2009 Super Bowl Ads Commercials Selling Fast on NBC

super bowl 2009 tampa bay florida game logo XLIII

It’s that time of year again when the first rumblings of the next year’s super bowl advertisers come out. (for super bowl 43) I think the companies just ask that their info be released this early to start the buzz cycle and get more mileage out of the media buy. There really isn’t any other reason to release the advertiser names now in September when the ads aren’t even finished yet.

They say the 30 second ad spots are selling for $3 Million dollars each. That is the going rate for a direct sales pitch into 88 million homes and TV sets all at the same time. (when are they going to start webcasting the game and the ads all together like a second delivery system of the same signal? why wouldn’t that work?) Advertisers that actually get a positive ROI from that kind of heavy hitting creative investment are wide appeal mass market companies that have products that are either seasonal at that time of year or products that relate to sports watchers or families watching at home.  Products like snacks, drinks, beer and cars have long been popular categories for Super Bowl Ads.

This year some of the confirmed advertisers are Pepsi and CocaCola, Anheuser-Bush, and a bunch of un-named Automotive, Movie and snack companies. Doritos have done really well the past few years and I wonder if they will plunge in again. I think the trend may be finally waning in the internet sites do ads category since few of them have that kind of money laying around anymore and/or need the visibility.

The timing of your ad during the Super Bowl Game is also crucial. The good spots are probably taken already in Q1 and Q3. Q2 gets boring because people have been sitting a while and just want halftime to start so they can use the bathroom and Q4 may be less well watched if the game isn’t almost tied the whole time. Many people just turn it off when the game is a blowout. The ends of pods are also bad because it just leads back into the game and consumers forget the ad pretty quickly. Being first in a pod is best since people have been proven to remember things in chunks and the beginning and end are usually the chunks they remember most.

Sometimes companies get their ads in at the last moment when 1 or 2 ads are left a week or two before the Super Bowl Game but this may not be available this year if companies are paying 300K more per ad willingly and forking over the money (or deposit) this early in the year. I think that marketers are realizing that in a fragmented market you have to be as prominent on every screen as possible to stay top of mind and above the chatter that gets tuned out. But ad placement is only 1/2 of the strategy. The other half is really the most important. It is really about relevance and humor. If you can make your product funny in a way that real people identify with personally, you have a winner and get all the chatter at the watercooler the next day.

Kristi Yamaguchi on Dancing with the Stars

I was hopeful when I heard that Kristi Yamaguchi was going to be on the ABC show Dancing with the Stars that she would rock the competition because she was such a talented figure skater. I made a similar transition from competitive figure skating in my own life (hobby) from 1984-1994 to social and sometimes competitive Swing Dancing in 1998-2003. I found that dancing was really easycompared with skating. No jumping was involved (lucky for me) and all the footwork was much much easier on the floor than it ever was on skates. Plus skaters have to have a great sense of body awareness to do what they do and in dancing that is useful to let you know where your head, hips, feet, shoulders, butt and fingertips are all at the same point in time and coordinate them all in different directions at the same time. Body awareness isn’t something you need for all sports, but you do need it for dance, gymnastics and figure skating because of the musical interpretation involved. (Those hobbies and pursuits that straddle the line between sport and art.) It was also great to finally really interpret the music with choreography and improvisation. The lead follow connection was easy too, but I would assume Kristi has that too since she skated pairs also for many years before concentrating on singles skating and winning the gold medal in the 1992 Olympics.

There are a few things Kristi Yamaguchi probably did have to learn in the Dancing with the Stars training sessions. The thing you don’t use in figure skating is the rest of your upper body, arms, head or expressions in much detail or variety. And skaters are not into the same kind of footwork as dancers because they are always skating for the sake of speed, to get to take off for jumps and can’t really spend time on any detail at a slow enough speed to be intricate. (it doesn’t get you any points) After learning to dance though, I thought skaters lacked real choreography, musicality and interpretation. They fell flat on TV as non-expressive beings trained to jump and without any real enthusiasm or artistic expression on the ice. Pretty posture isn’t enough to sell your performance or story to the audience let alone really interpret the music in a real way. I now prefer dancing both personally and for watching as entertainment, I think it has so much more to offer.

