Rocky Road For Reality TV, New Genre May Face Death of Kiss

Young-skewing advertisers may be wondering--where have all the rock videos gone? The closest one can get is with rock-themed reality TV shows. But that may be no bargain for media plans.

This Friday at 11:00 p.m., VH1 debuts a new series--"Gene Simmons' Rock School"--kind of a takeoff from Paramount Pictures' movie (a sister company of VH1) "The School of Rock," starring Jack Black. Simmons, the famous Kiss band member, will attempt to teach rock and roll to young musicians whose musical tastes and talent are far removed from the school of hard rocks.

Simmons will school 13- and 14-year-old classically trained students from one of England's top boarding schools--Christ's Hospital, just south of London. These proper school students come from central casting, wearing school uniforms and exhibiting correct boarding-school behavior--all with no knowledge of rock music.

Simmons will pick musicians for a band--through a typical reality show week-to-week elimination process--worthy of opening for longtime hard rock band Motorhead.

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Leading into that show, at 10:00 p.m., classroom and rock subjects provide another combination for VH1's cable airing of "Tommy Lee Goes To College." Last night, the series debuted at 9:00 p.m. on NBC, and will continue on Tuesdays in that time period. Lee is a member of the rock group Motley Crue, who stopped his life to go back to school. Despite the rise in rock-themed reality TV shows, straight-ahead rock music doesn't seem to be earning its keep. One of the most noteworthy--CBS' "Rock Star: INXS"--has been posting some mild summer ratings. For instance, last week the show earned a Nielsen Media Research 2.9 rating/8 share in its Tuesday time slot. "Rock Star"'s Wednesday airing---the results show--pulled in a 2.2/6 number, its best to date.

Since ratings performance haven't come in as expected, CBS pulled "Rock Star" from its three-times-a-week airings down to two, removing the Monday show. Those episodes have now moved to VH1 on Sunday evenings at 8 p.m. VH1 re-purposes the Tuesday and Wednesday editions on Saturdays.

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