Posted on 06/26/2005 10:34:10 AM PDT by Tumbleweed_Connection
The man who's molding Logo, the new network for gays and lesbians, grew up in rural Illinois, attended Oral Roberts University and counted that cheesy keyboard solo on "Freeze Frame" as his big moment during gigs with his college band the Ozones. At first glance, Brian Graden hardly seems too hip for the room.
But the 42-year-old Graden is one of television's busiest and most imaginative executives, already responsible for the programming on MTV, VH1 and CMT - and now Logo, which debuts Thursday.
Long in the works, Logo will initially be seen in about 10 million homes with digital cable. Unlike Here and Q, two pay-per-view, gay-oriented networks already operating, Logo will be available in homes that do not specifically order it.
Films such as "Kissing Jessica Stein" and "Philadelphia" and documentaries will fill many of Logo's first hours. The network also has a scripted series, "Noah's Arc," about a homosexual black man and his friends in Los Angeles, a reality series about opening a gay bar and the stand-up comedy series "Wisecrack."
A gay man himself, Graden had hoped to help out with Logo even before he was appointed its president.
Graden's job requires a comfort with Wall Street and Hollywood, two sides of his personality presaged by his educational choices. He went to Oral Roberts with fellow band members in an ill-fated attempt to keep the Ozones alive, then later earned an MBA from Harvard University.
Seeking an internship one summer, he wore his best suit to an interview with colorful TV executive Stephen Chao. Chao said he'd hire Graden as long as he never wore a tie again, and spent the interview quizzing the young man on what he watched on TV, the music he listened to, the movies he saw.
"I came to understand that that's the essence of what you're hiring, the essence of what matters," he said.
Graden now appoints teams at MTV Networks that are immersed in the lifestyles of the audiences they are trying to reach.
The launchpad for his career came when he befriended writers Trey Parker and Matt Stone, helping them to develop "South Park."
He moved to MTV in 1997, and was the executive behind a dizzying array of hits, including "The Osbournes,""Pimp My Ride,""Jackass," and "The Newlyweds." Graden has managed not only to stay on top of MTV's here-today, gone-tomorrow ethos but expand his authority to where he's put between 200 and 300 programs on the air.
"It's one of those things that's increasingly gratifying, to see an executive who truly approaches television from a creative point of view without ignoring the business of all of it," said television producer Michael Davies, whose credits include "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire."
A gently prodding phone call from Graden when he heard Davies was pitching an interesting show to another network recently resulted in VH1 getting the project - a late-night talk show still under development - when the other network backed off.
Every holiday season Graden sends to friends not only a card, but an exquisitely curated CD mix of songs. "He lives a creative life," Davies said.
It would be unusual to get country music fans, rappers and fans of Britney Spears or old Jackson Browne videos to agree on much of anything, yet Graden is the man overseeing the mix of networks that appeal to each one.
What's he doing running a country music channel, anyway?
"If you go home (to Hillsboro, Ill.) and visit my parents - not that I'd wish that on anyone - you would find CMT on 24 hours a day," he said. "My parents are finally proud of what I do because they watch CMT. Before, I don't think they understood what I do every day."
Logo may be his biggest challenge yet.
"I don't envy his position," said Paul Colichman, founder of Here, which offers primarily edgy material oriented to gays and lesbians in about 45 million homes.
"He's got competing constituencies," he said. "He's got advertisers who are fearful of offending anyone because they're going after mass groups of people. At the same time, he's got to create a service that is compelling to the gay and lesbian audience who wants to watch it. It kind of depends on their appetite for gay lite."
The decision to remake a Canadian series about planning a commitment ceremony, called "My Fabulous Gay Wedding," illustrates the fine line being walked. The Logo series is instead called "First Comes Love." The title wasn't changed to sidestep controversy, but rather to better reflect a show about relationships, a Logo spokesman said.
Graden said his job is to serve the target gay and lesbian audience and not worry about cultural critics who may look over his shoulder.
"That said, we've also said from early on that the standards for Logo will be that of a general entertainment network," he said. "The assumption that I would have to push certain standards to tell my story instead of yours I don't get, because they're all human stories."
Potential viewers have told Logo that it's important to reflect their community's diversity, he said. So there will be documentaries telling what it's like, for instance, to be a 22-year-old Latino homosexual or a lesbian couple that has been together for decades.
That's different from the other, sharply focused MTV networks; watch MTV and you know it's made for 21-year-olds. Even corporate cousin BET is more interested in young black viewers than the black audience as a whole.
"We're talking to an audience that has already felt that it has been excluded from the media tapestry for many years," Graden said. "It didn't feel right to create a channel where some people would feel further excluded."