I think that Kristi Yamaguchi has the potential to be as good a dancer as the real ballroom dancers because she is in strong physical (cardio) shape, has great body awareness and seems to be learning the musicality and interpretation she needs to sell her dancing to the audience. I hope she goes all the way just like speed skater Apollo Anton Ono did a few seasons ago. It’s true, after figure skating, everything else in life is easy.

TopGear USA Names New Host Adam Corolla

As Jalopnik reported last week Adam Corolla has been named the first host of TopGear USA in it’s newest iteration of GEAR on NBC in 2009. (per an announcement on his radio show and some pix with TG cars, see K Nob left.) I have read all kinds of mixed reviews online and heard people’s opinions on this pick and here are my thoughts to add to the fray:

1. I don’t know Adam Corolla from a bag of rocks but a lot of people seem to know him from The Man Show and they seem to think he is funny and willing to get shoved in frozen lake for a laugh. (which sinefeld and leno wouldn’t do) This is encouraging. He doesn’t have a persona that is so well known it is career limiting (being typecast) yet people are pretty sure he can do (or has done) Improv in his day and has some snark. This was a big qualifier for this job. I am sure they did some pilot episode recording or something to compare the candidates on film (per Richard Hammond’s book where he mentions his interview & audition) and I bet Adam probably does ok in the snark category. (he also seems to do well in the 1991 wardrobe category) This is probably the most important part of the selection process.

2. Many people seem to be up in arms about the TopGear USA show needing to be an exact replica of the TG UK show down to the exact personality traits of each host. (presenter) They say they need an overbearing stubborn tall guy, and an emotional and hyper short guy and a long haired geeky guy. This couldn’t be more wrong. You need some great personalities, some strong opinions and some great improv and mucking about to make a great show. You can’t re-create the actual people and their attitudes over here that Jeremy, Richard and James have in real life. That would be monkey-stupid and not at all viable. The mix should be diverse but the personalities all will be different.

2.5 I have also read that people think Adam Corolla doesn’t have a car background. He must have some car knowledge though or else they wouldn’t have selected him. I would guess that you would have to have all of the following skills to host: know how to drive a manual transmission well enough to talk to the camera and drive at the same time, know some basic autocross skills for the lap times and tests, be familiar with fancy and race type cars so that you know how to power slide and such. I would also hope the person genuinely enjoyed power sliding and pushing a car’s limits. I think a lot of the technical things that Jeremy, James and Richard say are discussed with the producers and prep people of TG to give them some topline analysis from the team of research geeks behind the scenes. Hopefully NBC’s GEAR will have a team of car geeks behind the scenes too.

3. Some people are complaining that the show will be all about NASCAR and that will suck ass. Yes, that would technically suck ass if it happened, but I think the show will have diverse talent and diverse activities all around the different car type groups. (Imports, Domestics, Pony Cars, Muscle Cars, Roadsters, Trucks, Minvans, SUVs, Street Racing Mods, Low Riders, Classics, Really old Classics, Classics with wooden wheels, Green Ecological leaf-eating Cars, Exotics and Supercars. And hopefully there will be some fun crossover with the auto racing sports in this country Indy, CART, NASCAR, Funny Cars, F1, Unlimited Fuel Dragsters, Autocross, Sprints, and Demolition Derbys at the county fair. (please use the last one I beg you) The content is usually based on a couple things:

    A. Supercars awe inspire us all, so cover as many of those as possible and make the editing and camera work turn it into car pron. This keeps the 10-50 yr old boys happy, and the beauty of the cars even makes it interesting to some of us women. We also enjoy the speed.

    B. People need practical every day cars reviewed in a non-sleep inducing non-autoweek way. This means everything from the YuGo to the Mercs. (by merc I mean Mercedes not Mercury, I can’t believe I just said that) I can’t believe MOTORweek is still on TV. I want to shoot my television when I run across that show accidentally.

    C. Challenges building things and Road Trips through other countries are the comedy and entertainment portion of the program. Do the ridiculous, seriously. Do the serious, ridiculously. And please Fork it up in ways we never thought possible. The only difference here is that it should require less passport use in the USA. Route 66 anyone? Highway 1 PCH?

