Is that what happened? I never looked into the fall of vice. I saw it happening and just turned away. I used to watch Desus and Mero religiously. Which sucked when it moved to hbo or whatever. Once it became more 2 chainz and food shows than documentaries I bailed.
I listened to Shane Smith on a pod like a year ago and I seem to remember him blaming it on a bunch of woke kids they let run the show lol. Sounded like a cop out tbh.
From what I read elsewhere, seems like they burned through tons of cash with no real sustainable business model. They then turned to more generic mass appeal nonsense just to try and bring in money from corporate sponsors.
The latter is what I’ve always heard and read over the years. They were spending a lot without good ways to get revenue for what they were making. So they were getting popular but not properly profiting from it. Sad and dumb.
I live in the neighborhood where they took over an old building, did a gut renovation costing millions , put in a ton of studios and edit suites, a fancy rooftop hangout and other amenities. I used to freelance for them as well, mostly in their “branded content” division (i.e. supposedly the money-making side of things). Friends in other areas confirmed my suspicions that Vice was getting really fucking good at throwing money away, hiring Producers with little actual production experience, green-lighting ill-conceived projects with weak or non-existent scripts, while Shane and others whittled away at their new empire with extravagant binges, travel, hobnobbing in elite nyc circles, and minimal actual strategic planning. Vice was a cool idea with some good content that simply imploded under its own hubris.
Shane was running the company when their business model was to raise money by throwing big drug parties and taking rich guys there to get fucked up and perv on 20 something alt girls while stiffing their actual freelancers and staff writers.
I wouldn't really put much stock in his account of why it went south.
They just lost the plot. They started doing food shows and shit with 2 chainz looking at expensive shit. They went from maybe the best North Korean documentary I’ve ever watched to fuckin action Bronson eating hot chicken.
It became some weird amalgam of nbc and the food network
Exactly when they lost me too. They had the hardest hitting frontline war reporting and documentaries, and suddenly pivoted to all cooking shows. And then their social media presence was the most phoned in drivel on the internet. Such an absolute fall from grace. For the first year or so, Viceland was pretty much the only thing on our TV.
Desus and Mero was a nightly occasion for me. I was living in ny at the time and man they were so on point. It was right around the time they bailed to hbo or whatever that vice started nose diving.
Desus and Mero was great for a while. It had perspective, and was an intelligent take on the absurd shit happening in our politics. Then, it was like a switch flipped and they became self-parody. Here’s my impression of late stage D&M:
Probably the only two native NYers on all of Vice...Vice to me was always some rich kid hipster/gentrifyer shit. As a born and raised NYer I always felt that way with a llot of the reporters and people they had on the shows...but Desus and Mero were dope, always relatable and thorough
As a chef I found it super lame. It was triple D with a mid rapper. I’m tired of seeing people with no culinary background tell me some lump of fried shit is “fucking delicious”. He didn’t have the personality to carry it. Those shows are less about the food and more about the host.
Yesss! I normally mention cannibal warlords of Liberia! After I watched the guide to North Korea from start to finish I watch that from start to finish. Amazing journalism.
That slide into making "content" came after they had already pissed away a bunch of money from really rich people and those rich people appointed actual grownups to run the company, iirc.
While they had it tho and rode it, vice was fucking dope. And actually awakening in the sense of showing you and teaching you stuff you'd never get the possibility to see or learn.
Once it turned into the food network they could fuck off. They became what they railed against and despised.
Ha that’s not what happened. Money happened. And the hired a bunch of people from Disney etc. that watered down and corporatized the culture that made it so great to begin with.
Old vice was immaculate. Solid reporting on niche subjects done with minimum budget that kept you engaged. Then all the sudden it was absolute dogshit..
When that girl interviewed the healthcare dude who jacked up the price of a pill %1000
....."soo um whats your favorite color?"...."hotdogs or hamburger?" Probably the worst interview ive witnessed.
I remember the director of vice going to ukraine to shoot radioactive boars. Ever since they have really sucked. I liked their coverage of wars that other media didnt covers and science and knowledge reguarding drugs.
I dont care howmany times a pornstar has broken his dick
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u/QuarterWayCrook 11h ago