|
ANDREA FIGLER
At the Playboy Mansion last week, Ice-T said it best.
?Why not? was his answer to my burning question of the evening: Why start an all-men's channel? With comedy, news and sports channels focusing on men (NASCAR has something like five cameras covering one race), is there really a need for an all-men's channel and, if so, what are its chances for success?
Ice-T was one of the many celebrities at Hugh Hefner's Playboy Mansion last week celebrating Viacom's Spike TV, formerly known as The Nashville Network. The channel, which launches today, wants to become the official ?men's channel,? targeting the younger demographic.
Spike TV filmed the launch party last Tuesday and will air it as a one-hour Party With Spike World Premiere Special tonight at 8 p.m. Among other male-orientated content, Spike TV plans to air old episodes of Ren and Stimpy, a cartoon that every man I know adores. And Pamela Anderson will be the voice for a new animated heroine ? the exotic dance star of Stripperella. Two men polled last Tuesday predicted that these shows will do well (even the one who thought the concept of a men's channel was, well, ludicrous).
Although nobody at the party ? not even Hefner himself ? came up with a better answer than Ice-T to the question of why start the network, if the party alone were to be used as a barometer of future success, then Spike TV is going to rock. Invest in Spike TV. Advertise on Spike TV. Watch Spike TV.
After all, what better place to kick off an all-men's channel than the Playboy Mansion? I smiled when I read the invite, but it wasn't that big of a deal for me. But I'm a chick. When I told my boyfriend about the party, he salivated. I knew Spike TV was onto something.
At the party, the scantily clad Pamela Anderson and Carmen Electra turned every heterosexual male's head and confirmed my notion. The synchronized swimming girls in the outdoor pool and the stripper dancing around a giant martini glass didn't hurt either.
Then, in walked Busta Rhymes, host of the Spike TV special. Surely his lyrical mind could come up with a quick response to my question about the wisdom of starting an all-men's network. But he threw the question right back at me. After all, I'm the one who reports on cable channels, right?
?What do you think?? he asked.
Damn that Socratic method.
I looked at the party guests, flirting and enjoying themselves. ?Well, if it's anything like this, hell yeah,? I answered.
Then came the party's climax: the arrival of Hefner and his beautiful blonde entourage.
I had to do it. My mission would be incomplete without asking the man himself the question of the evening.
He brushed off my query with grace and no particular answer, a skill that must go with the territory.
Reeling from that failure, I once again took in the scene: Every man seemed to be thoroughly enjoying the drinks, the women, the celebrities, the music. So why not create an all-men's network that will enable men across the country to feel like they're on Hefner's A-list? Rock on, Ice-T. Leave it to a rapper to break it down for you.
Back to this issue
|
