Monday, April 12, 2010

Conan Obrien moves to TBS...wait, that's cable. What now? This is "Lo-Co"

As you have all heard, Conan O'Brien will be making his big move to late night on TBS in November. But wait a second, isn't TBS a cable channel? As I've asked in previous posts, what does this mean for TV ratings to the producers?

According to Entertainment Tonight, George Lopez has already begun tweeting about O'briens new spot on TBS. Lopez supports O'brien in the move and thinks they will be a great pair.

"I welcome @conanObrien to his new home at TBS..."





After O'Brien's big break from "The Tonight Show", many wondered if he would ever return to late night television. Jay Leno and O'Brien were, obviously, not on good terms. Although that is negative for both Leno and O'Brien, it boosted ratings. People were interested to see where O'Brien was and what he had to say.




The fact that months before O'Brien is moving to TBS, Lopez has already established a mutual friendship relationship with the talk show host. The nicest gesture Lopez could have had was giving up his 11 p.m. spot for O'Brien, and moving to 12 a.m. Although these gestures are nice, are they going to attract viewers? Probably not. The sad point of the matter is that viewers like drama.

To accrue a larger fan base, and hopefully win back some viewers who were tired of the on again-off again drama, O'Brien is in the middle of his "The Legally Prohibited from Being Funny Tour."

On tonight's "Lopez Tonight", Lopez spoke during much of his beginning stand up about O'Brien. Lopez mentioned things like "of course I'll give up my 11 p.m. spot, it means I come to work an hour later, who doesn't want that?" Now while Lopez is very optimistic to the change now, it is not to say that there won't be tension later with two stand up comedians, essentially going head-to-head, every night. How will they not cover the same material or latest "in the news" topics?

We shall see.

Monday, April 5, 2010

Dancing with the...Buzz





Buzz Aldrin, retired United States Air Force pilot, has enlisted in Dancing with the Stars.

Many wonder, "What is this guy doing?!" Is this a publicity stunt by the producers? Do they seriously believe that he is, in any way, at a level for a dance competition?

What about Buzz? Did he seriously think he could compete and have a chance at winning such a competition? The man can hardly move. You shall see for yourselves. While the Cha-Cha seems to come so easy to many of us, it is one of Aldrin's bigger challenges.

Keep in mind, the show is live each Monday and Tuesday evening. Recently, in my Advertising for Sports class, we've discussed what drives ratings for the NFL. The answer is live broadcasting. Live broadcasting is what keeps the billions of viewers tuned in without DVR playback.

I can admit that Dancing with the Stars is one show that I won't DVR and instead watch the full two hours. I can also admit that one dance I do not miss is Aldrin's dance. So maybe the network producers are getting what they want by throwing in an 80-year-old man who was one of the first men to walk on the moon

So, while some of you make fun of Aldrin, you should not fail to realize that Aldrin may be what is bringing in the ratings. They have been the most-watched television show this season, after all.

Take a look at the rest of the competitors, if you are one that does not follow DWTS.




Monday, March 29, 2010

Scandal- a rating hit or miss?



Oh so confusing. It seems to be the trend now-a-days for big star celebs to cheat on their wives and girlfriends...more than once! We know all too well the Tiger Woods scandal and I'm sure we are all too familiar with it that we don't have to have a recap.

But to bring up something that most people didn't talk about (possibly because it is un-newsworthy) are the text messages that porn star, Joslyn James released. According to TMZ (you can trust it's news as you will), Joslyn James released text messages from Tiger that were "graphic". The messages are too uncomfortable to post so follow the link.

As for Jesse James and his rediculous-ness. James, who had been in a relationship with Sandra Bullock for at least five years, has definitely done his part to screw things up.

Many bloggers and magazine authors are writing "3...2...1..." counting off the number of mistresses to be revealed in the Jesse James scandal.All of the revealed mistresses so far have been sell-outs to magazines like Star, US Weekly, and TMZ. This makes one wonder, is it all for money? Are these mistresses coming out about the smallest of incidents to create more buzz for magazines to be interested in?

What about Sandra Bullock? After an amazing Oscar win she is left with nothing but a broken heart and divorce papers. She is sticking by her words, or lack their of, and not speaking.

Alright, but what is in all of this distress for television? Something to talk about! This is what producers strive for in order to boost ratings. But when something like this happens to two different, very well know celebs--it can be a bit overwhelming.
I think what viewers would rather watch is what's going on outside the world of Jesse and Tiger. After months of covering both affair stories, viewers become aggrevated with the invasion of other people's lives (especially celebrities, at least for some).
This is similar to what happens during the Olympics. Producers are always looking for something drastic to occur, to engage viewers and make everyone turn to NBC. However, when it is about cheating, lieing and deceiving, and it's all over every television network--it may begin to work against you, Mr. TV producer.




Monday, March 22, 2010

Ladies and gentlemen...Lady Kanye.

To follow up on last week's post, did anyone see the awful acceptance speech interruption by Elinoir Burkett? Well incase you did not, here is a video clip to fill you in.

Unfortunately, the man accepting the speech for the film could do nothing but try to stand his ground while the, rather hefty, Lady Kanye pushed her way to the microphone that was obviously not set up for her to do any talking. Times like these, television producers sit behind the scenes and take off their glasses, wishing it was all a dream.

But, television producers need things like this to happen. It all builds hype for the following year. It brings more viewers.

Everyone seems to be calling Burkett the "Lady Kanye" of the event, referring back to the interruption by Kanye West during Taylor Swift's acceptance speech.



I think the big question is what do TV producers do at times like this? It's live, it's happening now, and it's unedited.

Normally, during times like the Janet Jackson costume "malfunction", networks like CBS cut right to commercial, or a different shot of the audience.

This year's Oscar's, however, were filled with many miscellanous events. It makes the audience feel awkward, and the people on stage feel awkward. But in cases like these, there really is nothing you can do but have TV producers "on their toes."

Sunday, March 7, 2010

If I were an ABC television producer, I'd be scared of NYC right now.

Unfortunately, I don't think I could blog for five weeks on football. So, in the efforts to talk about something I might enjoy--I've decided to blog on the outrageous things that are said on television in this generation. I'm sure the majority of what I blog about will be the terrible reality tv show ideas.

Nonetheless, I think it will be interesting to analyze the scripted reality as if I were a television producer. Since this is my first blog, I will be anticpating the outcome of tonight's Academy Awards.

The 84th Annual Academy Awards will air tonight at 7 p.m. (Central Time). The event's hosts, as you have seen advertised on television lately, are Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin. These two are some of Hollywood's biggest actors. Both stars had roles in the recent film, "It's Complicated", starring Meryl Streep.


While many believe that Meryl Streep will walk away with an Oscar for Best Actress, Sandra Bullock has been given the title "Worst Actress Ever", according to recent blogs.

10 films nominated for best picture are: Avatar, District 9, An Education, The Hurt Locker, Inglorious Basterds, Precious, A Serious Man, Up and Up in the Air.

However, the bigger issue here will be what happens at the awards after many angry New Yorkers plan to boycott ABC after an outrage that over 40 million households in NYC will not be able to view the award show tonight. Many bloggers seem to think that the thousands of New Yorkers are not the ones that ABC executives should be afraid of, it's the adveristers that bought time during an award show with such high ratings.

Check out these angry posts by furious New Yorkers .

It will be exciting to see what happens. If you are not excited as of the end of this blog post, go to the Academy Awards website and watch the trailer for tonight, it's promised to get you pumped.
P.S. Check the social media tools being used tonight. Sending the live facebook chat questions to ask the stars? Seriously?