    D. Weird sometimes stupid stunts. Jumping minivans and seeing how long a car runs with all the coolant drained out of it. endurance, destruction and general stunt-ness is needed here. These segments are short on time and long suspense and hopefully provide either humor or carnage or both. (ala the car chases in the blues brothers movie)

    E. The Star in a Reasonably Priced Car segment. It allows the BBC to make some marketing money and it gives us some interesting non-car related person in an autocross race situation. This either ends up being impressive or rediculous, it works great either way. I recommend a Chevy Malibu as the car here. It’s so average it hurts. It will also be painful seeing George Clooney actually sit in one instead of the fancy schmantsy things he is used to.

But the question I want answered that no one was asking is: Did Adam Corolla get the job just because he was named after a cheap econo-box Japanese car? If so it’s a really bad pun, and I wouldn’t mention it. I think using the corolla as the reasonably priced car is out too.

Also read about the interview with Adam Corolla and my suggestions for the show here.

Also, I am a little baffled that this got ranked #1 on a TopGear USA search in Google. I am not sure how that happened. This blog isn’t really that great, except possibly when I write about TG or Marketing. Anyway, if for some reason you officially want to contact me about what I write here, you can through my other blog here. My stats say that about 50 people a day are looking for TG USA info and come here. I hope that is enough for NBC’s to keep the show on air this fall.

TopGear USA Version 2 with NBC BBC Partnership

According to this news article NBC has contracted with the BBC to produce a USA version of TopGear for network free tv. No estimates on when it would launch but I would guess Fall of 2008. It is sad though that I think they may miss the mark. A lot of funny TopGear stuff is not suitable for US TV let alone would pass the network censors.

Anyway, I did get some hope when I suggested a few months ago that TopGear should hold open auditions for the 3 presenter spots when launching a new show in a new country because you can more accurately find talent that is in touch with what is funny and new with cars. Plus its a huge PR event to get the public involved.

Anyway the TopGear Australian franchise took my advice (or thought of it too) and has open auditions scheduled. Go Aussies! Bring us some Holden goodness.

Another Word of advice: for an unscripted but not a reality show, you need people with a background in Improv and Cars. Or a smart ass who knows cars, or an improv funny guy who knows nothing about cars and gets to be the new captain slow. And these presenters have to have strong opinions about cars for it to clash in a funny way. Who knows. But improv training and quick wit is a big part of the equation. Exploiting your lack of knowledge for comedy can be just as funny as knowing a lot.

So, what I want to know is where do I sign up? You could very easily use a girl in the mix right?

The other part of the successful mix is not chopping it into small pieces with commercials every 5 minutes and not ruining it with dumb stunts like fear factor. I hate fear factor but love TopGear. If you put anything like FF on TG I will hunt you down and hang you by your toenails. It’s supposed to be about humor in car culture and in every day life. Heck, get the Jalopnik guys. They know the cult of cars as good as anyone I know.

My brother just replied to my email I sent alerting him to this and suggested that Jay Leno or Tim Allen host but I really think they need presenters who are unknown and from improv. Jay Leno and Tim Allen are great funny car guys, but they are too attached to other brands and images. And they aren’t a Jeremy Clarkson. Plus how are you going to get through traffic on the 405 with filming big stars anyway? Would either of those guys put on a wet suit and try to windsurf in freezing cold water? And be ok with failing miserably in freezing cold water? You also need unknown people so you don’t attract too much attenton filming in the city as these challenges are happening.

On a side note about the show content, they need to visit all the racing and car history places along the way going cross country as they film different challenges. (think INDY) They go across entire countries in a day on UK TopGear but in the US it would be states instead. At least you don’t need a passport. And we need an American cousin Stig that actually fits in the car this time. Not all Americans are that fat.

Anyway, my lack of time for this post is probably evident in it’s lack of  structure, grammar and spelling, but you get the point: NBC/BBC: Don’t FORK this up!

And my brother just emailed again saying he still wants Tim Allen to host with 2 unknown but funny/smart side kicks. Ok, we can compromise on that, but no denim shirts and grunting this time ok? That’s so 1990′s. Ugh. 

Another idea; Why not Ze Frank? he singlehandedly entertained us on the internet for a year and might be perfect for this kind of non scripted show. Check out the show http://www.zefrank.com/theshow/ and his TED talk from a few years ago if you have a minute. http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/87  I have been wondering what he has been up to and missing his show anyway. Maybe this would be a good opportunity for him. Hey Studio people, give Ze a call!