Having a gay or lesbian in charge of Logo was essential, Colichman said. Quietly proud of the moment, Graden said it has symbolic and practical advantages.
"It is important and powerful that you have both gay and lesbian voices directly in the conversation for the product you're trying to create because you're trying to serve an audience," he said. "We don't want any of our channels to look like a corporate man was handing down what he thinks an audience would like."
later pingout/barf.
Sounds like riveting stuff.
The Balkanization of our country continues. Next up: The Over-40 Left-Handed Lesbian Vegetarian Cooking, Storm Window-Installation and Sewing Channel: "Finally! A station for US!".
I'll bet that number isn't the only thing they can pull out of their butts
P.O.V. Saturday, June 25, 9:00pm
The Education of Shelby Knox.
'The Education of Shelby Knox' follows an intense, engaging Lubbock, Texas, teen as she campaigns over three years for sex education in Lubbock's public schools.
P.O.V. Saturday, June 25, 10:30pm
Georgie Girl
Born George Beyer, one-time prostitute-turned-politician Georgina Beyer was elected to New Zealand's Parliament in 1999, becoming the world's first transsexual to hold a national office. A mostly white, conservative, rural constituency voted this former sex worker of Maori descent into office. Chronicling Georgina's transformations from farm boy to celebrated cabaret diva to grassroots community leader, Annie Goldson and Peter Wells 'Georgie Girl' couples interviews and images of Beyer's nightclub and film performances with footage showing a day in the life of this New Zealand Member of Parliament. The film presents a remarkable account of Beyer's precedent-setting accomplishment, revealing her intelligence, charisma and humor.
In Stereo (CC)
Independent Lens Saturday, June 25, 11:30pm
The Amasong Chorus: Singing Out
When lesbian music student Kristina Boerger moved to a small Illinois college town, she did not find a ready-made community. So she created one, doing what she loved best — choral singing. As Boerger's lesbian-feminist choir evolves from a rag-tag crew into a nationally recognized, award-winning ensemble, the film shows how one person's spirit and dedication can help transform a community. Produced by Jay Rosenstein. Co-presentaton with WILL Urbana. In Stereo (CC)
I always thought the programming on those stations was gay. I am going to keep my eye open for this channel. If it shows up on my Directv lineup I am going to password block it so I don't have to see it and my little nephew doesn't see it either. I hope all the people with basic cable don't get this channel added to their lineup either.
how far and how long is the decent society going to allow this crap to go on?
Wow, how gay.
Pissing on the people, who brought you into the world.
Last night's features.....The Birdcage and To Wong Foo.....don't believe me? Look it up.
Low Go?
I don't understand why gays think they need their own network when they already have Showtime.
Wonder who will advertise on the channel besides home decorating companies and condom distributors?
I never even knew what Bravo was, until I moved to where I have Comcast cable, and Bravo is one of the networks we get. Last night, my wife was flipping through channels, and there was a commercial on Bravo about "Gay-friendly airlines", with two guys on a gameshow kissing and groping each other; then a commercial about "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy", and then they resumed the movie they were playing, about a bunch of drag queens in the desert (something like "Fu Manchu" or some name like that). I thought at first the commercial was a spoof on Saturday Night Live or something, but apparently they were serious...
so this is going to be FORCED into subscriber homes?
The homosexuals must be orgasming at the prospect of intruding upon normal families.
Where are the family groups?
This should be like any other sex based channel. PAY EXTRA ONLY.
"Like there isn't enough programming out there that's gay-friendly already."
Of course MTV is behind this (pardon the pun). I can't even flip past MTV ot VH1, for that matter, without picking up the pro-gay attitudes. Nickelodeon's (originally a kids network) TV Land is only slightly better. And don't get me started on a lot of the home improvement shows. Essentially they're gay people redoing liberal's houses.
It might be a basic channel in somewhere like San Francisco. LOL
If your on Directv or DISH I think you can password block it so your kids can't see it. I would hope they wouldn't put it on basic cable. If they do I see subscribers leaving. I would think they would put it on digital cable. I think that can be blocked. But rest assured that some of the money you pay to your service provider will go to this gay garbage.
This should be like any other sex based channel. PAY EXTRA ONLY.
Yes it should.
I should not have to block it.
It should not exist at all on my lineup the same way I do not subscribe to the junk movie channels.
Perhaps they should just bundle all the MTV's together with the homochannel and have it for homosexuals who want to subscribe.
This is a sex channel period. Homosexuality is ONLY about sex.
No you shouldn't but if you have children around it just has to be done.
Perhaps they should just bundle all the MTV's together with the homochannel and have it for homosexuals who want to subscribe.
Sounds like a good idea. But Viacom has so much power I don't see that happening anytime soon.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.