Fuse, the little music-video channel that's taken quite a few (sometimes misguided) steps toward banking on music-related programming over the past year, has snatched the next three years' worth of television rights to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony from VH1 Classic.
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MTV also-ran Fuse is taking its commitment to bringing music back to television very seriously, as evidenced by the series it has in the can for the coming months. First, we have the imminently debuting You Rock, Let's Roll (that Dating Game for musicians and groupies) and The Weekly Riff (which sounds supiciously like an updated Four On The Floor). But what of Fuse's fall programming strategy? Are you ready for Intervention... with musicians as the subjects? How about a music-centric No Reservations that, sadly, has no Anthony Bourdain (or Jon Spencer)? Or an updated version of Queen For A Day... only with a "major record deal" as a prize?
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Fuse and the Boston Phoenix have coincidentally come up with similar ways to celebrate Independence Day. The Phoenix has named the best band, best solo artist, and best new band from each of the 50 United States, while Fuse is having viewers decide which of two modern acts should represent each state for an All-American Face-Off. The Phoenix is going for bands that exemplify both the "all-time greatest" and ultrahip, so their choices rarely coincide with Fuse's. For instance, while the Boston alt-weekly praises Alabama's Hank Williams, Louvin Brothers, and Wild Sweet Orange, Fuse sticks with Ruben Studdard and Taylor Hicks. What about Massachussetts' own The Pixies and Jonathan Richman, Fuse? No thanks, they've got Rob Zombie and Staind. But there are a few cases where the two sides agree on the best artists (if not always said artists' home states), and we'd like to celebrate those moments of consensus.
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Avis to MTV's music-related-television Hertz Fuse is trying to move beyond the emo demo—and into the exciting world inhabited by people between the ages of 18 and 34—and it's trying to do so by putting music back in the spotlight, pitching itself as a "curator" of sorts for people on the lookout for new sounds. Why the channel would decide to use this particular moment in time to use music pedantry as a way to attract audiences is something of a mystery, but then again, this statement of purpose represents something of a step forward for a channel whose music content very recently consisted largely of a ton of top ten countdowns that had arbitrary lines drawn between them (I still will never figure out what constitutes a "guilty pleasure" in the mind of the channel), a relative lack of bleeps compared to its main competitor, and a rock-oriented show that tried to play up its lack of a title as a selling point.
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Music television also-ran Fuse is taking my advice and stepping up its live-musical-event game; it's planning six hours of programming to the Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival next month, for those of you who aren't in the mood to travel all the way to Tennessee for the express purpose of seeing Pearl Jam, Metallica, and Jack MFing Johnson. I'm just hoping that the network's plan of interviews, live performances, and other coverage somehow involves enticing Lez-not-Led Zeppelin into their media tent, since that's my favorite story to emerge from the festival so far. [AP]
What was that discussion we were having yesterday about music videos being a profit sink for cable channels? I guess the higher-ups at Fuse, the Cablevision-run music network that's been slipping further down the "incoherent programming" slope every day, have been engaging in similar discussions in their overdecorated offices, since a casting call for a "dating game show" went out from the network earlier this week. Unlike the vapid surfer-bunny types who populate Next and Parental Control, though, Fuse is keeping it real by making this game show sort of about musicians, music trivia, and "people who love musicians" who can also name at least one member of the Beatles! (Reading the casting notice makes me think that first names only are probably OK.) Details after the jump.
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As part of Idolator's continuing effort to geekily analyze every music chart known to man, we present a new edition of Project X, in which Idolator Critics' Poll editor Michaelangelo Matos breaks down rankings from every genre imaginable. In this installment, he tries to sort the factual errors from the intentional comedy from the plan ol' batshit as he subjects himself to the Fuse show 10 Great Reasons, where a zoologist, a cheereader, a TV chef, and Carnie Wilson all have plenty to say about girl/boy bands. Even if little of it is coherent.
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Billboard is reporting that two of my personal least favorite companies, Ticketmaster and Cablevision—the latter of which counts Madison Square Garden and the MTV-in-Pull-Ups network Fuse among its holdings—are on the verge of collectively acquiring a 49% stake in AEG Live, the second-largest concert promoter in the United States. (AEG's tours—which included Hannah Montana and Bon Jovi—took in $742 million last year, according to Billboard; the ever-expanding Live Nation was in the pole position.) According to sources, Fuse is in fact a key part of the deal, and the channel will be aggressively rebranded so that it can show the world that "AEG Live [is] a company now armed with a large media component and the world's largest ticketing company in Ticketmaster." But don't change that dial just yet! That MBA mumbo-jumbo just means that you'll probably be able to watch more live broadcasts of AEG Live-booked shows that just happen to be taking place at Fuse's neighbor across the street, Madison Square Garden—not to mention festivals like Coachella and All Points West, which AEG also has a hand in booking. And wait, there's more!
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What is going on at the "we play music videos, no really" network Fuse? First, they start airing reruns of shows produced by sibling networks We and IFC and devoting Saturday mornings to showings of Wonder Boys. Now, judging by the headline of this press release, it seems like they're starting to give up on their core demo of emo kids: "Fuse Premieres Where Music Meets FilmTM: Live From the ZonePerfect Bar' on February 4, 2008 at 7pm ET / One-Hour TV Special Features Josh Groban, Michelle Branch, Tyler Hilton, Jason Mraz and Others..." Oprah's favorite holiday crooner and a dude who guests on One Tree Hill from time to time? What's at work here—budget cuts (which would explain the reruns) or an overall refocusing? Or both? [MarketWire]
MTV's ratings are finally posting year-over-year gains, thanks to people actually deluding themselves into thinking that Tila Tequila is a) "bisexual" and b) someone worth paying attention to. The channel's "less music, more boobs" strategy is now being adapted by Fuse, although in a very weird way; this weekend, the channel's programming included a screening of Wonder Boys. Don't get me wrong—it's a fine film (it even manages to render Michael Douglas tolerable!), but huh? [NYP]
Now airing on Fuse: Fastest Fingers, in which viewers are encouraged to be the first to text sentences like "Must marriage mean mainly making messes matter more?" into a central server, and if they're victorious they ... win points? Have really sore thumbs? It's unclear, although I'm sure some enterprising emo band out there is already working to incorporate as many of the show's finger-twisting catchphrases into its lyrics as it possibly can. (Think of the cross-endorsement opportunities!) [Fuse]
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