In the 6 years since Logo launched, there has been a seismic shift in culture and the network's new programming slate reflects that. From the push for marriage equality, to the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" and even the mass appeal of broadcast TV shows like "Modern Family" all signal a significant movement in today's culture where "out" characters are celebrated for their success and values and the majority of gays and lesbians define themselves by multi-dimensional notions other than purely on their sexual orientation."Culturally, we're past the tipping point. For gays and lesbians, it's part of who they are, but they don't lead with it, because many are leading fully integrated, mainstream lives," said Lisa Sherman, Executive Vice President of Logo. "Our goal at Logo has always been to honestly reflect our viewers' lives. We're now reinforcing our commitment to them with programming that truly mirrors how many of them are living and want to be entertained today."
That's the opening salvo in a press release from Logo/Viacom which appeared on the website of AfterElton on February 22. In other words (my opinionated not theirs (?) ) de gay got us to where we are and after 6 years we need to make our channel more mainstream to get better ad revenue and cable/SAT pickup option revenue. So we say to de gay thanks for the butt fuck but we need to move on. Oh there will be a sprinkle of Rainbow color here and there but Logo will not be for just homos anymore.
To wit I say, goodbye and good riddance.
Logo has become an empty shell of its former self from when it originally signed on, albeit with repeat after repeat of movies and documentaries about or for de gay, vignettes of docs, music which appeals to de gay and a weekly half hour news program produced by CBS News with Jason Bellini. Watch the video below for a look back when Logo really meant something to de gay and when Logo was proud to "be gay".
But no more, even prior to the announcement of its upcoming programming change Logo had under gone a change sinking to the lowest common denominator of our community (sorry RuPaul) de poof and de hunks. Long gone was good original and dare I say ground breaking programming like Noah's Arc to be replaced by the less costly and frankly boring "reality TV" programs.
Logo in its original format even got commercial advertisers to make ads which cater to de gay the most famous and first was Subaru. Others followed suit realizing here was a channel devoted to de gay, for de gay and the perfect spot to get de gay to buy our product or service.
In a 2009 article at CBS News' Money Watch website Jim Motavalli wrote, This is a potent market with discretionary spending: 40 percent of respondents who bought their latest vehicle new reported household income over $100,000. And 42 percent of gay men and 39 percent of gay women report household income above that level.
So you may ask, if not I'll ask for you, which dimwit or collection of at Viacom and MTV which seems to have taken over Logo decided to make LOGO de NO HOMO channel. Most likely the same ones who fronted the money to produce the Dan Savage program "about" the "It Gets Better" campaign, a TV show which I had to painfully endure for an hour watching a pimply faced twink, a transgender man falsifying a marriage certificate and a black lesbian coming out to her mother, which I might add was the only saving grace for this writer with Mom's reaction to her daughter, "you're my child no matter what". And of course and with no surprise to me the B of LGBT was left out. Funny how that always seems to happen.
What I expected from that show and why I purposely didn't read any pre-show or post-show hype or reviews was the program would be a documentary of how Savage's YouTube phenomenon came into being and if not real folks then how celebs decided to get involved.
If that singular program is any example of what MTV can put out regarding LGBTs when other programs about LGBTs have been far superior and aired on other cable channels, and given it would seem MTV is taking over the reigns of Logo, then boys and girls I think Logo has reached the end of the Rainbow and found only a pot of fool's gold.
Pity, I liked those Subaru commercials for de gay.
