A few weeks back, Wired told us about how all the bad boys at Vice want to be taken seriously now that they've got a bunch of Viacom money to build their mostly unwatched Vice TV (oh, we're sorry, "VBS.tv," because they wouldn't want it to be too associated with their immature lifestyle mag) website, so they've driven off co-founder and provocateur Gavin McInnes and report from Iraq and stuff. And today the New York Times reports that those Vice bad boys are all much more mature now and taking on serious issues in their immature lifestyle mag and also involved in this crazy VBS.tv venture with Viacom.

And though VBS.tv is still basically a "failure" by some standards—like, by the standard of 'getting people to go to the website and look at the videos and click on the ads'—Viacom is still really excited about it, and they're throwing lots of money at those lovable Vice boys to go do some hard-hitting journalism about drugs and hookers overseas, and also Iraq and stuff because the new Vice cares.

And even though it's all paid for with gigantic media conglomerate money, it's still wild and edgy and raw because they use very small crews and "no lights or makeup." So you know it's real.

A Guerrilla Video Site Meets MTV [NYT]
The Snarky Vice Squad Is Ready To Be Taken Seriously. Seriously. [Wired]
Related: The Serious Issue Of 'Vice'