 Update: The first TopGear USA NBC host has been chosen: Adam Corola.

Top Popular TV Shows by Ratings November 2007

Every once in a while I like to check in on TV ratings and see what the most people are watching these days. My tastes don’t seem to be the same as the general public, but it’s interesting to see what they’re into even if it’s shows I would rather get a root canal than watch. This is how the list looks for the top 30 TV shows on network free TV in the past week (from the media week daily programming insider email)

What I think is surprising is that this list doesn’t look all that different than it did a year ago, or even 2 years ago. Last year Heroes was doing better but that is about it. Statistically we are still pretty much watching the same shows in 2007 that we were in 2005.  (yes, football got shifted around a bit in the mix, and “Samantha Who?” is new but that’s not a lot of change in 2 years)

Is it also just a little amazing that something like Charlie Brown still holds the attention of viewers after all these years? It’s nice to see something traditional on TV actually get some viewers.

Only 1 freshman series on the list. I guess there really weren’t many winners from this year’s new shows, so the writer’s strike could have started a whole lot earlier.

And how does 60 minutes keep drawing in an audience? I watch that and think it’s a show for old people, by old people. (and really bushy eyebrows) But then again only about 25% of our country is high school age or younger, (although it’s 1/3 of our lifespan) so maybe that isn’t such a bad demographic to pursue.

8 shows are Crime Dramas and 8 are reality shows. Except for Dancing with the Stars (which is almost a variety show) I could see all of them dropped and not miss them.

The rest: 5 dramas, 3 comedy and 3 sports. I am really surprised that Football is doing so well on Saturday and Sunday nights. Traditionally people are out of the house on Saturday night and TV ratings (much like internet traffic) is at it’s lowest point of the week so for any Saturday Night show to be on this list is amazing.

Top 30 Network Shows – Ranking by Total Viewers:

1. Dancing With the Stars – Monday (ABC: 22.85 million)
2. Sunday Night Football (NBC Philadelphia at New England: 21.81)
3. Dancing With the Stars – Tuesday (ABC: 20.96)
4. Desperate Housewives (ABC: 18.64)
5. NCIS (CBS: 17.34)
6. House (Fox: 16.89)
7. 60 Minutes (CBS: 16.13)
8. Criminal Minds (CBS: 15.88)
9. CSI: Miami (CBS: 15.83)
10. Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (ABC: 15.03)
11. CSI (CBS: 14.75)
12. CSI: NY (CBS: 14.56)
13. Samantha Who? (ABC: 14.38)
14. Grey’s Anatomy (ABC: 14.11)
15. Two and a Half Men (CBS: 13.91)
16. Cold Case (CBS: 12.98)
17. Sunday Night Football (NBC : 12.91)
18. The Bachelor: After the Final Rose (ABC: 12.30)
19. Brothers & Sisters (ABC: 12.25)
20. Without a Trace (CBS: 12.21)
21. The Amazing Race 12 (CBS: 11.80)
22. Law & Order: SVU (NBC: 11.69)
23. Survivor: China (CBS, clips show: 11.58)
24. Rules of Engagement (CBS: 11.48)
25. The Bachelor (ABC: 11.22)
26. Saturday Night Football (ABC: 10.96)
27. Heroes (NBC: 10.80)
28. The Unit (CBS: 10.76)
29. He’s a Bully Charlie, Brown (ABC: 10.42)
30. Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (ABC, Sun. 7 p.m: 10.37)

My New Favorite TV Show: Wired Science on PBS

I was home for once last night and ran across the new PBS show WIRED Science on channel 11 in Chicago. I liked it a lot. The presenters seem a little young and a little rushed but otherwise its really very informative and entertaining at the same time. Its the kind of gig I would like as a TV presenter if you could choose your dream job. (if TopGear hosting wasn’t available in the  dream job drop down menu) They were featuring several places that were in the magazine in past months. My subscription ran out and I didn’t renew it because I rarely have time to read, so it is great that a TV show has popped up instead. Just in time. They went to a meteorite searching guy’s field and dug up a real meteorite (rather than a meteorong, say that out loud…) There was also a very very cool guy growing genetic replica organs in a lab and using actual HP printer cartridges to print them out with cells. (I am so not kidding, do you know how F-ing amazing that is???? Both for the new organs and the HP printer cartridges) They also talked to a theoretical physicist and went into a deep tunnel to see how neutrinos are studied. I am still not sure what a neutrino is, because my cat was meowing the whole time and I was trying to reason with him. Don’t ever try to reason with a cat, they always win. Anyway, I do know what the Neutrino Project is. It’s a live improv show about making an movie by put on by Fuzzy Gerdes and the cast. They film edit and show a real movie in every show. Maybe Wired Science should cover that too? Anyway the show is on Wednesday nights on Chanel 11 PBS in Chicago at 8pm cst.

