Video on Trial
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Video on Trial | |
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 Video on Trial logo |
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| Genre | Comedy Critique |
| Starring | Various Judges |
| Country of origin | Canada |
| No. of episodes | 53 (as of January 21, 2007) |
| Production | |
| Running time | 30 Minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | MuchMusic |
| Original run | August 15, 2005 – present |
Video on Trial (abbreviated as VOT) is a half-hour MuchMusic television program where a panel of musicians, comedians and entertainment columnists critique music videos.
Contents |
[edit] About Video on Trial
[edit] Show Structure
The concept of the show is to put a set of five music videos in a fictional court-room with five comedians acting as the jurors; they poke fun of and question each artist's behaviour in each video. Also, artists' personal lives and off-set behaviour are mocked by the critics in relation to the music video.
In the conclusion of the TV program, humorous verdicts are given to the artists which most often relate to them in real-life. (For example, in the first episode, Weezer and their video for "Beverly Hills" were sentenced to "an extremely juvenile detention centre").
[edit] About The Accused Videos
Most of the videos featured are generally recent, with at least one of the five videos per episode still being in rotation. Older videos are still featured, though, mostly those from the early '00s, and popular videos from 1997 to 1999 have been played on rare occasions.
Special editions of VOT have occurred. Three of them were '80s Specials (Totally '80s, '80s Superstars and ???), that featured classic 1980s videos. The jury was dressed up in 1980s-styled clothing, and the blackish background behind them was replaced with various neon colours. Another special was Christmas-themed (Holiday Crap) that featured holiday-themed videos. The jury was dressed up in holiday sweaters or Santa outfits. A special Centerfold Edition was also made, featuring three Playboy models on the jury.
Oddly enough, despite being aired on a Canadian music network, only five of the featured videos so far were made by Canadian artists (ones by Massari, Shawn Desman, Avril Lavigne, Simple Plan, and Tom Green), which has brought up a few complaints from some fans.
[edit] Jurors
Some jurors make multiple appearances on the show, and the ones who appear most often are generally Canadian stand-up comedians, including (alphabetically) Nicole Arbour, Trevor Boris, Debra DiGiovanni, Dini Dimakos, Sabrina Jalees, Ron Josol, David Kerr, Alex Nussbaum, Nikki Payne, Ron Sparks and Fraser Young. By contrast, some judges make just one appearance and never return.
The following have all appeared as a juror at least once:
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Canadian Stand-up Comedians
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Musicians
Television
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Radio Personalities
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[edit] Episode Guide
A complete VOT episode guide is available on the separate page: List of Video on Trial episodes.
[edit] Verdicts
A list of verdicts is available on the episode guide.
[edit] Trivia
- Almost every guest on the show has appeared as "themselves", but there have been a few notable exceptions:
- Sean Cullen appeared as a "Stand-in for Ron Sparks" in season two during one video (after Ron said that he couldn't stand it), "Smack That" by Akon.
- ????? appeared as "Hugh Phukovsky" (a rock-and-roll comedian).
- Ron Sparks appears so frequently on Video on Trial that in newer episodes he is listed as various fake occupations instead of just "comedian". He has been billed as such things as (in order of use):
- a handsome bachelor
- a movie star
- a hand model
- a member of the Justice League
- the president of the Shawn Desman Fan Club (an in-joke, as Ron often makes fun of Desman)
- a Man About Town
- a Ghost Whisperer
- a haberdasher
- a vampire slayer
- the inventor of techno music (coincidentally during an episode featuring a techno music video)
- a Crocodile Hunter
- a ninja assassin
- a macaroni artist
- a non-union stuntman
- a birdhouse architect
- Star of "Sorority Shootout"
- not cool in the '80s (During the "'80s Superstars" episode)
- Santa's biggest elf (During the "Holiday Crap" episode)
- Debra DiGiovanni has made the most appearances as a juror, with 16 as of November 19, 2006. She is also one of the show's most popular jurors.
- Debra DiGiovanni and Trevor Boris went on tour together with a standup comedy show in January, 2007.
- Hugh Phukovsky pulled all the "Video on Trial" listings from his MySpace page, claiming "I gave those fuckers some GOLD!" and that they cut it all out with "humourless editing".
