Watch out, MTV and E! -- VH1 has punk'd us all. Until recently, MTV was generally perceived as music television geared toward a youthful audience, while VH1 served as our parent's source of soft-rock video reruns. According to some students, this perception is changing. VH1 has kicked up its programming over the past several years in order to cater to a new audience: us -- an audience for whom "now" changes every two minutes and the '90s are considered "classic." If MTV and E! mated, the resulting network offspring would be very similar to the recently revamped VH1.
Second-year Engineering student Alan Yurisevic has noticed the change in VH1's image. "I always thought VH1 was like the MTV for older people, but recently I noticed that their programming seems to have a more hip aspect to it," he said.
In an online press release on highbeam.com, Audrey Steele, vice-president of Zenith Media, even goes so far as to say, "VH1 has redefined itself, to a great extent. It's hotter than MTV right now."
VH1 has achieved this unprecedented level of "hotness" through a number of successful new programs, both reality-based and scripted, that portray music as part of a broader panorama of pop culture. In a 2003 news report on highbeam.com, journalist Thomas Umstead commented that although "several music-oriented shows are in development, VH1's new lineup will also focus on other cultural phenomena and personalities as a part of a refocusing of the brand."
VH1's new wave of programming shows its priority to be at the forefront of pop culture, which at times seems to evolve faster than the rate at which Joan Rivers can spit out red-carpet insults on E!. A prime example of VH1's new attention to the fickle world of pop culture is its new show "Best Week Ever," which summarizes the latest entertainment news of the week (which can range from commentary on Paris Hilton's latest sex tape to a debate about reality shows like "America's Top Model") and focuses on one key entertainment moment of each day to comprise the "best week ever." The show then decides which star has had the "best week ever" in the eyes of VH1's witty comedic staffers and guests.
Receiving the label of "best week ever" is not cause for too much celebration on the part of the chosen celebrity, though. True to the nature of pop culture itself, each "best week" celebrity is inevitably replaced by another the next week. The show spares none from its biting irony, even its own concept.
"I feel like MTV goes for more childish humor -- with shows like "Jackass" -- while VH1 delivers the main college staple: sarcasm," Second-year College student Sarah New said.
VH1 appears to have taken a cue from E!'s number-oriented programs by airing shows that rank everything from the "most awesomely bad songs" to the "40 greatest celebrity feuds" (resembling E!'s shows "Rank" and "101 Greatest Moments in Entertainment"). With shows that track the trajectory of pop culture, VH1 is able to maintain a connection with nostalgic older audiences -- through decade-cataloging shows like "I Love the '70s" and "I Love The '80s" -- while enticing younger viewers with programs like "I Love The '90s" and "Maxim Hot 100."
An aspect of the new VH1 that can be traced to the roots of MTV is its pursuit of a certain raciness factor -- a shock value which is as integral to pop culture as the Britney-Madonna kiss was to the 2003 Video Music Awards. In an online summary of one of their shows, "When Stars Get Scammed," VH1 recaps one week's episode: "We'll look at how super hot actress Cameron Diaz got shook down to keep an X-rated S&M video off the Internet and how this blonde bombshell fought back." Moreover, VH1's new show "All Access" has a segment called "Most Awesome Make-Outs," featuring the lip-locks of Hilary Duff and Lindsay Lohan, among others.
"Broadcasting and Cable Magazine" writer Donna Petrozzello commented in an article on highbeam.com, "VH1 is proving it no longer deserves to be considered the ugly stepsister of MTV." Although VH1 is giving itself an edgy makeover, it hasn't yet gone as far as some of its pop culture compatriots. Yurisevic points out, "It's not the Howard Stern show on E!."
VH1 and MTV are not only linked by their parent company, Viacom, but also by their attempts to become melting pots of pop culture genres. The new VH1 has thrown not only music in the mix, but also movies, celebrities, television, comedy, biography and fashion. It started this trend with the series "Behind the Music" in the late '90s, a show that "helped boost VH1 from lame purveyor of saccharine soft-rock videos to a popular network and music force," according to a 1999 article in Mediaweek magazine on highbeam.com.
Recently, VH1 has added yet another variable to the mix: reality television. "The Surreal Life," unlike MTV's "Real World," collects its cast from a pop culture pool rather than through an audition process for "real" people. In "The Surreal Life," cameras follow has-been celebrities (VH1 generously dubs them "pop culture originals") as they live together in a Hollywood mansion. This year's cast includes Dave Coulier (the joke-cracking Joey of "Full House"), former New Kid Jordan Knight, rapper Flavor Flav and "American Idol" runner-up Ryan Starr, among others, as listed on vh1.com.
"Lately I've been watching 'The Surreal Life' on VH1, which I think is the epitome of MTV and E! combining because it's essentially 'The Real World' with semi-famous people," third-year College student Alexis Behan said.
Like "The Real World," and many other reality shows, the initial hook is curiosity.
"Initially, I watched the ['The Surreal Life'] just because I wanted to see what ever happened to people like Joey on 'Full House,' but now I watch it mostly for the feuds and comedy, which are a lot like 'The Real World' on MTV," New said. After all, who wouldn't want to watch Flavor Flav get taken down by Sally Jessie Raphael?
"The Surreal Life" even has spawned a reality romance, creating the possibility for a spin-off. According to a PR Newswire press release last week on stockhouse.com (a Web site geared toward investors deciding how to handle their stocks), VH1 is set to reunite "Surreal" couple Brigitte Nielson and Flavor Flav in their own series premiering in January.
The PR Newswire press release also said, "VH1 has greenlit a number of new pop culture and music series and specials to keep its record-breaking pace going into 2005."
In its coming season, VH1 will expand coverage to include another dimension of pop culture -
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