BY MIKEY MIGO
We've all heard the stale complaints of music snobs and old people about how MTV sucks now. They talk of days when MTV showed music videos and had music related programming. Like it or not, those days are past us. Television and entertainment has evolved and there are more options than ever. If you really want to complain, you have to look at WHY these networks are programming their channels the way they are. It's supply and demand. Apparently there's a huge demographic out there that wants to watch "Laguna Beach", "Rob and Big", "College Hill", and random horrible, random horror, and sometimes random horrible horror movies in the afternoon.
To get an idea where I'm coming from for this research project, I have Direct TV. There are a slew of music channels, but I'm going to focus on the major ones. That means VH1 Classic is out (great channel), anything gospel, anything country (I'm open minded, but c'mon), MTV3, and/or anything else I don't have on my satellite set-up. To me, and I could be wrong (but does it matter?), the five biggest music related networks are MTV, VH1, FUSE, BET, and MTV2.
What I'm going to do is get a TV guide of some sorts and go through what these channels are dishing out. My day of research will be for TODAY (Wednesday June 18th, 2008). Granted, I've not watched today's programming (and I probably won't to be honest) and barring any unannounced schedule changes THIS is the current state of music on television.
TIMESLOT: 12 AM to 3 AM
CONTENT:
MTV(0): Hour long blocks of "The X Effect", "Date My Mom", and "Room Raiders".
VH1(1): The last two hours of the 1994 "Pulp Fiction" and then "Nocturnal State"
FUSE(2): The last hour of the 1998 movie "Half Baked", an hour block of "The Rock & Roll Acid Test", and then "No. 1 Countdown".
BET(0): An hour long block of "Hell Date" and then the movie 2005 "Rize".
MTV2(0):"True Life: Street Racer", three episodes of "Rob & Big", and "MTV Cribs".
THE WINNER: FUSE
Apparently this time slot is perfect for random TV shows and movies. It's more of the same from both of the MTV channels with their lame dating shows and "cool" programming. BET rides the lame dating show train and then goes into a movie that I don't think anyone really liked. Fuse and VH1 were close here. Both show a movie, but the way this was laid out gives Fuse the edge due to them having two full hours of music related programming during this timeslot.
TIMESLOT: 3 AM to 7 AM
CONTENT:
MTV(0): An hour long episode of "The Real World", Two hours/Four episodes of "Boiling Points", and an episode of "Juvies".
VH1(5): Two Hours of "Nocturnal State", "Fresh" for an hour, and then the first hour of "Jump Start".
FUSE(6): "Steven's Untitled Rock Show"(Bonnaroo), then two hours of "Hit List", and the first hour of "Work It!"
BET(1): An hour of "The Top 25 Fabulous Freaks", two hours of the inspirational "BET Inspiration", and then another hour of "BET's Morning Inspiration".
MTV2(3): An hour block of "MTV Cribs", an hour of "F'n MTV Premieres", and two hours of what they're calling "Music Videos".
THE WINNER: VH1 & FUSE
MTV has yet to show ANYTHING music related. BET sneaks in an hour of music related content and then goes into their religious programs. Once you get past "Cribs", MTV2 dishes out three straight hours of music. The winners here are both Fuse and VH1. Both channels swept this timeslot with music related programming.
TIMESLOT: 7 AM to 11 AM
CONTENT:
MTV(4): "Juvies" for an hour and then something called "F'n MTV" for three hours.
VH1(9): The next three hours of "Jump Start!" and another episode of "Fresh".
FUSE(7): The second hour of "Work It!" and then half hour spots for "Ten Minute Trainer", "Hip Hop Abs", "Slim in 6", "Paid Programming", "Paid Programming", and "Is Colon Detox Hype?"
BET(1): Two more hours of "BET's Morning Inspiration", a hour of "Diff'rent Strokes", and an hour of "Malcom & Eddie".
MTV2(4): Another hour of "Music Videos" and then a THREE HOUR block of "Pimp My Ride".
