Consider this your official warning, eyeballs and eardrums everywhere: BET founder Bob Johnson may be returning to the programming biz.
That’s right. The man who ushered in the outrageously offensive “BET, Uncut” is teaming with ION Media Networks for a new project called Urban Television, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
The channel will be a mostly online initiative aimed at black, Latino, gay and other minority communities, according to the Reporter, which quoted Johnson as saying: “The intent is to do something really innovative and not duplicate what I did at BET.”
He’s not the only one who doesn’t want a duplication of BET.
Though the network initially brought much-needed diversity with stellar BET shows, it soon poisoned the pop culture airwaves with hours of cash-throwing, stripper-pole filled music videos and cornball comedy programs. Even after Johnson sold the network to Viacom in 2000, it never recovered reputation-wise.
Today, BET is known more as a punch line than a pioneer.
That’s why Johnson has no business in broadcast of any form anymore, but he isn’t the only public figure who should steer clear of certain things.
T-Pain, step away from the Auto-Tune
I’ll admit to chanting along with “Chopped and Screwed” featuring Ludacris. I will even cop to bouncing to “Buy U a Drank.” T-Pain, the ringmaster rapper-and-singer, has an undeniable talent for catchy hooks and cameos with credible artists.
But now that he has proven his prowess and even hosted the most recent BET Awards, it’s safe for him to abandon that Auto-Tune effect. Every time I turn on the radio and hear one of his (or his many imitators’) songs, it’s like being serenaded by Shockwave from “Transformers.”
Rosie O’Donnell, let’s air a finale to your feuds
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Ratings reality hit Rosie O’Donnell’s variety show. “Rosie Live,” which aired on Thanksgiving Eve, scored a scoff-worthy 5 million pairs of eyeballs and ranked 81 in Nielsen’s weekly prime-time rankings, according to the Associated Press. Not surprisingly, NBC threw dirt on dreams for a future “Rosie” run, the AP reported on Tuesday.
If only the death of O’Donnell’s feuds could be so quick.
O’Donnell seemingly centered pre-show press on insulting her former boss, Barbara Walters, culminating with a caustic video blog entry and other less-than-subtle snipes during a “Late Night with Conan O’Brien” appearance.
Before that brouhaha, O’Donnell was knee-deep in a never-ending war of words with Donald Trump.
So what if Trump is a poorly coiffed windbag and Walters wasn’t exactly her best boss ever? O’Donnell shouldn’t immerse herself in so much showbiz beef. Nowadays, her ire reflects more on herself than her feud-mates. She’s on the cusp of becoming the talk-show equivalent of known fight-starter 50 Cent.
Maybe if O’Donnell focused as much on her career as she does on famous-on-famous feuds, she could launch a project that lasts longer than the “Hot Topics” segment on “The View.”