Tonight, They Flaunt Their MTV

Twenty years ago today, MTV changed the face of cable--for better or worse.

It began at 12:01 a.m. on Aug. 1, 1981, with the video for the Buggles’ “Video Killed the Radio Star,” the first of countless videos featuring artists who were famous and others we would come to know.

Over the course of two decades, we’ve seen the move toward game shows (“Remote Control”), unscripted shows (“The Real World”), award shows (“Video Music Awards”) and news programs, all aimed at young viewers who became known as the “MTV generation.”

Tonight, young and old alike can celebrate MTV’s 20th anniversary with “Live and Almost Legal” (8-11 p.m.), a three-hour telecast originating from New York’s Hammerstein Ballroom.

Mary J. Blige, Billy Idol, TLC, Method Man, Run-DMC and Jane’s Addiction are a few of the performers lined up for the special hosted by Carson Daly and others from the channel’s on-air staff.

Daly and his colleagues may be called upon to interview celebrities in the audience who will be treated to clips from past programs, which could include anything from concert tours to “Jackass” to bikini-clad students on the beach in Mexico during spring break.

What would a party be without VJs? With that in mind, MTV has invited its original quintet of Martha Quinn, Mark Goodman, J.J. Jackson, Alan Hunter and Nina Blackwood.

And just for laughs--or so one hopes--there’s the return of MTV’s dimwitted duo of Beavis and Butt-head.