TELEVISION: Charl Blignaut
WHEN MTV, the ever-burgeoning 24-hour music channel unleashed their cartoon slacker brats Beavis and Butthead on an unsuspecting US audience, little did they know that the two braindead greaseheads would end up eating Bart Simpson – shorts, ratings and all.
Serving as VJs (video jocks: those who introduce music videos on TV) on a nightly slot, Beavis and Butthead proceeded to pop zits, perv, get off on heavy metal, discuss body fluids, chortle and make lewd remarks right the way through the videos. Soon they were commanding adventures of their own and it became a case of music videos in between the ‘toons. There followed awards and a new symbol for the dumb and dumbest proponent of the doom generation. No need to worry about the future when you got no brain.
They also led to the birth of multi-styled cartooning techniques on MTV, including the likes of Space Oddities and The Head. And they’ve finally arrived in South Africa – but only for a visit and only after midnight.
All local audiences will be offered are four half-hour packages of the programme after The Oprah Winfrey Show on Friday nights through October. It’s on so late because it appeals to “a minority audience”. But why only four episodes? Approached for an explanation, SABC3 say the slot in question is in fact a local slot that will be making way for the off-beat Chris du Plessis series Not Quite Friday Night – which will screened through November and December.
In fact, the cartoon is serving as more than just a filler: the SABC were able to acquire Beavis and Butthead at such a good rate that they have made up enough on their budget to pass on the remaining money to ensure a solid season of Not Quite Friday Night.
Catch Beavis and Butthead at quarter past midnight on Fridays on SABC3