Khan

On the one hand, you could say it was due to Viacom's takeover, but I think the real explanation goes much deeper. In BET's case, I think the trend away from airing music videos had a lot to do with the criticisms levied against the network by many, prominent African-Americans regarding the kinds of videos that they were airing. When they would still air videos from rap and hip-hop artists (and remember, not all the videos produced during that period passed BET's "smell test"), they were edited and/or censored heavily, or allowed to run during off-peak (meaning, late night) hours. However, even after being edited and censored and pushed off prime time, what made it to air often left a bitter taste in viewers' mouths, especially where the depiction of African-Americans, and African-American women in particular, were concerned. I mean, it's a little tricky for a network that's geared ostensibly toward celebrating our best Blackness, as well as being a voice for a market that has been marginalized elsewhere, now to run videos that feature young, undereducated Black men flashing more cheap gold than Junebug Slade, and being flanked by jiggly "hoochie mamas" showing entirely too much titty and ass. (I hated it when Taylor Swift took her cheap, easy shots at those aspects of our music videos in her own video for "Shake It Off," but damn if she wasn't right.) Simply put, I think BET "walked away from music," or from music videos, because what we had been putting out there was not us at our best. Plus, BET has always catered to "urban" audiences...but not necessarily to non-affluent "urban" audiences, which is probably the biggest market today for "urban" music. Don't get me wrong, I still love me some Donnie Simpson and "Video Soul." But, to me, BET always gave off a strong "bougie vibe," and an old vibe -- and that was before I knew that it was founded by the same family who founded Ebony and Jet magazines, practically the African-American guides to bougie living. Even now, when I do watch BET for stuff like the BET Awards, I get the sense that they'd be much happier running Anita Baker videos 24/7. Remember when MTV believed that grunge was a real revolution, and that Kurt Cobain was its messiah? I don't want to minimize Cobain's importance to his generation, but it really shows to go how desperate MTV was to stave off the coming of hip-hop.

Yep. That disregard was practically built into the network's conception. Cable TV was on the rise, so MTV set out from the start to cater to viewers who were younger, less affluent, and most decidedly midwestern and white. Their attitude was that those youths weren't living in places that had a plethora of ways with which to occupy their time (like teens living in major cities such as NYC, L.A., and even Chicago did), so they were the perfect, captive audience for an all-music video channel. Why else would they eventually do Spring Break and summer remotes from places like Daytona and Ft. Lauderdale? To the average MTV viewer of the day, that was closest they were ever getting to the beach. MTV never wanted to acknowledge any African-American-influenced genre, because, in their minds, their target audience (again, white kids from "flyover country") weren't interested. Therefore, I don't think it was just a coincidence that MTV ceased being a music network once rap, "gangsta rap," hip-hop, and all the affiliated sub-genres became mainstream. They didn't understand it, didn't know what to do with it, and frankly, didn't care for it at all. Frankly, it'll be hard for any awards show (or other show) to do an Aretha tribute, because she was so inimitable.

I've said the same about MTV's attitude toward rap and hip-hop in general. The network did not want to acknowledge those burgeoning musical genres until it had to; and even when it did, it did so in the most sanitized, "user-friendly" way possible with crap like "Yo! MTV Raps!".

"In the Heat of the Night" must be one of the cheapest shows to purchase. It really gets around.

Paul Raven meant Robert Getz.

I think it was Bunim's attempt to emulate Y&R's lighting, which was similarly shadowy.

Well, I'd have to agree with her. Autotune IS ridiculous. And it will never cover up the fact that yo' ass Can't. Sang.

It's always great to see my long-standing crush, Philip Brown (Steve Kendall).

Well, that's what happens when you come for the Queen. Oh, for real? Well, color ME surprised!

Ben Sasse: "Please, oh please, let there be tapes." Khan: "Please, oh please, kiss my ass."

Meanwhile, from the White House.... *crickets*

I can see that movie poster now... "All hail the Queen. RESPECT Thanksgiving 2020"

Wow, that's mine as well! Here's another great one (in a catalog that is simply unstoppable): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywKNWhxUkco

TRUTH. It surprised me as well. I'm not even entirely sure if he MEANT it. But I'm glad someone said it. It's like what I was telling someone not too long ago: I'd rather run for office and lose on the truth, then run and win on a lie. And that the reason why I WON'T run for office EVER is because I just can't compromise what I believe in for the sake of a few, lousy votes. As Katie told Hubbell in "The Way We Were," people ARE their principles. My principles and my beliefs are not for sale.

Three months in four years? Even PASSIONS wasn't that slow!

I always remember what @marceline said on here a long time ago: "Well, [Bernie needs to stop 'working for me'] before someone burns a cross on my lawn!"

From what I understand, Mr. Peepers' wedding was like the equivalent of Joe and Rhoda's wedding. It was a HUGE event that people stayed home to watch. I had no idea she appeared on ATWT, though. RIP.

ICAM.

LOL! He sure does LOOK like John Gibson. And I know his IMDb profile says he was on OLTL in '83. But I can't be sure.

"Guess who's getting married, Madge?" "Somebody asked for this hand?" Why, you catty b***h!

What else can you say? Hate breeds only more hate. I wonder how involved the right and far right are in these allegations against Keith Ellison. It seems like they've been working hard lately -- practically since the beginning of the #MeToo movement -- to target those on the left for bad behavior. Unfortunately, the left isn't finished yet with playing the victim to realize what the other side is actually doing.

Wasn't Hal Short part of some drug-smuggling plot? Something to do with drugs being passed off as laundry soap, I think? I always thought the "laundry soap twist" was fiendishly clever, lol.

And that's really sad when you think about how she was when she first arrived. But I guess that was an issue for TD: no matter who was HW'ing at the moment, they never seemed to know what to do with a character who wasn't nucking futs.

Is that a music video or a screen saver set to music? I wish Cher would release an all-new album of pop standards someday. Just her royal Cherness and an orchestra, or maybe a small jazz combo, singing a bunch of tried-and-true songs about love lost, love found, and love denied. Call me crazy, but I think she would kill it.