candrew088 Reviews

The Howard Stern Show (1990–1993)

Sterns Best Work

[9 February 2005]

Sterns best work. And possibly the raunchiest non-cable show in the history of television. Supposedly, every show was a battle with the station censors right up to show time. Luckily for Stern, it aired almost exclusively in New York City so it flew under the radar of the more puritanical populace.

No one was spared; Clarence Thomas, Ted Kennedy, Johnny Carson, Madonna were all brutally satirized. I remember two guest stars in particular - Rabert Vaughn and Larry Linville (from MASH) with a "what the hell am I doing here" look on there face while Stern flew through horribly acted, poorly organized; but incredibly hilarious skits.

I remember Nichelle Nichols of Star Trek fame pulled out of the show literally at the last second and avoided lending her name to a Star Trek spoof that was borderline pornographic - an unflustered Stern pulled a group of black women to audition to take her place.....and put the auditions on the air! The show was so controversial - rumors of cancellation came and went on a weekly basis. So what did Stern do? He orchestrated a fake cancellation on April Fools Day and started the show with a made up sports talk show. This prank became all the more poignant a few months later when the show was canceled for real.

I guess you can find episodes of this show on E-Bay, but according to Stern, the rights have been passed from company to company over the years and the odds of releasing the show on DVD are about zero.

Not for everyone - but this show was a shooting star - burned out fast and was over almost as soon as it started.

1992 MTV Video Music Awards (1992 TV Special)

MTV Get OFF The Air

[9 February 2005]

MTV is worthless today - or maybe I'm just getting older. But no matter what kind of music you like, the 1992 MTV Music Awards was probably the most interesting just for the fact it occurred as a major transition was taking place in music. Groups like Guns and Roses and Van Halen were no longer the cool groups and they seemed to become a parody of themselves right before your eyes while the suits still insisted on paying homage to them. Guns And Roses won the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award despite the fact they were mocked by Nirvana during their performance for their contrived, fake image. Van Halen won video of the year for "Right Now" - possibly the worst, most silly song they've ever made.

Grunge had broken into the mainstream about a year earlier and alternative performers such as Pearl Jam, The Red Hot Chili Peppers and of course Nirvana blew the previous big name/big money groups off the air. A good show that had an air of spontaneity - which has been long been since squashed by MTV.