VH1-related stories
Posted Oct 14th 2009 9:04PM by John Scott Lewinski
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, Celebrities, Documentary
Dr. Drew is taking on a sexier addiction, literally.
His new VH1 show, the unfortunately titled
Sex Rehab With Dr. Drew (Is the title theme Motley Crue's' "Dr. Feel Good?") will take on celebrity sex addiction.
Addiction to alcohol and drugs, or eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia, are already familiar topics on reality TV. But the VH1 release announcing the new show reports that sex addiction is equally common -- yet harder to identify and more difficult for some to accept.
Think about it. How many comedians would make some crack along the lines of, "Where do I sign up? For the disease, not the cure."
Continue reading Dr. Drew sends addicted viewers to Sex Rehab on VH1
Posted Oct 1st 2009 3:30PM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, Programming, OpEd, Celebrities, Pickups and Renewals
Flavor of Love, quite possibly the trashiest celebrity hook-up show of all time, is still off the air. However, its star Flavor Flav is returning to television in order to
go back to high school.
If Flavor Flav really wanted to get his high school diploma, why does he need cameras on him to do it? Can't he just study and take the G.E.D.? What type of high school will he attend, public or private?
If he went to a public school, he'd be mobbed between every class due to his celebrity. Having him go to a private school might be better and would admittedly be funnier, but somehow I question if he could handle the coursework (of course, he has enough money to pay other people to go to class for him).
Somehow I see Flav being more like one of those students that smokes out back and tries to make it with one of the cheerleaders. After
Flavor of Love, would you want your daughter to go to the same high school as Flav?
Posted Sep 22nd 2009 2:26PM by Michael Pascua
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, OpEd, Celebreality
Dear Kevin,
I've recently
read on VH1's blog that you were going to be on
Celebrity Fit Club. I have a problem with this: you are not a celebrity. Sure VH1 may stretch the definition of "Celebrity," but having a resume that includes backup dancer and being on WWE doesn't suffice. I don't care if you were married to Britney Spears; you're not married to your meal ticket anymore.
I've recently
Googled pictures of you and boy did you let yourself go. Maybe you should stop drinking beer. You shouldn't be on
Celebrity Fit Club, you need to be on
The Biggest Loser. Not only does the title fit you better, you need a smack down from Jillian Michaels.
Continue reading An open letter to Kevin Federline
Posted Aug 29th 2009 5:32PM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, Industry, OpEd, Celebrities, Celebreality
Do you remember the good old days? The innocent times when Lindsay Lohan was an up and coming young movie star. She received critical acclaim for those early roles. She was beautiful and voluptuous (and you know how the kids love that!). Then she got into drugs, drinking, partying, weighing less than 90 pounds, and it all kind of fell apart. Since then, she's cleaned up her act a bit.
Which is great, Lindsay. But
Lindsay Lohan in a reality show? You do know what kind of celebrities appear in realty shows? Do you think Whitney Houston and Britney Spears were at the heights of their careers when they did their amazing stints in reality television?
Speaking of Brit-Brit, LiLo is working with her manager on the project. Hopefully not the same guy that helped develop
Britney & Kevin: Chaotic. The series is intended to follow Lohan as she attempts to get her career back on track.
Continue reading As Lindsay Lohan ponders a reality show, I remember when she had a career
Posted Aug 28th 2009 1:03PM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, Industry, Ratings, Celebreality
I paraphrased that title, but you'll see what I mean. And it's damage control more than dissatisfaction with what VH1 has become, considering ratings are higher than ever. Still, after the murder/suicide of one of their reality show participants, something had to be said. So Tom Calderone, the president of VH1, told the
LA Times that the
network doesn't want to be known for infinite spin-offs of their
Flavor of Love and
Surreal Life types of shows. Which means skanks and hos.
Which is exactly what they're known for. Before this
Megan Wants a Millionaire/I Love Money debacle, they had no problem with it. Ratings were up, proving that there are people out there who will tune into all those atrocities to the senses.
