Monday, July 21, 2003 | 8:12 a.m.
Lists are meant to be debated.
Yes, they educate and entertain, but their primary intent is to coerce dialogue friendly or otherwise.
And probably no cable network knows this better than VH1, which has boosted its ratings and practically defined its image through its myriad Top-100 lists and best-of specials (see the Top 10 of VH1's Top Lists on page 2E) along with its "Behind the Music" episodes.
But now the David Letterman of music channels has managed to outdo even itself: a list of the "200 Greatest Pop Culture Icons."
Beginning today and airing from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. for five straight nights on Cox cable channel 33, the "200 Greatest Pop Culture Icons" list is sure to prompt spirited debate.
As far as the head of VH1's East Coast programming, Robert Weiss, is concerned, bring on the controversy.
"I think the best shows we do like this end up both entertaining and enlightening the audience," Weiss said in a recent phone interview from New York. "Hopefully, you walk away laughing a little bit and learning something you didn't know and creating some debate."
However, Weiss is quick to state he sticks by the selections, a diverse group composed of everyone from politicians, rockers and fictional characters to actors, athletes and artists.
The special features such names and characters as Babe Ruth, Robin Williams, Jack Nicholson, Superman, James Dean, Bill Clinton, Andy Warhol, Carol Burnett, Susan Lucci, Bill Gates, Dorothy Hamill, Calvin Klein, Prince, Hugh Hefner, Molly Ringwald, E.T., "The Simpsons" and "The Brady Bunch."
"I think it's really representative and a diverse list. There were a lot of people that I thought would end up on the list, but after sitting through hours and hours of discussions, people changed my mind," Weiss said. "I think the fun for us was to be fair and to be able to justify when someone was there on the list."
The selection process began in December, when an "ethnically diverse group" of VH1 executives specializing in the world of pop culture began with a list of 500 nominees. That number was whittled down to 300 and then to 250.
That's where the number remained, as the group -- whose ages ranged from 21 to 50 -- argued the merits and achievements of the remaining nominees.
Finally, after nearly a month of haggling, they agreed upon the 200 selections.
Their debates were more than often settled by a set of criteria that was both serious and whimsical, including:
Did they blaze a trail in pop culture?
Did they change society through something they did?
Can they be quoted in 10 seconds or less?
Did their sense of style -- clothes, hair, for example -- lead to a public trend?
Can they only be identified by one name?
Were they ever impersonated on "Saturday Night Live"?
Did they make for the perfect Halloween costume?
"For some people it took them a lifetime to become an icon; others managed (after) only a few years to become a pop culture icon," Weiss said. "People had to have either accomplished something to become an icon, or to have had a body of work or done something in their professional lives to be on the list."
And some, he said, were named not for their body of work, but for a role they played: Carroll O'Connor (Archie Bunker), Henry Winkler (The Fonz) and Vivien Leigh and Clark Gable (Scarlett O'Hara and Rhett Butler, respectively), among others.
As for the list itself, well, it's being kept a tight secret.
VH1 was so concerned the results might be leaked ahead of time that multiple endings were shot (a la the "Who Shot J.R.?" episode of "Dallas") so neither the host, who is "Sex and the City's" Kristen Davis, nor the crew would know in advance who was the network's choice as the Greatest Pop Culture Icon.
Still, there are some definite surprises.
Of course The Beatles would be on the list. But ranking the most influential band in rock history behind the cast of "'Friends" seems a little shortsighted, as does placing Jennifer Lopez one ranking higher than Muhammad Ali. Famous derriere and all, is "Jenny from the block" really more pop culturally relevant than "The Greatest"?
Even the final 10 (listed below in alphabetical order), has some questionable inclusions and omissions:
Lucille Ball.
Tom Cruise.
Princess Diana.
Michael Jackson.
Michael Jordan.
Madonna.
Marilyn Monroe.
Elvis Presley.
Superman.
Oprah Winfrey.
"To call this the '200 Greatest Pop Culture Icons' and not the '200 Greatest Icons' alone, immediately there's a filter of some sense of immediacy, of being current," Weiss said. "By adding 'pop culture' to the list, we're justifying it as people who are known now."
While the list was composed with current trends in mind, Weiss said the selection committee was mindful of icons of past generations.
For example, both Sigmund Freud and Albert Einstein (himself named Time magazine's Person of the Century) made the list.
"Some of the older icons, the young people in the room were rallying for. But some of the older people in the room were rallying around some of the newer icons," Weiss said. "The people didn't always support the icons you think they would."
Regardless of who they supported, the final say went to Weiss and other senior executives at VH1, who based their decisions on the progressively longer meetings the group had, stretching two to three hours at a time.
"Ultimately, I blessed the list," he said.
So let the debate begin.
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