NEW VH1 SERIES INCLUDE SALT N PEPA, DANNY BONADUCE, MORE
The network has spawned five straight years of consecutive quarterly growth, and now plans to launch a third night of original programming with seven new series on Thursday night.
The projects run the gamut from improv and documentaries to new twists on celebreality featuring female rap pioneers Salt N Pepa, models competing in an intelligence contest, pop culture revolutionaries, aspiring child stars mentored by Danny Bonaduce, ambitious fashion photographers, and two “golden girls” getting schooled on the latest in pop culture.
VH1 has had 20 consecutive quarters of total viewer growth, thanks to such hits as I Love New York and Flavor of Love Girls: Charm School, both of which rank among the Top 10 original series on basic cable for the year. VH1 presents all-original programming on Sunday and Monday nights, with a third evening to be added on Thursdays later this summer.
Year-to-date, VH1’s primetime ratings in the 18-49 demo are up 25%. VH1 also ranks as the #4 basic cable network in the 18-49 demo on Monday nights and the #5 basic cable network on Sunday nights among 18-49 viewers. The network looks to expand its original offerings to an unprecedented third night beginning later this summer on Thursdays.
VH1 has also seen significant growth across platforms. Year-to-date, average monthly unique visits to and streams on VSPOT, VH1’s broadband channel have increased 47% and 38%, respectively.
“Over the years, VH1 has been re-imagined for a generation that now consumes, comments on, reinterprets and reinvents our common music and pop culture touchstones,” said MTV Networks Music Group President Entertainment Brian Graden. “VH1’s latest slate taps into this collective fascination, allowing the conversation to be extended on television and beyond.”
“VH1’s original shows often finished among the top 10 basic cable telecasts for the day this year. The time is right to build on our momentum and expand our programming assets in a primetime line-up that featured 90 percent original content this quarter,” added EVP/GM Tom Calderone. “This extensive list of new original projects will also appeal to our viewers on any platform they wish to enjoy them …on television, on our broadband channel VSPOT, VH1.com or VH1 Mobile.”
The new VH1 series, all slated for Q4 2007 or Q1 2008, are as follows, with the network’s own descriptions following:
THE SALT ‘N’ PEPA SHOW (10 episodes): Push It. Let’s Talk About Sex. Shoop. Whatta Man. The songs are as legendary as this rap duo. Twelve million records sold. A first ever Grammy awarded to a female rap group for Best Rap Performance. Three MTV Video Music Awards. Then, in 2002, at the height of their success, Salt ‘N Pepa suddenly called it quits. Rumors swirled that Salt had found God and Pepa wanted to pursue an acting career. Despite the speculation, the girls remained silent. Until now.
On The Salt ‘N Pepa Show, VH1 will follow the ladies as they attempt to reunite on and off the stage in this funny, often touching reality series. They soon discover however, that achieving this is easier said than done since most of their past issues are still unresolved. Salt is angry about being unappreciated when they were together and Pepa blames Salt for breaking up the group. Their lifestyles are also polar opposites: Salt has indeed found God and is living a quiet life in Long Island with her husband while Pepa is still the party girl and up for anything. Can they overcome their differences long enough to heal their friendship and perform again?
AMERICA’S MOST SMARTEST MODEL (10 episodes): Beauty is a double-edged sword. It seems to be a commonly accepted notion in today’s world that an inverse proportion exists between brains and beauty the prettier someone is, the less intelligent they are expected to be. And no one has it worse than models. But is this assumption really true? Do smart models exist, or does a life devoted to getting by on one’s looks make a person stupid? Now, VH1 will attempt to answer this burning question in America’s Most Smartest Mode. Hosted by celebrity fashion expert Mary Alice Stephenson and Emmy Award winner Ben Stein, this reality competition series brings together fourteen models, (7 men, 7 women) all of whom think they are the perfect combination of beauty and brains.
In every episode the “himbos” and “bimbos” will face challenges that put both their overall intelligence and beauty to the test. In the end, only one model will prove that they are more than just another pretty face and take home a $100,000 prize and the coveted title of America’s Most Smartest Model.
CLICK! (8 episodes): From the producer of America’s Next Top Model and Pussycat Dolls Presents: The Search for the Next Doll, Click! will give 10 amateur photographers the chance to live out their wildest fantasies in pursuit of their ultimate dream: to become the next great fashion photographer. Our cast will live and work together in a downtown L.A. loft while being guided by world-renowned fashion photographer Russell James. These aspiring photographers will embark on a series of photo shoots meant to challenge their creativity and expose their individual weaknesses. For the first time in their lives, the cast will work with supermodels and high-end professionals, while traveling to exotic locations all to capture that one perfect shot. Whether it’s shooting on the deck of a schooner in the midst of a storm, or trying to get a supermodel to cuddle up to a Siberian tiger, our cast will face daunting tasks and obstacles that will test their talent, desire and drive to be the next great fashion photographer.
DANNY BONADUCE’S CHILD STAR tentative title (8 episodes): In a world gone mad with delusional stage moms and money hungry agents, only one man knows how to save the endangered species known as the child star. Danny Bonaduce’s Child Star (tentative title) challenges Danny Bonaduce to seek out one great, aspiring, triple threat stage-hungry kid, identify them as a star, and train their driven stage mom or dad to be a supportive and fit parent who won’t end up driving their kid into rehab. Over the course of 8 hour-long episodes both kids and parents will participate in challenges to see if they have what it takes to make it in Hollywood. The kids will need to have talent and the parents will need to have the smarts to navigate Hollywood without ruining their child’s career.
FREE RADIO (8 episodes): A half-hour improvised comedy where the worlds of celebrity, mediocrity and talk radio collide. It is a comedic, behind-the-scenes look at a struggling Los Angeles radio station and its dysfunctional staff, led by Lance, the dimwitted, laughably ignorant, yet inexplicably popular host of “Moron in the Morning.” Celebrity guests from film, television, music and stage join Lance every week in the booth as they promote their latest projects while enduring his clueless questions and oblivious take on the world. Lance is played by improv comedian Lance Krall (The Joe Schmo Show).
LORDS OF THE REVOLUTION (7 episodes): They questioned authority. They celebrated nonconformity. They dared to be different. VH1’s new documentary series Lords of the Revolution profiles the nonconformist heroes—and anti-heroes—of the ‘60s and ‘70s, honoring those icons who challenged social, political and cultural institutions of the time. Edgy, colorful and visually dynamic, each hour-long episode will tell the compelling story of a visionary who through music, art, social change or politics influenced popular culture in a way that it is still felt today.
OLD SKOOL WITH TERRY AND GITA (5 Episodes): It’s The Golden Girls meets Borat! Old Skool with Terry and Gita is a half-hour weekly series starring Terry Moore and Gita Hall as they explore the hottest topics in pop culture. Terry Moore, 77, a movie star from the studio days and ex-wife of billionaire Howard Hughes, and Gita Hall, 72, one of the world’s first supermodels, have an unquenchable thirst for life. Terry and Gita are on a mission to explore all the weird and wonderful “subcultures” normally reserved for people far younger than their demographic proving it’s never too late to get “skooled.” From hip hop to the gay community, the two ladies are committed to discovering what’s hip and happening today. Their fish-out-of-water immersion into those worlds is often revelatory, sometimes shocking and always hilarious.
