Gephyrophillia | Not An Update #3

Originally Posted on 07/14/2008 by Jeff Harris

This is not an update.

It's a thought about silver balls, neon logos, moonmen, slime in many colors, and other oddities.

Many readers of this webpage are either too young to remember when Nickelodeon and MTV had those elements in their interstitials or just didn't care. Heck, some of the readers of the site are too young to remember when MTV and VH1 actually showed music videos. Not the spliced-up cuts of video interspersed by shout-outs, pointless scrolling ads, and cheering adolescent audiences. Those days are long gone, but they were remembered by fans who not only remembered them but smart enough to videotape them. Some of these individuals became web-savvy, placing them online for all to see, those that remembered when MTV actually put thought in their idents and the evolution of Nickelodeon, which had, at least graphically, remained the same for a little over 20 years (hey, the logo's still working for the main network).

Viacom would rather you forgot about them, especially if you want to see them on YouTube.

Viacom has already forced YouTube to take down numerous Viacom-oriented videos from their site, and I understand their need to get rid of the truly dangerous offenders who put up full episodes of shows currently on the air. However, what I don't understand is the need to get rid of the legitimate archival videos that were once dominant on the video-sharing service.

The question of whether or not they should have been removed is moot at this point. The fact that the archival, historical footage (footage I may add, will likely never be seen on the air or anywhere else again) is no longer there is troubling to say the least. The early years of Nickelodeon and MTV provided some of the best examples of network promotion and interstitial art that could be emulated, but never duplicated.

It was art of the era, evocative of its time. Commercial art in the music video era. Hell, they named the era after MTV, remember? They're no longer on YouTube, an entity people could go to and find them. Now, you'll have to Google them to find a few. So much for the internet being the world's biggest library. Shame, really.

This is not an update. It's me missing yet something else from my youth.

Jeff Harris,
Webmaster, The X Bridge. Since 1998.