Google, Growing Number of Upstarts Race to Build Technology -- but Will Anyone's System Be Effective?
By Abbey Klaassen
Published: May 28, 2007
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Looking for the AdSense of video? So are a lot of others, including Google, which last week announced it would expand AdSense to include ads in online video content.
Google, for its part, is relying on manual targeting to place ads within that multimedia content, but it joins an ever-expanding marketplace of technology companies hoping to bring contextual targeting to audio and video content, using nifty techniques such as speech-to-text and image recognition to detect what's happening inside a piece of multimedia content. But whether such means of placing ads will be effective or whether they present a better targeting tactic than demographic or vertical targeting remains a big question mark.
Other players
Many of the companies in this space have used their technology for other applications and now see an opportunity to repurpose it for the advertising market. Digitalsmiths, for example, was using its audio and image recognition to index TV shows so networks and stations could locate clips for promos. Wizzard Media is a voice-recognition company that has worked with corporations such as IBM and AT&T but now hopes to apply its speech-to-text technology to contextual podcast advertising. The market also includes YuMe Networks, which discerns a video's content to sort it into vertical categories; ScanScout and Adap.tv, which hope to place contextual ads along the bottom of videos to complement pre- and post-roll advertising; and PodZinger, which uses audio-recognition technology to allow consumers to search for podcasts and advertisers place relevant ads within them.
"If pre-rolls and 15s and 30s will be representative of a vast amount of inventory and the industry expects TV dollars to shift, the more targeting the better," said Ian Schafer, CEO of Deep Focus, an independent digital agency.
Recently, executives at Digitalsmiths demonstrated how their technology could work in an episode of NBC's "The Office." (Digitalsmiths does not have a deal with NBC to use its technology for advertising.)
An ad for Deloitte loaded when the technology recognized the conversation in the clip revolved around accounting. A Men's Warehouse ad loaded after the technology visually identified suits and ties in the clip. The characters shared a short exchange about traveling -- and an ad for United Airlines popped up. They mentioned "J. Crew" and "watch," and ads for J. Crew and Fossil emerged. (The ads were also for demonstration only.)
But does a sitcom about a dysfunctional office, in which one episode's storyline revolved around a couple thousand dollars missing from the books, really suggest the audience might be interested in accounting services? Do more accountants watch "The Office" than, say, "Lost" or "Two and a Half Men"?
Uncertainty
Even the executives behind the technology aren't exactly sure what's going to deliver the best results. They said they're continually running different tests on programs, looking to see what might deliver the best click-through rates.
The uptake of this technology also depends on many of the companies in the space striking deals with publishers, who will use and sell the technology, and ad-serving companies.
And despite the uncertainty over whether or not contextual targeting is the best way to sell ads in multimedia content, it's impossible to ignore how much money Google, Yahoo and independent contextual networks such as Quigo have made through the text version of such targeting.
Perhaps the best application for such technologies will be to help marketers sort through the millions of hours of consumer-created content on the web to determine what might be safe for brand advertising and what is too risky. Several, including YuMe and ScanScout, are already pitching business on that feature as well, using image recognition and teams of people in places such as India who manually sort through content.
5/31/2007
Host of Players Look to Bring Contextual Ads to Online Video
DVR Ad Skipping Happens, but Not Always
First Look at Nielsen's Just-Released Commercial-Ratings Data
By Brian Steinberg and Andrew Hampp
Published: May 31, 2007
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- The industry got its first look at Nielsen's much-anticipated commercial-ratings data this morning, and the results are somewhat inconclusive. While the numbers show that audiences increase for both TV shows and the commercials that interrupt them when consumers use digital video recorders, Nielsen is keeping mum so far on how many people who use DVRs skip the ads altogether.
"It's probably fair to say that the broad majority of people who use DVRs skip some of the ads," said Pat McDonough, Nielsen's senior VP-planning, policy and analysis, although "it varies by person, and it really varies by when they are playing it back."
Reason for slow start?
Media buyers expect to start using the data sometime in the coming year; Nielsen's decision to wait until the end of May to release it may be one of the factors slowing the start of this year's upfront marketplace, when advertisers buy the bulk of ad time on TV for the coming season.
"The irony of the DVR situation is that often the most popular programs get DVRed, so you pay a premium to get on the best shows, and you're mostly getting skipped by the most desirable demographics," said Steve Calder, executive media director at Mediahub, a media-services unit of Interpublic Group's Mullen agency.
Nielsen's data isn't yet being formally used to measure what marketers really want: measurements of how audiences view TV programs and ads on a second-by-second basis. Nielsen will offer an "average commercial minute" measure that examines ad breaks containing commercials from national advertisers.
More detailed data available
A Nielsen spokesman said the company would release very granular data to clients if they want to calculate how many people are skipping commercials for a particular playback period. But Nielsen was not compiling a "commercial skipping" file.
Nielsen estimates that about 17% of U.S. households have DVRs, and that 42% of broadcast viewing within those homes occurs through some sort of DVR playback. DVR viewing has already taken its toll on the traditional measurement of TV programs -- audience ratings. According to an analysis of Nielsen ratings data by Sanford C. Bernstein, live viewership among 18- to 49-year-olds of non-sports, prime-time programming at Fox, ABC, NBC and CBS was significantly down during the season, owing to more people using DVRs to watch their favorite shows at later dates.
Even so, the data Nielsen released today attempts to put some positive spin on the matter. "There's less commercial avoidance than perhaps we in the industry think there might be," said Sara Erichson, exec VP-client services, Nielsen Media Research. Nielsen lists 10 shows that actually gain commercial-ratings audience when the program is watched via DVR within three days, including NBC's "The Office," Fox's "Family Guy," CW's "Smallville," CBS' "Numb3rs" and ABC's "Grey's Anatomy."
Average audience increases
According to Nielsen, the average prime-time broadcast program audience among households with DVRs increases 40% when it includes same-day DVR playback and 73% when it includes three days of playback. Audiences for commercial minutes within these broadcast programs increase 18% and 32%, respectively, Nielsen said. The numbers don't really say how many people may use DVRs to skip those ads, although Nielsen's data show that the increase in audiences who watch the commercials trails the audiences who watch the programs by a noticeable amount the longer people take to watch their programs.
Nielsen also noted that among all U.S. households, including those without DVRs, 90% of all broadcast prime-time viewing among viewers 18 to 49 occurs live, meaning that 10% is seen via DVR playback. The impact of DVRs on cable and syndicated programming is lower, with 97% of all prime-time viewing on cable seen live and 98% of all syndicated programming seen live.
TV Squad previews NBC's new shows
http://www.tvsquad.com/2007/05/31/tv-squad-previews-nbcs-new-shows/
Posted May 31st 2007 4:39PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Industry, Programming, OpEd
OK, so the networks have given their upfronts and they've sent out the screener DVDs. These are the pilot episodes of the new fall shows, in not-quite-completed form. Things could still change before they hit the networks this fall, but they give a good general sense of what the shows are about and what they're like.
Today Joel and I start with previews of some new NBC shows: Bionic Woman, Life, Chuck, and Journeyman. More networks and other shows coming soon!
Bionic Woman
(Wednesday at 9PM ET)
Premise of the screener: As you can probably tell from the pic above, this isn't your father's Bionic Woman. The premise is pretty much the same: Jamie Sommers gets into an accident and her professor boyfriend and surgeons have to replace her legs, an arm, her right eye and right ear. This is good, since she'll be using those powers for the government to fight crime (including another bionic woman, an evil one).
Bob says: This is 3000 times darker and more violent than the original, and the military aspect is shadier. That's not a shock, of course, but you can see how different it's going to be from the first scene (a dozen people dead, blood everywhere, etc). It's very Alias-like actually, and you can see the influence of Battlestar Galactica too (it's from the same people and share cast members), though Michelle Ryan doesn't have the charisma or acting ability of Jennifer Garner. Some of the acting is so-so and things happen way too quick, but it could be intriguing. The bad guys are good.
Journeyman
(Monday at 10PM ET)
Premise of the screener: San Francisco reporter Dan Vassar finds himself traveling back in time at random. No one believes it's really happening and they think he's just using drugs. It might hurt his marriage, but he finds out he's going back in time for a reason, to save someone from dying.
Bob says: Yeah, it's sorta like Quantum Leap, only his travels are much more random, and he doesn't (so far, at least) stay in the other time too long. But this could be a ton of fun if it catches on. Lots of references to past events (Michael Jackson, a snippet of Jane Pauley and Bryant Gumbel on a 1987 Today Show, giant cell phones, etc) and a good pop music soundtrack. I also like the fact that at the end of the screener, his wife...well, you can see it when it airs. I like the fact that this isn't just some hero going back in time to save strangers, there's also a personal story going on here too, about an old girlfriend and the key she might hold to his travels. I liked this a lot more than I thought I would.
Chuck
(Tuesday at 9 PM ET)
Premise of the screener: Twentysomething geek who works in the "Nerd Herd" tech support section for a Best Buy-ish store called Buy More gets an e-mail from an old college friend who is now a CIA agent. It contains thousands of secret files that get downloaded into his brain (don't ask). The government wants to find out what he knows.
Bob says: This thing is all over the place, but it's massively entertaining. I can see why NBC gave it the green light. It has stuff for the geeks, something for spy/action fans, hip music, clever lines, and a likable cast (Zachary Levi from Less Than Perfect plays Chuck, Yvonne Strzechowski is hot, and Adam Baldwin does a variation on his role from Vanished). Hopefully the show can balance the spy stuff with the goofy, geeky romantic comedy stuff, though I wonder if it's just not funny enough for comedy fans and not serious enough for spy fans. But it's such a bizarre mix it could work. Seems like an odd fit for NBC though.
