Let me start out by saying that I enjoyed watching Mojo. If you have basic cable you may not get Mojo as it is an HD only channel. I'd never heard of Mojo before about a year ago when their shows started popping up on Hulu [1]. If you are unfamiliar with Mojo just think of SpikeTV but in high definition and with even more dude-centric programming... So you might be asking yourself, does the world really need an HD version of Spike? As a dude I feel qualified to answer affirmatively. Mojo was a fun channel to watch and their programs actually seemed more worthwhile than most of the crap on Spike. I say Mojo was fun to watch because it's now dead. Just like so much DuMont Network [2], Mojo is now consigned to the annals of history.
Lowbrow in High Definition
Mojo HD [3] began broadcasting way back in the roaring '07s, a time when the high def landscape was wild and untamed... Actually Mojo replaced iN Demand's generic HD network. Mojo's gimmick was that all of their programming was in true HD, which is great so long as you air crap that people want to see in HD. Mojo's line up was reminiscent of SpikeTV, not really ideal for HD programming... But it worked, for me at least. With shows like Three Sheets [4] and Getting Abroad, I was instantly hooked. The rest of Mojo's line up was less than stellar... Pressure Cook was just about where I drew the line, I find Ralph Pagano to be just about the douchiest chef on TV (right behind Rachel Ray, who I have serious reservations about referring to as a chef).Pressure Cook is kinda like Man vs. Wild and No Reservations combined, which sounds pretty awesome. The downside is that Pressure Cook is hosted by a total guido [5] who gets dropped in a foreign setting and forced to earn his airfare back to the states. Still kinda sound like fun? Sure it does, which is why I've sat through about half a season despite my better judgment. The reality finally set in that Ralph Pagano wasn't really doing anything other than cooking the same shit he'd be cooking back in the states, only now he's surrounded by foreigners who can't communicate on a meaningful level with him. Like any good "reality" show, there was a humiliating failure task each episode. When Ralph Pagano failed to earn enough money he had to eat some gross local delicacy that fools haven't actually eaten since the advent of refrigeration or the dawn of the industrial revolution. Ralph Pagano's weekly failure was just about the only redeeming aspect of the show. I enjoyed watching this douche bag eat gibs and snoots for some reason, probably because he hated it so much...
The Saturday Channel
The bulk of Mojo's programming seemed to be syndicated shows that didn't quite make the cut for Discovery [6]'s latest spin-off niche specialty channel. Take Fields of Glory for instance... This was a show in which, each week, they give you the history behind a college football team's stadium, mascot, and fan culture. It may not sound like the most interesting shit ever but this was quite a bit of fun to watch, not so much for the sporting aspect of it, but for the local history and traditions. This wasn't a program I'd watch reruns of, but it was good way to kill a few hours on a lazy Saturday.Exhibit B comes to us in the form of a show titled Beer Nutz. That's right, Nuts... but with a Z! The premise behind this show sounds awesome, two dudes go around the country and visit small breweries and brew pubs, how could this not be awesome? Well, find two of the most uninteresting hosts possible and let them write their own scripts. That's not to say this show wasn't cool, it was still fun to watch... but it was frustrating because the hosts were so lame. These two guys reminded me of Paula Dean's two shithead sons who got their own show on Food Network where they'd just drive around and crack lame jokes about food that'll make you fat. Beer Nutz saving grace was that it was about beer, and that makes any show intrinsically interesting. As boring as the hosts were, they didn't totally detract from the cool brew pubs and bars they visited. This is another show that I probably wouldn't watch reruns of but it really hit the spot at about 2pm on a Saturday afternoon.
The same could be said about the rest of the programming on Mojo, it wasn't bad... it wasn't enlightening... it was just a fun way to kill an hour or two. If you ever found yourself with nothing to do on a Saturday afternoon and all you had was couch, a beer and a bag of chips; Mojo was there to help. At least it was until December 1st, 2008.