After A & E revived Biography in the 90's, it seemed as though everybody wanted to get in on the act. VH1 developed Behind The Music, while sister network MTV had the shorter (usually) Rockumentary. Over at MSNBC, as they were looking to fill time on the weekends, there was a Biography clone, Headliners & Legends.
Headliners covered the same ground, and some of the same subjects. Current Today anchor Matt Lauer was the host, but, unlike Behind The Music, Biography, and more like E!'s True Hollywood Story, an off-screen narrator told the stories.
For a sample, let's take a look at an oft-related bio on the "King" of rock & roll, Elvis Presley:
I think Headliners has long ceased production, swept off the screen by MSNBC's growing line of political programming.
Rating: A.
Sadly, I site "Biography" as the beginning of the end for A&E. Shortly afterwards, A&E stopped being a channel showcasing the performing arts and slowly began to degenerate into a reality TV dumping ground. After A&E went from being the Arts and Entertainment network to a channel about nothing in particular, Bravo suffered a similar fate. Nowadays, these channels are all indistinguishable from one another. I used to watch A&E back when the channel aired programs such as Brit Wit and Evening At the Improv, but not anymore. That seems like ancient history now.
ReplyDeleteIt's all about the bottom line with the corporate parents of these channels, which is why they play an elongated game of ratings chicken. Their loss.
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