Life
(Wednesday at 10PM ET)
Premise of the screener: Charlie Crews is an LAPD cop who spent 12 years in a maximum security prison serving a life sentence for a murder he didn't commit. After his lawyer, Constance Griffiths, gets him out and gets him a huge settlement from the LAPD, he goes back to the force with a new perspective. His new partner, Dani Reese, has her own troubles, the least of which is dealing with this Zen-spewing cop that no one on the force seems to trust.
Joel says: Get past the main character's meaningless proclamations and his wonderment at newfangled technology like camera phones (as Keith said to me, "What, he didn't read a newspaper in prison?"), and this show is a run-of-the-mill procedural. It's almost as if the writers gave Crews, played by Damian Lewis, quirks upon quirks -- "Why don't we have him be obsessed with fruit?" -- because they knew the show itself wasn't all that distinctive. Adam Arkin, playing a former cell-mate of Crews, is funny, but his character seems like it's just there for comic relief. This show could catch the eye of the Law & Order crowd, but I don't see it being a big hit.
Nielsen: DVRs behind viewer drop
By Paul J. Gough
June 1, 2007
NEW YORK -- Nielsen Media Research said Thursday that the impact of digital video recorders is a leading cause of why television viewing dropped precipitously this year.
Many of the top shows -- from ABC's "Grey's Anatomy" to Fox's "American Idol" to CBS' "CSI" -- saw their ratings drop in the spring.
Prompted this month by questions from NBC, Nielsen began an investigation into the factors that could have led to the slide. Nielsen's probe is almost complete, but in the meantime the company has discovered several things.
"DVRs appear to be the largest factor in that," said Pat McDonough, Nielsen senior vp planning policy and analysis.
But there are other factors in Nielsen's early findings, among them the difference between an Olympic year (2006) and a non-Olympic year (2007) as well as a higher number of repeat programs this spring than in previous years.
Nielsen also said that, ahead of this year's upfront negotiations, it would offer average commercial minute ratings in an electronic file that includes shows from April 30 forward and the six streams that includes live, live-plus-same-day DVR playback and live-plus-1, 2, 3 and 7 DVR playback.
The ratings measure the audience for commercials during a given program, excluding the program itself as well as any public service announcements, promotions or other noncommercial time. TV networks and ad agencies traditionally use program ratings to approximate commercial ratings, but now with the weekly data they'll be able to come closer than ever before, said Sara Erichson, executive vp client services at Nielsen.
Nielsen also released data that said NBC's "The Office" topped the week of April 30 for commercial viewing on DVRs compared with live viewing. Also scoring higher were Fox's "Family Guy" and "Bones," the CW's "Smallville" and "Grey's."
Nielsen found that 58% of broadcast prime viewing during that week among adults 18-49 in DVR households was live, compared with 85% for cable primetime and 84% for syndicated. The majority (95%-99%) of viewing of all types was done within the first 75 hours of original air, which is covered by the live-plus-3 system.
The Hollywood Reporter and Nielsen Media Research are both owned by the Nielsen Company.
Next 'Battlestar' season will be the series' last
By Nellie Andreeva
June 1, 2007
The upcoming fourth season of Sci Fi Channel's "Battlestar Galactica" will be its final one after all.
After months of speculation, the show's producers will make the announcement at a press conference Friday.
Ending "Battlestar" with the upcoming 22-episode fourth season was a creative decision made by the show's executive producers Ronald Moore and David Eick.
"This show was always meant to have a beginning, a middle and finally, an end," Eick and Moore said in a statement Thursday. "Over the course of the last year, the story and the characters have been moving strongly toward that end and we've decided to listen to those internal voices and conclude the show on our own terms. And while we know our fans will be saddened to know the end is coming, they should brace themselves for a wild ride getting there - we're going out with a bang."
The fourth and final season of "Galactica" will kick off in November with "Razor," an extended two-hour episode, with the rest of the season slated to run beginning in early 2008.
Sci Fi's executive vp original programming Mark Stern said the channel's brass "respect the producers' decision to end the series."
"We are proud to have been the home of this groundbreaking show," he said. "We have always known that Ron and David had a plan for 'Galactica' and trust that fans can look forward to a truly amazing final season."
For months, Sci Fi had dispelled rumors about "Battlestar" ending its run after the fourth season.
A couple of weeks ago, the show's star Edward James Olmos was quoted saying that the upcoming batch of episodes were definitely the last ones. (HR 5/14) Sci Fi issued a statement denying such a decision had been made. "I promise you that when Ron and I make a decision about 'Galactica's' future, we'll let you know," Eick said at the time.
"Battlestar," which stars Olmos, Katee Sackhoff, Mary McDonnell and Jamie Bamber, is produced by NBC Universal TV Studio.
CW adds to midseason schedule
'Eight Days a Week' gets 13 episodes
By JOSEF ADALIAN
The CW is adding to its midseason roster, picking up the Sean Hayes-produced laffer "Eight Days a Week."
Pop singer Christina Milian and Mario Lopez star in the comedy, which revolves around four Gothamites in their 20s who work for some of the city's most powerful people. They've largely given up on their personal lives in order to get ahead and are forced to rely on each other for support.
The CW has ordered 13 episodes of "Eight Days a Week."
Meredith Lavender and Marcie Ulin wrote the pilot and will produce. Hayes and Todd Milliner will exec produce via their Hazy Mills banner. CBS Par Network Television and Warner Bros. TV are attached as studios.
NBC still has hope for 'Apprentice'
Silverman in talks with Trump, Burnett
By JOSEF ADALIAN
"The Apprentice" isn't fired just yet.
NBC's option on the Donald Trump/Mark Burnett skein was due to expire Friday, with the odds favoring the show's end. In fact, Trump said last week that he wasn't waiting for NBC to make a call and planned to walk away from the show.
Enter Ben Silverman.
NBC Universal's new entertainment guru has a longstanding relationship with Burnett. Within 48 hours of Silverman getting his gig, Burnett hooked up Silverman and Trump via telephone to discuss the possibility of continuing "The Apprentice."
Not surprisingly, Silverman wanted some time to see if a deal could be done.
"But Ben really made Donald feel comfortable and wanted, so he and Mark were happy to grant NBC an extension on the option," said one person from inside the Burnett camp familiar with the conversation.
As a result of the call, Burnett and Trump agreed to extend the Peacock's option on "Apprentice" until June 8. There's still no guarantee the show will be back on NBC, but the odds just got a little better.
MTV reorganizes executive lineup
Aissa to depart network
By STEVEN ZEITCHIK
MTV is letting several execs go and re-assigning several others as part of a re-org under new programming chief Tony DiSanto.
Exec veep of talent and series Rod Aissa is leaving the net, along with three other execs.
DiSanto is grouping development into three teams, net said, with senior veep of series development Liz Gateley overseeing reality and scripted, senior veep of scripted Chris Linn taking charge of production and production management, and a third group tasked with scheduling, distribution and new media that will be headed by an as-yet unnamed exec.
The re-org at MTV comes as the net struggles to find its footing as ratings slip and auds turn to online and other platforms. Lois Curren had been touted by execs as the savior when the net upped her in February, but exec abruptly left in April.
Structure remains complicated, however, as DiSanto is overseeing many of its development projects but Curren has retained oversight of several shows, including the net's reality project with Menudo.
Ad ratings plan unveiled
New system measures DVR use, live viewing
By MICHAEL LEARMONTH
Nielsen Media Research introduced its long-promised commercial ratings system on Thursday, adding another wrinkle to the already chaotic upfront sales negotiations between advertisers and the networks.
The system provides the average rating of all commercials within a show, giving marketers a clearer indication of how many viewers are skipping ads in shows recorded on DVRs.
But since the data is so new, buyers and sellers are wary of putting too much faith in it. Small statistical shifts in the numbers represent hundreds of millions of dollars in the marketplace, and no one is certain how to project commercial ratings for an entire year.
"We're right in the heart of negotiations between buyers and sellers on which data to use in this upfront," Lifetime research chief Tim Brooks said. "There is a great deal of confusion in the marketplace because of this."
Yet the initial figures add weight to what the networks have been saying for years: that a significant number of DVR viewers do, in fact, watch commercials and thus some shows could see significant ratings points added if commercial ratings accumulated within the first three days of live broadcast are counted.
"The 'live' rating in my view is irrelevant; it doesn't reflect how people watch TV," NBC Universal research prexy Alan Wurtzel said. "It's time to move on."
According to the data, however, not all shows and networks are equal in terms of who watches the commercials and when. Nielsen crunched the data from one week in May and found that, for at least 10 shows, the so-called Live Plus Three commercial ratings were higher than live program ratings.
The top shows in terms of number of viewers who watched the ads in the first three days were NBC's "The Office" and Fox's "Family Guy" and "Bones."
Viewer behavior varies greatly between networks and shows. Network primetime shows are the most likely to be recorded and tend to have higher commercial ratings, bolstering the nets' case that they've been short-changed by a system that has, for the most part, compensated them only for live viewing.
The Nielsen data showed that only 58% of primetime network TV is watched live in homes equipped with DVRs vs. 85% for cable. According to Nielsen, about 17% of the nation's 110 million television households have DVRs.
