The water-cooler reviews are in, and BET’s 2009 awards show has got people talking. Unfortunately, much of the talk is not favorable. Indeed, Sunday night’s show was kind of a mess. But I think we should give BET a little grace. When Michael Jackson died last Thursday, BET completely overhauled the show to weave the King of Pop throughout and accommodate the mass number of celebs wanting to offer tributes. The show was quite literally thrown together. And so, yes, in many instances it looked like it.
To take a show that normally takes six months to plan and totally revamp it in a couple of days was an unenviable but admirable undertaking. Certainly there’s plenty to bash BET about — the network’s shoddy and sometimes downright trashy programming is now legendary.
But perhaps, in this case, we should give BET credit for attempting to pull off the impossible in order to honor one of the Black community’s — and the world’s — greatest entertainers. Some additional thoughts about BET’s show:
- Ne-Yo did a phenomenal performance of “The Lady in my Life.”
- Jay-Z rocked it with his new single “DOA.”
- Joe Jackson sat up front all show long with Al Sharpton — which was weird, to say the least. Don’t we all dislike Joe Jackson because of all he put Michael through as a child? I’m confused …
- All of the other celebs who came out of the woodworks for MJ tributes, like New Edition, were totally subpar.
- The O’Jays tribute with Tevin Campbell was painful to watch…just a bad performance.
- Jamie Foxx was a great host but went a little heavy on promoting his own upcoming tour.
- The vignettes spliced between performances and awards offering tributes to MJ were awkward. The celebs shared MJ memories off the cuff, and since they were likely unscripted, the stories were rambling and sentimental, but not well-communicated.
- Janet Jackson showed up on behalf of the Jackson family to say “to you, Michael was an icon, but to us, he was family.” It was the most touching moment of the night but lasted about 5 seconds after the show was already running behind 40 minutes.
The whole night was a little low-budget and unrehearsed. But in a way, it was like one big ghetto funeral. People were just there to show their love, raw and uncut. I kind of liked it.
Well, I’m not a BET fan at all. But I agree with you that it was gutsy for them to tear the show apart to try and honor Michael Jackson. If they hadn’t done it, they would’ve been raked over the coals for it. So, sure, give them some grace. What I’d like to know is why they don’t show the same level of courage and risk-taking in their regular programming, which is typically awful.
“One Big Ghetto Funeral” – hilarious and really not much more I can say to follow that.
I did love Ne-Yo’s Lady in my Life – awesome
I also loved the O’Jays performance – they rocked and those songs reminded me of my childhood.
If you paid attention to what Janet said, “I am the spokesperson for my family”, clearly said to me that Joe Jackson was not there on behalf of the family! Janet’s moment was touching, but I totally understood that she was going to lose it if she continued. Another hightlight for me, was at the end whe Neyo and Jamie sang together.
True there were many highlights to the BET Award show that I enjoyed, namely the OJay’s performance, New Editions tribute to MJ and the Jackson 5, Guy’s performance…there were some. However the sporadic memorials to MJ were just sloppy, unprofessional, and at time weird. When your honor a person like MICHAEL JACKSON the tribute like his dance moves should have been tight, and on time. Don’t give us a pass saying at least we tried, NO…some things must be done decent and in order, and this should have been the time.
Yeah it was a little unorganized but what messed me up real bad was Lil’Wayne and young money song with those little girls on stage singing and dancing along with them that was just terrible to me.But hey I also understand that parents are allowing thier children to listen to that stuff,but are shock when thier little girls are getting pregnant or when their sons getting arrested for commiting violent acts.Lord please come quick
Having watched only parts of the show, I was not impressed. Why not postpone the show to do a premiere event about a week later. I would also say that what the entire show lacked was a charismatic and poised host who could have brought a greater dignity to MJ’s life, given all of the contraversy and scrutiny that he lived under. Today’s musicians and art are high on “talent” and low in charisma and decorum. But it is what it is. Maybe this becomes the cause for training up a new generation of Urban artist who carry themselves with dignity and poise. Who can speak and present well and do justice to the pioneers who opened the doors for them.