I’m not sure there’s any lasting impact in being named America’s Best Dance Crew, but the boys and girls on this MTV show have both the moves and the motion to cause a minor commotion (at the very least). I’m a latecomer to the Randy Jackson-produced competition, only setting my TiVo after hearing that diminutive hip-hopper Lil’ Mama and *NSYNC’s JC Chasez are judges. Choreographer Shane Sparks fills the third chair, a role familiar to any fan of Fox’s So You Think You Can Dance. (Come summer, that show is worth the watch from the auditions to the thrilling end.)

I wasn’t taken with America’s Best Dance Crew (in the episode I caught, groups had to “portray and tell the story of a character”) so I doubt I’ll tune in a second time, even for host Mario Lopez. But I was happy that music is playing a role in MTV programming again. With the channel chock-full of The Hills, My Super Sweet 16, and The Gauntlet III, it’s good to see a show like ABDC on the network’s schedule (Making The Band 4 counts, too).

True, MTV wasn’t exactly wall-to-wall music videos when I got hooked in college during the early ’90s. The Real World was new and, well, real (the series has long since devolved to alcohol-fueled sexcapades). Viewers were also treated a variety of non-music shows like The State, House of Style, and Liquid Television. Still, music remained the name of the progamming game.

Remember MTV’s club show, The Grind? Mad sexy Eric Nies, breakout star of The Real World‘s inaugural season, hosted the daily American Bandstand redux for three years. Let’s also take a moment to recall the suggestive charm of SWV’s “I’m So Into You”:

Another MTV show long since forgotten is Lip Service. Straight from the same Grind-era of big-shirted hosts, the lip-synching game show featured rotating DJs (like Spinderella of Salt-N-Pepa) who attempted to trip up contestants on the ones and twos.

MTV has long featured some non-music programming; the pop-culture game show Remote Control was one of the first examples. Now reality series are the bulk of what the channel airs. Since music videos are no longer in regular rotation, it’s good to see some music back in the mix.