I Want My VBS.TV
When I was in Nicaragua last summer I was watching MTV Central America and a really amazing program came on called VBS.TV. The episode I saw had a segment called “Toxic Brooklyn” and another called “Toxic Alberta” (above) that described in great detail how polluted and messed up these celebrated places are. It didn’t take me too long to figure out that the show was produced by Vice magazine. Their trademark biting sense of humor was there, but the message—at least the one they syndicated—was deeper than their printed “Dos and Don’ts” style critiques (not that those aren’t a hoot…).
The reporting was thoughtful, sharp, challenging and funny. I made a note to start watching the program on MTV in the States. When I got home, I discovered that VBS.TV isn’t syndicated in on US television. It turns out that although MTV is involved with producing the channel, which exists at www.vbs.tv, they haven’t found the programming suitable for North American audiences. Another head-scratcher: Why aren’t the countries that would actually benefit most from these programs being given the chance to see them on the boob toob? Their tagline pretty much says it all: “Rescuing you from television’s death like grip.”
The icing on the cake came last month when I found out that Tyler from my favorite surfshop, Mollusk, launched a program called Hi-Shredability on VBS.TV. Check out an episode on Dan Malloy here.
This entry was posted on Monday, October 22nd, 2007 at 10:33 pm and is filed under Sustainability, Environmental Change, Positive Change. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
October 23rd, 2007 at 11:12 am
vbs.tv, which I’ve not heard of before, is awesome. Great tip. Its creative director is Spike Jonze (of “Being John Malkovich”). If this is where TV is going, rejoice.
October 23rd, 2007 at 7:39 pm
ps. That segment was a test i ran for broadcast. Glad to see you liked it
October 25th, 2007 at 10:17 am
Thanks for stopping by Brad. Does that mean even South America isn’t getting VBS anymore on TV? It goes without saying, but it seems a shame that the programs are only watchable in compressed, streamable formats. These are legit pieces of social commentary, art, journalism and should be available in their full hi-res glory! Of course, I can see some nice DVDs coming out after the fact…
Nice work over there. Keep the great programming coming.
October 26th, 2007 at 9:28 am
VBS.TV is run by Vice Mag. Some of their clips are PG-13 but most is rated R and could not cut it on US TV (even MTV). Good stuff all around.
November 2nd, 2007 at 9:55 pm
don’t fret, VBS TV will get the stage and audience it deserves. While online tv is still in its infancy, we are confident that VBS will be reachable by the widest possible audience both online and offline.
Thanks,
Brad