Continue reading After Ryan Jenkins mess, VH1's president talks of a different direction
Posted Jul 13th 2009 8:04AM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: TV on DVD, OpEd, Reality-Free
The old R&B dance show
Soul Train seems to be coming back. It's being set up for a VH1 documentary, a BET awards show
and a DVD release.
Given the recent passing of Michael Jackson, it wouldn't surprise me if this project was fast-tracked. Some of the Jackson 5's earliest appearances were on
Soul Train. In fact, there's a website now
dedicated to the show.
I never watched
Soul Train when I was kid. I don't think I was in the correct demographic. But everyone at least
heard of
Soul Train. The show's final episodes aired in 2006 but (at least in my mind) the show is more associated with its beginnings in the 70's. If the show ends up getting fully revived (and not just an awards show), the logical network to show it would be BET.
Now that Time Life is releasing DVD's of the show, it will probably be in a "best of" format (much like their release of
The Muppet Show DVDs) and not complete seasons. But, I could be wrong.
Posted Jun 30th 2009 9:02AM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, Celebrities, Casting, Celebreality
Salt-N-Pepa and TLC. Two of the most significant and important female R&B groups of the past 25 years. Why couldn't it have just stayed that way? No, VH1 just had to drag members from both groups into their sick "looking for love" reality world. That's right,
Pepa and Chilli are looking for love, on VH1 with a camera crew and eight half-hour episodes. Somehow I have a hard time imagining either of these women having a hard time picking up guys.
Can I just say to all the other celebrities out there who are looking at this as a good thing, just stop right there. Do you think people are respecting Bret Michaels for his music these days? He's more famous for
whacking his head on a stage. If the music dries up down the road, I don't want to see Beyoncé and Justin Timberlake hawking themselves all over VH1 to try and find love. Not to mention: have they seen the kind of people these reality shows find for you to fall in love with?
Continue reading VH1 keeps tarnishing my cherished celebrity memories
Posted Jun 23rd 2009 12:12PM by Mike Moody
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, Industry, Celebrities, Pickups and Renewals
We warned you about Jessica Simpson's
latest idea for a reality TV show back in May. The pop star was shopping around a project starring herself called
The Price of Beauty in which "she and a friend set off on a road trip around the world in search of what people find beautiful and why," according to an
US Weekly source.
It looks like the show is moving ahead and is
set to air on VH1, the home of celebrity trash TV, sometime in 2010. Simpson will travel the world meeting women, and pop culture "icons," to discuss fashion, beauty and, of course, take part in some extreme
beauty regimes and practices.
Continue reading Jessica Simpson's new reality show finds a home
Posted Jun 9th 2009 6:31PM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Programming, Music and Variety, Talk Show, Casting
Apparently it's just me, but I actually like Paul F. Tompkins as the host of
Best Week Ever. And probably because I like him on there,
VH1 is yanking BWE for SIX MONTHS (?!) and when it comes back, Tompkins and his crew aren't expected to be there. Which makes sense. That's a hell of a long time for a supposedly topical show to disappear. It's also sad because
Best Week Ever is one of the few shows on VH1 worth watching.
Before
Tompkins took over last fall, the show was more of a typical VH1 clip show with the narrator running the clips interspersed with commentary from various comedians, including Tompkins. In reading online reactions about the format change, I realized that I actually missed some of the variety we had in commentators on the show. I'm certainly not seeing some of those comedians anywhere else (I am intentionally
not seeing Frangelina on
I'm a Celebrity...).
Continue reading Worst six months ever as Best Week Ever loses Tompkins and goes on hiatus
Posted Mar 19th 2009 3:00PM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Music and Variety, Celebrities, Pickups and Renewals, Documentary, Casting
Normally you can expect VH1 to be renewing their horrible reality sexcapade competitions and other trashy shows, but suddenly there's a glimmer of hope on what was once an actual escape for the more mature music enthusiast. While it's only for 10 episodes or so for now, I'm still jazzed that
VH1 is reviving Behind the Music at all. This was E!'s
True Hollywood Story before
True Hollywood Story. For me it generally didn't matter who they were spotlighting, all the stories were interesting. Of course, there'll always be a special place in my heart for the Milli Vanilli story. Heartbreak and more heartbreak!
