Not Being Competent: Why The Peacock Network Is Looking Like A Turkey These Days (UPDATED)
If there were ever a major television broadcaster in need of reputation management (if not outright salvation), it’s the folks who have managed to generate great publicity for two other networks while simultaneously shredding their own status. And all in the space of a few days.
Oh NBC, you’re having quite the week.
The First Domino That Fell…
It was just a few days ago that NBC made the unprecedented move of canceling the well-received, brilliantly-acted drama Southland. Admittedly dark in tone, this Los Angeles police drama was under the aegis of now-former-NBC-golden-child John Wells, the same John Wells who drew viewers and plaudits to a network now hemmorrhaging viewers as executive producer of ER, Third Watch and The West Wing.
While the show’s sophomore season premiere had been pushed back to October 23rd, the show remained in production and six episodes were in fact completed. Furthermore, the premiere was anticipated by both critics and fans. As Gawker noted:
And then, suddenly, the network – which surely was already acquainted with the raw and authentic tone of this remarkable show – suddenly found it “too gritty” for a 9 p.m. timeslot – a space the show was forced into because of NBC’s headscratchingly daft decision to have Jay Leno on at 10 p.m. five nights a week.
Reaction
Clearly, the network was not prepared for the size or venom of the backlash to follow. As NPR’s Linda Holmes noted in a particularly stinging analysis of the situation
Nor did the cast and crew go quietly. Michael Cudlitz, who shone as John Cooper, a tough, mentoring cop who happened to be gay, expressed his profane and distinct displeasure via Twitter and tried to rally fans of the show to support a pick-up of Southland by another network.
Making the Other Guy Look Good, Part I.
The campaign seems to be working. According to The Hollywood Reporter, TNT a basic cable network with a natural pairing for this show in the form of Kyra Sedgwick’s off-beat procedural The Closer seems interested in scooping up Southland:
So if TNT does indeed take in Southland, they look smart by taking in a show that already has completed half a season’s worth of episodes, improve their line-up and win the gratitude of those of us who are sick of so-called reality television and can’t quite seem to appreciate the charms of Jay Leno. While NBC looks cheap for preferring the much less costly talk show option — and foolish if Southland achieves great ratings on another network.
Less than Gleeful – or Making the Other Guy Look Good, Part II.
As if all that wasn’t bad enough, yesterday the news broke that NBC allegedly heavy-handed Macy’s into rescinding an invitation to the cast of the witty, wonderful show Glee. Could it be that the rating-challenged broadcaster of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade does not want the talented kids starring in rival network Fox’s hit appearing? Seems like it according to an article in The Washington Post:
If you’ve seen the kids starring in Glee, you know they are incredibly talented and truly adorable. This was a move akin to clubbing baby seals – and may have resulted in the cast doing a tour instead. More money for Fox and more good publicity for Glee while NBC is once again left looking like a true turkey. At least it’s just in time for Thanksgiving….
UPDATED: Whoops! NBC seems to have inadvertently given the Glee cast even more positive exposure According to the Los Angeles Times, they will be performing the National Anthem at the third game of the World Series.
UPDATED AGAIN: Looks like Southland is indeed going to TNT. (The irony is, of course, I have no idea if it will be picked up by any Canadian channels….)
Hiatus
It’s summer and I have a small child to chase hither and thither.
As such, there will be no new posts before Autumn.
But please do come back and check in when the calendar turns to September.
Be well & happy.
An Environmentally Friendly Cigarette? Are They Blowing Smoke Up Our….
Flipping through May’s issue of Toronto Life, I was rather surprised to be greeted with a full-page ad for du Maurier cigarettes.
But what held my attention was a marketing move so audacious that it was hard for a second to decide if it was demented genius or utter stupidity that inspired it.
The advertisement- which can be seen here via a piece in the Toronto Star - claimed that the brand had, in effect, gone green: “We have updated our packaging to reduce its impact on the environment,” the copy trumpets.
It then goes on to describe how the foil in the packaging had been replaced by paper “making it kinder to the environment.” Further, emphasis was placed on how the brand’s new cardboard packaging “meets standards supporting sustainable forest management.”
While that’s all well and good, didn’t any of the folks who signed off on this campaign see how ridiculous signing off on greenwashing a cigarette brand is?
I’m not against smoking or smokers – they have enough scorn to deal with, as well as an addiction that can be all-consuming – but I am really riled by the fact the company would consider the public so stupid that they would not see this as a blatant case of using a genuine concern about the environment in the name of making a few extra bucks.
I suppose it is admirable that the packaging is less harmful to the planet, it’s just a pity that the product itself still is.
Social Media And Its Role In The Panic-demic
As former member of the fourth estate, I feel quite elegiac about the sound of the presses slowing towards an inevitable stop. Ever since I saw His Girl Friday as a very small child, I wanted to be a reporter. [And who wouldn't - Roz Russell was gorgeous, bantered beautifully with even more beautiful Cary Grant and got to do good through the power of the word!]
Today, however, I find myself in the surprising and uncomfortable position of being more than a little miffed at my paper- and broadcast-based journalistic brethren. Their eagerness to point the finger at social media as panic-mongers of DOOM as the Swine Flu crisis develops.
REACTIONARY REACTIONS?
An example of the digi-pointing can be found in a blog by Milo Yiannopolous of the UK’s Telegraph who notes:
And closer to home, the usually level-headed and excellent news source NPR has also chimed in, with Evgeny Morozov noting that
You’ll forgive me if I state that this sounds a bit like sour grapes. True, one of the justifiable concerns about social media is that there is a dearth of fact-checking. And yes, there are idiots out there who will play the Web 2.0 version of the game of telephone, terror edition. But has there never been a panic caused by a broadcast network or a newspaper? Truly? Rumours never have flown because of a hyperbolic headline or an over-emphatic piece on a 24 hour news network?
ANOTHER LOOK AT SOCIAL MEDIA IN RELATION TO SWINE FLU
No one is downplaying the fact that this is a potentially deadly illness and that people have been tested positive for it on several continents. The threat is real and frightening.
However, it is also true that almost nobody has looked at the positive ways social media has been used in the course of this porcine pandemic.
Just to offer a few examples:
The Centre for Disease Control has been offering updates on Twitter such as
And over on FriendFeed, one of its users has created a Swine Flu room which aggregates “various real-time information streams on swine flu from across the web,” making it a reliable and timely source of information.
The CDC has also used YouTube to present a video by Dr. Joe Bresee of its Influenza Division dealing with the signs, symptoms, transmission and treatment of Swine Flu.
So, in fact, social media has been a means for calming the public and providing it with a stream of accurate and useful information – which is not a story you are likely to see in your local paper, if in fact you still have one.
Comments (6)
Comments (2)
Leave a Comment