VH1 Is Bringing Back Behind The Music

VH1 is bringing back Behind the Music. The cable network is ordering about 10 new episodes of the show, bringing back the iconic documentary program that ran for seven years on VH1 starting in 1997. Lil Wayne and Scott Weiland have signed on to participate, and the network is near agreements with several other performers.

VH1 had a reminder of the show’s popularity last fall when it aired a New Kids on the Block special. The event showed the group’s first public performance in more than a decade along with a Behind The Music retrospective.

In focus groups, VH1 found that Behind The Music is so deeply associated with the channel, some viewers assumed the series never left the air. The show’s storytelling model of the meteoric rise, tragic fall and sober rebirth of an artist was so distinctive that The Simpsons devoted a 2000 episode to parodying the show. There was also a short-lived spin-off, Behind the Music 2, that looked at the careers of younger favorites.

VH1 will update the show’s format for 2009. Jim Forbes is back as the show’s narrator, though the new episodes will add more current footage to anchor the story in the present day.