When commercials were counted in the first three days -- the Live Plus Three standard -- in independent NBC research of the five English-language broadcast nets, the commercials drew a 3.12 rating compared to 3.11 for the live airing of the program.
Last year, the major agencies refused to do business in the upfront based on anything but live program ratings. But both sides now say a shift is inevitable.
"We feel commercial ratings are a better system than program ratings," said Andy Donchin, director of national broadcast for Carat USA. "We are going to take the limited data we have and see how we can apply it in this upfront."
May slips away from cable TV
Audiences tune out top networks
By JOHN DEMPSEY
For cable TV, May proved to be the cruelest month, at least in the Nielsen ratings: Nine of the top-10 ad-supported networks declined in number of total viewers, five by double digits.
"The programming for May on both broadcast and cable was boring," said Tim Brooks, exec VP of research for Lifetime. "There were no huge series finales on the broadcast networks -- the last episode of 'King of Queens' is not exactly comparable to the conclusion of 'Seinfeld.'"
Brooks' analysis of the data shows that the seven broadcast nets plunged by 7% in household ratings for May, and cable as a category dropped by 3%.
"I think if the cable networks realized how soft broadcast would be in May, they would've scheduled more original movies and more original episodes of series," Brooks said.
The most prominent cable networks certainly got whacked. Although TNT finished first among cablers for May, it was down 15% from May '06, hurt by weak viewership of many NBA playoff games. The teams that keep advancing are from smaller markets like San Antonio, Utah and Cleveland; the Los Angeles Lakers got eliminated in the first round by Phoenix, and the New York Knicks failed to make the playoffs.
Sluggish NBA ratings also helped damage the performance of ESPN, the third highest-rated net, which suffered a worse dropoff in total viewers from May to May -- 29% -- than any of the 67 other cablers whose audiences get measured by Nielsen.
Second-place USA was down 4% in primetime, and fourth-place TBS dipped 5%. The Disney Channel, which is not traditionally counted with the others because it's commercial-free, finished between USA and ESPN, rising 2%. Fifth-place Fox News was the only top-10 ad-supported network that didn't decline, winding up flat at 1.3 million average primetime viewers.
The 18 highest-rated individual programs in May were either the Monday-night World Wrestling Entertainment free-for-alls on USA or NBA Playoff games (nine on TNT, one on ESPN). The only movie to crack the top 50 among ad-supported networks was "Sweet Home Alabama," which drew 3.6 million viewers on May 19 and another 3.5 million on May 20.
From the sixth highest-rated network on down, the following, listed in order of overall finish, were up in primetime by double digits: A&E (up 30%), Sci Fi Channel (up 22%), Court TV (up 38%), AMC (up 16%), TLC (up 13%) and VH1 (up 34%).
Also, MSNBC (up 43%), Speed (up 58%), CNN Headline News (up 19%), Oxygen (up 35%),, CNBC (up 31%), MTV2 (up 42%) and Golf Channel (up 66%).
And, Discovery Science (up 21%), Nicktoons (up 10%), G4 (up 15%), Style (up 68%), Military Channel (up 59%), History Intl. (up 48%), ESPN News (up 13%) and Fuse (up 96%).
The networks that went in the other direction, plummeting by double digits in primetime, are Cartoon Network (down 16%), Nick at Nite (down 17%), FX (down 25%), MTV (down 13%), TV Land (down 11%), CNN (down 10%) and Animal Planet (down 10%).
Also, Lifetime Movie Network (down 17%), the Weather Channel (down 12%), GSN (down 17%), Discovery Health (down 14%), WE TV (down 12%), Noggin (down 11%), Biography Channel (down 17%) and ESPN Classic (down 23%).
YouTube, Apple pact for catalog
Deal benefits content creators, TV networks
By MARC GRASER
All those videos of cats playing the piano and Mentos-powered Diet Coke geysers will soon be available on your television.
YouTube has brokered a deal with Apple that will see the online video service's entire catalog uploaded onto the Apple TV set-top box beginning next month.
Apple TV owners will be able to browse YouTube's offerings and save their favorites shorts using the device's built-in hard drive.
Thousands of YouTube videos will be made available starting in mid-June, with thousands more added each week until the company's entire catalog is uploaded by fall.
Deal should benefit content creators, as well as TV networks, which are uploading their programming on YouTube, a service attracting some 20 million unique visitors per month. It would also give the major studios and consumer brands another marketing tool with which to promote their films or products.
Apple TV, which hit retailers in February at a cost of $300, uses iTunes to wirelessly transfer video content, music, photos and podcasts from a computer and the Internet to an HDTV screen.
Debra Messing answers reader questions
By Donna Freydkin, USA TODAY
You asked, she answered. Debra Messing chatted about her new USA movie The Starter Wife with USA TODAY and took some time to answer five reader questions.
Q: How do you fit staying in shape and taking care of yourself into your busy schedule now that you're a mother? — Sandra, Pasadena, Calif.
Messing: "Not well. I'm not disciplined the way I need to be and want to be. I usually go through spurts of consistent daily exercise but it's usually in association with me getting ready for a project. Unfortunately, I really just detest exercise. It's something I know is good for me, but it's a constant struggle."
Q: What do you miss the most about Grace Adler?
Messing: "Oh, um — just the fun of playing her physically. She was so physically expressive. Her comedy came out physically. There was something very fulfilling about that kind of kinetic energy. I just miss laughing really hard every single day."
Q: Do you still keep in touch with Eric, Sean and Megan and would you do another sitcom? — Danny, Hartford, Conn.
Messing: "Yes, I keep in touch with all of them. And never say never. If it's a great concept and a stellar group of creators and producers and actors, it's very different signing on to something that's getting four months of your life as opposed to something that's getting potentially six, eight or 10 years of your life. It's a big commitment."
Q: If you could have lunch with anyone dead or alive, who would it be and why?
Messing: "God! Let's keep it to alive and at least narrow it down. Christiane Amanpour because she's so smart and courageous and she's seeing everything firsthand. I would just ask her the truth about what's happening all over the world. I'd want to know if she feels scared or vulnerable at night and what she does."
Q: Will we ever see you in a heavy dramatic role in a great suspense thriller or film noir? — Walter, Atlanta
Messing: "I hope so. Attention all filmmakers in Hollywood! If I say what I want to do now, in two months I'd want to do something else. But doing a film noir would be terribly exciting for me. The fact that I'm sitting here promoting Starter Wife, I have nothing to complain about. I'm a happy camper."
Fischer feeling better after big fall
By William Keck, USA TODAY
Jenna Fischer, who plays lovable receptionist Pam on NBC's The Office, is in pain. A lot of pain. But she wants her fans to know that she is on the mend after breaking four bones in her back in a nasty fall May 14 at an NBC party.
"I had a rough night last night," Fischer says from the Central Park-area hotel where she has been recuperating. "I'm mostly off the meds, but I did take some last night because sleeping is probably the most uncomfortable thing right now. I just can't get comfortable."
Two weeks ago, Fischer, 33, came to New York to speak with advertisers about NBC's fall lineup. She was looking forward to letting loose with her co-stars. "It's one of my favorite parts of the year. My (summer) vacation starts then. I was ready for a lovely break — no pun intended."
At around 11 p.m., one of The Office's writers encouraged her to hit the dance floor at the trendy Buddakan club. "I was going to do one dance and then get out of there," Fischer says. "The dance floor was down a long set of marble stairs. I linked arms with my friend and just missed a step. All I know is I was suddenly not on the ground anymore. My legs flipped out from underneath me, and while I was in the air, I had the thought, 'This isn't going to end well.' "
It didn't. Fischer landed hard on the stairs. The pain, she says, "was consuming and immediate. I've never felt anything like it. I was horribly nauseous and dizzy."
After being taken to a private area in the club, she lifted the back of her shirt. "It was bleeding and very swollen, so I said, 'I want an ambulance and I want to go to the hospital.' "
At her side almost immediately was co-star Angela Kinsey, who plays Angela on the show. "She was with me for over 24 hours taking care of me," Fischer says.
X-rays at St. Vincent's Hospital revealed that she had fractured four transverse vertebrae in her back and tore a ligament in her elbow. "The doctor said, 'The good news is, you have no spinal cord damage,' " Fischer recalls.
Fischer was released from the hospital the next day, and her husband, writer/director James Gunn, flew in from Los Angeles to take care of her. "I couldn't get in and out of bed myself," she says. "I couldn't walk very well. I needed constant supervision."
In another week, she should be able to travel home to Los Angeles.
She has received well-wishes from all her Office co-stars. Steve Carell (Michael) sent flowers with a funny note. John Krasinski (Jim) wrote a "lovely e-mail." Rainn Wilson (Dwight) placed a call to her room. But it was an NBC doc who really impressed her. "Zach Braff (Scrubs) was at the party when I fell. And bless his heart, the next day he sent a big tray of cupcakes to my hotel. In those first few days, all my husband and I did for pleasure was watch a Larry Sanders DVD and eat those cupcakes."
To regain her mobility, Fischer has been taking daily half-hour walks in Central Park. "My mobility," she says, "is limited only by my pain. I'm almost at the point where I can bend over. I really have a desire to wash my feet."
The most recent news: "My back doctor said it will be about 12 weeks until I'm fully recovered."
By that time she will be shooting The Office, which concluded the season with her character being asked out on a date (finally!) by Jim. "I'm assuming the writers aren't going to break my heart," Fischer says.
