Because in Hollywood, no idea is ever too good not to try over and over and over again until it’s made the transformation from unique to ubiqutious, rejected pilots are now popping up all over YouTube and other sites like break.com.
As if the set of circumstances that made NBC’s picking up of Nobody’s Watching were, you know, easily duplicated.
It was only a few weeks ago that MySpace was claiming to have passed Yahoo as the most popular site on the internet. Now it’s being reported that YouTube has passed MySpace. MySpace’s reign at the top lasted about three weeks. I’m guessing that’s not what Rupert Murdoch paid over $580 million for.
Has MySpace peaked? Probably yes. There have been plenty of reports indicating that MySpace’s target demographic no longer finds the site to be cool. Part of the problem is that dozens of new social networking sites seem to pop up every week. MySpace has lots of competition and no longer seems cutting edge to a generation of kids who live online and spend a good deal of their time looking for the next great thing. You only have to look back to the rise and fall of Friendster to realize just how bad things might get for MySpace.
When faced with the world of 21st Century Television, different networks do different things to bring audiences to their shows. In the past couple of weeks we’ve learned that FOX will continue to ruin the baseball playoffs; ABC wants to disable the fast-forward button on DVRs and CBS is going to advertise on food.
Lame lame lame. (Actually, I recognize that the FOX/MLB partnership is shrewd from the marketing standpoint; it’s just that I’m a lifelong baseball fan who recoils in horror at being faced with Tim McCarver, those dopey “Sounds of the Game” and sitcom stars in box seats every goddamn October until 2053 or whenever it is.)
So just when you’d figure that NBC would also come up with some kind of dumbass stunt or idea of their own, they actually go in the complete opposite direction and do something very very smart.
Dear Lopy:
I just made a pilot for a big (OK, big-ish) TV Network, and it was rejected for being different from other TV shows. How can I get it picked up by another network?
Signed,
Hapless in Hollywood
Dear Hapless,
Here’s how to get your rejected pilot picked up by another network, in six easy steps.
The one thing sure to suck the soul out of a television show is a test screening audience. Generally, this group consists of non-entertainment industry professionals, hapless souls plucked from the street, folks willing to waste a few hours of their day because, well, there’s nothing better going on. Naturally, test screening audiences are the most powerful people in Hollywood.
Now you would think the highly paid, generally experienced executives at networks and studios would know from a good television show (or movie, no need to be exclusive here). These folks do not trust their own taste. It is imperative that they find a group of citizens to closely parallel a “real” viewing audience. The funniest show ever produced? If deemed dumb or confusing by the test audience, it will be shelved in favor of yet another reality show.
The video wars are coming, the video wars are coming!
Okay, fine, it’s probably not worth invoking the spirit of Paul Revere (but, hey, it’s the Fourth of July). These video wars won’t equal Beta versus VHS battle, much less a fight for a nation’s freedom. In this day and age, the wars are over viewers of user-created content. Even before YouTube has managed to fully define what YouTube can be, sites are vying to become the next YouTube.
It just seems like harmless fun: people filming themselves lipsynching popular songs, and then sending the results to YouTube and Google Video. People have always done stuff like this: probably the fifth film ever made — after an accidential shot of the floor; sex; a cute puppy running around; and someone else filming the filmer — was somebody pretending to play a Scott Joplin song.
And people have been doing it ever since: it’s a Great American Tradition to totally make a fool of yourself on video pretending to perform a song you love. God bless the U.S.A.
Of course, sometimes other people see these videos, and there are unintended consequences.
Tonight on Lopetop Theater . . .
Tonight’s Lopetop Theater was made possible by the generous sponsorship of Top Brass Dandruff Cream, Panasonic, and Coca-Cola.
Technorati Tags: Lucia Pamela, Rod Brickman, Television, Heat Vision and Jack, Jack Black, Jack White, Ron Silver, Panasonic, Coca Cola, Jimmie Walker, Ben Stiller, Barbara Feldon
A couple of days ago, I noted that The Weinstein Company put the opening sequence of Lucky Number Slevin up on YouTube. My guess was that they were hoping that it would go viral and kickstart the film’s box office for this weekend.
It didn’t happen: Number Slevin dropped to #12. And the per-screen was only $1387.89 — down by $1000 from the previous weekend and $2000 from its April 7th opening weekend. By contrast, the #1 film this week - Silent Hill, made over $6900 per screen.
So was this experiment a failure?
So I just finished watching the opening sequence of the new thriller Lucky Number Slevin on my TV. I wasn’t watching a bootleg or an illegal download. Rather, I was watching the teaser that the Weinstein Company has made available on YouTube in the hopes that it will go viral and goose the box office.
According to the Weinstein Co and YouTube, this is yet another first in terms of using the Web for film cross-promotion, and it’s a pretty interesting experiment, at the very least.
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We have an idea for a Comcast Traffic Management Plan: every single Comcast internet subscriber go to a different ISP.
Because if there is one thing that binds Democrats together, it's the ability to couch-surf!
Not really that much difference, is there?
Alex Trebek: "For $1000. The answer is 'Microsoft and Jerry Seinfeld." World: "What are two things that peaked in the 1990s?"
In the old days the computer Seinfeld never used was a Mac. I can see the new Microsoft commercials now. "Hi, I'm Jerry Seinfeld. For $10 million I switched to Windows Vista. What's your price?"
Here's an idea, if Comcast doesn't like the way consumers use the Internet maybe they should get out of the business altogether and stick with what they know -- providing crappy customer service to cable subscribers.
Yay! We like Rachel Maddow.
That's what happens when the remodel finishes. Remodel 'loper stops buying so many house magazines!
Actually, it's time to monetize. 100 million streams and meager advertising (mostly public service announcements) means Hulu is a big money loser at this point.
People, please! STOP BUYING STUFF FROM SPAMMERS!!!! 29% of you are actually encouraging them to send more spam. Enough already.
Let's try it this way: Is Jon Stewart the only "news" anchor out there who doesn't take campaign announcements at face value?
In which Fox decides it would be better to kill a slated movie (with high consumer interest) than accept financial settlement. Provided they prevail in this lawsuit. You gotta wonder about these people sometimes.
Finally, news about MSN that's actually interesting.
Yeah. Wow. Sounds sorta like the CW doesn't want anyone to know how bad this is going to be.
Is there anything worse than an interview with a "celebrity"? Well, in an era when David Letterman's interview with Spencer Pratt makes for the most delightful television viewing, the answer should be no. As this piece reveals, it's still very much yes.
Looks like Microsoft has finally figured out how to get back some of the browser market share they're losing to Firefox.
Because we aren't the only ones who know what an awesome little gem The Middleman is.
I'm so hoping this whole thing turns out to be a viral campaign for a new mockumentary.
When someone who has purchased over a dozen Apple products in the past few years is saying this, it might be time to pay attention.
When musicians release bad albums...
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