Jeremy Clarkson Chews pipe and burns mouth Season 10 Ep 2

Ok, so this week’s TopGear was funnier than last week’s season premier show. The Audi R8 was nice, but alas I won’t be in the market for a super-car for at least several lifetimes, so it was just car porn. This week the funniest moments in no particular order were:

1. James Smoking the pipe as if he was at home.

2. Jeremy burning his mouth on his Porsche pipe.

3. Jeremy scraping the underside of a viaduct with the fishing poles sticking out of his truck.

4. The foam on fire in all 3 amphibious vehicles on their way to Dover.

5. Jeremy trying to push James’ Triumph Herald off the dock when they arrive.

We were cackling so loud at this show that the relatives and guests visiting my parent’s house had to come in and watch the end with us. We had 11 people in front of the TV watching these 3 guys mucking about in the English Channel. Most of them had never seen it before, and are going to go look it up on BBC America now.  You just can’t deny the lovability of this show.  All my brother’s friends are obsessed and their girlfriends are obsessed and my dad’s coworkers are obsessed too. I have one or two coworkers that are into it, but not in this office. Chicagoans are somewhat hard to impress. TG would only show up here if they would be doin g some tour of America’s fattiest food or something.

Anyway, I leave you with the best comment from last week’s show while driving through the Swiss Alps: ” The Hills are Alive with the sound of Horsepower” Sing along with us…

DVR Playbacks of TV Season Premier Week

From the programming insider email today:

DVR Playback – Week of Sept. 17:
Based on ratings for the week of Sept. 17 (one week prior to the official start of the 2007-08 season), the season-premiere of CBS’ Survivor: China was the most recorded program of the week. According to the final Nielsen live plus 7-day ratings, Survivor: China was recorded and played back by 2.12 million viewers. Second was the season-premiere of Fox’s Family Guy.

Here is a listing of the top 10 most recorded and played back programs for the week of Sept. 17:

DVR Total Playback Audience
1. Survivor: China (CBS, season premiere): 2.12 million
2. Family Guy (Fox, season premiere): 1.84
3. Prison Break (Fox, season premiere): 1.55
4. Back To You Fox, premiere): 1.46
5. Come Rain/Come Shine (ABC): 1.26
6. Big Brother – Tuesday (CBS, season finale): 1.25
7. The Simpsons (Fox, season premiere): 1.09
8. Kid Nation (CBS, premiere): 1.01 million
9. K-Ville (Fox, premiere): 993,000
10. Shark (CBS, season premiere); 982,000

I was suprised to see some of those shows in the top of the list because they were not watched with a very high rating. What this might mean is that they were not important enough to watch live but they were curious enough to record them and play them back to see if they were good or bad. What will be telling is if they drop off the radar in the next few weeks if people decide they didn’t like them and don’t record them in the future.

I am always suprised to see so many CBS shows, when as a singly yuppie female I don’t like anything CBS produces. It’s all reality crap or crime cop shows, and I am not in to either. There is noticeably no NBC shows on this list, even though heroes has a huge  following and NBC shows aren’t available on iTunes anymore either. Does this mean that they all watched them live? Or are they using the NBC site downloads? Or are they just not that important? I am also always suprised at the following of the Simpsons and Family Guy when I don’t relate well to them either.

Another note about these stats, when you look at who owns a DVR machine it is most certainly a young male dominated group. (probably 70% male and 30% female is my guess) This is probably the DVR stats for the 25-40 yr old male (tech oriented) group more than anything else.

If you have a DVR what did you record?