Fischer is grateful that her accident happened just three days after wrapping the film Walk Hard, a raunchy comedy in which she stars with John C. Reilly as warped versions of Johnny and June Carter Cash.
"We meet through our singin', then fall in love but have a very tumultuous road," Fischer says in a Southern twang.
She won't be singing any songs, though.
"I have to wear a lot of skimpy outfits for this movie, so I had to get in great shape. I trained very hard, so I had to give the singing up."
There is one possible silver lining to her unfortunate misstep. Six weeks ago, she started playing the guitar and since her fall has been writing a country song about her pain.
Says Fischer with a giggle: "Now I just have to get someone else to sing it."
Sony TV has 'Death' pact for Hobert
By Nellie Andreeva
May 31, 2007
"Scrubs" executive producer Tim Hobert has inked a two-year overall deal with Sony Pictures Television.
Under the seven-figure pact, which includes a development component, he will join the studio's comedy " 'Til Death" as an executive producer.
On the Brad Garrett-starring "Death," which was picked up by Fox for a second season, Hobert will serve as an executive producer alongside the show's creators/executive producers, Cathy Yuspa and Josh Goldsmith.
"Tim has two qualities that have always frustrated us -- talent and loyalty," quipped Zack Van Amburg, co-president of programming and production at Sony Pictures TV. "He's used both of them against us in competing shows, and now that he's joined the Sony family and ' 'Til Death,' we plan to exploit that same loyalty and talent for our future success."
For the past 11 years, Hobert worked with Bill Lawrence on two half-hour series.
He was the only writer that was on ABC's "Spin City," co-created by Lawrence, for the entire six-year run of the show.
Hobert moved on to Lawrence's "Scrubs" for the past five years, rising to executive producer. His stint on the critically praised NBC comedy earned him two best comedy series Emmy nominations.
"We're thrilled to welcome Tim to the "Til Death' team," Goldsmith said. "He was an integral part of the sucess of two long-running and excellent shows in 'Spin City' and 'Scrubs' -- not to mention he's pretty easy on the eyes."
Hobert, who most recently had an overall deal at NBC Universal TV Studio, is repped by ICM and attorney Jared Levine.
Buena Vista giving TV-DVDs a bit of CPR
By Thomas K. Arnold
May 31, 2007
Buena Vista Home Entertainment wants to breathe some excitement into the TV-DVD business, which after several years of explosive growth is beginning to lose some of its luster.
The studio is taking the unusual step of announcing all its upcoming marquee TV-DVD releases at once and packing into them a wealth of novel extras, from Spanish-language audio tracks to a virtual fashion show, extended and bonus episodes and unaired story lines.
The highlight: Season 3 sets of top-rated shows "Lost," "Desperate Housewives" and "Grey's Anatomy." Breaking tradition, each set gets a special name, similar to special editions of movies.
Lori MacPherson, GM North America at Buena Vista Home Entertainment, said the studio wants to create "the biggest TV-DVD event this fall." She and her team also are cognizant of the growing popularity of single-episode downloads and want to differentiate complete-season TV-DVD sets as much as possible.
"Sure, fans want DVDs to catch up on missed episodes, but it's our goal to include so much collectible bonus materials that the DVDs themselves become something not to be missed," she said.
"Desperate Housewives: The Complete Third Season -- The Dirty Laundry Edition" will arrive in stores Sept. 4. The six-disc set includes all 23 episodes along with such extras as a behind-the-scenes look at the season finale, a Spanish audio track, a conversation with series star Eva Longoria in which she shares stories from some of her favorite bloopers, a collection of creator Marc Cherry's favorite scenes and several unaired story lines, deleted scenes and outtakes.
A week later, on Sept. 11, comes "Grey's Anatomy: The Complete Third Season -- Seriously Extended Edition," a seven-disc set with all 25 episodes, four of them extended exclusively for the DVD release. Other bonus features include a one-on-one with series star Ellen Pompeo, a visit to the race track with star (and race-car enthusiast) Patrick Dempsey, cast and crew members' favorite scenes and audio commentaries.
"Lost: The Complete Third Season -- The Unexplored Experience" follows Dec. 11 on DVD and Blu-ray Disc. The 23-episode, seven-disc set comes with a one-on-one with star Matthew Fox, a featurette on "The Others," a documentary chronicling 24 hours in production and a selection of never-before-seen flashbacks. Also included are behind-the-scenes looks at 10 episodes, audio commentaries, deleted scenes and bloopers.
Also in the pipeline are three new series that never before have been available on DVD.
"Ugly Betty: The Complete First Season -- Bettyfied Edition" will be out Aug. 21. The six-disc set contains all 23 episodes as well as an exhibit of some of the first season's best and worst fashions, a Spanish audio track, a discussion with the cast on the show's origins and a behind-the-scenes documentary with the show's production, costume and set designers.
"Brothers & Sisters: The Complete First Season," also a six-disc set, is scheduled for a Sept. 18 release. On Sept. 25 comes "What About Brian? -- Seasons 1 & 2," a five-disc set.
The Disney announcement comes at a time when the pace of TV-DVD releases is slowing. Just 158 multi-disc TV-DVD season sets came to market in the first four months of this year, according to the DVD Release Report, down 12.2% from the same period last year.
5/30/2007
HBO close to naming new CEO
Cabler looks internally for dual topper jobs
By STEVEN ZEITCHIK, STEVEN ZEITCHIK, MICHAEL SCHNEIDER
HBO is closing in on naming a replacement for Chris Albrecht -- or will it be replacements?
It still could be weeks before Time Warner officially announces the pay cabler's new corporate hierarchy. But with the shakeup at NBC finally settling down, attention is again turning to who will run HBO.
In one scenario, the net could cleave the position in two, with one exec taking charge of the business operations as CEO and the other overseeing the pay web's four programming divisions.
That would mirror how HBO was run back when Jeff Bewkes headed the channel and Albrecht served as programming honcho.
Net is leaning toward upping existing HBO execs into the top spots rather than recruiting an outsider. The shortlist is exec veep and strategy guru Richard Plepler; chief operating officer Bill Nelson, who currently has the title of interim CEO; sales and marketing prexy Eric Kessler; and exec VP of business affairs and general counsel Hal Akselrad.
All were instrumental in business and strategy issues under Albrecht, who came out of the programming side and delegated some of the business tasks.
On the programming side, the leading candidate to run the four divisions is long-running HBO Films chief Colin Callender. Carolyn Strauss, who as HBO Entertainment topper heads up original series, is considered a more remote choice.
Many of the candidates have been with the net for years and that longevity is also what makes them attractive.
Still, a number of outsiders have been interviewed. But recently ankled NBC entertainment prexy Kevin Reilly isn't a candidate, say insiders familiar with the situation.
Those playing the HBO guessing game had suggested that former Viacom topper Tom Freston is in the running, but the exec is and always has been a highly unlikely choice, say those familiar with the situation.
An announcement on the new CEO could come as early as next week but is more likely in mid-June.
Ex-'Dateline' producer sues NBC News
By Paul J. Gough
May 31, 2007
NEW YORK -- A former "Dateline" producer alleges that she was let go from NBC News after she complained of ethical lapses on the show's "To Catch a Predator" series.
Marsha Bartel of Lincolnshire, Ill., has filed suit in U.S. District Court in Chicago asking for at least $1 million in damages. She alleges that the network breached her contract by failing to pay her through the end of the contract on Dec. 20, 2009.
Bartel was terminated from NBC News in December under what it said was the NBC Uni 2.0 cutbacks after she had signed a contract to be the sole producer on the "Predator" series the previous March.
Bartel contends that she was fired after raising several issues about the conduct of Perverted Justice, the organization that is paid by NBC News to carry out the sting operations, and NBC. The lawsuit calls it a "shadowy vigilante organization." She said she was rebuffed in her concerns and said she couldn't produce "Predator."
"Ms. Bartel was terminated because she refused to violate a primary objective and facet of her employment (i.e., acting ethically) and because she insisted on compliance with corporate rules designed to ensure accurate news reporting," the lawsuit said, according to a copy on TheSmokingGun.com. "NBC elected to act in bad faith with respect to its own mandatory employment rules because it was more interested in sensationalizing and dramatizing the 'Predator' series for profit than (for) news reporting."
NBC denied the charges, saying there was no breach of contract because Bartel's contract had an option to not renew the contract at the end of the year. It also denied Bartel's claims.
"In producing investigative projects such as 'To Catch a Predator,' we regularly have open and critical discussions about ethics and journalistic standards," NBC said in a statement. "Any producer is welcome to give his or her input. In regards to the series itself, we have been transparent about our reporting methods, including the role of law enforcement and Perverted Justice, and audience reaction has been overwhelmingly positive."
Channels join NBC Uni, News Corp. venture
By Alex Woodson
May 31, 2007
NEW YORK -- NBC Universal and News Corp. said Wednesday that TV Guide and cable channels Fuel TV, Oxygen, Speed and the Sundance Channel will join their online video joint venture set to launch in the summer.
The Sundance Channel, an indie film network owned by Robert Redford, NBCU and CBS Corp., will provide full-length original series, short films and shortform content shot exclusively for the Internet. Included in their package will be the green-friendly series "Big Ideas for a Small Planet" and the Jay Bakker reality show "One Punk Under God."
Fuel TV, News Corp.'s extreme sports channel, and Speed, a motor sports network owned by Comcast Corp. and News, will provide shortform content to the venture and will host programming on their own sites.
