BET (Black Entertainment Television) (how much, TLC, shows, mtv)

[MrMcCoySays]

Let's remember that there are a lot of people, young and old, from all walks of life that like BET's reality shows. It's not as if there's no audience for these programs.

There are a lot of people who can relate to Tiny&Toya, or keyshia cole, or the kids on college hill. And they like seeing people like themselves on television.

[natalayjones]

Originally Posted by twista6002

Used to like it until they went the MTV route and started showing lame and overdramatized reality shows. I miss 2 hours of The Basement with Big Tigger

And they don't even bother showing "Uncut" anymore WTF?

Because all the stuff that used to come on Uncut comes on during the daytime now. While I don't think any of the videos are as graphic as Tip Drill they are pretty close

[Shizzles]

Ignorance is rife in our society, so don't think it's just blacks being targeted. Tune into MTV sometime and watch white girls debase themselves just as bad and white guys act like d-bags. And now that MTV has a latino channel, I guarentee that'll be just as bad in a few years too.

I do sometimes watch BET, I must admit, since sometimes they do play good videos. VH1 Soul is better thou. And alot of this "bashing" is trying to hide the fact that too many people like this crap.

Also, alot of BET's audience is white kids. I can't tell you how warm n' fuzzy it is too go to a suburban HS and see kids walking around like it's a set of "The Wire". It's like watching a blackface show, and what's worse, is for some lame reason, the black kids tolerate and egg on such mockery. Can someone explain that to me?

[natalayjones]

Originally Posted by MrMcCoySays

There are a lot of people who can relate to Tiny&Toya, or keyshia cole, or the kids on college hill. And they like seeing people like themselves on television.

That's one of the things I dislike about them. When they first started it was to combat the lack and/or misrepresentation of black people on other networks. Keisha Coles show as a hot mess. Yes, there are a lot of people who can relate to her but I'd rather them show more positive aspects of her life than the nonsense that is her family. I remember one episode where Neffie was doing splits in the club and the announced she wasn't wearing no panties - I don't know anybody who would want to relate to that.

It seems like the message of that show was "yeah we might have some money but deep down we still act ignorant and ghetto"

[MrMcCoySays]

Originally Posted by natalayjones

That's one of the things I dislike about them. When they first started it was to combat the lack and/or misrepresentation of black people on other networks. Keisha Coles show as a hot mess. Yes, there are a lot of people who can relate to her but I'd rather them show more positive aspects of her life than the nonsense that is her family. I remember one episode where Neffie was doing splits in the club and the announced she wasn't wearing no panties - I don't know anybody who would want to relate to that.

It seems like the message of that show was "yeah we might have some money but deep down we still act ignorant and ghetto"

You said it yourself: YOU dont know anybody that would relate to that, but believe it or not there are plenty of folks who do and that show is FOR THEM.

What about the episodes showing her mother "ministering" to battered and drug abusing women. Or the episodes with keyshia and her sister mentoring young girls. If BET was really trying to embarass black folk, as many claim, they wouldnt have put those segments in there.

So what her sister was doing splits in the club with no drawers on. that's who she is. It's a REALITY show. Why should BET only show educated and classy blacks when all of us don't act that way?

Are we really that worried about what white folks think about us??

[natalayjones]

Originally Posted by MrMcCoySays

You said it yourself: YOU dont know anybody that would relate to that, but believe it or not there are plenty of folks who do and that show is FOR THEM.

What about the episodes showing her mother "ministering" to battered and drug abusing women. Or the episodes with keyshia and her sister mentoring young girls. If BET was really trying to embarass black folk, as many claim, they wouldnt have put those segments in there.

So what her sister was doing splits in the club with no drawers on. that's who she is. It's a REALITY show. Why should BET only show educated and classy blacks when all of us don't act that way?

Are we really that worried about what white folks think about us??

You're missing my point- they complained about how VH1 showed black girls acting a fool on Flavor of Love but isn't that pretty much the same thing? Why does BET cater to uneducated and classless blacks when all of us don't act that way?

Nobody said anything about being worried about white folks so I don't even know why you took it there.

[ATLater]

I think debra lee needs to step down. in her hands BET seems to be detriorating at an alarming rate. Its not all bad but I think the target audience changed. It was probably orginally aimed at the 18-25 crowd, because they had shows like teen summit and when Hits from the streets was on he was always at a college somewhere but over the years i think they've gone for younger audience and a 14 year old is entertained by foolishness whereas a 22 year old might not be. Although they've been going downhill for years now I think a real sign was when they ditched free n aj.

my main grievance with bet is they don't seem to do anything orignal anymore all their shows are rip-offs of other shows

How I'm Livin-Cribs
College Hill - Real World
106 & Park-TRL
Baldwin Hills/Harlem Heights-The Hills
Access Granted-Making The Video
Sunday Best - American Idol


and then they always pick up shows after they are successful somewhere else like girlfriends, the game, steve harvey, run's house, etc. I don't know why they don't have their own shows rather than buy shows after they've gone in sindication.

i expect some changes soon though because a lot of people - people with power and money - were upset over the lil wayne performace

If tvone was on basic cable BET would be in trouble

[MrMcCoySays]

Originally Posted by natalayjones

You're missing my point- they complained about how VH1 showed black girls acting a fool on Flavor of Love but isn't that pretty much the same thing? Why does BET cater to uneducated and classless blacks when all of us don't act that way?