TopGear is Back! Season 10 starts of with a bang

I was probably not the only american poised at my computer eagerly waiting for my friends on the other side of the pond to send me the first show of the new TopGear season this afternoon. It aired in the UK at 8pm their time and about an hour after the show ended I got to see it too. Thanks to the friends that make this possible!! And technology of course. I am sure the people who create the show are a bit pissed that I have friends that send it to me, but they just don’t understand our enthusiasm for the show in the US and no amount of money paid for access to it will bring it here at the same time as the UK.

What they don’t know is that we are such fanatical fans that we want to film our own version of TG but we don’t personally have the money for fancy cameras and editing equipment. We think that would be the best job in the WORLD. I think you have to also know that this show has already put me into a tizzy finding a region free dvd player to watch the dvds that were released and it has become a big social event here with sharing the shows. I drive it over to someone’s house and we all text eachother to get over to watch TopGear together like we did tonight. Then the DVD goes to work and to a friend that is part of a car club here and they watch it next. It’s just too good not to share. I have personally probably introduced like 25 people to the shows that are now loyal fans. And the BBC thinks that Americans don’t like the show?? We love it, and agree with being made fun of when they do that.

Anyway all logistics aside, the 1st episode of the 10th season tonight was good, although we got to see more of James May than many of us had ever thought we would, considering his fear of being shown running on TV a few years ago. The cars are great, and so is the excursion but we got the biggest laugh of the night when they pointed out that James had fallen comfortably into the new furniture like it was his own. We also think James and Richard seriously both need a haircut. But then again, maybe that’s why they both got the uglier chairs to sit in. They also need a new digital cool wall to replace the old charred one. I also suggest some Buick seats to replace the ones lost in the fire. Buicks have the most comfortable seats ever. Don’t they sell Buicks in the UK or Europe? Ok, I guess not, let me know if you guys want some though, and I’ll have some sent. Until next week, we will be driving with the sport option turned on. Happy Motoring.

How much do commerial spots really cost?

So you are annoyed that there is a commercial pod every 10 minutes during Grey’s Anatomy and after you have used the break to go to the bathroom and get snacks you are stuck watching all these commercials instead of your beloved show. Do you care about what is being advertised? Do the products actually match your taste? They should, because someone has done a lot of research about getting to you specifically because you match a certain demographic for the show and their product.

TV advertising, especially on the Big 3 networks has taken a hit in recent years, first because of declines in viewership due to Cable programming and now because the internet, DVDs and Tivo have changed how and when we watch TV if ever.

So it is interesting that I just saw a lit of the most expensive TV shows to buy a :30 second commercial spot on right now. Did you know that the company that is annoying you during Grey’s Anatomy paid $419,000.00 for those :30 seconds to do so? Isn’t the least we could do; to just listen? Or is it better to flip the channel and speed forward the DVR?

I am at a tossup most times. I understand why companies need this media to reach people. It is hard to get people to notice your product in a bevy of consumer choices available now and this is one of the most convienient places to do it. How else would you know about something new? If you spend all your time looking at things you know you already like, you will never be able to find new movies, new products, new food and new programming. If you ever want to find something new this is the way to get informed. I think people are smart enough to filter the ads (however annoying they are) and only take in what they want. But networks can’t abuse this privledge of a business model because people do have the right to either change the channel or turn the TV off compltley. I don’t care about men’s grooming products, and if you show them to me too much I will turn off the TV.

Feb 17, 2009 Analog TV ends – Digital Converter Boxes

Do you still only watch analog free network TV like me? Do you either not have the money or the need for Cable? Well only about 20% of households are like mine in that they don’t have cable but that apparently amounts to around 70Million people. Yes, there is still some frugality in this blingy world. What the rest of us have to do is either buy a new Digital TV or buy an adapter for your existing TV when the analog signals are shut of forever on February 17, 2009. 

Digital TVs have been around for a while but if you haven’t bought a new HDTV flat screen lately yours probably isn’t going to be set for this. I have a 27 inch TV bought in 2002 that still seems new to me. I don’t want to get rid of it so I am going to have to find an adapter. What I don’t know is where to find these adapters? I could benefit from them right now.

In Chicago the digital broadcasts that are free have more channels available that I would like to see. Like 2, 5, 7, 9 and 11 all have variations with decimals in the channel number. 5.0 is regular, 5.1 is wide-screen, 5.2 is high def and 5.3 is a special channel with just breaking news and weather 24/7. Same with the others. Channel 9 has a music video channel called Tube that just does an old school MTV 24/7 and Channel 11 has a Spanish language version and a just do it yourself channel called Create with all house, cooking, gardening and craft shows all day and night.