- The sentence for Paris Hilton's "Nothing In This World" video was to "have a Video On Trial viewer add her picture to the Wikipedia entry for 'loser.'" Although there is no such Wikipedia page for "loser," rather just a disambiguation page, fans of the show subsequently added her photo to Wiki pages that the disambiguation page led to.
- Oddly enough, the episode containing this verdict aired shorty after a Wikipedia entry covering all of the show's verdicts was considered for deletion.
- In April, 2007, MuchMusic's Video on Trial web forum was shut down (along with threads for several other MuchMusic shows. MuchMusic's registered users were invited to vote in several polls, here are the final results:
- Nikki Payne (70%) defeated Sabrina Jalees (29%) in a "Who Do You Like More" showdown voted on by MuchMusic website subscribers. It should be noted that Nikki Payne appeared in only a few episodes.
- Ron Sparks (69%) defeated Fraser Young (30%) in a "Fraser Young vs. Ron Sparks" showdown.
- Jully Black won the "WORST JUDGE" poll:
- Jully Black - 25%
- Sabrina Jalees - 20%
- Trevor Boris - 15%
- OTHER - 13%
- Nikki Payne - 11%
- Debra DiGiovanni - 9%
- Ron Josol - 4%
- Ron Sparks won the "BEST JUDGE" poll:
- Ron Sparks - 32%
- Debra DiGiovanni - 15%
- OTHER - 13%
- Fraser Young - 9%
- David Kerr - 9%
- Sabrina Jalees - 7%
- Nikki Payne - 6%
- Anna Von Francis - 3%
- George Pettit - 2%
- Esthero - 0%
- It should be noted that the vast majority of the "OTHER" votes were write-ins for Trevor Boris, whose name was for some reason left off the poll, likely because it was posted very early in the show's run.
- In "unofficial polls", Aaron Merke seems to be the winner of "Judge vs. Judge in Hand-to-Hand Combat" and Debra DiGiovanni seems to have defeated Sabrina Jalees in a "Who Do You Like More?" showdown.
- Oddly, several judges were named very often in both the "Best Judge" and "Worst Judge" discussions, notably Sabrina Jalees and Trevor Boris (I and many others would speculate that many of his detractors simply did not like him because they were homophobic and he is openly gay).
- The Bloodhound Gang and Weird Al Yankovic are the only two cast members (so far) to have appeared on the show both as jurors and artists in their accused videos ("Foxtrot Uniform Charlie Kilo" and "White & Nerdy", respectively).
- Musician Jully Black actually critiqued a portion of her own video "5x Love" at the end of an episode in which she was a juror (keeping with the tone with the show, she didn't go easy on it). However, no other judges were involved.
- Black actually insisted that her own video be included, and that she be the one to criticize it.
- Sunsilk has parodied the show in a series of commercials for their hair care products. The spoof is called "Hair On Trial" and features frequent VOT cast member Trevor Boris as the juror endorsing the product. Not surprisingly, the commercials usually ran during airings of the show.
- On a Kelevision radio broadcast, guests Darren Frost, Boomer Phillips and Aaron Berg discussed the show and its shortcomings (Frost and Phillips had both appeared on VOT). Frost was especially upset about the show, particularly the small fees that comedian guests were paid. To date he has not appeared on the show again.
[edit] Most Accused Artists
Justin Timberlake has had the most videos tried on the show so far, with nine in total (three as a solo artist, four with 'N Sync, and two collaborations - one with Snoop Dogg and one with T.I.).
P!nk and 50 Cent are tied for second place, each with seven of their videos tried so far. P!nk has had six of her videos featured, along with one collaboration with Christina Aguilera, Mya, & Lil' Kim. 50 Cent has had four of his videos featured, along with two collaborations with G-Unit. However, it should be worth nothing that 50 Cent's video for "Candy Shop" was actually tried twice on VOT, once during a regular episode and another time in the "Centerfold Edition" (Trevor Boris actually joked during the latter episode that 50 cent had appeared the most times on the show, and gave him a mock "lifetime achievement" award for sucking).
