Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Featured on MTV's DJ and the Fro... Well, maybe not.

A couple of months ago, I was contacted by a person who worked at Titmouse animation studios. They were working on a new TV show for MTV called "DJ and the Fro" and wanted to use some of the videos featured on this blog. Of course, I agreed and sent them some high quality copies of the videos. The three videos were Henrietta & Merna, Old Guy with Hurdy Gurdy, and that Smoke Free Grads video.

However, the animation studio decided that they should pursue the original copyright holders. The Public Access channel that aired Henrietta & Merna and the Hurdy Gurdy guy has been dead since the mid-90s and was bought out by evil Shaw Cable. I gave Shaw's contact information to Titmouse, but Shaw wouldn't admit to holding the copyright to these videos. Bummer.

Virtually the same thing happened with the Smoke Free Grads video, except the company who made the video is still around. They wouldn't sign the papers since nobody could remember what the video was. Go figure.

So, the videos won't be on MTV after all. I'm still flattered that my three videos were selected for the show.

BTW, the basic idea of The DJ and Fro is a modern-day Beavis and Butthead, where two co-workers swap and discuss viral video on the internet. It should be airing within the next month or so. There's still very little information about the series, but here's a quote I picked up from some website:

DJ AND THE FRO: MTV brings animation back to the network with DJ and the Fro. It’s Beavis and Butthead for the Millennial generation. DJ and the Fro work for a big corporation – though they aren’t sure exactly what the company does. Aimed at the generation that eats, sleeps and breathes technology — DJ and the Fro combines animation and the best of the web. The internet clips are arguably the stars of the show – the funniest, weirdest videos on the internet, made funnier and weirder by the observations of DJ and the Fro.


They'd probably win a Golden Globe award if Henrietta & Merna were actually on the show. Without that video, they'll probably lose to some stupid reality show.

Oh well, perhaps I'll hear something again from them for the next season!

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