MTV's website, it is available on YouTube.^[11]
• In the film Bratz, a character named Meredith throws a Super Sweet 16 Party, and has MTV film it.^[12]
• The show was parodied on the January 14, 2006 episode of NBC's Saturday Night Live hosted by Scarlett Johansson. In the sketch, My Super Sweet 16, Crystal, reflected that of the usual sweet 16 in which she longs for perfection and gets frustrated when things don't go her way. In the end, even when her own father takes drastic measures in order to pay for all the costs, Crystal gets neither her choice car nor choice performer.^[13]
• The show was parodied on the September 16, 2006 episode of Fox's MADtv hosted by Dwayne Johnson. In the sketch, cast member Ike Barinholtz threw a super sweet 30th for fellow cast member Bobby Lee. However, Lee's parents refused to fund more than $300, and the party turned into a disaster.^[14]
• The show was parodied on an episode of Comedy Central's South Park ("Hell on Earth 2006"), broadcast on October 25, 2006. Satan was intent on throwing an over-the-top Halloween bash. His behavior reflected that of the sweet 16ers preparing for their coming-of-age birthdays. In the end, when Satan realizes his folly, the audience considers the sweet 16ers to be "worse than Satan."^[15] This is a reflection of the creators' disdain for the show, which they claim is just as offensive as South Park except that, where South Park satirizes offensive behavior, My Super Sweet 16 celebrates it, stating, "that is probably the most disgusting, foul show ever made." He went on to say that "where we would be ripping on the people acting like that, on My Super Sweet 16 the girls act that horrible and they're celebrated for it at the end, teaching little girls around the country that that's how you should act." Trey Parker further commented, "I can say.....every single girl that has been on that show, My Super Sweet 16, is evil. Is an evil horrible person. It's just that simple."^[16]
• Janet Jackson also parodied the program in early 2008, during MTV's Artist of the week. Parodying Audrey Reyes, Jackson was seen wearing a tiara and complaining and crying about receiving her car too early, but rather than receiving it one day too early, it was 4 hours too early.
• The Disney Channel television series The Suite Life of Zack and Cody has an episode parodying My Super Sweet 16 in an episode where London and Maddie compete to see who will have the better party.
• The Disney Channel television series Cory in the House has an episode parodying My Super Sweet 16, called "My Party Is Better Than Yours" in an episode where Meena has her own Sweet Sixteen party, and begins acting like a brat.
• Parodied as "My Super Duper Sweet 16" in the 2008 spoof film Disaster Movie.
• The Teletoon / Cartoon Network television series 6teen had an episode parody for one of the characters, Caitlin, on her birthday.
• The episode of Robot Chicken "Maurice Was Caught" features Annie Warbucks on the show and getting the planet Mars as a present for her birthday.

See also

• List of My Super Sweet 16 episodes
• Super Sweet 16: The Movie
• List of programs broadcast by MTV
• My Super Psycho Sweet 16

References

External links

• Official website
• Official website at MTV.com
• My Super Sweet 16 at the Internet Movie Database
• My Super Sweet 16 at TV.com