If you've been watching NBC's Olympic coverage, you must have seen all of the promotion they have been doing for their fall season. New shows My Own Worst Enemy, Crusoe, Knight Rider, Kath & Kim, and America's Toughest Jobs have all had plenty of play. As have the returning Chuck and Life. Given that the latest Olympiad is closing in on becoming the most watched television event of all time, you might think those promo spots were pretty valuable. Apparently, not so much. The Hollywood Reporter runs down the record for the network promoting new shows during past games. In 2004, the Athens games led to one show, Joey, making it beyond its first season. Likewise for the Sydney games in 2000, which brought us Ed, and nothing else. Things were a little better in 1996 from Atlanta. Profiler, The Pretender, and Suddenly Susan all lasted another four years. Not a stellar track record and it leaves you thinking that those precious spots might have served the network better pitching more beer. It has the makings of a good poll though. After the jump, place your vote for the one new show that will make it out of season one.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
8-25-2008 @ 12:34PM
Oreo said...
How about "None"?
And an event gets 200 million over 15 days, what's so special about that? 105+ million people watched the Mash finale, that lasted one night, that is still the number one event in US TV history. Just because 200 million people might have watched part of some event over two weeks means nothing.
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8-25-2008 @ 12:41PM
Nightfall said...
Would've gone for My Own Worst Enemy, but I'm betting on Toughest Jobs being easier on production costs. I also thought that Dirty Jobs would be more awesome if it was a reality game show covering extreme jobs.
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8-25-2008 @ 12:48PM
nosidam said...
If a show sucks, no amount of promos will help it's ability to make it.
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8-25-2008 @ 3:27PM
Dave said...
I would go with 'None'. I watched at least some Olympics every day and I only remember seeing promos for Kath & Kim. I don't remember anything about it, just that I saw it. Obviously, the promos weren't very effective. I don't plan to watch any of them.
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8-25-2008 @ 4:08PM
Gordon Werner said...
you mean they actually aired some of the Olympics between all the commercials?
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8-25-2008 @ 6:33PM
hessian said...
The depressing part is that the only thing NBC could find in the pantry to air the day after the Olympics is DEAL OR NO DEAL and TOUGHEST JOBS.
Come on!
Be aggressive - launch an honest-to-goodness drama or something!
Do you honestly think everyone who watched the closing ceremonies is intrigued about the first million dollar winner on DEAL?
They could have launched a four episode arc of HEROES or brought CHUCK back early.
A huge promotional platform wasted - by Jeff Zucker.
Fire Zucker, save the network.
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8-25-2008 @ 9:17PM
FFC said...
Deal or No Deal Sucks, we're all tired of this. I was going to watch "My Own Worst Enemy" mainly for Yara Martinez, an amazing actress ( The Unit and Vanished ) but won't anymore, since they recasted Yara and Cierra Ramirez's roles with a (Waspy girl next door ). That makes Two Latinas out, I wonder what the Latino Market will say about this and how many viewers will NBC have.
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