Tuned In: The Tube: Rappers Make Mark On Tv

As the 2003-2004 TV season gets under way this month, rappers are making their mark as power players on new shows. The hottest area for rappers on TV is in prime-time situation comedies.

Eve is the star and a co-executive producer of UPN sitcom "Eve," which premieres at 8:30 p.m. ET/PT Sept. 15. In the TV series, she plays single career woman Shelly Williams, who experiences the highs and lows of dating.

Lil' Romeo and his father, Master P, will star as a music-industry father and son in "Romeo!," which debuts at 8:30 p.m. ET/PT Sept. 13 on Nickelodeon. Master P is one of the show's executive producers.

Will Smith is a creator/executive producer of UPN's "All of Us." The series premieres at 8:30 p.m. ET/PT Sept. 16. Meanwhile, Bow Wow has inked a deal with the WB for a still-untitled sitcom that may be a mid-season replacement (Billboard, Aug. 16).

"Eve" was originally titled "The Opposite Sex," but UPN says it changed the title because Eve's name makes the show more marketable. It is no coincidence that the artists often bring some parts of their real lives to their TV shows.

Eve tells Billboard, "Most of the roles I get offered are characters that are a lot like me. I don't think it's typecasting, but it's about picking roles that are a natural fit."

Rappers are getting these business opportunities in TV because the artists have a primarily young audience, which the networks want. For example, UPN, Nickelodeon and the WB target under-35 audiences.

The payoff is the lure: Most first-time stars on a prime-time network series get between $10,000 and $50,000 per episode for the show's first season. The salary is higher if the entertainer is also a production executive for the show.



MTV VMA DECLINE: At the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs)—held Aug. 28 at New York's Radio City Music Hall—the press room had the worst celebrity turnout of any major awards show we've covered.

Very few celebrities and none of the top winners and star performers entered the press room for interviews.

MTV confines the majority of media to the press room, where MTV's communications department is responsible for celebrity interviews. An MTV spokesman who heads VMA media relations would only say, "It's getting harder to get celebrities in the press room."

But many stars posed for pictures in the nearby VMA photo room. MTV's inability to get these celebrities into the press room left many reporters feeling cheated.

The VMA show was not as exciting and unpredictable as it has been in the past. The most talked-about moment—Madonna's open-mouth kisses with Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera during the "surprise" performance—was hardly a first. Madonna made headlines more than 10 years ago for her display of lesbian eroticism in her "Sex" book and videos for "Erotica" and "Justify My Love."

The VMAs may also be losing some appeal with viewers, as ratings declined from last year's show. According to Nielsen Media Research, the 2003 VMAs got a 6.4 rating/11 share, or 10.7 million U.S. viewers. The 2002 VMAs had a 6.6 rating/11 share (11.95 million U.S. viewers).



IN BRIEF: Janet Jackson will star in and executive produce an as-yet-untitled ABC musical biography of Lena Horne. Overseeing the production will be Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, who are behind the resurgence of other musicals in Hollywood (Billboard, Aug. 30).