Everyone likes a good Citizen Kane narrative. Because even though pulling yourself up by your bootstraps and succeeding by cutthroat capitalism is (or was), the American way, there is also that delightful pleasure in watching a media baron like Kane, or Howard Hughes, succumb to those very demons that drove him relentlessly to success in the first place.
Call it the law of American physics: What goes up, must come down in an extremely gruesome fashion, and end up smeared all over Page Six. So enter Sumner Redstone, whose massive earnings have earned him an empire of National Amusements (an apt title if there ever was one) that includes CBS, Paramount, MTV, and BET.
And who recently has succumbed to that modern aristocratic ailment of addictive stock-picking, and an even more aristocratic ailment of a failed marriage.
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Hey look, a reason to go out and buy a television and then turn it on this weekend: Wu-Tang doc you guys!
Gerald K. Barclay's documentary "Wu: The Story of the Wu-Tang Clan" will premiere Nov. 13 on BET, five days before its release on DVD. The film chronicles the pioneering hip-hop group's rise from Staten Island through interviews and a wealth of rare footage.
The trailer can be found here, but real gangsters don't use YouTube. Real gangsters buy the DVD.
The last couple years have been rough ones at BET — protests, plummeting viewership, a crumbling reputation — but one can't help but think that CEO Debra Lee considers the just-announced departure of Reginald Hudlin, president of entertainment for the network, to be step one in digging BET out of its hole. Lee said Hudlin's departure was a mutual decision. Apparently, the Boomerang and House Party director wants to get back to his Hollywood roots. She also said that it seemed like "a good time" for him to leave.
Master P, ahem, P. Miller, has a new business venture to go along with his name change. The No Limit millionaire has announced plans to launch Better Black Television, a cable network designed to "bring people of color a choice when turning on their television." The family-friendly programming will include health, animation, sitcoms, reality TV, movies, politics, sports, and — just guessing — several poorly-produced, woodenly-acted shows and movies starring P. Miller and Romeo. Take a look at Miller's idea of quality family entertainment here.
Baldwin Hills, the teen-focused reality show that is marketed as BET's answer to Laguna Beach and The Hills, premiered with a respectable (for BET) 1.5 million viewers on Tuesday. As 2007-2008 BET premieres go, the show comes in second place after Keyshia Cole: The Way It Is, meaning troubled R&B stars are more compelling to BET viewers than upper-middle-class kids and their overbearing parents. But how do Baldwin Hills' second season premiere numbers compare to its counterpart at MTV?
A content analysis of BET’s programming called “The Rap on Rap” that concluded that viewers of the channel’s popular shows are exposed to violence, profanity or obscenity once every 38 seconds has reportedly inspired Proctor and Gamble, Pepsi and General Motors to pull advertising from Rap City and 106 & Park.
When most networks unveil their fall programming at their upfronts, I, being a television junkie, am passively interested. When BET does it, I’m filled with a sense of dread. What now?
I’ll say this — it’s not as bad as last year’s.
BETease It was "last fall" that BET.com set in "motion" plans to remove from its site "B-Girls," a traffic-boosting section where photos of scantily clad women are posted. (The section was located here.) The decision from corporate parent Viacom, of course, had nothing to do with an activist campaign targeting advertisers, started a few days ago, to have the section removed. Luckily, News Corp.'s MySpace is there in a jam. [MP]
Like so many third grade teachers before it, BET’s attempt to make reading seem cool has failed. Sort of. The television channel’s literacy campaign, which features a dancing cartoon woman with “book” written across her ass, has caused some debate for promoting black stereotypes and using the word that NAACP "retired" this year. With 25 percent of adults not having read a single book last year, the refrain could have just easily been, “cracker, read a book.” As for the video itself, there are no words. Maybe we should read more. Unedited clip after the jump.
To make up for BET's degradation of black culture. [Stereohyped]
BET renames Hot Ghetto Mess – a show supposedly about "social commentary," but was said to achieve little more than black people exhibiting black stereotypes – to We Got To Do Better, which sends a more positive message. To advertisers. [Stereohyped]
Summer time, and the living's easy. The days are longer, the sunny afternoons are best spent frequenting outdoor cafes, admiring the cherry blossoms and sipping on ice cold lemonade (vodka mixer optional) while the evenings are perfect for impromptu games of hopscotch and leisurely strolls through Central Park.
But what to do when you're a giant-haired rabble rouser in search of racial injustice? Why, strike up a random argument with TMZ over their characterization of Beyonce's fugly chainmail ensemble!
In fact, that's exactly what Al Sharpton has done! More specifically, for lack of anything more important to protest, the self-proclaimed social activist has written TMZ a scathing letter over their (obviously racist!) assertion that Beyonce's award show duds made her look like a "roboho."
Fortunately for, well, society, TMZ has responded the only way they know how: by denying any/all wrongdoing and invoking the patented "Joan Rivers" defense.
• It pains us to think how awkward it's going to be when someone tells Heather Mills she's not important enough to have stalkers. [Page Six]
• The BET Awards are so B-List, even Jamie Foxx wins. [AP]
• Brandon Flowers is one to talk … like he's the prototype of good old masculine rock-n-roll. The guy wears more eye make-up than RuPaul! [NME]
• Though we'll miss the absolute randomness of Michael Jackson living Bahrain, France is still better than here. [R&M]
• Axl Rose is back on the streets. So, uh, be careful of leaving your ankles exposed. [MTV]
• Book your table at 40/40 now … the BET nominees have been announced. [BET]
• Lindsay Lohan perpetuates her increasingly growing reputation as a fighter. It's one thing when we make fun of La Lo, but when other celebs do it, it's just annoying. [Egotastic]
• How cute. Check out these little paparazzi in the making. They're like 9 and they make more money than you. [LAT]
• Despite uncommon belief and unpopular "rumors" Jennifer Lopez going from J Lo to Grey Lo has nothing to do with her fake pregnancy. [Us Weekly]
• Though they're enemies, Mariah Carey keeps Christina Aguilara in her prayers. While Xtina's friends freak on her couch and pee on her rug. [Page Six]
• Google erases the entire Meatpacking District. And just before the Maxim 100 party at Buddah Bar, too. [Gawker]
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