THE WINNER:VH1
MTV finally shows their first music related show at 8 AM and it gets them three hours off the bat. MTV2 was looking good with that crazy "Music Videos" show, but bombed with three long hours of "Pimp My Ride". BET finishes up their religious programming and jumps into two damn good sitcoms. Fuse got the shaft here because of being a smaller station. They end up having to show a lot of infomercial nonsense and embarrassingly bad ones at that! VH1 surprisingly wins here with their very solid early morning videos.
TIMESLOT: 11 AM to 3 PM
CONTENT:
MTV(6.5): "America's Best Dance Crew 2" for two and a half hours and then an hour and a half block of "High School Stories".
VH1(13): An hour of "Fresh" and then three one hour episodes of "The White Rapper Show".
FUSE(11): An hour of "Video Yearbook"(1997), "Fuse: Live From Bonnaroo"(Metallica and The Raconteurs), two half hour episodes of "Loaded", and "No. 1 Countdown".
BET(5): "106 & Park: BET's Top 10 Live" for an hour and a half, "The Boot", and then two hours of "BET NOW".
MTV2(6): "You Rock the Deuce" for an hour, an hour of "Elite 8", an hour and a half of "Wild ‘n Out", and something called "Walk It Out With JabbaWockeeZ and Shane Sparks".
THE WINNER: VH1, FUSE, & BET!
What's the network missing from the winner's list? MTV? Nooo way! They both showed some music related nonsense with "Rock the Deuce" on 2 and the dance show on MTV, but then they clutter up their times with their lame shows. Fuse and BET had four hours straight of honest to God music related programming. VH1 sneaks into the list. It seems my random day ended up being their mini marathon of "The White Rapper Show". Normally I hate reality shows, but this show does focus on aspiring Caucasian rappers. Horrible music is still music, I guess.
TIMESLOT: 3 PM to 7 PM
CONTENT:
MTV(8.5): An hour of MTV's staple "TRL", "F'n MTV" for an hour, and "Made" for another two hours.
VH1(17): Four more hour long episodes of "The White Rapper Show.
FUSE(15): An hour of "Video Yearbook"(2005), "Steven's Untitled Rock Show", another hour of "No. 1 Countdown", and another hour of "Video Yearbook"(1992).
BET(7): The 1997 movie "How to Be a Player" kicks off the first two hours, an hour of "Rap City", and the first hour of a new episode of "106 & Park".
MTV2(8): Another half hour of "Walk It Out With JabbaWockeeZ and Shane Sparks", an hour and a half block of "MTV Cribs", an hour of "Sucker Free", and then an hour block of "Run's House".
THE WINNER: VH1 & FUSE
Again, VH1 sneaks in four more hours of "The White Rapper Show". It's just how the cards were laid out on the table for this research project. Fuse on the other hand gives us four more full hours of music programming. MTV and BET both have their staple shows in "TRL" and "106 & Park" on, but then stray from music and go with an old Jamie Foxx movie on BET and "Made" on MTV. MTV2 pulls in two more hours with "Sucker Free" and then "Run's House".
TIMESLOT: 7 PM to 12 PM
CONTENT:
MTV(8.5): Primetime starts with "Made 100th Episode Special" followed by an hour and a half block of "My Super Sweet 16", and we finish up with three hours of "Real World".
VH1(19): Another episode of "The White Rapper Show", then the 1994 movie "Pulp Fiction", and we end the day with an hour of "40 Freakest Concert Moments".
FUSE(17):"No. 1 Countdown", the primetime hours for the great 1991 movie "Point Break", and two half hour episodes of "The Brooklyn Way", Then we wrap the day with the first hour of "Point Break".
BET(7.5): The last half hour of "106 & Park", a half hour of "The Boot", "Access Granted(Pretty Ricky)", The 1997 "First Time Felon" brings us to 11 PM in time for "ComicView" to finish the day off.
MTV2(9.5): One more episode of "Run's House" and then an hour and a half straight of "Punk'd", an hour of "Rob & Big", "Music Videos" for an hour, and then an hour of "Viva La Bam".
