Chasing the long tail of new media
by Jim Connelly
Because in Hollywood, no idea is ever too good not to try over and over and over again until it’s made the transformation from unique to ubiqutious, rejected pilots are now popping up all over YouTube and other sites like break.com.
As if the set of circumstances that made NBC’s picking up of Nobody’s Watching were, you know, easily duplicated.
by Jim Connelly
When faced with the world of 21st Century Television, different networks do different things to bring audiences to their shows. In the past couple of weeks we’ve learned that FOX will continue to ruin the baseball playoffs; ABC wants to disable the fast-forward button on DVRs and CBS is going to advertise on food.
Lame lame lame. (Actually, I recognize that the FOX/MLB partnership is shrewd from the marketing standpoint; it’s just that I’m a lifelong baseball fan who recoils in horror at being faced with Tim McCarver, those dopey “Sounds of the Game” and sitcom stars in box seats every goddamn October until 2053 or whenever it is.)
So just when you’d figure that NBC would also come up with some kind of dumbass stunt or idea of their own, they actually go in the complete opposite direction and do something very very smart.
by Jim Connelly
Dear Lopy:
I just made a pilot for a big (OK, big-ish) TV Network, and it was rejected for being different from other TV shows. How can I get it picked up by another network?
Signed,
Hapless in Hollywood
Dear Hapless,
Here’s how to get your rejected pilot picked up by another network, in six easy steps.
The one thing sure to suck the soul out of a television show is a test screening audience. Generally, this group consists of non-entertainment industry professionals, hapless souls plucked from the street, folks willing to waste a few hours of their day because, well, there’s nothing better going on. Naturally, test screening audiences are the most powerful people in Hollywood.
Now you would think the highly paid, generally experienced executives at networks and studios would know from a good television show (or movie, no need to be exclusive here). These folks do not trust their own taste. It is imperative that they find a group of citizens to closely parallel a “real” viewing audience. The funniest show ever produced? If deemed dumb or confusing by the test audience, it will be shelved in favor of yet another reality show.
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