Russell Mulcahy is best known for directing
Highlander (as well as its...
less-popular...sequel) and is currently doing a
Teen Wolf series for MTV. But speaking of MTV, he got his start doing music videos. A
lot of music videos. In fact, if you remember a video from the early days of MTV, it's probably one of Mulcahy's.
[more inside]
posted by Legomancer
on May 14, 2012 -
33 comments
Two and a half years ago, we explored
the early history of Cartoon Network... but it wasn't the only player in the youth television game.
As a matter of fact,
Fred Seibert -- the man responsible for the most inventive projects discussed in that post -- first stretched his creative legs at the network's
truly venerable forerunner:
Nickelodeon.
Founded as Pinwheel, a six-hour block on Warner Cable's innovative
QUBE system, this humble channel struggled for years before Seibert's innovative branding work transformed it into a national icon and capstone of a media empire.
Much has changed since then, from the mascots and game shows to
the versatile orange "splat." But starting tonight in response to popular demand, the network is
looking back with
a summer programming block dedicated to the greatest hits of the 1990s, including
Hey Arnold!, Rocko's Modern Life, The Adventures of Pete & Pete, The Ren & Stimpy Show, Double Dare, Are You Afraid of the Dark?, Legends of the Hidden Temple, and
All That.
To celebrate, look inside for the complete story of the early days of the network that incensed the religious right, brought doo-wop to television, and slimed a million fans -- the golden age of Nickelodeon.
(warning: monster post inside) [more inside]
posted by Rhaomi
on Jul 25, 2011 -
116 comments
In 1999, MTV aired 25 Lame, a show where retired 25 of their worst and most overplayed videos. Rob Van Winkle (aka Vanilla Ice) showed up to help them retire the video for "Ice Ice Baby." The result -
violence, hilarity, and broken mannequins (video, 30-second ad shows before video). Apparently unplanned,
nobody knows for sure if this outburst was the product of genuine anger, or if he was just playing around. An
unedited version (YouTube, lower quality) leads me to think that it was the former.
posted by Afroblanco
on Feb 1, 2007 -
33 comments
I want my MTV. MTV is now mostly reality, titillation TV, rarely showing music videos anymore. YouTube fills the void somewhat, but sometimes you want to just sit back and let someone else take care of the programming. MusicPlusTV is sort of like the old MTV, but they stream to your computer instead of to your TV.
posted by caddis
on Dec 15, 2006 -
23 comments
MTV turns 25 today. Music Television, otherwise known as
MTV, was launched with its first broadcast on 1 August 1981, 25 years ago today. Famously, the first video broadcast was
the Buggles' "Video Killed the Radio Star." Ironically, MTV evidently isn't going to acknowledge its anniversary on-air in any way, with a spokeswoman saying that "We made the decision when MTV was founded to always stay young and evolve with our audience. To do that, it has been important to serve our audience at that moment, not our audience of yesterday." This is about par for the course, though, since when was the last time that MTV actually
broadcast music videos? A broader question: does anybody who wasn't weaned on MTV (or anybody who was, for that matter)
care anymore?
posted by blucevalo
on Aug 1, 2006 -
121 comments
Madonna's being sued for stealing images from Guy Boudin's photography and using them in her Hollywood video.
Here are side by sides. When does imitation/homage become theft? And who gets to decide? Should she have been sued for using
this image in her vogue video?
posted by archimago
on Sep 30, 2003 -
86 comments
