Yeah, I have been watching I Love the 90s, Part Deux this week. If you ever wondered what the Law of Diminishing Returns looked like, just watch this show. The first incarnation of this, I Love the 80s, was fun. I Love the 70s was too. I Love the 80s Strikes Back was not quite as good as the first but still fun. When we reached I Love the 90s, it seemed tired. Now at the 5th version of the same basic show, it is over. I made the point that it was too soon for 90s nostalgia and I was right. Aside from the first couple of years of the decade, we’re just too close to adequately mock this stuff.
The other problem is the format of the show. Between the deluge of “I Love the Whatevers”, the endless list shows, and Best Week Ever, VH1 has now officially drowned in its own snark. Everything about this show seems tired, especially the panels. How much more Mo Rocca and Michael Ian Black can you stand until your head explodes? Black seems to be in on the joke somewhat, and much of his funniest stuff is self-mocking. Rocca seems to be moving beyond unfunny into painfully unfunny. They made two nice additions in ESPN’s Sports Guy Bill Simmons and comedian Greg Giraldo, but neither are used that much. Speaking of new additions, when did the former Baby Spice get so hot?
Unless they want to do a sequel to I Love the 70s, I think this particular format is exhausted. This is a good thing.
Posted by Frinklin at January 21, 2005 07:01 PMIt is 2005, yet VH1 is already talking about the 1990s.
It's ridiculous. Believe me, I'm waiting for VH1 to do a "I Love The New Millenium" show in 2010. I'm vexed.
Posted by: Jeremy at January 22, 2005 09:09 AMI'm really hoping they will be over this by 2010. Besides, how can you snark 9/11 and the Iraq war?
Posted by: frinklin at January 22, 2005 09:43 AMYea, I'd never seen Simmons on TV before. But they're really scraping the bottom of the barrel, covering stuff like "Models Inc." and "Varsity Blues."
Posted by: Stephen Silver at January 23, 2005 10:52 PMWhat are you trying to say Steve? That Models Inc and Cop Rock are just failed TV shows, not important cultural touchstones?
I've also been thinking that if Jeremy's right, and they start up I Love the Zeros in 2010, will they mention I Love the 80s? Wouldn't using an I Love show to snark on an I Love show begin a feedback loop that destroys us all?
Posted by: frinklin at January 24, 2005 04:24 PM