Yet the king of VH1 "reality" programming will be back. But sadly this time there will not be a slew of morally corrupt, attention starved, stereotypical women or men on the program. That's right, instead of highlighting grown adults (particularly of color I'm sad to say) acting like complete fools for 15 minutes of fame the show will instead highlight kids in high school - likely also acting like fools hoping to gain 15 minutes of fame.
Of course the program is not focused on presenting the kids as buffoons. That's just the general way that people on reality programming wind up being portrayed. The goal is
"I just want to show the world it's never too late to get your diploma, and show kids they should stay in school and not wait until you're old to get it," Flav said. "Everybody sees me as this big love mogul. Now I got a baby girl, I've been there and done that and now it's time for the next episode."
Don't get me wrong, I commend most things that seek to highlight the importance of education. I want to emphasize that knowledge is the key to improving your life. But I neither believe nor trust Flava Flav, Sumner Redstone, and Viacom in getting that message out.
If this were an attempt to seriously promote education, especially to children of color, why is this not being presented on BET (which Viacom owns and Sumner Redstone controls)? If this were only about a positive message why not put it on broadcast television in primetime - because even with the lower viewership of broadcast TV it would still be available to a larger audience than VH1 will get.
Do I trust Viacom? Why should I. They took BET and removed all of its best features. They promoted the worst of music videos, of insanely stupid programming (remember Hot Ghetto Mess was their surefire hit idea), of the very least worth of movies (unless you think Soul Plane was unfairly overlooked by the Oscars). Viacom promoted Flava of Love at VH1, for multiple seasons, and then spun off even more brain-numbing spin-offs of the program. And let's not forget the decade+ long exclusion of music videos featuring African American entertainers - except Michael Jackson - at MTV.
As for Flava Flav, he has sold out in the worst way. Many younger readers may be completely unaware of how Flav got to become a celebrity. They likely have no idea what his enourmous clock is meant to represent.
Flav was a member of Public Enemy, a rap group that existed before gangsta rap was promoted as the only form of rap by music executives. Back when rap music was diversified, and positive political messages were empowering listeners - back when the music industry was calling rap a fad - Public Enemy was huge.
The rap group was controversial, but overall spread a message of empowerment and power of the people. They were political in a way similar to Malcolm X as compared to Dr. Martin Luther King. And at that time, the clock was meant to signify that time was running out. That people of color has to wake up and realize that they were becoming pawns in the political and societal goals of people that didn't care about issues in our communities.
Flav has gone a long way since those days. From protesting the minstrel show, to hosting it.
So given these facts about the key people involved in this "reality" program, do I think anyone will realize that Flava Flav is trying to promote education? I doubt it. But it does give me one more program, timeslot, and channel I don't have to consider in my choices of entertainment.
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