NYPost.com reported yesterday afternoon that VH1's brilliant executive vice president of programming Michael Hirschorn is in talks to possibly leave his comfy perch at Viacom. Hirschorn's role at the notoriously louche VH1 has always presented itself as something of a conundrum to media observers. Hirschorn has been navigating the thin line between high and low culture since the summer of 2002, when he joined the network with a mandate to mix things up.

Hirschorn, who comes from the magazine world, has a master's degree in comparative literature from Columbia University (with a concentration in the language of Vladimir Nabokov) and comes from a family of intellectuals. So what's a nice guy like Mike doing producing soul-killing fare like I Love New York 2, and, worse by a whisker, Rock of Love 2? We've always wondered. From Peter Lauria of The NYPost:

''According to two sources close to the situation, Hirschorn, a VH1 executive vice president, has been in discussions with several rival networks and independent production studios, and is said to be in advanced talks with publicly traded British company Ricochet, which owns several production houses.

''... While it looks likely that Hirschorn will leave VH1, the sources cautioned that the discussions could fall apart. Another possibility is that VH1 might make a compelling enough counteroffer to keep him at the network.''

Hirschorn also writes a highbrow column for The Atlantic that sometimes criticises cultural excess.