You could call it a response to the success of the
New Kids on the Block "Behind the Music" special this past fall. Honestly, I'm not even sure why the series was shelved in 2006. There are always new acts sprouting up and you'd think there would be plenty of fodder with the likes of The Jonas Brothers, Miley Cyrus and a new batch of
American Idol wannabes each year. So far Lil' Wayne and Scott Weiland have signed on. I'm hoping for a Kanye West one narrated and written by West.
Posted Mar 11th 2009 7:05PM by Danny Gallagher
Filed under: Pickups and Renewals, Reality-Free, Celebreality
One of the biggest names and egos in the National Football League will try to cram his big life (and mouth) into 30 to 60 minutes of weekly programming for VH1.
Terrell Owens, the Buffalo Bills' new star receiver, will star in a new reality show called
Playing the Field.
The show will give one of the league's most vocal stars a chance to show his fans and haters what life is like on and off the field, and could start with his firing from the Dallas Cowboys.
Continue reading Uh oh... T.O. has a reality show
Posted Feb 9th 2009 9:11AM by Eliot Glazer
Filed under: OpEd, Video, Watercooler Talk, Dancing With The Stars, TV Squad Lists, Casting
Well, it's official. Yesterday, ABC
announced their new line-up for the eighth season (!) of
Dancing With The Stars. And, as usual, the names chosen range from weird to ... even weirder (really, David Alan Grier?). Not that we necessarily disagree with the producers' choices, but we'd like to take a moment to suggest seven potential choices of people we believe to be fully primed for a spot on the dance floor.
Listen up,
DWTS producers. Season nine is just around the corner, and
Alan Alda is probably waiting by the phone. (...In our wildest dreams, that is.)
Continue reading Seven people we'd like to see on Dancing With The Stars - VIDEO
Posted Feb 2nd 2009 9:01AM by Eliot Glazer
Filed under: The Amazing Race, Video, Casting
Just when you thought everyone you knew, ever, had endured their 15 minutes on some reality show, you've been hoodwinked. It's no longer just the lady in accounts payable who you spotted on
Cheaters or your brother's friend whose family appeared on
Wife Swap. These days, it's low-profile celebs, too, who are seeking a 16th minute, and no longer exclusively via humiliation on VH1.
Continue reading Why does that reality show contestant look so familiar? - VIDEO
Posted Jan 1st 2009 11:20AM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: Industry, Programming, Reality-Free
After a
much publicized battle, Time Warner Cable and Viacom have
settled their dispute. For the new year, Time Warner Cable subscribers can enjoy such channels as Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, VH1 or (God help them) MTV.
I didn't see this going any other way. If Viacom withheld its (very popular) line-up of channels from TWC, both of them would lose a valuable revenue stream. This is not a good idea in such an economy where people lose their jobs; I've learned that when the income stops coming in for most households, the first thing to go is cable television. This is not the case for me because the first thing to go in my house in such a situation would be the groceries (no way am I giving up Stephen Colbert).
At least subscribers can now enjoy such greats as
Spongebob Squarepants, South Park,
The Daily Show and
The Colbert Report. Sadly it means they'll also have to put up with
The Hills.
Posted Dec 31st 2008 10:01AM by Danny Gallagher
Filed under: Industry, Programming, OpEd, Cable/Satellite, News and Gossip
Have been itching for a fix of
South Park,
Spongebob or
Bonanza?
Well, bite down on some leather, drink plenty of fluids, and get ready for some long nights of withdrawal, because
Viacom is pulling 18 channels off the air from all of Time Warner Cable's outlets in protest over their recent carriage fee raises.
That means if you're a TWC customer and a fan of anything on Comedy Central, VH1, Spike, Nickelodeon, Logo, CMT or (if you're completely blind and deaf) MTV, you're boned.
Continue reading Viacom going black on Time Warner Cable
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