UP FRONT AND PERSONAL

With August around the corner my mind reels at the thought of new prospects, new adventures, new people to meet, new places to go and, of course, new cop shows. And there will be a few – TRUST ME. However, with the August Fall Preview Issue of TV GUIDE in mind I found something even more exciting, THE UP-FRONTS. This is the HUGE Media convention in NYC for the Networks to show off their goods, both the old and the new.

Now don’t get me wrong here. This is not just a narcissistic show of accomplishments for the big wigs to strut their stuff. NOOOOO. It is a narcissistic show of accomplishments for those big wigs to entice the Advertisers into buying commercial ad time on their Network. The Nets are showing their goods Up Front and the Advertisers are able to purchase commercial time Up Front. The later is where the term actually comes from.

So here lies the problem. Or is it a problem? I think it is in the big picture, but not in the small. I’m getting ahead of myself. This convention is to entice the advertisers into unloading Millions of dollars into their networks programming. QUESTION –what are YOU doing during the commercials? Listening to the blip blip of your TIVO’s™ fast forward, hitting the FF on your VCR, going to the bathroom or making a run to the fridge. ME? I pick “E” all of the above.

With the invention of the DVR, and like products, the Advertisers are in a bit of a pickle. Like Fox’s “DRIVE” no one is watching commercials, or at least not as much. (Sorry Fox, don’t mean to pick on you, but no one watched, really they didn’t. Sorry readers, I got off track for a sec. I’m back now.) However, the problem is watchers are not watching the thing that makes the Nets money, commercials. Have you noticed that the bottom third advertising has risen in the past few years? You know what I am talking about, the junk that interrupts your viewing pleasure across the bottom of the screen. This “bottom third” advertising is the basic response to the problem. The Nets are able to make you watch mini-commercials about their shows but not about products. So what are the Advertisers to do? And will this affect the production value of our favorite shows? If the Advertisers don’t put out as much money, then the trickle down effect could be great. And we would hate to see NBC’s Bionic Women only have one bionic leg and just a couple of fingers.

So what is a Network to do? Think about it. It is the dilemma that both sides are facing. So I figure that they are going to get a bit creative. Remember the days of TV when the show was “brought to you by the caring people at…” drop in product name here. Another option is product placement. The “SCRUBS” finale dropped the “TRAVELOCITY” bomb in the middle of their show. You may start to hear Allison Dubois of NBC’s “Medium” ask her husband to “pass the Tide” or tell one of her daughters “Don’t forget to grab your Jansport backpack with your homework in it”.

Boom crash Bam – did you hear that? That is the unmistakable sound of “name dropping”. The movie industry has been doing it for years. So why shouldn’t the Nets follow suit. Who does it hurt? Not us. So, if it gets money into the hands of our favorite shows and Bionic Woman’s Jamie Sommers can have all of her Bionic parts, I’m happy.

Therefore, Blip Blip – Blip Blip……

This is BEAU TALKS

AND AFTER THESE MESSAGES WE'LL BE RIGHT BACK