wedding wars-VH1

Interesting times over at Vh1 these days…

The former ‘music’ channel used to be a market leader with a clear brand identity and a stable of hit shows – remember Flavor Of Love, I Love New York, Rock Of Love and The Surreal Life. It was Celeb-Reality 24/7 and though the shows weren’t exactly ad-sales friendly they certainly brought in the viewers.

But in TV times change fast, and Vh1 in 2011 is a shadow of its former self. The trash TV mantle has been stolen by those Real Housewives and Jersey Shore guidos, leaving Vh1 without a clear brand.

Recent attempts to go upmarket have failed (Jessica Simpson’s Price of Beauty), better quality celebrities have been pure snoozefests (the atrocious Mario Lopez: Saved By The Baby), recent competition shows have failed badly (Money Hungry and Scream Queens 2) and then there’s the just plain bizarre shows like Dance Cam Slam and The X Life which are virtually unwatchable.

Sure the network still has some hits – Basketball Wives and Celebrity Rehab for example – but there are now a whole stream of shows scoring less than 500,000 from their premiere episodes (some shows attract less than 300,000 viewers for new episodes!)

So Vh1 has a lot riding on their new Monday night line-up: Wedding Wars, Beverly Hills Fabulous and Love And Hip Hop… but will they sink or swim?

First up there’s Wedding Wars, the new competition show featuring 12 couples competing for a $100,000 dream wedding. Hmm, sound familiar? It’s rather similar to Shedding For The Wedding on The CW – and we all know how that one turned out! But this show seems more Survivor like with couples living rough, competing in physical challenges and voting each other out in a torch lit ceremony. I’m sure it’s very polished and slick – but are the Vh1 audience really into weddings? And doesn’t it all feel a bit derivative? Would this show have worked better on We instead?


Then there’s  Beverly Hills Fabulous – set in an upmarket Beverly Hills salon. For me the series feels like a show rejected by the Style network… it’s all head bobbing and attitude and though the characters look full of personality, you just know there’s gonna be a whole lot of behind the scenes scripting and fakery going on…

Finally there’s Love And Hip Hop, a sort of hip hop Real Housewives which for me would be a lot more interesting if it examined women’s roles in the music industry, rather than the same old love tussles and baby momma dramas.

Still I have a feeling Hip Hop and Beverly Hills Fabulous will do fairly well for the network – Vh1 does still seem to be scoring with their ‘urban’ programming. But I have a feeling Wedding Wars will be heading for Money Hungry style failure…

But what do you think? Do any of these shows appeal to you? And what do you think Vh1 needs to do to get itself back on top?