Oxygen, a women's network owned by Oxygen Media, will also contribute shortform content. Initially, this will come from its shows "The Bad Girls Club," "Fight Girls," "50 Funniest Women" and "Our Bodies, Myself."
Gemstar-TV Guide International, Inc.'s TV Guide will distribute content from its broadband network including reviews and celebrity interviews. The company also will present highlights from its original series "America's Next Producer."
"Each of our new content partners has a reputation for creating premium entertainment experiences designed to fulfill television viewers' more eclectic needs," said George Kliavkoff, chief digital officer of NBCU and interim CEO of the joint venture. "We are delighted they have all agreed to contribute their compelling content to our venture."
These channels will be joining the network on a nonexclusive basis. The venture already has a nonexclusive agreement with Comcast, which, in addition to Speed, will provide content from its E!, Style, G4, Versus and Golf Channel properties. This month, Internet network CNET also signed up on a nonexclusive basis.
Announced in March, the joint venture will make NBC, News Corp. and other video content available through a new portal, as well as Time Warner's AOL, Microsoft's MSN, News Corp.'s MySpace, Yahoo and Comcast. It is designed to rival Google Inc.'s YouTube property, which has come under scrutiny for copyright issues.
Dinner exits NBC's 'Bionic'
By Nellie Andreeva
May 31, 2007
"Bionic Woman" director/executive producer Michael Dinner has left the series.
Dinner directed and executive produced the NBC Universal TV Studio pilot, which was shot in Vancouver. The pilot recently was picked up to series by NBC and landed on the network's fall schedule.
He was to serve as an executive producer on the show alongside David Eick, Glen Morgan and Jason Smilovic.
However, Dinner wasn't willing to relocate to Vancouver, where the series also will be produced, which led to his departure, sources said.
'Heroes' conspiracy theory
Despite the cheerleading, the forces at NBC may not be strong enough to nab an Emmy.
By Scott Collins, Times Staff Writer
May 30, 2007
NBC's "Heroes" was this season's breakthrough hit. But can it break the Emmys' science-fiction hex?
The network's studio arm naturally wants a clutch of nominations for writer-producer Tim Kring's series about a group of ordinary people who discover they have superpowers. In a bid to secure key nominations, NBC is blanketing trade publications with ads for the show, sending out a DVD mailer to all 12,000 TV academy members and also offering a free iTunes download of the season finale, just as it did last year for the comedy "The Office."
Yet actually wangling a statuette in the best drama category may prove a lot tougher than saving the show's self-healing cheerleader (Hayden Panettiere). TV academy voters often snub the sci-fi and fantasy genres, which they appear to believe are less deserving of institutional recognition than more realistic fare.
Case in point: Fox's hit "The X-Files" was nominated four times as best drama but always lost out to shows such as "ER" and "Law & Order." Other Emmy also-rans include the hits "Star Trek: The Next Generation" (which lost out to "Picket Fences" in 1994), "Quantum Leap" (bested by "Northern Exposure" and "L.A. Law"), the original "Star Trek" (the 1968 Emmy instead went to "Mission: Impossible") and "The Twilight Zone" (losing out to "Hallmark Hall of Fame" in 1961). A number of other highly regarded sci-fi series, including Sci Fi Channel's critically acclaimed "Battlestar Galactica," have never even been nominated as best drama.
That may help explain why NBC executives are playing down "Heroes' " comic-book appeal, emphasizing instead its more traditional dramatic elements.
"I know intellectually [the series] lives in the sci-fi area," said Laura Lancaster, senior vice president at NBC Universal Television Studio, which makes "Heroes." "But for me, it goes back to the characters." Lancaster cited as an example the show's focus on the tense relationship between Nathan and Peter (Adrian Pasdar and Milo Ventimiglia), brothers who just happen to have extraordinary powers.
"It's beyond being a genre show," Lancaster said.
Maybe so. But industry prejudice runs fairly deep against anything that even smacks of the genre. Although science-fiction has proved its popularity with viewers over the years, executives tend to view the format as a purely escapist haven for geeks, filled with props like phasers and other goofy, futuristic paraphernalia. Therefore those shows are not as "serious" as other types of dramatic series.
Brad Adgate, senior vice president at New York ad firm Horizon Media, said that Emmy voters might be turned off by the "campiness" associated with some sci-fi efforts, as well as "the perception of an over-reliance on special effects instead of dialogue." Indeed, a look at Emmy drama winners in recent years (e.g., "The West Wing" and "The Sopranos") shows how voters tend to prize well-wrought scripts over special effects.
Still, he added, " 'Heroes' could get a nomination" because of its high ratings and its perceived "uniqueness" — there's nothing else like it on the schedule.
That's what NBC is banking on. Mired in fourth place in the ratings, the network is doubling down on its new hit, adding a spinoff for a total of 30 "Heroes"-themed episodes next season. A DVD of the first season will land at the end of the summer. And an Emmy for best drama could go a long way in hooking new viewers.
"I absolutely feel like there's room for growth," Lancaster said of the "Heroes" audience.
NBC, in Shake-Up, Names Outsider to a Top Position
By BILL CARTER
Published: May 30, 2007
NBC Universal shook up its entertainment operations yesterday, hiring one of the hottest young production talents in television, Ben Silverman, as a co-chairman of both the entertainment division and its television studio.
He will share that title with Marc Graboff, giving them control over NBC’s entertainment business in California. Mr. Graboff has been president of NBC Universal Television since February.
At the same time NBC announced the departure of Kevin Reilly, the president for entertainment, who had been the chief programmer for the NBC network. Only three months ago, Mr. Reilly signed a three-year contract to remain as head of the network’s entertainment division.
Yesterday’s announcements, which had been expected, were the culmination of an intense weekend of negotiations as Jeff Zucker, the chief executive of NBC Universal, put together an offer to hire Mr. Silverman, who has been among the most successful suppliers of programs to NBC Universal over the last three years through his company, Reveille.
NBC has held an interest in the company and it announced yesterday that it had extended its deal with Reveille for two years but not acquired the company outright. In a telephone interview, Mr. Zucker said, “We never contemplated buying Ben’s company,” and Mr. Silverman said, “I didn’t want to sell it.”
Instead, Mr. Silverman said he would appoint an executive to run the company, and while he would retain an interest, it would not benefit from any program decisions he made for NBC. Mr. Graboff compared the arrangement to “a blind trust.”
For much of the last decade, Mr. Silverman, 36, has pushed deals that helped reshape the content of television programs. As an agent for the William Morris Agency in London, he was in the middle of transactions that brought reality shows to American networks, including “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” and “Survivor.”
As an independent producer, he was active in buying format rights to foreign shows and turning them into American series, with “The Office” on NBC and “Ugly Betty” on ABC. He developed reality series for network and cable channels, including “The Biggest Loser” for NBC and “Nashville Star” for the USA network.
Mr. Silverman has aggressively sought to bring advertisers into program development and has deals in place with Microsoft’s MSN site to offer sponsored short video series on the Internet.
Mr. Zucker said the deal to secure Mr. Silverman’s services had been put together hurriedly in the last 7 to 10 days, largely because Mr. Silverman and his company were in play at other media outlets. Though he did not specify who else might be interested in hiring Mr. Silverman, two executives who were involved in NBC’s negotiations said two other media companies had initiated contact with Mr. Silverman.
“I knew if I wanted this to happen, I had to act now,” Mr. Zucker said, adding that he had for years considered Mr. Silverman an ideal candidate for a top-level entertainment job with NBC. “I always thought this was something that Ben was born to do,” he said.
Mr. Silverman said he grew up as a “latchkey kid in New York” watching NBC programs, and this made his new post “a dream job for me.” He said he intended to continue pursuing program ideas all over the world.
The overall plan for the Silverman-Graboff team, Mr. Zucker said, is to “redefine our programming, our relationship with advertisers and our ongoing commitment to the new digital frontier.”
NBC said Mr. Silverman and Mr. Graboff would share responsibility for the network’s prime-time, late-night and daytime programs, and would supervise the entertainment division’s digital programming. They are also responsible for managing the network’s and the studio’s marketing and financial strategies.
Mr. Graboff said the division of responsibilities “would flow naturally, with me handling most of the business and administrative side, and Ben handling the creative side.”
Mr. Silverman’s first assignment may be to shore up NBC’s prime-time programs because it has the least successful lineup of programs among the broadcast networks, and Mr. Zucker has emphasized that owning the most popular content is the chief goal of the company.
Mr. Zucker hired Mr. Reilly four years ago to lead a comeback in NBC’s prime-time fortunes. Mr. Reilly brought several successes to NBC, including the drama “Heroes” this year, and was highly regarded for his taste in programs.
But the network, which has had to cut costs as a result of revenue shortfalls, continues to suffer from a shortage of the kind of hits it needs to turn around four years of negative momentum.
Mr. Reilly often expressed frustration at not being able to produce as many projects as other network entertainment chiefs did. NBC executives said they had not tied Mr. Reilly’s hands over money.
Mr. Zucker said in a telephone news conference yesterday that the prospect of having Mr. Reilly continue under Mr. Silverman had not been discussed. “Kevin made a decision that it was time for him to move on,” he said. He declared that Mr. Reilly had added a number of quality programs to the network and that they would be “his legacy to NBC.”
Mr. Zucker said no changes were contemplated in the prime-time schedule that Mr. Reilly announced this month. He added that advertisers had expressed enthusiasm about the new shows.
