NEW YORK - VH1 quietly canned its latest incarnation of the wildly successful "I Love The 80's" program. Unlike "I Love The 70's", which had a small but appreciative audience, it seems that no one bothered to watch "I Love The 1880's". After airing only two of the five episodes already filmed, VH1 has officially pulled the plug on the project.

"Frankly, I was surprised that they wanted to try it in the first place," said Sven Beckert, the host of the program. As a Harvard professor of American history, specializing in nineteenth-century history, Beckert was a natural choice as host. "It's not that I don't think American history is exciting, it is. But I think people were looking for a 'Pop-Up Video' experience, and that just wasn't going to happen."

The first episode focused on compositions from 1881, including " Moderato in A Major" by Antonin Dvorak, Tchaikovsky's "Trio for Piano, Violin and Cello in A-Minor", and "Norwegian Rhapsody" by Edouard Lalo. The pieces themselves are enjoyable, but presented in the context of a "grudge match", with performers playing the parts of the various composers, stomping and screaming out their compositions simultaneously, it lost all meaning and became a simple cacophony. "I think we just dropped the ball on this one," said John Sykes, creator of VH1, "This was an idea that could've been a lot more. We could've really done something here and we didn't. But that's that. You get your shot, you take it. If you blow it, too bad. It's a real shame for Professor Beckert, though, since he did such a great job for us. You never want your first show to be a flop, even if it's not your fault."

Sources with VH1 revealed that future plans for "Fahrenheit: I Love The 80's" are on hold indefinitely.
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