As the age old adage goes, all good things must come to an end.
Moments ago BET announced the end of their flagship countdown show ‘106 & Park’ — as a TV format.
Details below..
Per the shock press release, the show – which has been hosted by AJ & Free, Terrence J & Rocsi, and now Bow Wow & Keisha Chante – will cease airing in its traditional form from December 19th.
Thereafter, it’ll be a digital/online franchise only…although exact plans have not yet been confirmed.
Stephen Hill, BET’s President of Music Programming and Specials, had this to say:
We all have our favorite moments from the show that has put youth culture on television daily since the first year of this century. We have pride in being involved with the show that has welcomed almost every movie star, music superstar, and fresh faced talent you can name (you can even throw in a First Lady). We’ve all laughed with and been entertained by the young men and women hosts that have charmed us at 6pm (and more recently 5pm) each weekday.
All of us have been touched by 106 & Park.
Now it’s time for 106 & Park, as a daily TV entity, to take a bow and exit.
It’s been a great 14 year run as America’s top music/variety show on cable. And now that very valuable brand is going to take its talents to the digital realm. It’ll be very exciting to connect with the millions of people that are already engaged with 106 & Park and other BET digital and social media entities and bring content that will further evolve the 106 & Park brand…and enhance the overall BET Networks brand.
I’m not trying to minimize it; this is a very big change. We thank all the people who have worked on the show over the years; the talented hosts, the hard-working staff, production crews, and all the incredible guests we’ve had. Most of all, we’d like to humbly thank the “livest audience”, both in studio and at home, who fueled this landmark TV show from the very beginning. Meet you in the digital domain.
While some will use the announcement as a means to fire shots, we’ll use it to tip our hats to the network, producers, and all involved with delivering an awesome show that has moments now etched in Pop culture history.
It’s fair to say that in recent years the series never quite could recapture the magic of the AJ & Free or Terrence J & Rocsi years, as such this moment has been nigh for a while.
In any case, we’re eager to see what the network plan create to replace it. For, with every ending comes great opportunity embedded in new beginnings.