The ABC Inner Circle is comprised of 20,000 consumers who have be recruited or volunteered to the online fan base. ABC marketing is counting on those people then spreading the word via Facebook, Twitter and other social networking programs.
I've been pretty down on a lot of the stuff NBC has done about the new fall season, especially the Jay Leno experiment. But here's something that strikes me as a smart move. NBC is streaming the pilot of Community on Facebook. It's sans commercials and free for anyone who's a Facebook user who's willing to become a fan of Community. Or they can send a link from the fan page to friends, or place it on their Facebook profile.
Marketing-wise, this makes a lot of sense. The demographic NBC is targeting is the Facebook generation. And just the idea of seeing something before it previews anywhere else -- on your laptop for free just by going on Facebook -- is easy as pie.
You're never quite sure where Gary Coleman is going to pop up next. He could be doing a TV commercial here, a Penn & Teller appearance there, a court appearance there. Now he's doing a promotion for New York Fries, a Canadian French fry chain. That page also has a link to a Facebook app where Gary will tell you your "Fry Cup Fortune."
Before today I never really thought I'd be writing a post about Gary Coleman, French fries, and fortune telling.
The big debate right now regarding the healthcare plan is the concept of "death panels." Not sure where or when this first came up, though last night, Stephen Colbert pointed out it was from Sarah Palin's recent Facebook posting that brought it to the public.
The scary part? The reality competition show that Colbert mentions at the end of the clip is something that we'll probably see at some point.
Every time The Goode Family aired on ABC, it felt badly out of place -- right up until its cancellation. Now, its producers are hinting that the show will live again on another network.
ABC canceled Mike Judge's latest animated series last week. It was hardly a shock considering the network moved it around its schedule more than a Three Card Monte dealer shifts the Queen of Hearts. ABC looked for a place to bury the Goodes -- then they killed them.
But, on the show's Facebook page, show-runners John Altschuler and Dave Krinsky claim the show will return on a new network.
I'm always cynical about these studies that show what teens aren't into, but this study was actually done by a 15 year-old, so maybe it's a lot closer to the truth.
He's a intern at Morgan Stanley, and he says that teens today aren't really into TV (beyond watching their favorite shows for a season), they'd rather download music than listen to the radio, and they don't read newspapers at all because it's "wicked stupid." OK, they didn't say that, but they find newspapers too long. They also don't like Twitter. They'd rather update their Facebook page (makes sense - Facebook is more passive, like a web site; you have to really be involved with Twitter).
So this poll is only for the teens out there reading this.
I love these little mini-essay rants that Chelsea Handler does. It makes me want to watch her show, though I always always always forget that it's on and always miss it. Here she talks about how one of the Chelsea Lately panelists, Heather McDonald, is obsessed with the Real Housewives shows on Bravo. (Video also here.)
Oh, like 92% of everything Handler talks about, this is NSFW.
I get antsy watching CNN's Tony Harris do the news. He always has these uncomfortable hiccups in his delivery and he's always looking off camera, as if the next word in the sentence is floating in the air next to him or on the table and he has to look to see what it is so he can continue.
But I find this funny: Harris is on Facebook, but he told CNN viewers yesterday that he has no idea how to log on to it and finds the whole thing "stalkerish." I'm looking for the video and will post it here if I can find it.
While I think that Twitter and Facebook can be invaluable for news (including what's going on overseas) and just plain fun, Jon Stewart does have a point about how all of the cable news networks (especially CNN) rely way, way too much on Twitter messages and web site posts and opinions from viewers (local news does it too). Seems like they're trying to fill up space and get viewers "involved" instead of, you know, showing some editorial judgment. Honestly, I really don't care what "funnyballs69" thinks about North Korea. Last night Stewart and The Daily Show talked about this a bit. (Video also here.)
This clip from The Daily Show pretty much summarizes what's wrong with the cable news channels. And no, Jon Stewart isn't just dumping on Fox News here, he also goes after MSNBC for being obsessed with Rush Limbaugh and CNN for their insane i-Report/Twitter reliance.
This is never going to happen in real life, but last night Jimmy Fallon deleted all of his social networks because it was getting too confusing and taking up too much of his time. I don't know if there's one button to get rid of your Twitter, FriendFeed, LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube, NetFlix, and IM accounts, but I'm sure someone is working on one right now.
Weeds fans seem to be a dedicated bunch. There are currently more than 263,000 of them on the show's Facebook page, many of them counting down until the show starts up again June 8, some of them coherently ("I love this show - can't wait until June!"), some of them not so coherent ("So very excite!!").
But then, this is a show about weed. So incoherent is okay, even encouraged. Look under the videos section on the Facebook page, and you find a commercial wherein several types of pipes and bongs argue who the best rock drummer was (votes for John Bonham from Led Zeppelin, Ginger Baker from Cream, Ringo Starr, and that dude from Def Leppard). Before you judge, more than 600 people liked that video, according to Facebook.
The Big Bang Theory continues to impress me. With only a few exceptions, it's been consistently strong and is quickly becoming one of my favorite sitcoms. One of the things I enjoy about it so much is that it answers a lot of questions the viewers have in the back of their mind: "What would Sheldon be like if he got a girlfriend?" and "Is Wolowitz just a perv, or is there something more?" And in tonight's episode, "Does Penny realize she's a user?"
Penny having to come face-to-face with a more successful version of herself was a brilliant way to address her relationship with the guys. Even though it's evolved over the past few years, there is still a very definite social hierarchy upon which she finds herself on the top. But now that Alicia is on the scene, she's forced to take a look in a mirror: a very hot mirror.
Ever since Jimmy Fallon was named Conan O'Brien's successor in a surprise move by NBC, the SNL alum has faced a ton of criticism. Just about everything I've heard has been along the lines of, "WTF, NBC?" and Jimmy Fallon sucks." It's easy to knock Jimmy Fallon. He's twitchy, he couldn't keep a straight face during an SNL skit to save his life, and his big post-SNL career move? Freakin' Taxi.
Yes, there's a lot of ways to make fun of Jimmy Fallon, and as he proves in his second webisode, he hears you loud and clear. He knows you think he's a douchebag who doesn't deserve the job, but that's not going to stop him from trying to leave his mark on late night. So maybe it's just the part of me that cringes at schoolyard bullying, but whatever. I'm going to give Jimmy Fallon the benefit of the doubt.
Shep Smith is one of my favorite people on TV, and I never miss his show at 3 PM each day. Today we might want to make a special effort to watch.
I've been pretty down on a lot of the stuff NBC has done about the new fall season, especially the Jay Leno experiment. But here's something that strikes me as a smart move. 
Every time 
I'm always cynical about these studies that show what teens aren't into, but 
I get antsy watching CNN's Tony Harris do the news. He always has these uncomfortable hiccups in his delivery and he's always looking off camera, as if the next word in the sentence is floating in the air next to him or on the table and he has to look to see what it is so he can continue. 
Ever since Jimmy Fallon was named Conan O'Brien's successor in a surprise move by NBC, the 
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