Though Mr. Silverman is getting a different job and title, Mr. Reilly sought to step away from NBC after it became clear that Mr. Zucker was wooing Mr. Silverman. NBC is expected to announce other changes in its entertainment division, with another executive assuming other duties of Mr. Reilly’s in the next few days.
It was 'now or never' for Silverman at NBC
By Gary Levin, USA TODAY
NBC completed a major executive shake-up Tuesday that will see its programming chief exit after three years. The network and its studio arm will now be run by two chiefs.
NBC dumped entertainment president Kevin Reilly and named West Coast president Marc Graboff and Ben Silverman, a producer of Ugly Betty and The Office, as co-chairmen of both the network and its sibling TV studio. Graboff will handle business matters; Silverman also will assume Reilly's duties, overseeing programming, scheduling and promotion.
Viewers should not expect huge changes. Silverman says he'd "put 10 Heroes on the air" if he could: "I like quality with noise," or water-cooler potential. Yet NBC's huge cost-cutting drive has limited its program development and left it without any backup series for inevitable failures.
Silverman, 36, is a self-made mogul, turning from an agent pitching reality-TV shows such as Who Wants to Be a Millionaire into an independent producer who snapped up rights to foreign series and repackaged them for U.S. television. He also is behind The Biggest Loser, Nashville Star and Shear Genius, all on NBC or its cable networks. His major push is integrating products in TV shows, a growing trend that NBC has embraced.
The change comes just two weeks after Reilly presented NBC's fall schedule and six days after the network ended its third season in fourth place. Ratings have plummeted 36% since NBC Universal CEO Jeff Zucker, a former Today producer, took the reins of the entertainment division in 2000. (Rivals climbed or were down at most 2%.)
Zucker says he made the change because Silverman "was at a point in his career where he wanted to do something different; it was strictly a function of now or never if we wanted to bring Ben" into NBC. Silverman's company, Reveille, will continue.
Reilly, FX's former programming chief, replaced Zucker the same month that Friends ended its 10-year run. He never found a comparable hit but stuck with Silverman's Office despite low ratings, delivered Heroes as TV's biggest newcomer and won critics' hearts with low-rated Friday Night Lights.
End-of-Days Fidelity for ‘Jericho’
By VIRGINIA HEFFERNAN
Published: May 30, 2007
The problem with the proposition that television is an art is that art is meant to be deathless, while television shows are always being canceled.
New sitcoms, for example, come on like your best friend forever the first time you meet, only to vanish without a trace when the network pulls the plug. They’re like grifters that way. Suspicious. Sitcom sets are built to look like monuments to eternal friendship — everybody-knows-your-name Central Perk WKRP monuments — but if there’s one false move in the ratings, they’re axed to splinters, and no one seems to shed a tear.
Then there are hourlong shows. Even the plainest network drama in these days of “The Wire” and “Nip/Tuck” sets up mortal stakes — with plane crashes, tanks, spinal-cord injuries, point-blank executions — as well as tormented characters invented to seize the brain.
These shows ask more than the comedies do: they don’t demand friendship as much as fealty. In an unsuccessful drama this ambition seems laughable. In a successful one it just works. You fall in thrall. You accept the series as your master. Such is the case with “The Sopranos,” “Rescue Me” and, it seems, “Jericho.”
I probably should call that last series, which CBS canceled earlier this month, “the late ‘Jericho,’ ” but it makes me nervous to write those words. That’s not because I was an obsessive viewer of that postapocalyptic survivalist show (though, having finally caught up, I like it), but because its fans are die-hards.
Anything about the demise of “Jericho” at the hands of the CBS brass should therefore be whispered. Those “Jericho” people are way, way, way in the denial phase of grief. As you can imagine, fans of a postapocalyptic survivalist show — especially those who have not quite faced that Rover’s with the angels in heaven now, right, Mommy? — have a tendency to be somewhat defensive. Vehement. Sensitive.
“Jericho” lovers write fan fiction, original stories based on the show’s characters. They argue over fine points. They make knowing, intimate references. They pull off stunts and skits that pick up on the attitude and logic of the show. They haze outsiders. They embark on campaigns.
Lately, too, they buy nuts: more than 26,000 pounds so far, nearly all of them roasted peanuts from an online retailer called NutsOnline.com. That’s 13 tons. These nuts are shipped in boxes to CBS executives, who fans persist in believing might bring the low-rated “Jericho” back to prime time.
Just as other battles — for “Everwood,” “Arrested Development,” “Veronica Mars” — have taken on the particular character of the show being fought for, so the one for “Jericho” has been put in terms you might expect from people who have been watching an embattled community in Kansas fight to survive after the nuclear destruction of major American cities.
For some the war seems more than a little holy: it pits an endangered home-and-hearth drama set on the Plains against “American Idol,” a chintzy Hollywood reality competition that is invariably called a “juggernaut.”
At the same time, the “Jericho” call to arms doubles as a referendum on universal suffrage, charging that the Nielsen ratings system, which takes only passing notice of digital video recorders and new ways of watching television, is no more reliable than American voting machines. (“Jericho” features all kinds of makeshift and jury-rigged technology and suggests that the combination of munitions and TiVo can be formidable in the red states.)
Arguably, though, “Jericho” fans are just television fans at their most fannish, meaning (still, and after all these years) most Trekkie-like. Fans of “Star Trek” continue to represent the gold standard for American fandom, not only because they were the first to love a television show to distraction (and communicated that love before the Internet), but also because they spun from that love the breath of life.
They not only reincarnated their postapocalyptic series, which was nominally canceled in 1969, they also generated, as they see it, no fewer than five television shows, 10 feature films and hundreds of novels.
With that effort still yielding dividends in the form of video games, computer games and memorabilia, what committed fan wouldn’t fight for a beloved show’s second season? Earlier this month, at the upfront presentations, at which the networks unveil fall shows to advertisers, the buzz among journalists, executives and media buyers focused on video players, personnel changes and a handful of striking pilots. People who cared about struggling shows tended to talk about NBC’s “Friday Night Lights” or “30 Rock,” which had both been renewed.
“Jericho” viewers generally got the news on the Internet: no more “Jericho.” In videos, on message boards and in e-mail messages came the rallying cry: Nuts. The idea crystallized quickly: “Say nuts to CBS.”
The quaint use of nuts to mean both “that’s rubbish” and “go jump in a lake” came to fans from the final episode of the series, called “Why We Fight,” after the award-winning propaganda films by Frank Capra.
In that last episode Jake Green (Skeet Ulrich) uses the word nuts to refuse his enemy’s suggestion that he surrender. The G-rated expression is justified in a flashback to pre-apocalypse days: it comes from his grandfather’s story about an American commander who stood up to the Nazis at Bastogne.
“Nuts” is a nice fit for this true-blue show, then: a flinty, Greatest Generation word, with a slightly bawdy bite. (Just before the grandpa story, hay is made over a mispronunciation of the word “peanuts,” as if to sex up “nuts” as a catchphrase.) In the final episode the rogue-turned-team-captain of the town called Jericho — that’s Jake — sees his father urge him to keep fighting the forces marshaling against him before he expires on a kitchen table.
Finally comes an attack on Jericho that looks like the big one, and a blackout. A textbook cliffhanger. No wonder some of the first fans to protest the cancellation recut the final episode with Jake and the boys fighting CBS. They uploaded their efforts to YouTube, and began the supremely popular “Nuts to CBS” campaign.
How CBS thought it could peddle heady patriotic stuff like this — not to mention run a series with episodes titled “Semper Fidelis,” “One if by Land” and “Coalition of the Willing,” if that gives a stronger sense of the soul of the series — and not expect a citizen-army to form in the show’s defense is folly.
It’s almost like creating Vulcans, the Enterprise and Starfleet and not anticipating that some children of the ’60s and ’70s, who didn’t feel altogether embraced by life on Earth, might see themselves in the mirror of that new universe and devote hours, days and years of their young lives to ensure its survival.
Trio heading 'East Bound' for HBO pilot
By Nellie Andreeva
May 30, 2007
Katy Mixon, John Hawkes and Andrew Daly have been tapped to co-star opposite co-creator Danny McBride in HBO's comedy pilot "East Bound and Down."
The project, from Will Ferrell and Adam McKay's Gary Sanchez Prods., centers on Kenny Powers (McBride), a burned-out former professional baseball pitcher who returns to his small Southern hometown, where the only job he can find is as a substitute gym teacher.
Mixon ("Blind Dating") will play Kenny's high school girlfriend, now a teacher at the school and engaged to the principal (Daly). Hawkes (HBO's "Deadwood") will play Kenny's brother.
"East Bound" was written by Jody Hill, Ben Best and McBride.
Hill will direct the pilot, which Ferrell, McKay and Chris Henchy are executive producing.
Mixon is repped by Endeavor and manager Larry Taube of Principal Entertainment.
TV success depends on quality, network
Right show on the right channel part of 'hit' equation
By RICK KISSELL
The broadcast nets would like to think of themselves as all-embracing, capable of casting as wide a net as necessary to snare the next smash.
But when it comes to developing, producing and scheduling a hit series, each has its limitations.
For better or worse, the Big Four broadcasters possess fairly immutable strains of DNA, and while each offers examples of brand-busting hits (think "American Idol" on counterculture Fox), certain shows simply have a better chance at succeeding on certain networks.
