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Saturday, August 28, 2004

More Entertaining Infomercials

mediabistro.com's TVNewser blog reports: "MSNBC aired an infomercial for its parent today [August 21st]. The 'NBC Fall Preview Special,' hosted by Eric McCormack, aired at 1 and 4pm. "

The tone is lamenting the advertisement. Has TVNewser ever looked at the amount of pitching that goes on during sports coverage? "Tonight on CBS, watch CSI: Miami, where Marg Helgenburger sticks her rubber-gloved finger where it doesn't belong..." That's so much of what sports coverage is anymore, co-opting the eyeballs to get them to watch the other programming.

This "fall preview special" business isn't that new. NBC has been doing the "fall preview special" for years. I think ABC and other networks have done similar half-hour pitches for their programming, trying to bring the viewers up to speed on all the moves shows are making and get them interested in the new gobbledygook. Rob Lowe, then of "The West Wing," did it a couple years ago.

Back when I was in college, when NBC somehow had baseball, there was a Friday night when a game was under a rain delay for like, over an hour. The net threw up things like old "Third Rock From The Sun" episodes they had in the closet, and came back here and there to confirm the rain delay was continuing. Then around 11pm the network all of a sudden, during its rain delay baseball coverage, threw to the local stations' newscasts. WHDH somehow wasn't ready for it (and God knows, maybe nobody else was ready for it) and so the network, just in case the affiliates weren't filling the half hour, threw on the "Fall Preview Special," in a fit of frustration and anger no doubt. The next day I spoke to an employee at an NBC affiliate who deemed it "a cluster f**k."

What's new is slapping this "fall preview special" advertisement on NBC's sister networks. Throwing it on MSNBC does seem a little odd. NBC Universal is embracing its cross-promotion like there's no tomorrow. Look at five minutes of the Olympics and see the lower-third teases for what's coming up on the sister networks... In 15 Minutes on NBC... Now on MSNBC... Later on Bravo, Telemundo, and CNBC... (and it made me wonder, why don't they tease Telemundo coverage in Spanish? I hope to God the COVERAGE is at least in Spanish.)

Labels: Originally published

... Scribbled by Bill T ... 8/28/2004 04:10:00 PM ... Email this entry ...
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