In the mid-80's, MTV began acquiring non-music series, such as England's Monty Python's Flying Circus and The Young Ones, for no other reason than perhaps some alleged genius decided at that point that there needed to be a change of format. Some might say the network jumped the shark at that point, because over the next 20 years, MTV began phasing out their on-camera talent (they have no VJ's these days), leaving them in the sorry state they're in now, with their slate full of reruns of 3rd party acquisitions and lame reality shows.
We're going to focus on The Young Ones, which, believe it or not, didn't last as long as you'd think it did. Only 12 episodes----2 6-episode seasons----were produced for BBC2 between 1982-4, and imported to MTV in 1985. The show gets its title from a record by British rock icon Cliff Richard and his group, the Shadows, with the cast performing a cover of said song. After the series ended, Nigel Planer (Neil) tried his hand at singing solo, doing a cover of "Hole in My Shoe", which gained some airplay on MTV after they acquired the series. Go figure.
Anyway, scope out the following video:
Apparently, the BBC felt this series was best enjoyed in small doses, but not enough people on either side of the pond were actually into the show after all. Here in the US, The Young Ones has aired on USA and Comedy Central after leaving MTV.
Rating: C.
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