Vice (TV series)

For other uses, see Vice (disambiguation).

Vice (stylised as VICE) is a documentary television series created and hosted by Shane Smith of Vice magazine. It covers topics using an immersionist style of documentary filmmaking on Showtime. It premiered on April 5, 2013, on HBO. The show's second season aired in 2014 and won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Informational Series or Special.^[1]

Vice
Title card from seasons 1–3
Genre	Documentary
Created by	Shane Smith
Based on	Vice Media
Starring	Shane Smith, Gideon Yago, Thomas Morton, Jake Hanrahan, Isobel Yeung, Ben Anderson
Theme music composer	Nick Zinner, Ben Vida & Hisham Bharoocha
Opening theme	Doomed
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	10
No. of episodes	164 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers	Bill Maher (seasons 1–6) Shane Smith Suroosh Alvi Fareed Zakaria Eddy Moretti BJ Levin (seasons 1–4) Tim Clancy (season 4–10) Beverly Chase Craig Thompson Subrata De
Production locations	Syria, Afghanistan, North Korea, Iraq, Nigeria, Ukraine, Venezuela, Brazil, Myanmar, Mexico, South Sudan, Los Angeles, New York (HQ)
Editor	Danny Gabai
Running time	27–43 minutes
Production companies	Bill Maher Productions (seasons 1–6) Vice Original Series HBO Entertainment (seasons 1–6) Showtime Networks (seasons 7–10)
Budget	$13.2 million
Original release
Network	HBO (seasons 1–6) Showtime (season 7–10)
Release	April 5, 2013 (2013-04-05) – June 25, 2023 (2023-06-25)

The show originally was executive-produced by Bill Maher, Shane Smith, and Eddy Moretti, and CNN journalist Fareed Zakaria was credited as a consultant.^[2][3]

On May 7, 2014, HBO renewed the series for two more seasons. The 14-episode third season began March 6, 2015, one week after the hour-long "Killing Cancer" aired on February 27. Vice's sixth season aired on April 6, 2018.^[4] On March 25, 2015, HBO announced Vice's renewal through Season 7.^[5]

The show's cancellation was announced on February 1, 2019, making the sixth season its last season on HBO.^[6] However, on September 24, the series was picked up by Showtime and resumed on March 29, 2020.^[7] On July 30, 2020, the series was renewed for an eighth season that premiered on March 7, 2021.^[8][9] On February 7, 2022, the series was renewed by for its ninth and tenth season.^[10] In July 2023, the series was removed from the Showtime streaming app, with Vice News shopping it to other outlets.^[11]

Synopsis

The show follows Vice journalists and founders, Shane Smith and Suroosh Alvi with segment hosts Ryan Duffy and Thomas Morton as they went to different parts of the world. They interviewed people on political and cultural topics. Subjects included political assassinations, young weapons manufacturers, child suicide bombers, Indian and Pakistani border politics, the Chinese one-child policy, climate change, and bonded laborers in Pakistan's brick kilns, featuring the work of human and labor rights activist Syeda Ghulam Fatima.

Correspondents

• Suroosh Alvi
• Krishna Andavolu^[12]
• Ben Anderson^[13]
• Matthew Cassel
• Vikram Gandhi (2013–2016)
• Hind Hassan^[14]
• Kaj Larsen (2015–2016)
• Thomas Morton (2014–2019)
• David Noriega^[15]
• Simon Ostrovsky (2011–2014)
• Paola Ramos^[16]
• Ahmed Shihab-Eldin (2016)
• Alzo Slade^[17]
• Julia Steers^[18]
• Ben C. Solomon^[19]
• Vegas Tenold^[20]
• Gianna Toboni^[21]
• Aris Roussinos (2013–2017)
• Seb Walker^[22]
• Taylor Wilson (2016–2018)
• Isobel Yeung^[23]

Release and reception

The first episode aired on HBO on April 5, 2013, and was available for free via YouTube.^[24] The series is the first televised program for VICE, featuring Vice staff as correspondents.

Politics, culture, and drugs are the main focuses of the Vice series. The show has received both positive and negative reviews because of its unique, provocative presentation and style. Some compare it to a gonzo type of journalism.^[25][26] Maureen Ryan of The Huffington Post wrote a negative review of the show, due to its presentation.^[27] Rolling Stone magazine has written that: "It feels a little like your buddy from the bar just happened to be wandering through eastern Afghanistan with a camera crew."^[28] In June 2013, the show was covered extensively in mainstream media for documenting a basketball game with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un. Vice correspondents have filmed from the inside of crack-cooking kitchens in Atlanta to Haitian secret societies in talk of zombie powder.^[29]

Vice News Tonight

Main article: Vice News Tonight

Vice News Tonight is a nightly news program that debuted on October 10, 2016, on HBO, marking a significant expansion of Vice Media's news coverage. This spin-off was designed to offer a more concentrated news format, focusing on delivering updates and analysis of current events. ^{[citation needed]}

The program featured a mix of hard news, investigative pieces, and special reports.^{[citation needed]}

In 2020, Vice News Tonight underwent a relaunch and was reintroduced on the Vice cable network. This transition was part of Vice Media’s strategy to adapt to changing media consumption trends and maintain its presence in the competitive news landscape.^{[citation needed]}

The shift from HBO to the Vice cable network represented a strategic move to leverage Vice Media’s existing resources and audience reach.^{[citation needed]} The program retained its core focus on in-depth reporting and investigative journalism, now with an updated format to fit the new platform.^{[citation needed]}

Pulled episode

It was reported in June 2023 that Showtime pulled an episode of the series originally scheduled to air on May 28, 2023. The episode, "The Gitmo Candidate & Chipping Away", was scheduled to air four days after Ron DeSantis officially announced he was entering the 2024 Presidential race. In the scrubbed promo for the episode, it described Seb Walker investigating claims that DeSantis witnessed acts condemned by the United Nations as torture during his time as a JAG officer in the Navy at Guantanamo Bay.^{[30][31][32][33][34][35]}

Series overview

Main article: List of Vice episodes

Season	Episodes		Originally released
			First released	Last released	Network
1	10		April 5, 2013 (2013-04-05)	June 14, 2013 (2013-06-14)	HBO
2	12		March 14, 2014 (2014-03-14)	June 13, 2014 (2014-06-13)
3	14		March 6, 2015 (2015-03-06)	June 26, 2015 (2015-06-26)
4	18		February 5, 2016 (2016-02-05)	July 1, 2016 (2016-07-01)
5	29		February 24, 2017 (2017-02-24)	October 13, 2017 (2017-10-13)
6	30		April 6, 2018 (2018-04-06)	December 14, 2018 (2018-12-14)
7	13		March 29, 2020 (2020-03-29)	June 21, 2020 (2020-06-21)	Showtime
8	15		March 7, 2021 (2021-03-07)	December 26, 2021 (2021-12-26)
9	16		May 1, 2022 (2022-05-01)	September 18, 2022 (2022-09-18)
10	7		May 7, 2023 (2023-05-07)	June 25, 2023 (2023-06-25)

See also

• The Vice Guide to Travel (2006)
• Rule Britannia (2009)
• Vice News Tonight (2016)
• HBO (1972)