I believe BET has something for everyone. Again, the majority of their Sunday programming seems to be targeted towards mature adults. There's also BETJ.

while I don't enjoy the channel the way I used to, I don't think they're getting worse. The cancellation of Uncut showed that they were trying to change their image What theyre doing now is jumping on the reality show bandwagon. You see people acting ignorant and silly on every channel. It's not a race thing. It's a reality show thing.

The only complaints you heard about BET before they added reality programming into their lineup was the music videos.

The problem I have with BET today is that theyve lost their creative spirit. I miss the days when it used to be BLACK entertainment television. Nowadays its just a brown-skinned MTV.

Nobody said anything about being worried about white folks so I don't even know why you took it there.

Well if not white folks then who are worried about getting the wrong impression of us?

[natalayjones]

Originally Posted by MrMcCoySays

I believe BET has something for everyone. Again, the majority of their Sunday programming seems to be targeted towards mature adults. There's also BETJ.

BETJ is only on digital cable and the Sunday programming is limited to Sunday mornings when most people who would watch it are at church. What gets me about their Sunday programming is that as soon as it goes off they show State Property...who does their programming?

Originally Posted by MrMcCoySays

while I don't enjoy the channel the way I used to, I don't think they're getting worse. The cancellation of Uncut showed that they were trying to change their image

I think canceling Uncut only hurt less known rappers with low budgets. They claimed they canceled it due to degrading images of women and bad lyrics but that's just about every rap video on BET right now. They just canceled it to pacify people.

What theyre doing now is jumping on the reality show bandwagon. You see people acting ignorant and silly on every channel. It's not a race thing. It's a reality show thing.

That's my point exactly - they are sooo critical of every other station doing it but yet it's okay when they do it? That's basically saying "it's racist for VH1 to degrade black women but it's okay when we do it because we are black women"

The problem I have with BET today is that theyve lost their creative spirit. I miss the days when it used to be BLACK entertainment television. Nowadays its just a brown-skinned MTV.

I agree with you there - I miss Comic View even though toward the end it wasn't as funny. I miss Teen Summit too although I was too young when it was on to really appreciate it.

I don't know it just seems that when I was growing up BET was a celebration of all things black; music, movies, television shows, fashion, news, etc now it just seems to be a celebration of all things stupid. The hosts on the original shows were always well-spoken and articulate - I can't remember what I was watching with my niece but the hostess of the show said the word "Tooken" not once, but twice. I had to check with my niece to make sure she knew that "tooken" was not a real word.

Originally Posted by MrMcCoySays

Well if not white folks then who are worried about getting the wrong impression of us?

I'm actually more concerned with black youth than anything else - I was a teacher for a short time and it seems like some of those kids just plug into BET and whatever they see they let it flow right out of their mouths. Now of course I blame that on lack of parenting but still, if we're going to put something out there for our youth to watch does it have to be negative? That would mean that we think that if it's not a bunch of sex, drugs, violence and dancing - kids aren't going to relate.

[MrMcCoySays]

Originally Posted by natalayjones

BETJ is only on digital cable and the Sunday programming is limited to Sunday mornings when most people who would watch it are at church. What gets me about their Sunday programming is that as soon as it goes off they show State Property...who does their programming?

I think canceling Uncut only hurt less known rappers with low budgets. They claimed they canceled it due to degrading images of women and bad lyrics but that's just about every rap video on BET right now. They just canceled it to pacify people.

That's my point exactly - they are sooo critical of every other station doing it but yet it's okay when they do it? That's basically saying "it's racist for VH1 to degrade black women but it's okay when we do it because we are black women"

I agree with you there - I miss Comic View even though toward the end it wasn't as funny. I miss Teen Summit too although I was too young when it was on to really appreciate it.

I don't know it just seems that when I was growing up BET was a celebration of all things black; music, movies, television shows, fashion, news, etc now it just seems to be a celebration of all things stupid. The hosts on the original shows were always well-spoken and articulate - I can't remember what I was watching with my niece but the hostess of the show said the word "Tooken" not once, but twice. I had to check with my niece to make sure she knew that "tooken" was not a real word.



I'm actually more concerned with black youth than anything else - I was a teacher for a short time and it seems like some of those kids just plug into BET and whatever they see they let it flow right out of their mouths. Now of course I blame that on lack of parenting but still, if we're going to put something out there for our youth to watch does it have to be negative? That would mean that we think that if it's not a bunch of sex, drugs, violence and dancing - kids aren't going to relate.

You make real good points.