THE WINNER: VH1& FUSE
This is another weak slot and sadly it's the biggest one of the bunch. MTVgoes FIVE HOURS with NO MUSIC RELATED PROGRAMMING! What the hell! Seriously, that's lame as fuck. BET gets in their last half hour of "106 & Park" and a half hour "Access Granted" special on Pretty Ricky. MTV 2 gets half a point for the half hour of "Run's House" and a full point for the hour of "Music Videos". VH1 and FUSE only had two hours of music programming during this five hour period, but apparently it was enough to get them the win.
FINAL VERDICT:
From least hours of music related programming on Wednesday June 18th, 2008 to most:
BET: With only 7.5 hours, BET is the worst in regards to music related content. I don't think they're priding themselves on being JUST a music channel so it's soooorta understandable. They have a few hours of religious programming, some sitcoms, and movies mixed in with their music shows. I was very excited they brought "Diff'rent Strokes" back to my television on a daily basis and from there I've gotten hooked on "Malcom and Eddie". Outside of the occasional "106 & Park", that sums up my personal viewing of the channel.
MTV: MTV is the second worst of the researched channels. With just 8.5 hours of music related programming I think they've made their point. They are NOT the MTV of old. They are NOT going to just play videos all day. If their viewers wanted that, they'd supply it. They want viewers and if they can get more by showing their LAME LAME LAME shows like "Made" then so be it. We don't have to watch. I know I'm not going to be watching their LAME LAME LAME dating shows and I've not watched "The Real World" since Stephen slapped the lime disease girl. The "High School Stories" show was okay enough when I saw them during their first run, but the reruns are annoying. MTV used to have edge. Now it's super fluffy with the occasional "oh snap" moment. Nothing like how it was when WE were growing up, huh?
MTV2: With still less than 10 hours(9.5) of music related programming, MTV 2 is in the middle. They might even be lower depending if you consider "Run's House" a music related show. I do because it focuses on the life of one of the members of one of the greatest hip hop groups of all time. MTV 2 has "Elite 8" and plain and flat out great blocks of "Music Videos", but other than that yuck. MTV 2 plays the second rate and really old MTV shows like "Rob & Big", "Punk'd", and "Cribs" a little too much and not older ones. You can turn on both channels at any time during the day and as long as there is no logos in the corner I wouldn't be able to tell you which one it is. Once MTV's edge started to dull, MTV 2 was the answer. Now it's dull and I'm still waiting for the next answer.
FUSE:Fuse easily beats out the other stations with 17 legitimate hours of music videos and related shows. Their late late night/early early morning infomercial marathon is what hurts them the most in this research project. Other than that and the occasional movie ("Point Break" rocks!), Fuse seems to be the best choice for music junkies. They play the modern pop and emo garbage, but they mix it up with classic videos and stuff that you'd say "Oh Shit!" while flipping though. Their Bonnaroo coverage was awesome and they are really on their A-Game to keep music snobs, nerds, and everyday music fans equally happy. Right now, they're the "little station that could" how MTV was in the mid 80's. If Fuse reaches more markets, it could easily become the best.
VH1: VH1 surprisingly had 19 hours of music related programming on tap for today. That's mainly thanks to the mini-thon of "The White Rapper Show". VH1 has become known for it's reality shows. With "Flavor of Love", "Rock of Love", "Surreal Life", "Celebrity Fit Club", "Celebrity Rehab", and the many many more reality shows it's what gives VH1 it's identity. It's not so much a music related channel anymore. It's become like an trashy version of "Bravo" with music content sprinkled in for filler. Their strongest time slot for music is in the early morning or late at night. During the day you're only going to see their reality shows or "witty banter" countdowns.
THE WINNER: FUSE
VH1 got lucky with the White Rapper marathon. If this 24 hour period would have been on Monday with the mini-thon of "Hogan Knows Best" then it would have been sucked into the MTV/BET levels of absence of music. Fuse is just the better music channel. I know it's not available on all cable outlets, but it's seriously the best music channel I've seen in a long time. There is plenty of music on Fuse, so if you have it then please enjoy it. Despite the repetition of some of their shows, it's still the winner here.
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