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If you work on the tenth floor at 555 West 57th Street I suggest that you start looking through the classified ads before you do your usual morning fuckery. In a few months I predict that Black Entertainment Television will be carrying the weed for lesser Viacom networks like MTV Brazil or Nickelodeon New Zealand. B.E.T. stopped being relevant a long time ago but the final death knell was sounded this week.

When the news came down that B.E.T. was creating it’s first original programming series and that the series was going to viewed on Viacom sister network VH-1, I knew it was a wrap for the old Negro Network. It’s nothing new for networks to share their programming. Look at how Disney made ABC give Monday Night Football over to ESPN. The understanding is that ESPN has a hardbody sports clientele that would support the MNF broadcasts wholeheartedly. So then why do the head honchos at Viacom think that VH-1 would serve as a better platform than simply B.E.T.? It’s because the program is a dramatic series focusing on the lifestyle of a Hip-Hop music mogul.

And could it be all of the rap music related programming that already has Hip-Hop fans tuning into VH-1? From ‘Flavor of Love’ to ‘I Love New York’ on to ‘Ice T’s Rap School’ and now currently the most important program in Hip-Hop history… The outrageously popular ‘ego trips white rapper show’. This shit is so important to Hip-Hop right now that RAFI from OhWord dot com had to shut down an IM chat with me because the show was coming on. Fuck DVR’ing that shit, the show has to be watched and discussed in real time. Suffice to say I haven’t seen one episode yet. I should take the advice of the Village Voice blogger and just give rap music back to the whites. It’s under this umbrella that B.E.T. is creating their show that they will ultimately give to VH-1.

Blame the previous producers of programming at the Negro Network for creating a block of shows that appeal to only a 13yr. old to 19yr. old demographic. It wasn’t totally their fault either since most of the music that is performed by negroes is designed to be trendy temporary pop music. Even 106th & Park seems more immature than T.R.L. The kids seem almost prepubescent. Somebody keep your eye out for ROBERT SYLVESTER KELLY. This is now the audience that essentially occupies the airwaves and message boards for Black Entertainment Television. Viacom doesn’t believe in them as a suitable or viable consumer base and they want to tap into the more mature audience that frequents VH-1.

I still feel a little bad for B.E.T. I know a lot of folks that work over there and they aren’t the type of people that can do much of anything else except maybe work at the DMV or the cashier station at Mickey Dees. These fools are going to be added to the already burgeoning unemployment pool in the entertainment sector thanks to MTV getting rid of some of its flotsam and jetsam. Again, I send this post out to all the cool people that I know at Black Entertainment Television. Good people like exec producer STEVEN HILL, and…

Damn, I don’t know of any other cool folks at B.E.T.