It's hard to imagine "Everybody Loves Raymond" doing as well on a net other than CBS, "Friends" flourishing away from NBC or "Prison Break" busting out anywhere but Fox.
Landing the right show on the right net, then, is an important part of the "hit" equation -- but the best fit isn't always the most obvious suspect.
As 20th Century Fox TV president Gary Newman says, success also rides on who wants a show most.
"Every net has a show working that you wouldn't necessarily think of them first," he says. "It's more important than ever to land a show at the right net, but it might be the right net because of their passion and commitment for the project."
He adds that the decision on a network begins with the pitch, following discussions with the writer.
"We have conversations about where we see it fitting in, and typically have a best place in mind," Newman says. "We may go to a network preemptively, but more often we shop it.
"It's not until you sit in the room and gauge their reaction and the questions they ask that you know where it should go."
Another studio exec says he's recently seen more examples of nets not wanting to be pigeonholed.
"They're now all after the same 18-49 audience," he says. "It's not as simple as saying a traditional show goes to CBS or a hip show to NBC.
"They're bound to overlap, and they do."
Over the years, CBS could count on a core following among older viewers and strength outside of the big cities, while ABC fared well in bigger cities while also appealing to suburban families. NBC has come to excel among urban, affluent white-collar crowds, and Fox consistently skews younger and more male.
But these road maps don't always lead to success, and a hit show can redfine a struggling net.
A rudderless NBC, for example, hadn't developed a hit drama for years until it connected with an unlikely one, "Heroes," last fall.
The tale of ordinary people with extraordinary powers instantly became not only the net's youngest drama but also its most male-skewing -- this in a fall when NBC also launched the glossy "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" and "Kidnapped," which fared well among upscale auds but drew puny overall numbers.
"Heroes" paired with "Deal or No Deal," a not-so-upscale gameshow, to give NBC its strongest night.
Tim Kring, creator of "Heroes," believes his was the right show at the right time for NBC.
"I think the fact that they found themselves suddenly having gone from first place to fourth, they were very willing to take a chance on what was seemingly a bold idea," Kring says. "And I think it was really important for them to try and reinvent and go for a different audience."
(The "Heroes" success has informed the net's fall roster, with NBC adding a time-traveler drama and a new take on "The Bionic Woman.")
Joining "Heroes" as rookie successes of the 2006-07 season were a pair of ABC series -- "Ugly Betty" and "Brothers & Sisters" -- that fit perfectly into a brand that crystalized with "Desperate Housewives" three years ago.
The audience for both "Betty" and "Brothers" is heavily female and upscale, and they tap into the comedy and family elements that worked with "Housewives."
While NBC hasn't produced an upscale hit scripted show in recent years (excepting "The Office"), ABC has excelled and is now the leader in these categories.
At CBS, the desire is to break out of the creative cul-de-sac the net created for itself as a result of devoting well over half of its schedule to crime-solving procedurals.
"It's a case of the 80/20 rule, where 20% of the audience is contributing to 80% of the ratings," says Brad Adgate, an analyst at research firm Horizon Media. "You want to put on something that viewers outside your core might find (while) channel surfing."
"Jericho," about a Kansas town coping with the aftermath of a nuclear bombing, was a step in that direction this past season, but its serial format didn't go over well with Eye auds that had grown accustomed to neatly resolved endings.
Fox, whose key scripted shows remain edgy ("24," "The Simpsons," "House"), struggled with its development last season, most believe, because series like courtroom drama "Justice" and domestic comedy "Happy Hour" were too generic.
And while it has seemingly returned to its roots with fall shows like the "Terminator"-inspired "Sarah Connor Chronicles" and "New Amsterdam," about an immortal detective, it's playing it safe in comedy. "Back to You," starring Kelsey Grammer and Patricia Heaton as bickering news anchors, is about as un-Fox as you can get.
"Of all the nets, they're not as concerned about their mold," says Adgate. "Maybe because they're younger, they will try stuff and are more likely to go in another direction."
Newman of 20th, which produces "Back to You," admits that "CBS seemed like the natural place for it," but that Fox "blew everyone away with their passion and financial commitment."
Whether it works as well on Fox remains to be seen, and Newman still laments that another of his studio's comedies, Reba McEntire starrer "Reba," never realized its full potential.
"The WB didn't really know how to communicate with advertisers or expand their audience to make it work," he says. "I'm convinced that it could have been a big hit on CBS or ABC."
Date in print: Wed., May 30, 2007,
Essay option among Emmy's new rules
Series get a chance to explain themselves
By MICHAEL SCHNEIDER
The scripts are done, the shows have been shot, but the TV Academy is now asking producers to break out their pens and keyboards at least one more time.
For the first time, the org is asking its top Emmy contenders to write an essay -- 250 words or less -- that summarizes their show's plotlines this season and provides context to the episode that has been submitted.
The rule is just one of several changes implemented this year in the months leading up to Emmy season.
Also new to the Emmy competish this year: the so-called "Ellen Burstyn rule," in which nominees in the supporting actor or actress in miniseries/ movie categories will have had to appear in at least 5% of the longform for eligibility.
In addition, the org has broadened its nomination scope, with series and acting noms now chosen by a 50/50 mix of blue-ribbon panel picks and the Academy-wide popular vote. And the TV Academy's blue-ribbon panel in charge of picking nominees for best actor and actress in a comedy and drama can now cast those votes at home.
Early on, the new essay rule made the most noise. The idea for finding a way to properly put a series contender in context was introduced after last year, when Academy members grew concerned that serialized shows like "Lost" fare poorly in the blue-ribbon screenings (in which Acad members help pick the final nominees in several categories). The complex mythology on "Lost" and others (think "Heroes" or even "The Sopranos" and "Desperate Housewives," which require some background for ultimate satisfaction) baffled voters who hadn't been watching, so the theory went.
"The thinking is, we really ought to have an opportunity for people to contextualize the action in the episode being screened," says Academy of TV Arts & Sciences senior VP John Leverence. "The board felt that every effort should be made to give these shows as much latitude as possible."
The essays can be just a handful of words up to that 250-word threshold -- so that series like "CSI," which don't need much explanation, can keep things simple.
The TV Academy originally planned to make the essays mandatory for both series and thesps. But the org switched gears and later told actor and actress contenders that the rule was optional for them.
The "Burstyn rule" came into play after the thesp was nominated for an Emmy last year in the supporting actress in a mini or movie category -- even though she appeared onscreen for just 14 seconds.
"Clearly if you're a lead performer in a longform, you get plenty of screen time," Leverence says. "But what sometimes falls through the cracks are the two supporting longform categories."
Then there's the switch in the overall nomination process. Until a few years ago, the entire Academy body voted for noms in key categories, and the top vote-getters moved on to the nominee ballot. Last year, the Academy decided to bring in a blue-ribbon panel of Acad members to ultimately choose the nominees from those top finalists.
Now, the new recipe includes a bit of both. The full voting body will pick 10 favorites in key series and acting categories, then the blue-ribbon panel will meet and watch all 10 finalists in a certain category to make their pick. The final list of noms is a weighted average of both the orgwide vote and the blue-ribbon panel's picks. With so many checks and balances in place, Leverence says, the Academy hopes to come up with the most deserving list of nominees possible.
"It's meant to tweak the system and give an equivalent influence in the decisionmaking from both the wisdom of the masses and the wisdom of people taking a look at the episodes submitted," he says. "It's two distinctly philosophical varieties of judging and evaluating."
Date in print: Wed., May 30, 2007,
Emmy award season anxiety
First person: Kudos not without drama
By JOHNNY CHASE
The Emmy season is upon us and let me tell you, I won't be getting much sleep. My publicist promised to wake me if I get the nod, but I'm not taking any chances on sleeping through the moment I've been waiting for my whole career. I'm pulling an all nighter. Do I think it will happen? Well let me quote one piece of fan mail that I received this week.
"Dear Mr. Chase. My wife and I cannot wait to see you pick up that little winged angel on September 16th for your stellar work on our favorite show, 'The Five Towns.' We both felt you were robbed when you didn't win in 1998 when it went to Andre Braugher and again we felt you deserved it in 2002 when it went to Michael Chiklis."
The truth is I wasn't nominated either of those years -- in fact I've never been nominated, but I think that the Coulters from Tallahassee and I share the same feeling: I goddamn well should have been.
Well let's hope the TV Academy makes up for past injustices, because being a working actor is nice, but being an Emmy nominee, well that would change everything. Being a nominee would mean never again going back East and having people say, "How you doing?" as though I'm a cancer survivor. They'll know how I'm doing. They'll know I'm an Emmy nominee. 'Cause they can cancel your series and they can let your SAG health insurance expire, but they can never take away that nomination certificate.
And to win ... Well some would say that's gravy, but if I get the nom, let's just say going home without the trophy would make the whole evening a complete bust. I have dreams that are so vivid of heading up onto that stage, I can taste the hot presenter's perfume when she kisses me and whispers in my ear, "Congrats, call me." I can see all my peers' faces when I shout, "Ha! Tonight I won. Tonight I'm the winner. Tonight ma, you don't need to cry for your baby."
To look into the faces of a live audience as the theatrically trained actor I am and make a connection that I haven't had since my last theater run as Danny Zuko's little brother in the Off Off Broadway production of 'Grease 2.' Oh how I would bring tears to their eyes as I selflessly would share the painful journey it took to get there and the people who helped and hindered me along the way.
