i'm not sure i love the 90's that much
VH 1 used to be a modest version of MTV. When it first started in the 80's, it specialized in showing adult contemporary videos that were too tame for the youngsters watching MTV. VH 1 wanted to corner the market in showing Basia, Chicago and Elton John videos. The only programs that they would show were designed to break up the non-stop videos. In fact, I can only remember one show in all that programing and it was a terrible comedy show hosted by Rosie O'Donnell. In yet another twist of fate in my life, I never watched that comedy show as I was not a fan of stand up and yet, look at me now... I'm still not a fan of stand up and I am still not a fan of Rosie O'Donnell, perhaps because they both represent a break in the regular programming.
If you want to watch adult contemporary videos these days, you will be hard pressed to find an outlet. Of course, if you want to watch any kind of videos, you will be hard pressed to find an outlet. MTV and VH 1 have both abandoned videos for creative programming that is as mentally stimulating as booger sculptures. I'm not really sure when the creative powers (and I use the term creative, very loosely) decided that they should abandon the programming that made them successful and take up a new approach. I guess they could see the future and could sense that people would rather remember their past than to make a future or exist in a present. All of the shows that they started programming were flashback shows and required very little effort to produce, just some decent memory recall.
It started simply with "Behind the music" which did a good job of making every band that you ever loved look like greedy, little drug addicts. From there it sprouted into top 100 lists; best rock songs of all time, of the ninties, of the eighties. best female rockers of all time, of the ninties, of the eighties. Most rock and roll moments of all time, of the fifties, of the sixties, of the seventies, etc.. From there it mutated into a show that I just don't get at all. The "I love the (random decade)" series. It started with the 80's and mutated into seven sequels. A 90's edition, a 70's edition, another 80's edition, another 70's edition, another 90's edition and then with the success of these shows, we have been given "best week ever". A sort of "I love last week" show, staring the biggest idiots and the weakest comics ever. I guess it's true... we do have terrible memories. Bad enough that we have to be reminded about what happened last week and we get giddy about it.
Today, if you see a video on VH 1 or MTV it's probably only a clip in a "remember when" show. It makes you wonder what kind of show they are going to come up with when they film the "I love the 00's". I guess it will be filled with clips of clip shows.
Perhaps I am being a little critical and I should embrace what VH 1 is doing. Perhaps I should look at what they are doing from a different angle. Maybe what VH 1 is doing is creating a historical record and they are trying to preserve cultural icons for future generations to appreciate. I'm sure that when our great great grandchildren look back on our little corner of history and compare it with other corners of history, they will see that we had much better soda than the dullards of the 1490's. Hopefully they will see just how hard we worked to make the future better for them. Perhaps they will see how selfless we were. I'm sure that our distant relatives will look back on our days on this planet and see just how impressive we were. How we all worked together. How we took all that talk of peace, love and understanding from the previous generations and made it a reality. How we were the generation that learned from the past and put an end to repeative and destructive behaviors. Yes, I think our great great grand children will see just how amazing we were.
Of course they could look back on us with the same sentiment that we do when we look back on those lazy bastards of the... of the... well, you know who they are. Perhaps our great great grandchildren will look back on us and scoff at our inability to travel in space, breath under water (or on land for that matter), or vote effectively. Perhaps our great great grandchildren will think us to be dullards and idiots... All because we let Rosie O'Donnell ruin VH 1.
If you want to watch adult contemporary videos these days, you will be hard pressed to find an outlet. Of course, if you want to watch any kind of videos, you will be hard pressed to find an outlet. MTV and VH 1 have both abandoned videos for creative programming that is as mentally stimulating as booger sculptures. I'm not really sure when the creative powers (and I use the term creative, very loosely) decided that they should abandon the programming that made them successful and take up a new approach. I guess they could see the future and could sense that people would rather remember their past than to make a future or exist in a present. All of the shows that they started programming were flashback shows and required very little effort to produce, just some decent memory recall.
It started simply with "Behind the music" which did a good job of making every band that you ever loved look like greedy, little drug addicts. From there it sprouted into top 100 lists; best rock songs of all time, of the ninties, of the eighties. best female rockers of all time, of the ninties, of the eighties. Most rock and roll moments of all time, of the fifties, of the sixties, of the seventies, etc.. From there it mutated into a show that I just don't get at all. The "I love the (random decade)" series. It started with the 80's and mutated into seven sequels. A 90's edition, a 70's edition, another 80's edition, another 70's edition, another 90's edition and then with the success of these shows, we have been given "best week ever". A sort of "I love last week" show, staring the biggest idiots and the weakest comics ever. I guess it's true... we do have terrible memories. Bad enough that we have to be reminded about what happened last week and we get giddy about it.
Today, if you see a video on VH 1 or MTV it's probably only a clip in a "remember when" show. It makes you wonder what kind of show they are going to come up with when they film the "I love the 00's". I guess it will be filled with clips of clip shows.
Perhaps I am being a little critical and I should embrace what VH 1 is doing. Perhaps I should look at what they are doing from a different angle. Maybe what VH 1 is doing is creating a historical record and they are trying to preserve cultural icons for future generations to appreciate. I'm sure that when our great great grandchildren look back on our little corner of history and compare it with other corners of history, they will see that we had much better soda than the dullards of the 1490's. Hopefully they will see just how hard we worked to make the future better for them. Perhaps they will see how selfless we were. I'm sure that our distant relatives will look back on our days on this planet and see just how impressive we were. How we all worked together. How we took all that talk of peace, love and understanding from the previous generations and made it a reality. How we were the generation that learned from the past and put an end to repeative and destructive behaviors. Yes, I think our great great grand children will see just how amazing we were.
Of course they could look back on us with the same sentiment that we do when we look back on those lazy bastards of the... of the... well, you know who they are. Perhaps our great great grandchildren will look back on us and scoff at our inability to travel in space, breath under water (or on land for that matter), or vote effectively. Perhaps our great great grandchildren will think us to be dullards and idiots... All because we let Rosie O'Donnell ruin VH 1.
posted by Daniel Loomis | 9:56 AM
<< Home