2010 VMAs - MTV = Mediocre TeleVision?

Who caught the VMAs tonight!?  What did you think?  I'll just put it out there that the VMAs are a guilty pleasure of mine and I don't think I'm the only one who feels this way.   Unlike the Grammys, Oscars, Golden Globes, or the plethora of other award shows the VMAs certainly have their own niche.  They are not serious, formal, and certainly not classy.  You can almost count on something crazy and stupid to happen every year, which personally is the main reason I watch them, but this year we viewers weren't so lucky...

The VMAs opened with, actually, an excellent performance by Eminem when he performed his hit "Not Afraid" off his most recent album "Recovery." Not Afraid" on Youtube  Honestly, most of us know that live rap performances aren't spectacular, but MTV had their audio and backing tracks figured out enough to make it sound similar to the studio track.  More surprising was the fact that Eminem actually came back to the VMAs after Bruno lowered from the ceiling and put his crotch in the rapstar's face during last years show.  The video actually ended up winning for "Best Rap Video" later but Em was already gone, probably took the money and ran... A guy who has a collection of Grammys isn't getting too excited over a VMA.

Chelsea Handler hosted the show and marks the first year that the VMAs have had a female host.  At that she did an excellent job, not only is she attractive and funny but she really has no inhibitions about what she says, probably why she her late night show is so successful.  She even hopped into a hot tub with the Jersey Shore Crew followed by a handful of witty comments about how trashy the shore cast members are.

The show was otherwise filled with a couple good performances by T Swift and Usher and other yawing performances by B.O.B and um the others were so unimpressionable that I can't remember them.  It ended with a Kanye performance introduced by Aziz Ansari (Parks and Rec on NBC) who is funnier than hell and did a little play on Kanye's Taylor Swift interruption at last years awards.  He laughed so long during it that it became awkward for a second but the dude really brings some fresh comedy.  MTV apparently thought Kanye didn't deserve the same audio quality as Eminem or they were too busy picking up pieces of Gaga's outfit because Kanye's performance was scratching and it just sucked.  Lloyd was featured in the song but Kanye played too many soundbites with his audio stand that you couldn't really hear his rhymes.

Overall the VMAs lacked the shocking rude moment to talk about on Monday morning with anyone else who is otherwise too embarrassed to say they watched them.  There was no ranting Kanye or pissed off Eminem.  The pool of nominees was virtually Gaga and five or six other artists or groups.  After weeks and weeks of advertising for them MTV really underperformed, even if they had written in an awkward/crazy moment it would have been the highlight.  Or maybe they should just tape the after-parties because there's no doubt they would have been a better way to waste a couple hours on the couch.

MTV seems almost hypocritical these days hosting an award show about music videos when they don't even show them anymore, even TRL the last remaining show that actually showed music videos was cancelled.  All the artists on the show are so young and new that Eminem seems like he belongs on a classic radio station, it could have just been called the GaGa-As.  She pretty much won everything, and was the focal point of the whole show.  I'm aware she is super popular but for real if you aren't a Gaga fan the VMAs were even worse for you.  Those of us who have watched the VMAs for a while are losing interest, without the gimmicks the MTV really might as well air a Jersey Shore marathon instead of pretending they are about music anymore.