The idea of having a go-to channel to find new TV shows is a waning experience from a bygone TV viewing era, but that doesn’t mean it’s not useful to know where you can find new and interesting TV shows. Your HBOs and AMCs are certainly good places to start, but there’s hundreds of channels out there, and VICELAND is one of them.
VICELAND is a new TV channel from Vice, hence the name, that made it’s small screen debut on February 29, 2016. The new channel replaced H2 (a spin-off of the History Channel). If you don’t know where that channel was located, numerically speaking, I don’t blame you. Here’s a helpful channel finder. That link also provides information about how to watch VICELAND content online and via their app.
Self described as “…a collection of personal perspectives”, VICELAND’s bread and butter is lifestyle-based docu-series and reality shows. If you haven’t guessed already, they’re targeting millennial viewers. I hate that word as much as you do, but I’ve checked out some of their shows and they’re pretty interesting. Doesn’t hurt that Spike Jonze is involved in the channel’s creative direction either.
Ellen Page’s Gaycation is probably the most promoted new series in their current lineup, and perhaps rightly so. It’s insightful and equal parts inspiring and heartbreaking. Other shows currently on the air include Weediquette, F*CK, That’s Delicious, Flophouse, Noisy, and State of Undress, which revolve around pot, food, stand-up comedians, music, and fashion respectively.
According to their website, there’s a handful of new shows on deck too. Upcoming series include Huang’s World, starring Eddie Huang, King of the Road, which is about the “skate trip of a lifetime”, Vice World of Sports, that one’s self explanatory, and Women, a docu-series following Gloria Steinem as she travels the world meeting women whose lives are impacted by violence and oppression.
Ultimately, VICELAND is hoping to convert Vice’s online audience to a more traditional TV audience, which may be easier said than done. As much as I am both a TV addict and a millennial, I haven’t watched a single thing on VICELAND live, nor could I tell you when any of it actually airs. And that may be a problem since the channel is still ad supported like the rest of cable TV and millennials are increasingly watching less TV on TV.
Whether or not they can succeed in the long run is anyone’s guess. No really, they have an agreement with Nielsen to not disclose any ratings metrics for the first six months in order to operate without scrutiny, so no one really knows how well they are currently doing. But business-talk aside, if slice of life stories with a global perspective interests you, then I recommend checking out VICELAND.
