A Look At BET From A Former Insider

[Jenn]

Yeahhhh...sounds about right.
http://www.honeysoul.com/wp/2009/09/a-look-at-bet-from-a-former-insider/

[jefferson L.O.B. sergeant]

How can BET not have a confidentiality clause at this point?

It seems that ex BET employees can open their own publishing house with the amount of tell-alls that are supposedly on the way.

[Jenn]

I'm trying to remember if my contract did or didn't. I think I still have a copy w/all my important papers; if I find it, I'll let you know. But I'm pretty sure BET's legal department is about as competent as their financial department.

[jefferson L.O.B. sergeant]

I'm trying to remember if my contract did or didn't. I think I still have a copy w/all my important papers; if I find it, I'll let you know. But I'm pretty sure BET's legal department is about as competent as their financial department.

If it doesn't I think we can all expect the following.

FADE TO BLACK: My Life Behind The Walls of BET By Jenn

[Vic Vega]

I gotta say almost none of that stuff surprises me the least bit.

Except for the part about BET hiring her to "silence" her.

She needs to get a grip.

I doubt her hirers knew or cared about her attitude towards them. These guys just saw her hiring as a medal of sorts for themselves.

Classic tunnel vision.

The only thing any of those guys ae interested in is "does this make me look good" which you will note is a different question entirely from "Am I doing my job?"

I'm pretty sure the New York Knicks are run the same way.

[voodoochild]

 
The author is male.

[FLEX HECTIC]

See what had happened was...

 
I should just show up at BET like Heath Ledger's Joker and do what I do best!


I should time it just right so that my entrance is during one of those "important" meetings turned into a shouting match!


Flex Joker: "What happened black folks... did our creative ballz fall off after Blade Trinity dropped?"

BET Exec: "Enough wit da clown!"

(Flex stands up and opens his primary colored jacket to expose mayonnaise condiments tied to a string of firecrackers)

Flex Joker: "Let's not blow this... I mean snap this out of proportion!"

Debra Lee: "Reggie, would you please come get your TROLL for I catch a case up in there!"

Flex Joker: "My card."

(Flex Joker leaves an authentic and rare one of a kind 50 cent off coupon for Church's Chicken's #4 special with a side of beans, gravy and a soft drink cause that's how he rolls big like dat)


So where should I send my resume... I might be the one I'm looking for!

[Jenn]

I'm trying to remember if my contract did or didn't. I think I still have a copy w/all my important papers; if I find it, I'll let you know. But I'm pretty sure BET's legal department is about as competent as their financial department.

If it doesn't I think we can all expect the following.

FADE TO BLACK: My Life Behind The Walls of BET By Jenn

The funny thing is that as much as I can't stand "The Boondocks", it was Rollo Goodlove that gave me the bet advice for working there: Niggas is gon' be niggas. After that, I was fine as long as I didn't think about money.

[Afro Samurai]

B.E.T. was f*ck up as soon as it was sold to those evil white folks.

LOL@ Jenn, you & Reginald Hudlin would make an excellent couple.

[Reginald Hudlin]

B.E.T. was f*ck up as soon as it was sold to those evil white folks.

LOL@ Jenn, you & Reginald Hudlin would make an excellent couple.

I am NOT, NOT, going down this road, but I have to say when people blame the problems of BET on its sale to Viacom it drives me crazy. 

[jefferson L.O.B. sergeant]

B.E.T. was f*ck up as soon as it was sold to those evil white folks.

LOL@ Jenn, you & Reginald Hudlin would make an excellent couple.

I am NOT, NOT, going down this road, but I have to say when people blame the problems of BET on its sale to Viacom it drives me crazy. 

The road is calling you, Reggie!

It's calling you!

[Afro Samurai]

B.E.T. was f*ck up as soon as it was sold to those evil white folks.

LOL@ Jenn, you & Reginald Hudlin would make an excellent couple.

I am NOT, NOT, going down this road, but I have to say when people blame the problems of BET on its sale to Viacom it drives me crazy. 

