Line #1 Creator/VH1


1	[[quoteright:220:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/vh1.png]]
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3	Video Hits One. The sister channel to Creator/{{MTV}}, launched in 1985 and also owned by Creator/ParamountGlobal.
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5	Whereas MTV was focusing on teenagers and young adults, [=VH1=] was initially its older-skewing counterpart and came into being primarily to compete with [[UsefulNotes/TedTurner Turner Broadcasting]]'s [[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cable_Music_Channel Cable Music Channel]] (which shut down before [=VH1=] signed on, and wound up being replaced with it). Thus, [=VH1=] became the home of adult contemporary artists like Kenny G, Music/MariahCarey, Music/MichaelBolton, Anita Baker, et cetera, playing their videos on infinite loop, which had all of the appeal of your average Lite FM station. To further drive the similarities home, radio [[{{Jingle}} jingle]] company [[http://www.jingles.com/ JAM Creative Productions]] would produce much the channel's ID music until the early '90s rolled around and their early VJ lineup consisted of several notable radio personalities of the time such as Don Imus and Scott Shannon. They even had a morning show, ''Hits, News and Weather'' which interspersed news updates (produced by the All-News Channel, a JV network of Viacom and Hubbard Communications, which also produced news updates for another Viacom network, Creator/{{Showtime}}) amongst music videos.
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7	In TheNineties, like MTV, it started moving away from music videos, but still played lots of them, and even dipped into videos, music shows, and films from TheSixties and TheSeventies. By the middle of the decade, it started skewing a bit younger, courting recently lapsed MTV viewers among its new audience, with a somewhat more hip playlist, more or less catching up by the end of the decade when metal/hard rock started finding a home via dedicated blocks and specials. Stars of the era included Music/{{Jewel}}, [[Music/TenThousandManiacs Natalie Merchant]], and most notoriously Music/HootieAndTheBlowfish. Notable series during this period were ''Series/PopUpVideo'', which put visual commentary on a music video, explaining various lyrics and other things, and ''Series/BehindTheMusic'', which gave fans a look into the personal lives of many popular and long-standing musicians most of the time, though it also examined music-related events of a particular year in some episodes. A spinoff, ''Behind the Music 2'', focused on groups that hadn't been around long enough to warrant an hour-long episode.
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9	At the TurnOfTheMillennium, the channel's focus turned to general pop culture--in particular, the ''[[ILoveTheExties I Love the...]]'' series was extremely popular, covering the [[TheEighties 1980s]] thrice, and the [[TheSeventies 1970s]], the 1990s, and [[TurnOfTheMillennium the 2000s]] twice! From this success, the channel started to focus on pop culture-related reality shows. Unlike MTV's focus on teen culture, [=VH1=] focuses on washed-up celebrities, giving such figures as Wrestling/HulkHogan, Danny Bonaduce, [[Music/PublicEnemy Flavor Flav]], and Christopher Knight a second swing at stardom. It usually works... the season finale of ''Series/FlavorOfLove'', Flavor Flav's show, attracted 6 million viewers.
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11	In TheNewTens, the network's focus seems to be the budding entertainment center of UsefulNotes/{{Atlanta}}, with several programs revolving around music (the ''Love and Hip Hop'' franchise) or sports and entertainment figures' wives (''Basketball Wives'' and ''Baseball Wives''). The network has also had a couple of original dramatic series and even a few [[MadeForTVMovie made-for-TV movies]], usually of the {{Biopic}} genre. By November 2015, [=VH1=] stopped airing music video blocks altogether, effectively relegating videos to interstitial programming.
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13	Like MTV, [=VH1=] is not what it once was but it's still popular. So much so that, even though [=VH1=] was not one of Viacom's six core brands (MTV, Creator/{{Nickelodeon}}, Creator/NickJr, Creator/{{BET}}, Creator/ComedyCentral, and Creator/{{Paramount}}), it was still a part of their 2017 restructuring plan. While scripted dramas ''Hit the Floor'' and ''The Breaks'' were [[ChannelHop shuffled over]] to BET, Creator/{{LOGO}}'s reality competition series, ''Series/RuPaulsDragRace'', had its premieres moved to [=VH1=].
