Karla Hidalgo

Next came the, "I Love the. ." documentaries, beginning with the multi-episode "I Love the '80s" (VH1 2002). Through the subsequent "I Love the 70s" (VH1 2003), "I Love the 90s" (VH1 2004), and "I Love the New Millennium" (VH1 2008), Hidalgo and her creative team refined the series' affectionate, occasionally tart tone. Among the public, reaction was mixed, which Hidalgo chalked up to differing opinions on each decade's high points - or whether a certain decade even had high points. In a Time Out New York article, she mentioned that "I Love the 90s" received a downright passive-aggressive reaction from some audiences, who felt it was too soon to look back in nostalgia. Based on the performance of the, "I Love the. ." mini-series, VH1 and Hidalgo collaborated on more pop culture-centric shows. These included "The Great Debate" (VH1 2009), which addressed the topics of the day using a boxing announcer as moderator, and "Best Week Ever" (VH1 2013-14), a reboot of a long-running clip show the network originally broadcast from 2004 to 2010. She also executive-produced the resurrected "Pop Up Video" (VH1 2011-12), a show that celebrated the music videos of bygone times, enhanced with pop-up bubbles featuring factoids and trivia. Made of roughly 99% recycled goods, the program was both innovative and cheap to make, and earned Hidalgo her first Emmy nomination. Around the same time, Hidalgo branched out into nighttime talk shows, executive producing "The Jenny McCarthy Show" (VH1 2013), a combination of interview, sketch, and topical comedy starring the title actress and ex-Playboy model. Despite earning negatives of the awe-inspiring sort -- The A.V. Club described it as a "desperate, stupid half-hour of television," and further stated "its idiocy is only mitigated by the pity it inspires") -- "The Jenny McCarthy Show" performed strongly enough to earn a second year on VH1.