The traditional MTV present Beavis and Butt-Head was the following step in televised animation for grown-ups. The Simpsons launched the idea of a dysfunctional animated household and earned its share of political condemnation for it. Beavis and Butt-Head had teenage antiheroes declare what was cool and what sucks. South Park got here subsequent and confirmed grade schoolers swearing, however due to Beavis and Butt-Head, South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone went to Comedy Central.
Former MTV and Comedy Central government Doug Herzog hosts the Fundamental podcast with Jen Chaney. After they interviewed Mike Decide on June 22 about creating Beavis and Butt-Head for MTV, Herzog revealed that it was Decide’s present that satisfied the South Park creators to go together with Comedy Central.
‘South Park’ noticed how MTV dealt with ‘Beavis and Butt-Head’ controversy
Beavis and Butt-Head confronted controversy in its first season. A hearth-related tragedy was blamed on the present, so MTV determined to take away all references to fireplace from the prevailing and future episodes. Decide thought that was going too far (particularly after studying the victims of the fireplace didn’t get cable). Herzog was President of MTV Productions when Beavis and Butt-Head launched, however turned President of Comedy Central in 1995.
“In its own weird way, all of that controversy around Beavis is part of the reason South Park ended up on Comedy Central,” Herzog mentioned on Basic. “I was at Comedy Central at this point. We were bidding against MTV. I convinced the guys, ‘Look what Mike Judge just went through.’ I said, ‘It’s a teen audience and they’re not going to let you do the show you want to do there.’ That convinced them to come to Comedy Central because we would have an ‘adult audience.’”
Former MTV President Doug Herzog thinks MTV over-reacted to the fireplace controversy
When he was at MTV, Herzog couldn’t prevail upon MTV to take a extra measured strategy to the Beavis and Butt-Head controversy. Comedy Central would in the end ask Parker and Stone to tug South Park episodes, too.
“MTV always unfortunately overreacted to these things to the point where they would take the word fire out, instead of kind of holding their ground a little bit,” Herzog mentioned. “Something I learned to do a little better when I got to Comedy Central. Whether it was heavy metal or Beavis and Butt-Head, everything, they always took it to heart and took it a little farther than they had to. Specifically with Beavis and Butt-Head. Certain things needed to be changed and were changed. I don’t know that this was one of them.”
‘Beavis and Butt-Head’ creator Mike Decide remembers being Public Enemy #1
Decide himself remembered being the scapegoat not just for one tragedy, however for all the things improper with tv. Though Beavis and Butt-Head ran till 1997, MTV didn’t stand by him at first.
David Felton used to say only one letter from one individual may trigger your entire community to react and take one thing off. This was round that point the place I assume there wasn’t a whole lot of information occurring on the planet. The wall had come down. For some motive, it was that yr, ‘93 where everyone was like there’s an excessive amount of violence on TV. That they had no statistics. They might simply do anecdotal stuff. It simply turned a factor and Beavis and Butt-Head was the worst present ever. I keep in mind Connie Chung, earlier than it had ever gone on the air, on the finish of some bit she mentioned, ‘And MTV has gone so far as to name a show Beavis and Butt-Head.’ Like that is simply the worst, TV has hit all-time low. It was positively a magnet for all that stuff.
Mike Decide, Fundamental podcast, 6/22/22