''PopClips'' is a

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device ...

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

program, the direct predecessor of MTV. Former Monkee Mike Nesmith conceived the first music-video program as a promotional device for Warner Communications' record division. Production began in the spring of 1979 at SamFilm, a sound-stage built and operated in

Sand City, California Sand City is a city in Monterey County, California, United States, located on the shores of Monterey Bay, and surrounded on most sides by the larger city of Seaside. Sand City is located northeast of Monterey, at an elevation of 72 feet (22 m). ...

by Sam Harrison, a

Monterey Peninsula College Monterey Peninsula College (MPC) is a public community college in Monterey, California. Established in 1947, it is a part of the California Community Colleges system. There are two additional MPC campuses located in Marina, CA, and Seaside, ...

instructor with a motion picture background. The series was produced by

Jac Holzman Jac Holzman (born September 15, 1931) is an American music businessman, best known as the founder, chief executive officer and head of record label Elektra Records and Nonesuch Records. Holzman commercially helped launch the CD and home video form ...

. With an infinity cyclorama as the background, set flats were made from the

Styrofoam Styrofoam is a trademarked brand of closed-cell extruded polystyrene foam (XPS), commonly called "Blue Board", manufactured as foam continuous building insulation board used in walls, roofs, and foundations as thermal insulation and water barrie ...

packing used to ship laserdisc players and 3/4" video decks. The first " VeeJay" was Jeff Michalski. The director was

William Dear William Dear (born November 30, 1943) is a Canadian actor, director, producer and screenwriter. He is known for directing the films ''Harry and the Hendersons'', '' If Looks Could Kill'', '' Angels in the Outfield'', '' Wild America'', and ''San ...

. Besides Harrison, the production team was made up of Bruce "Buz" Clarke, Keith Cornell, Marybeth Harris, and Leslie Chacon. The program was broadcast weekly on the youth-oriented

cable television Cable television is a system of delivering television programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This contrasts with bro ...

channel

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its networks division's Kids and Family Group. It ...

in late 1980 and early 1981. The channel's owners at the time,

Warner Cable Time Warner Cable, Inc. (TWC) was an American cable television company. Before it was acquired by Charter Communications on May 18, 2016, it was ranked the second largest cable company in the United States by revenue behind only Comcast, opera ...

, wanted to buy the name and idea, but instead, according to Dear, "they just watered down the idea and came up with MTV." ''PopClips'' was preceded by the video ''

Elephant Parts ''Elephant Parts'' is a collection of comedy sketches and music videos made in 1981 by Michael Nesmith, formerly of the Monkees. Nesmith produced the video through his company Pacific Arts. ''Elephant Parts'' is one hour long with parody commerci ...

'' (which won the first ever

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pr ...

for

Music Video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device ...

),The New Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock and Roll (1995) and followed by a second series titled ''

Television Parts ''Michael Nesmith in Television Parts'' is a summer TV series run by NBC in 1985. It was a 30-minute comedy-variety series created by Michael Nesmith as a continuation of his Grammy Award-winning video production ''Elephant Parts'', and earlie ...

'', both of which Nesmith hosted and produced.

References

External links

Mike Nesmith of the Monkees
Ian Watson, first published in '' Melody Maker'' {{Michael Nesmith 1980s American music television series 1980 American television series debuts 1981 American television series endings 1980s Nickelodeon original programming Television series created by Michael Nesmith