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15	In 2022, as part of more Paramount Global restructuring, [=VH1=] [[https://variety.com/2022/tv/news/vh1-mtv-bet-paramount-bob-bakish-scott-mills-chris-mccarthy-1235428272/ moved to the BET Media Group]], and out of the MTV Entertainment Group, divorcing it from its sister channel after almost 40 years. As part of this restructuring, several of [=VH1=]'s series moved to MTV, namely ''[=RuPaul=]'s Drag Race'', ''Caught in the Act: Unfaithful'' and the ''Love & Hip-Hop'' franchise.
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17	[=VH1=] used to have a suite of channels, but those channels eventually ended up under new management and renamed:
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19	* [=VH1=] Country -- Now known as Creator/{{CMT}} Music (formerly CMT Pure Country), which primarily focuses on videos, as does...
20	* [=VH1=] Soul -- Now known as BET Soul, Specializes in soul and R&B videos from TheEighties onward.
21	* [=VH1=] Mega Hits -- A defunct channel which mainly ran the format [=VH1=] had at the beginning, acting as a 24/7 video network playing '80's, '90's and current music. Ratings were never compelling, so Viacom closed down the channel in the summer of 2005 and used their satellite space to launch Creator/{{LOGO}}.
22	* [=VH1=] Classic -- Its format was similar to its parent channel's lineup in the second half of TheNineties -- daytime music video blocks featuring videos from TheSeventies through TheNineties, reruns of their various documentary shows (''Behind the Music'' even gets some of its episodes updated as ''Behind the Music Remastered''), lots of vintage concerts and (usually) music-themed movies, plus a few comedy reruns (''Series/MarriedWithChildren'' is their favorite) in non-prime time hours. It also has a growing lineup of original shows and specials, primarily focused on HardRock and HeavyMetal. Tellingly, they were the one channel in the [=MTV=] family to acknowledge the parent channel's 30th anniversary in 2011 by programming a whole weekend of classic segments and promos. History would repeat itself five years later when the network announced it would be retooled into "[[http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/mtv-launches-classic-channel-dedicated-to-1990s-w431416 MTV Classic]]" starting August 1, 2016, with its lineup consisting mainly of programming from the 1990s to the early 2000s.
23	----
24	[[index]]
25	!!Shows with pages on TV Tropes:
26	* ''Series/AmericasNextTopModel'' (2016-18, moved from Creator/TheCW)
27	* ''Series/BehindTheMusic'' (1997-2014)
28	* ''Series/CelebrityRehabWithDrDrew'' (2008, 2010-12)
29	* ''Series/CharmSchool'' (2007-09)
30	* ''Series/FlavorOfLove'' (2006, 2008)
31	* ''WesternAnimation/HeyJoel'' (2003)
32	* ''Series/{{Hindsight}}'' (2015)
33	* ''Series/ILoveMoney'' (2008-10)
34	* ''Series/ILoveNewYork'' (2007-08)
35	* ''Series/PopUpVideo'' (1996-2002, 2011-12)
36	* ''Series/RockOfLove'' (2007-09)
37	* ''Series/RuPaulsDragRace'' (2017-21, moved from Creator/{{LOGO}})
38	* ''Series/{{Scream Queens\|2008}}'' (2008, 2010)
39	* ''Series/ScreamResurrection'' (2019, a {{Retool}} of Creator/{{MTV}}'s ''Series/ScreamTheTVSeries'')
40	* ''Series/TheSurrealLife'' (2004-06, moved from Creator/TheWB)
41	* ''Series/ThatMetalShow'' (2008-15, aired on [=VH1=] Classic)
42	[[/index]]

Context Creator / VH1