Tad Low

A son of Penelope Ireland Low and Josiah Orne Low III, he was born and raised in Connecticut, a direct descendant of the Lows, once one of America's wealthiest families.{{cite web|title=A Classification of American Wealth|url=http://www.raken.com/american_wealth/OTHER/individuals_list_L3.asp|work=History and genealogy of the wealthy families of America|publisher=D.C Shouter and RAKEN Services|accessdate=13 June 2013}}

One of his antecedents, Seth Low, served as both the Mayor of New York and as president of Columbia University. Low is a graduate of Yale, where he was a member of The Society of Orpheus and Bacchus.Rosman, Katherine. "Pop Goes the Revolution" Brill's Content, May 1999. He made his first television appearance with a rubber chicken on Marlo and the Magic Movie Machine in the sixth grade. In 1994, Low co-hosted the syndicated television show Last Call, produced by Brandon Tartikoff.{{cite web|url=http://www.ew.com/article/1994/10/07/tv-show-review-last-call|author=Tucker, Ken|title=TV Show Review: 'Last Call'|magazine=Entertainment Weekly|date=October 7, 1994}} Low has subsequently hosted and appeared on various television shows for MTV, VH1, CBS, NBC, and Fox.{{cite web|title=Tad Low|url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0522845/|publisher=IMDb}} He has also contributed articles to Men's Health[http://www.menshealth.com/sex-women/commitment-and-marriage "The Cure for Divorce"] Men's Health, July/August 2005 and The New York Times.[https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/10/29/opinion/20111029_Schott_Halloween.html "Halloween Costume-O-Matic"] The New York Times, October 28, 2011

Since 1996, Pop-Up Video has been nominated for 13 Emmys, and in 2000 Low won a New York Emmy as host and producer of Subway Q&A, a show he co-created for Cablevision's Metro Channel.{{cite news |title=The 44th Annual New York Emmy Awards - 2001 Winners |url=https://www.nyemmys.org/media/files/files/fb66b9d3/nyemmyawards44.pdf |publisher=NY Emmys}}

Low lives in New York City with his wife, Alisa Lea Ruvinsky, a partner{{cite web|publisher=LinkedIn|url=https://www.linkedin.com/in/alisa-ruvinsky-9656297/|title=Alisa Lee Ruvinsky}} at PricewaterhouseCoopers, and their children. The couple exchanged vows at the Manhattan Marriage Bureau on June 6, 2013.

His creative work and memorabilia are housed in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Library and Archives.{{cite web |title=Tad Low Collection of VH1 Pop Up Video |url=https://catalog.rockhall.com/rrhof-ais/Details/archive/110000585 |publisher=Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Library & Archives}}

Pop-Up Video first aired on VH1 in October 1996.Greist, Stephanie Eliando. "Firing on Music Videos With a Satiric Pop Gun" The New York Times, August 6, 1997. It inserted bubbles containing trivia and snarky behind-the-scenes commentary into existing music videos. The show spawned numerous imitators and earned ten Emmy nominations. Low's inspiration for the show came from hearing a stylist friend's tales of mistreatment at the hands of a famous female pop star. As Low claims in an interview for a Canadian newspaper, "I'd be watching (this singer) being wonderful and fabulous in all these cheesy videos, while at the same time I was hearing one horrible story after another of the acts of human degradation committed by this woman."Salem, Rob. "Long live the Pop-Up revolution" Toronto Star, May 21, 2000. Low's fascination with this incongruity eventually culminated in the creation of "Pop-Up Video".

Video IQ debuted on the Fuse network in November 2004. One of the first interactive game shows, Video IQ gave viewers the chance to win prizes by deciphering and text-messaging the answers to rebus-style puzzles embedded in the images and lyrics of music videos. Video IQ was similar in temperament to the wry and biting Pop-Up Video. In one show, for example, the clue "Semi-retired blond pop tart" yielded the answer Britney Spears.{{cite news |last1=Kharif |first1=Olga |title=The New Game Machine: Your TV |url=https://www.impactlab.com/2005/03/02/the-new-game-machine-your-tv/ |website=Business Week Online |date=March 1, 2005}}Karif, Olga "The New Game Machine: Your TV" Business Week Online, March 1, 2005.