Why with all due respect Hudlin, B.E.T. went more whitewashed when  the evil white folks (Viacom) brought it. "BET New" was an excellent program......Viacom took it off. It used have Jazz....Viacom took that down. I mean now BET is showing the Matrix, did special on Indiana Jones & Underground, showing N'sync videos, etc. Back in the day, B.E.T. would HAD NEVER DONE THAT. With music: Everything but white. Movies: If it don't have black lead in it, then BET aint showing it. It sad when CNN's Black in America is better then 99 percent of the shows on B.E.T. Come on a retard ass show like "Frankie and Neffe" should had never been made onto B.E.T. Us blacks rarely own anything & with selling of motown & B.E.T. hurt us alot. I hope you can see where I am coming from. I mean come on even with your own Black Panther show it is taking forever to be on B.E.T. Something that black & cool should had been on there ASAP!!

I know you don't want to go down that road, I am just giving you my take on it.

[Mastrmynd]

u r my boy afro but i bet you are one of those BET fans from way back when Bob Johnson was runnin' thangs.
am i right?
Me? I am not.
Bob johnson didnt care about you OR BET? Why?  he had yearrrrsss to put out quality programming. did he? no... we had Video Soul and a billion other music video shows.
1. how much does it cost to get music videos?  they are sent to you free by the record company.
2. bob then charges advertisers to advertise during these shows that are cheap to produce.
3. but wait...there's more: on the weekends, he ran nothin but infomericals. NOTHING.BUT.INFOMERICALS!
He then pockets that money and sells BET to Viacom...EVEN MORE MONEY!

I didn't go back to BET until Reggie Reg came on board. real talk.
Somebodies (Reggie Reg, i'm sorry BET didn't support this great show), and all the other various outside-the-box shows that came about during his reign.
why was Reggie Reg responsible for BET's FIRST scripted series?  Hmmm?

Why are ppl flockin' to TV One?  Because TV One is doing things that BET should have done in the 80s if not 90s!!!  Aaargh! it's so frustrating.

At this year's upfront BET should be promoting 2 new scripted series: The Game and another comedy starring Essence Atkins and Ronreaco Lee (Stn Mtn High School stand up!!).
I still believe in the new BET.  There was a definite dip when Reggie Reg left but they are starting to move back in the right direction.

This is MY opinion... i know others may differ, but i can't even count the amount of BET convos i've been in...shucks, i was in one this morning on the set of a commercial shoot.

that's my time. all i need is Somebodies the movie and the series on DVD and i'm good 2 go.
holla.

[Reginald Hudlin]

I find in general people are nostalgic about whatever they liked in high school.  It could be music, TV shows, comic books, whatever.  Folks complain that BET/MTV isn't as good as it was back in the day.  Continuity hounds beef about changes in their favorite comic book character.  And of course, the constant complaint that the music that kids are listening to is garbage compared to my jams. 

My dad felt that except for Stevie Wonder, all music after Duke Ellington sucked.  If I grew up partying to music that rich, I might agree with him. 

There's no doubt in my mind comics today are the best that comics have ever been, and that the average comic is better drawn and written than any other era.

So sometimes things DO get better; sometimes things do get worse.  But some folks don't like change at all.

But I do believe that black people have to take responsibility for our lives.  We can't blame white people for all our failures, and claim our triumphs as solely ours. 

I don't share your rosy memories of pre-Viacom BET.  It was different, but better?
What it was then, and what it is now, is subjective.  I'm not here to convince you of anything one way or the other.

[jefferson L.O.B. sergeant]

Much of the professional analysis surrounding BET e.g. Newspapers, magazines. online articles etc. has been shoddy and anecdotal at best. What I would really like to see is an in-depth review of BET from 2006-2009.

BET has always been a running punchline in the Black community and an easy target for mini-mart revolutionaries to use as a scapegoat for every pathology under the sun. People have complained for years( LOUDLY) that BET was: uimaginative, unprofessional and most of all irrelevant in terms of modern media and appealing to a broad spectrum of Blacks.

Then came Reggie.

The professionalism, innovation and relevance thaso many clamored for came in the form of AMERICAN GANGSTER, BALDWIN HILLS, COLLEGE HILL, SOMEBODIES and HIP HOP VS AMERICA. The response from the usual suspects were protests, boycotts, and self-aggrandizement on an obscene scale. And it couldnt've been any other way. When you are a semi-professional complainer, you must have something to fuel your psuedo occupation.

The biggest indictment of the BET critics can be seen in the aftermath of Reggie's departure. Almost all of the hit series that were created during that time are gone and have been replaced by some of the most insipid, boring and frankly pathetic programming on the air today. Despite this fact, there are NO protests or boycotts but simply silence as the critics have now become as irrelevant as BET's lineup.