So, where are the adapters? Why don’t I see anyone selling digital-to-analog converter boxes?

I think they are not producing them on purpose. They want to force people into buying a new TV for $1,000.00 rather than a converter for $100.00. It’s all on purpose to not tell people until the last minute and have the only option be the expensive one. Well guess what? Those 20 Million that have no cable and may not buy a new TV? They all have the internet. I even have netflix. I predict that they will just loose the TV all together and get all their news and entertainment via the internet (and netflix) if they don’t want to get dicked around by the electronics makers. It’s their loss, not mine.

Big Shots

I watched Big Shots on TV last night (ABC) and I was pleasantly suprised. I thought it was a funny way to turn the tables on men in the same relationship type drama that women usually have. I don’t know who the 4th guy is, the blonde one I don’t recognize from anywhere before. It is really good to see Michael Vartan back again and to see the guy from west wing. The 3rd guy I have seen somewhere before but I can’t remember where. There was also obviously some casting not set yet with the napoleons girl always showing the back of her head. I wonder who they will get for that role as the show moves on. All in all though I hope people watch because I  thought it was a great show.

TV Premier Week update

I promised to review some of the new TV shows I have been able to catch this week on TV. I don’t have cable, so free TV is it for me. This stuff is what I have as an option or I am stuck with Netflix and the Internet. But then again sometimes my cat is the best entertainment ever. I don’t get much CBS coverage since the signal in Chicago is weak and I usually hate their shows anyway. I also rarely watch FOX because they go with lowest common denominator programming and a lot of sports and their signal is weak and fuzzy as well. If you are a TV exec or work for a network and are reading this, remember I am a 32 yr old single female yuppie professional. So these opinions are pretty related to that demo only.

Bionic Woman: Every critic has said this show either sucks or will not catch on. I don’t know why. I liked it. I got a very Alias feel from it and liked the discovery phase of not knowing what capabilites she has and the decision to embrace them. It feels very Alias to me. I hope people do watch it. It also has the whole action comic book thing going on too. Female heroines are very popular right now. Don’t count this one out.

Dirty Sexy Money: I thought this was good, but predictable. I think it is because it has been pretty heavily promoted and almost the entire pilot has been shown in bits on commericals and clips on the net. I think it will get better in the next few eps.

Dancing with the Stars: This is always interesting to me because I used to dance. I am always interested to see who is good and who sucks out of their element. I do think that the costumes are rediculous though.

Gossip Girl: A sometimes painfully obvious soap oera for teens. I think it will do well with the Teen Demo, but not much else.

Beauty and the Geek: I like this show even though apparently the ratings aren’t doing so well. I think they should keep going with it and I hope people keep watching.

Chuck: Again not much suprise when the entire plot of the pilot was in commericals but I think it has legs. A good combo of geekery and spy stuff. Comedy and Action drama stuff. And the word “nerd herd” is now part of the american vernacular.

Boston Legal: Always a pleasure to see. Always suprising and funny. This week’s closing arguement was a bit weak though. Need to keep good writers on this show that can feed James Spader good stuff.

Private Prctice: Ok show, although some shockingly awkward moments were so weird I had to change the channel. (guy dies while trying to submit sperm for artificial insemenation of girlfriend and exwife and girlfriend spend the entire show arguing over posession of dead guy’s sperm, while new doctor gets aclimated to practice with other Dr’s that didn’t know she was coming to work there) It’s a bit much over the top not believable sometimes. But than again that was the same problem I had with Grey’s Anatomy. But Kate Walsh is good. I like her a lot despite her not being able to dance really. (that was painfull too despite her being really pretty)

The Bachelor: Bad. Bad. Bad. This should have been canceled years ago. Please cut this show ASAP. Only the lowest intelligence women watch this show.

Heroes: I am not a fan of the premise of this show so I can’t really watch it. I am sure people will tune in though, people in my office were going home early to get ready to watch it, and talked about it the next day.

Cavemen: I am not giving this show the recognition of watching it.  It’s Stupid.

What did you think of all the shows you have watched in premier week? Any predictions on what will get cut?