VH1 - has it changed, or have we?

recently, as in a couple of weeks ago, i was having a conversation with a friend of mine, and as it often does, it got to television; most specifically vh1, and we got to talking about their broadcasting now vs. the broadcasting back in oh, say 1991, when at any given time you'd never have to wait more than 36 minutes to see the video for "everything i do, i do for you" by brian adams; the mediocre love song from the mediocre robin hood movie starring kevin costner and christian slater.* specifically, we talked about how much mtv and vh1 we watched back then vs. now.

now, as 1991 has become 2008, both channels have abandoned music videos almost entirely and have moved on to train wreck reality programming, and if you're looking for intellectually stimulating television, you're not watching either of these networks. my friend, who is 26, and i, the wise 32 year old sage that i am, turn our brains off for "rock of love" more often than we do for "the real world: tanzania (or wherever they shoot that show now.)" compare that to 1991, when we both spent a lot more time with kennedy and dave kendall than whoever the hell was on vh1 at that time (i think they just had mtv retreads, but i'm not sure.)

now here's where the conversation gets interesting...my friend, and to protect her identity i won't tell you her name but i will tell you it is definitely not maria, is pretty insistent that she watches vh1 more than mtv now because while vh1 is at least watchable, mtv has crossed the line and has become unwatchable. to distill her opinion down to its essence, vh1 has changed for the better and mtv has changed for the worse (i know i probably should have just said that first...)

without getting into a debate on the merits of mtv vs. vh1, i think the reason that my friend (who is not named maria) and i watch vh1 more often than mtv is a reason bigger than just the fact that mtv stopped showing "the state" and "headbangers ball" and swapped them out for "parental control" and "true life." while both have changed, i believe that the root of the issue is that so have we. in a moment that made me feel just a little bit older than i did before, i realized that while neither of us are in mtv's target demographic anymore (and i haven't been for quite some time) we have slid right into vh1's wheelhouse. also, i have a hunch if we could talk to the programming directors for both networks, i'd bet you a case of pbr that they'd agree with me.

so i guess the question is, who's right? i admit that my writing is biased towards my opinion (because, well, it is my opinion,) but think about it; has vh1 changed for the better, or have we just become the target audience? talk amongst yourselves; i'm going to go get a good look at the back of my eyelids...


*bonus points for that song because for years after, teenagers awkwardly slow danced to it in high school gyms everywhere for about 5 years. it just might have been a more popular song to awkwardly slow dance to than "close my eyes forever," by ozzy and lita ford, but that's up for debate. maybe i'll do a blog about awkward slow dancing songs sometime in the future....also, i'm not sure when robin hood, prince of thieves actually came out, so please don't be a smarmy knowitall if that movie didn't come out until 92 or 93; i know i could have looked it up on imdb.com; i just didn't feel like it..