Four other artists are tied for third place, having been featured six times each. They are:
- Britney Spears (five of her own, and one collaboration with Madonna)
- Gwen Stefani (four of her own, and three with No Doubt)
- Mariah Carey
- Christina Aguilera
[edit] Quotes
- Ron Sparks - I once saw Liberace and Elton John 69 each other in the back of a limo, and that video is still the gayest thing I've ever seen. (on "Just Want You to Know" by the Backstreet Boys)
- Ron Sparks - I'm not gonna say too much about this video, because I'm friends with blink-182, but I will say one thing...Shawn Desman sucks. (on "I Miss You" by blink-182)
- Fraser Young - Watch out Old Navy, watch out Orange Julius...It's about to get all complicated in this bi-yotch! (on "Complicated" by Avril Lavigne)
- David Kerr - What is up with that dance? I liked him better when he was on smack! (on "Fall to Pieces" by Velvet Revolver)
- David Kerr - Am I the only one who's not threatened by breakdancing anymore? It's kind of like "Oooh, look at me, I did a headspin! DISS! Take that, Christina!" (on "Can't Hold Us Down" by Christina Aguilera)
- Nikki Payne - She wrote "Do Somethin'" for her husband. She's gonna follow it up with a song called "Why Don't You Get A Job". (on "Do Somethin'" by Britney Spears)
- Nikki Payne - We gotta keep our vaginas nice and strong". (on "Fergalicious" by Fergie)
- Ron Sparks - If I tried to put my thumbs down any further, I would mess my pants. And then my pants would be full of Hinder. (on "Lips of an Angel" by Hinder)
- Pete Zedlacher - Pbbbbbbbbbbbllllllllllllpppppppppp! *one giant raspberry* (on "Lips of an Angel" by Hinder; that was cut in and out between other jurors' verdicts)
- Anna Von Frances - If you are truly beautiful you can cut off all your hair and still look pretty. That is why Jennifer Aniston will always have long hair. (on "Papa Don't Preach" by Madonna)
- Ron Sparks - You know what I like best about this video... Nothing. (on "Money Maker" by Ludacris)
- Trevor Boris - All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth, made out of diamonds, bitches! (on "Chain Hang Low" by Jibbs)
- Weird Al Yankovic - If your song's title is so long that it can't fit on a bumper sticker, you might just be a pretentious alternative rock band! (on "Lying Is the Most Fun a Girl Can Have Without Taking Her Clothes Off" by Panic! at the Disco)
- Trevor Boris - "I'm madly in anger with you"? Okay, that is officially the gayest line in all of heavy metal. (on "St. Anger" by Metallica)
- Trevor Boris - "Brooke Hogan is like Paris Hilton, without the talent. I know. (on "About Us" by Brooke Hogan)
- Ron Sparks - "Hey, some weird guy in a trenchcoat just followed a half-black, half-white woman up my staircase. Get over here!" (on "Billie Jean" by Michael Jackson)
- Trevor Boris - "All I want for Christmas is to go home. Seriously. I've been locked in here since the very first episode!" (on "All I Want For Christmas" by Mariah Carey)
- Dini Dimakos- "There are two places where Fergie charges admission: Fergieland and the arc between her legs. Coincidentally, they are the same place."(on "Fergalicious" by Fergie)
- Ron Sparks- "What does the "O" stand for Steve? "Oh my goodness he's got no talent at all." (on "Joker & The Thief" by Wolfmother)
- Grieg Nori- "I've been wearing these sandals all day, who wants to smell 'em" (on "Luxurious" by Gwen Stefani)
- Sabrina Jalees- "Oh, I'm hugging Asian people. I like Asian people, I'm hugging black people, I love Latin people..." (on "Luxurious" by Gwen Stefani)
- Nicole Arbour- "Wow, the Harajuku Girls are like, stealth, they can climb walls like fricken Batman." (on "The Sweet Escape" by Gwen Stefani)
- Perry Perlmatur- "I've seen armless people do a better robot...I've seen dudes without torsos do a better robot." (on "L.O.V.E." by Ashlee Simpson)
- Ron Sparks- "So you go driving around in your parents car, without a license, and you pick up some run-away, and she's underaged, and you go to jail, and then they have to come back early to bail you out? Yeah, parents just don't understand. What is with parents!?" (on "Parents Just Don't Understand" by Will Smith)
[edit] See also
- Stars on Trial
- LOL!
- Video on Trial: Holiday Crap
- Video on Trial: 80s Superstars
