For
more than a decade the channel that once brought us soft pop and Top 40
videos has specialized in delivering "celebrity" reality vehicles and
in some ways has changed the face of television. Enter Mona Scott and
her company Monami Entertainment. Seeing an opportunity and a vacuum in
the market for urban reality entertainment Mona brought her band of characters to the airways with first "Love & Hip Hop", then "Love
& Hip Hop: Atlanta", and now "Love & Hip Hop: Los Angeles."
-KP
Millions turn in weekly to the highs and lows, success and
failures of the cast and the show consistently brings in some of VH1's
biggest ratings. "Mona allowed these women to tell their story, and guys
like me to be known," said Stevie J, a Grammy-winning producer who is a
self-proclaimed womanizer caught in a love triangle between longtime
girlfriend Mimi Faust and Joseline Hernandez. (And more recently a
battle with longtime friend Benzino and his wife Althea.) "Before,
people heard of my name but didn't know what I looked like. I relish the
character that I am on television. People are amused by our stories." [1]
But along with the amusement also comes the criticism. The show
is constantly being attacked for its portrayal of women in what can
legitimately be deemed a negative fashion. At issue has been the
frequent physical violence that has littered the show and the vulgar
language used by cast members. Cast members are continuously put in
confrontational positions and respond with actions that leave viewers
both astounded, ashamed, and wanting more. Also many regular watchers
have questioned the "reality" of the show and fear that storylines are
manufactured or "soft-scripted."
With the upcoming premiere of the new version of Love and Hip Hop:
Los Angeles we once again prepare for another season of controversy. I
for one look forward to every episode and it has become water cooler
conversation here at the BMG. Not a Tuesday morning goes by that
something from the previous night's show isn't a part of some (heated)
back and forth conversations. Memes are exchanged and catchphrases are
thrown around. Nothing beat the excitement generated by the recent
release if of current cast members Mimi and Nikko's purportedly stolen
sextape. A storyline that left the confines of the show and played out
in "real life."
This little franchise, once
just one part of VH1's reality rollout, has become must watch TV. As
with any show his polarizing opinions differ as to its cultural impact.
Maybe you come down on the side of righteous indignation and scornful
disregard or you experience ashamed amusement and enjoy the extreme
behavior by proxy excitement of every episode. Maybe you tune in to see
what could possibly happen next. As one of our readers put it: "I watch
because it's how I would behave if no one was watching and no one would
hold it against me."
Maybe that's the answer. The show is at it's core entertainment
for good or bad. Love and Hip Hop isn't designed to be the moral compass
of a generation. The cast aren't there to raise our children,
encourage them to do their homework, instruct them how to treat each
other with respect or grow as human beings. But, there is a lesson to be
learned from every episode. This is what happens when, to paraphrase
one of the ancestors of modern Reality TV, "people stop being polite and
start getting real." (Sort of.)
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