Come Sept. 16, this could be my reality. But for now, for me and so many others, we continue to wait. An actor keeps his emotions close to the surface to more readily share them with his audience. But at times like these I almost wish I could bury them down just a little.
Chase's younger brother Vinnie's film career has skyrocketed with James Cameron's "Aquaman." Johnny appears on TV.
Date in print: Wed., May 30, 2007,
Will Emmy notice fancy packages?
Cablers hope move puts shows on voters' radar
By CHAD GERVICH
Without its massive screener push, "Crash" might never have earned its Oscar nomination -- much less the best picture trophy that followed -- and similar examples exist in the world of television. But unlike Oscar screeners, which have strict rules governing how they can be packaged and "marketed," the world of Emmy for-your-consideration DVDs is a lawless frontier, where a smart package could sway voters in a show's favor.
"The people who send these things are very creative marketing types," says John Leverence, senior VP of awards for the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. "It's a knee-jerk response for them to package these things in the most interesting, engaging way they can."
Indeed, the past few years have seen Emmy screeners delivered in paint cans (CBS' "A Painted House"), tropical survival kits (Fox's "Temptation Island") and stone tablets (ABC's "The Ten Commandments"). And while all this window dressing is fun and creative, it often leaves TV execs wondering if the purpose of screeners has somehow gotten lost in the process.
"Screeners are intended to introduce Academy members to programming they may not have seen," says CBS senior VP of communications Chris Ender, but "members are, by and large, television historians, students and fans. They're very savvy and familiar with almost all the programming in the market."
So if most of the voters already know what the shows are, what's the point of sending screeners? Typically, the flashiest mailings come from cablers trying to draw attention to shows that aren't nearly as popular as network skeins, the theory being that the right package might convince voters to consider a show they hadn't otherwise sampled.
"The clearest evidence I ever had that the box had the potential to influence people," says Showtime's Richard Licata, was with the feevee outlet's 2005 "Huff" campaign. Although the show premiered in November to critical raves, it didn't land with audiences the way the network had hoped. So when screener time rolled around, Licata, Showtime's executive VP of communications, got clever. Instead of sending out the traditional two or three episodes, he sent the entire season. "Lo and behold," he says, "it wound up getting seven Emmy nominations. The show had been off the air for months, so the only thing in (voters') minds was the box."
Indeed, two companies -- Showtime and HBO -- repeatedly set the standard for sophistication in screener campaigns. HBO pioneered the practice of sending screeners in the early 1990s, and Showtime continually takes it to new levels with innovative packaging and tactics such as providing voters with entire seasons.
"It's like an arms race trying to keep up," says Ender. "It's probably more helpful for a cable series than a network series, because broadcast networks (already reach) such a mass audience."
Which is why some networks are revamping their strategy altogether. BBC America, for example, uses their screeners less as a competition tool and more as a branding device.
"It's a key part of our profile," says Amy Mulcair, VP of publicity for BBC Worldwide America. "We've always been the quirky, under-the-radar, slightly alternative (channel). We have a particular voice and feel ... and our screeners follow that."
This year, BBC America is touting its "green" packaging, complete with recycled paper, soy/vegetable ink and a special environmental message.
In another eco-friendly move, both CBS and 20th Century Fox are screening Emmy contenders online (see story at left).
"It's getting harder and harder to stand out in the DVD process," says Ender. "We wanted to make a statement that we're doing something different. It's partly an environmental statement and partly taking the next step into the digital age."
At the end of the day, of course, Emmy voters aren't voting on the cleverness or social consciousness of a campaign; they're voting on the virtues of the program. Which means the quality of a show has to speak for itself.
"Ultimately, I could sit and watch 12 episodes of something and say, 'Eh, I really don't like this show.'" says Licata. So "whether it's the design of the box or the generosity inside the box" -- or, of course, no box at all -- "it's all about how good the show is."
Date in print: Wed., May 30, 2007,
Emmys lag in recognizing all races
Oscar celebrates most diverse year ever
By SANDIE ANGULO CHEN
"Ugly Betty" star America Ferrera has a chance to make Emmy history this year. No Latina actress has ever been nominated -- let alone won -- a lead comedy actress trophy. In fact, 23-year-old Ferrera hadn't even born yet when the last Hispanic actress won an acting Emmy: Rita Moreno for a guest spot on "The Rockford Files" in 1978.
"Wow, that's incredible. I do think about what a milestone this is for the Latin community to have a show that stars Latino actors," says Ferrera. "And it's not just our show. ... There is a wide variety of working Latino actors in a huge variation of representations. You turn on 'Desperate Housewives' and Eva Longoria couldn't be more different from Ugly Betty."
Ferrera is far from the only minority Emmy hopeful. "Grey's Anatomy" docs Sandra Oh and Chandra Wilson, "Heroes'" Masi Oka, "Lost" survivors Naveen Andrews and Daniel Dae Kim, "The Unit" boss Dennis Hasybert, "Battlestar Galactica" admiral Edward James Olmos, "The Wire" addict Michael K. Williams and "30 Rock" comic Tracy Morgan are all among the contenders of color.
The chance that many of those actors besides Ferrera will net an Emmy nod isn't likely, however, considering the past 20 years of Emmy trends.
Since 1986, nonwhite actors have received only 51 nominations out of 840 possible slots in the top four acting categories for drama and comedy. They've won only seven times: Andre Braugher in 1998 for "Homicide," Hector Elizondo in 1997 for "Chicago Hope," Mary Alice in 1993 for "I'll Fly Away," James Earl Jones and Madge Sinclair in 1991 for "Gabriel's Fire," Jimmy Smits in 1990 for "L.A. Law" and Jackee Harry in 1987 for "227."
"Other than a few standouts here or there, Emmy doesn't pay attention to black people," says Eric Deggans, TV critic and columnist for the St. Petersburg Times. "If Andre does a guest spot on 'Law & Order,' he'll get a nomination, but if another actor of color does incredible work, Emmy won't even notice it."
Deggans says the fact that "The Wire" cast, most of which is African American, has not gotten Emmy recognition is proof the award system is broken: "We have to get to the point when actors of color who are not the chosen few excel, that they get recognized."
Alfre Woodard, the most-nominated African-American actress in Emmy history with 14 nods and four wins, says it's not about being among the "select" black actors: "I don't feel we were chosen. I think we brought the goods, and we could not be denied. We had the tenacity to figure out a way to make our presence known."
Even with her award-winning background in television, Woodard points out that the majority of her nominations were not for regular work on a series: They were for roles in made-for-TV movies. "If you're hiring somebody for 'Miss Evars' Boys,' you've gotta hire a black woman," she notes.
Despite the Emmy snubs of years past, there have been noticeable gains in minorities appearing in top-20 primetime shows, especially those involving large multicultural ensembles.
But the momentum behind the scenes is bleak. As the WGA West's 2007 Hollywood Writers Report reveals, only 9% of TV writers are minorities, an underrepresentation that has actually gotten 1 percentage point worse since the last report issued in 2005.
"It's marvelous that the casting has been opened up in the past couple of seasons," says the org's newly appointed director of diversity, Kimberly Myers. "But there is a wealth of different kinds of stories that we aren't even beginning to see on television because the writers from different kinds of backgrounds aren't there on staff."
National Hispanic Media Coalition director Alex Nogales stresses that until there are more people of color coming up with the stories, the situation will not get significantly better. "Forty percent of all the shows on primetime do not have one single writer of color," he says. "We must be the showrunners of tomorrow.
"Everyone talks about America, Eva Longoria, George Lopez, but they're seeing a mirage," Nogales adds. "The hard reality is that if you get the number of shows that portray people of color, the number doesn't come even close to equaling the 32% of the national population that is not white."
Woodard agrees that the popularity of ensemble casts could mislead audiences into thinking TV is diverse. "Sometimes if you see any color, it strikes you and satisfies that thirst for a reflection of reality," she says. "But if you pull back and look at what's going on, the representation really is quite skimpy."
Although the statistics are, as Nogales claims, "woefully inadequate," the past few TV seasons have provided a boost for the Asian-American community. "To have Asian-Americans on shows like 'Lost,' 'Heroes' and 'Grey's Anatomy' tells all of America that we're like everyone else and can have successful careers in front of the camera," says Teddy Zee, executive producer of the Asian Excellence Awards.
Behind the camera, Myers hails "Law & Order: SVU's" Neal Baer as one of the few exec producers who "gets it right." Baer hired a Native American writer when actor Adam Beach joined the popular procedural. And just seeing Beach as a regular on a primetime program is a huge step for an otherwise absent community. "We're nowhere to be seen. Adam is our baseline," says Mark Reed, co-director of American Indians in Film & Television.
For African-Americans, who constitute the majority of TV's actors and writers of color, the focus is on getting more senior-level producers, like "Grey's" creator Shonda Rhimes. Vic Bulluck, executive director of the NAACP's Hollywood bureau, says one easy step would be to program another African-American family sitcom.
"Almost as far back as I can remember, there were one if not two African-American comedy shows based around families, and there's not one on the major networks right now," Bulluck says.
Only the CW, he explains, features shows such as "Everybody Hates Chris" and "All of Us," which the net just canceled. "Gone are the 'Cosby' shows, 'Fresh Princes,' even Bernie Mac is gone. What happened?"
So how will people of color know they've arrived in the television industry?
"When talented actors who are black and white and brown can be in something and it fails and they still get another shot and another and another, like cute Caucasian guys, then you'll know something's changed," Woodard says.
Date in print: Wed., May 30, 2007,