Comcast is buying shopping newsletter DailyCandy for $125 million, which is either a sign that old media is finally "getting it," or that old media can still be convinced to buy things at inflated prices. But in case you needed another signal that old media actually does not get it, look no further than VH1's new blog Scandalist, which launched this week. Not only did its namers take a cue from Web 1.0 (see: Gothamist), but the nature of the site — celebrities, involved in scandals, oooh! — represents a three-years-too-late attempt to join the fray of celeb blog gossip with an insta-tired brand and exactly nothing new to bring to the table, except some traffic dumping from VH1's homepage (which is how AOL drives traffic to any of its dozens of un-read weblogs). Also: It's a lesson VH1 should've already learned.

VH1's play at celeb gossip is nothing new. In January 2007, they brought on tabloid veteran David Caplan (formerly of Star, now at People) to launch PageSizzler.com, an equally poorly named website that struggled, and ultimately failed, to build an audience. It was renamed 24/Sizzler — and no longer exists. (Visitor are directed to Best Week Ever's website.)

But VH1 parent Viacom is intent on launching an enormous cache of websites devoted to every topic imaginable, even if no single site draws significant visitor traffic. And without the humor of, say, BestWeekEver.TV, none of them will.

The sites will be tied together under the umbrella of Flux, the user management and social networking platform MTV rolled out last year. They hoped other websites would implement Flux instead of using their own in-house registration, effectively turning over control of their own readers to a corporate giant (not smart). Few websites joined the initiative, and several that did have already ditched Flux.

And as if those problems weren't enough to keep VH1 from trying new things destined to fail, perhaps the understanding that corporate synergy can work as much for you as against you will.

VH1 is just one property of Viacom, the media giant that also controls MTV, Comedy Central, BET, Logo, and Nickelodeon. On the one hand, that's a lot of leverage to promote a new website. On the other hand, that's a lot of property management to be concerned about when the business model for much of your portfolio is hinged on celebrities — and you're launched a website to talk trash about them.

Here's on example: Scandalist's post from yesterday titled "The Jonas Brothers Are Virginal Douchebags." Were this post written about Paris Hilton, perhaps, everyone could've had a good (already passe) laugh at the heiress' expense.

But the Jonas Brothers are a cash machine for Disney, and a brand whose innocence they are intent on protecting. Don't believe us? See: Miley Cyrus. While it's unlikely a single blog post is going to reach a Disney exec who will become so upset with VH1 targeting his trio of tween heartthrobs that he'll pull the Jonas Brothers from, say, appearing at the MTV Movie Awards — that little awards show-slash-commercial put on by VH1's corporate cousin — it's also quite plausible that protecting the interests of VH1's parent company will weigh heavier than a snarky blog editor's interest in elbowing the Jonas Brothers, or any celebrity they'll need access to in the future.

It's too bad, too, because at least one person writing for Scandalist is Rich Juzwiak, the hilarious voice behind the blog FourFour. We wish he and his celebrity gossip cohorts there well. But our desires don't control the universe.