Because I tend to have a strange and campy side, I often find myself watching those “X Greatest…Ever” and “Remember the…”shows on VH1. As time goes by they are more and more unbearable. These shows are cheap to produce, so I understand why they are on so much. The formula is as follows: B-list TV star to host, B-list comics (ethnic or homosexual), B-list TV stars, queeny “stylists”, washed up musicians, funky graphics, chair, backdrop, and video clips.
The latest, “50 Most Awesomely Bad Songs Ever” was the straw, however. Not only were not all the songs all that bad, but VH1 and MTV had promoted those songs to no end when they were released. The worst part was that this show was a joint venture between VH1 and Blender magazine so you had crappy “entertainment” people along with glossy magazine editors. Ugh. The commenters are supposed to be funny, but they come across catty and clichéd. You can even see a smug look in their eyes when they say something they find witty like a fat kid who just did a push up. They couldn’t even get any relatively famous people to sit for them for this one; we’re talking D-list. I could count on one hand how many names or faces I recognized. These shows are written, produced, and designed for women in their early 30s and gay men. I’m done with them.
Here’s what would get me to watch them again. I do enjoy nostalgia, after all. Just show the damn clips and have a voiceover, “Do you remember rolling up your jeans?,” “Wasn’t that Blind Melon bee girl a trip?,” and “Timmy T, what was he about?” Listen up VH1, we can insert our own commentary, and I’m sure we’d find it wittier than anything coming out of the mouths of all the celebrities-we’ve-never-heard-of who had nothing else to do on a Thursday afternoon and who needed $5,000.