Subway Q&A. Low hosted and co-created this show on the Metro Channel along with Ronald Fried. Debuting in 2000, this show featured Low, along with a camera crew, coaxing subway commuters into disrupting their daily routines by, for example, holding an impromptu trial in a subway car in which riders were asked to be the jury, persuading subway passengers to try on a stranger's hat, and convincing a woman he had never met before to join him for a catered dinner on the subway platform in the middle of rush hour. Cajoling ordinary New York City subway commuters into exploring their inner performers, Subway Q&A reflected Low's desire, in the words of a New York Times reporter, to "elevate real people to celebrity". Low was awarded a New York Emmy as host and producer of Subway Q&A in 2000 and appeared on the cover of The New York Times Television Magazine.{{cite news |last1=Barron |first1=James |title=They May Not Get This In Des Moines |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/08/20/tv/cover-story-they-may-not-get-this-in-des-moines.html |issue=August 20–26 |newspaper=The New York Times |date=August 20, 2000}}

Pants-Off Dance-Off. Low is the creator and executive producer of PODO, which debuted on the Fuse network on April 18, 2006. The highest-rated show in the Fuse network's history,Associated Press. 'Pants-Off Dance-Off Enjoys a Popular Streak' August 14, 2006. [https://www.today.com/popculture/pants-dance-enjoys-popular-streak-wbna14219060 NBC News] PODO combines elements of a dance contest with a striptease. Each episode features five amateur contestants (aka "pancers") who disrobe while dancing in front of a screen playing their favorite music videos. The show also contains an interactive element, as home viewers have the opportunity to vote for contestants in categories such as "funniest", "most disturbing" and "best dancer" on the show's website.{{cite web|website=fuse.tv|title=Pantsoff|url=http://fuse.tv/tv/pantsoff/index.php}} According to The New York Times television critic David Itzkoff, PODO not only helped garner media attention and public exposure for the Fuse network (no pun intended), but also promoted an ethos similar to the all-encompassing philosophy of Subway Q&A: "In contrast to the unattainable standards of perfections promoted by celebrity television, 'Pants-Off Dance-Off' is meant to be an inclusive experience, one that has already welcomed competitors as diverse as a 58-year-old retired schoolteacher and a woman in a unicorn mask."Itzkoff, David. "On Fuse's 'Pants-Off Dance-Off,'Amateurs Dance and Disrobe" The New York Times, July 16, 2006.

Low's most recent television series include Pet-O-Rama (a skills competition for household pets), Best Places Ever I've Ever Been (a tour of travel experts' favorite unknown destinations), TXT MSG (a "Pop-Up Video"-style treatment of archival sports footage) and Photo ID (a look into the unusual lives of everyday people, through photos and anecdotes). The shows premiered in 2010 on Animal Planet,{{citation needed|date=June 2025}} The Travel Channel,{{cite web|publisher=TV Guide|title=Best Places I've Ever Been on Travel Channel|date=2010|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110616202410/https://www.tvguide.com/tvshows/best-places-ive/307592/|archivedate=June 16, 2011|url=http://www.tvguide.com/tvshows/best-places-ive/307592}} MSG Network{{citation needed|date=December 2023}} and Verizon's FiOS.{{citation needed|date=June 2025}}

• {{cite book | title = Pop This!: The Best Pops From The Creators of VH1's Pop-Up Video | publisher = Pocket Books | year = 1999 | isbn = 0671027247 | oclc = 41348501 | url = https://catalog.loc.gov/vwebv/holdingsInfo?searchId=13534&recCount=25&recPointer=10&bibId=12125427}}

{{reflist|2}}

• [http://www.spinthebottle.com Spin The Bottle]
• [http://www.tadlow.com Tad Low]

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Category:1966 births

Category:Living people

Category:Television producers from Connecticut

Category:Yale University alumni