On June 22, 2010, I attended a press conference for Blink 182’s Mark Hoppus at the Roxy Suite at the Radio City Music Hall. The press conference was for his new show on Fuse, called “A Different Spin with Mark Hoppus.” Sal LoCurto, SVP programming and development at Fuse, addressed that this show was “Unique because there aren’t a heck of a lot of music shows out there right now.” Sal LoCurto is right, in the sense that there really aren’t a lot of music shows out there, on commercial television. In recent history, MTV and VH1 have changed their whole network from Music Television to Reality Television. Fuse is the only true music television channel in the United States where they are syndicated on over 62 Million TVs.
The question on everyone’s mind is what this show will be about. It is described as a new and humorous approach to music that includes performances, interviews and artist profiles. Although it will not have a studio audience (except for close friends and family,) the show will be bi-coastal where it is filmed in New York at the Fuse headquarters and in a Los Angeles studio. It will be produced by Emmy award nominee Sue Fellows, who has produced a number of studio based interview shows and has worked with people like; Chris Rock, Wanda Sykes, Bill Maher and Whoopi Goldberg. There will be 13 episodes for this year and 13 episodes next year. The show will start in September, after the Blink-182 European Tour. The show will have a co-host, but interviews for that position are currently happening at that moment and there is no word on whom it will be. The show will incorporates Mark introducing to us new and upcoming bands like what he did with the Spin articles, and his podcast. It will be an hour long. On his who his ideal guests would be, Mark stated that if he interviewed Paul McCartney, Jay-Z or Eminem, the show would be a success. Fuse and Mark Hoppus have both stated that “There is not really anything out there like that [the show] right now.”
During the Q+A, I was able to ask Mark a question on the Blinkumentry. Before Mark entered the room, Mike Bair of MSG Media, was talking about all the programs on Fuse, such as; The Jay-Z 9/11 Concert and the John Mayer Live at the Beacon Concert. I asked Mark if he would consider premiering the Blinkumentry on Fuse. He pointed at me, laughed and said “That’s not a bad idea.”
