9 posts tagged “network”

There’s precious little footage of the continuation of US Life on Mars in this promotion for the ABC network’s 2009 offerings:

The sound quality is not great and you have to forward to 2'09" (out of a total 2'31") to see anything from Mars.

While I love the fashion groups here on Vox, I thought it might be useful if fashion professionals—designers, interns, pattern-makers, photographers, stylists, make-up artists, publicists, journalists, and others—had a group where they could network and share their experiences. As of today, there is a fashion professionals’ group on Vox for the industry and anyone who is thinking of entering the fashion professions. I’ve stuck a few things on there to kick it off, and welcome others. (I hope the respective group owners will permit me mentioning this on their groups.)

For those who saw my earlier post on the ABC retro-style promo—and the discussion that it wasn’t that genuine—here’s what a 1972 promo for the network really looked like.

   Gotta dig that slitscan technique—no computers doing these effects then!
   Some from 1973 announcing programmes:

   Since ABC has used the Mod Squad theme for its Life on Mars promo, how about a real one for Mod Squad—really from 1973 itself?    Surely if the BBC can re-create its 1973 graphics, and ABC wants to play the same trick, it wouldn’t be that hard to make something like this, would it?

My comment on the Journeyman Blog today:

Mike, you are being generous. I’m no longer going to watch American serials that don’t have self-contained episodes as my “default” position, making exceptions for presently unforeseeable situations. I feel that strongly about Journeyman.
   Journeyman was an exception, but I have managed to stay away from all the other so-called hits with “story arcs” anyway (Lost, Heroes, The Nine, Traveler, Prison Break, 24, etc.).
   Like you, I was a Day Break fan and we managed to get, fortunately, all 13 episodes networked here (albeit at a really sucky time). I gave Journeyman a chance on the strength of a fabulous pilot but now, if I hear ‘Made in USA’ along with ‘story arc’, I just won’t bother.

   This cannot be good for the US TV industry, but if it has morons running the networks, then what can it expect? Journeyman was the last straw, especially as I tracked how the show unfolded and how inept NBC had been. This isn’t the first series that I have followed that was cancelled prematurely—but after so many of these, where American networks cannot understand that loyalty to the network brand also depends on overall product quality, I am just fed up.
   This is the Ford Taurus syndrome. The story is this: the Taurus was a huge hit for Ford. Instead of continual improvement, Ford opted to abandon the Taurus, letting it get trampled by the Toyota Camry and Honda Accord, when the SUV boom happened. Toyota and Honda, instead, kept improving their sedans and developed SUVs. By 2006, the Taurus was a joke, sold to rental car fleets. It was only for the 2007 model year that Ford transferred the Taurus name on to its Five Hundred. By that time, Ford lost a lot of customers to the Japanese and there are people who felt their loyalty had been thrown into their face.
   It also had the Ford Contour in the US, which the company refused to market properly, probably because it had been co-developed with its European branch. The claim was that Americans were not interested in the CD-sized market that the Contour occupied. Reality: Dearborn probably wanted to cover its own butt by saying, ‘We are not taking this European stuff because we have to sell domestically designed.’ It’s perhaps all political. Meanwhile, Americans were buying the same-sized car from BMW and Mercedes. Buyers just kept going foreign.
   Ford’s latest refusal to sell the German-designed C307 Focus, and instead facelift the older model for American buyers, is yet another example. Now the Focus is getting trampled by the Honda Civic, and the next Toyota Corolla will beat it even more. History keeps repeating there at Ford.
   In other words, Ford thinks Americans are dumb Yanks.
   NBC has combined these moves, but really, every network is guilty of this. While Journeyman was not a huge hit, NBC knows its poor scheduling and non-existent promotion are to blame. Instead of allowing an audience to build (the numbers were growing), it decided to interrupt Journeyman’s schedule just as the show found its legs. It had a quality product which it intended to kill. And in the meantime, viewers are feeling that the networks are not listening. They will happily go to cable, DVDs and other services. NBC’s remaining offerings—dumbed-down reality fare—will be like the 2005 Ford Taurus.
   In other words, the US networks think Americans are dumb Yanks. 
   No, foreigners do not think Americans are dumb because of George W. Bush. Foreigners think Americans are dumb because that is how American corporations treat American citizens, by making decisions that disrespect the American consumer’s intelligence. Foreigners then make an erroneous presumption that that is what consumers have asked for—when in fact most Americans are as upset about the strange corporate decisions that take place.
   As television globalizes—and it will—the US networks will be like Ford, where perceived quality and loyalty will no longer be there.
   Bad moves against quality products do affect the overall parent brand—something that even brand consultants need to remember.
   And, sadly, the parent brand’s image can often be tied to the national one.

I hope Bret and Jemaine become bigger and bigger stars. These two blokes, from Wellington, are the duo Flight of the Conchords, who, domestically, suffered from under-promotion—until they scored their radio and TV series outside New Zealand. Now, of course, their TV show is arguably Prime TV’s biggest hit. It’s a story that’s very familiar to New Zealanders and even Canadians.
   However, before the series took off here—and while Americans were lapping up the Flight of the Conchords show on HBO—there was this documentary as the lads went to Austin, Texas, airing on TV3 in New Zealand a while back. Slightly different flavour to the series, but this is a documentary—the lads’ first. The obligatory dead-pan humour is there and fans should enjoy this.
   The third part starts off with “man in the street” interviews, with folks not knowing things about New Zealand.
   In case any US readers are asking, yes, we find them funny, too, and their tone is intentionally dead-pan and naïve even by our standards.
   Unlike songs such as ‘Mutha Ucker’, the f word does come up here.

I’ve had terrible trouble finding this via Vox, but it is on YouTube: my comments on al-Jazeera English’s Listening Post programme about Tony Blair’s legacy. Sorry for the sound quality. I think I live in a magnetic field, à la Bermuda Triangle. I assume this is the correct video.

   My bit is about seven minutes in. Triangle TV has aired it in Wellington and Auckland, I believe.

New Zealand is a year behind on Life on Mars, and I note from a TV One ad just now that Derren Brown’s Séance will air next week. I know we are necessarily behind the UK on British programmes, but I don’t remember us being this far behind since the 1970s. A three-year-old show? What is happening? Now with Cold Case, Without a Trace and other American shows on One, is this the end of the British influence on our networks?
   And people wonder why TVNZ as a whole is doing so poorly. It’s simply not delivering what people want. I can say that with some more authority, having been an insider.
   Incidentally, having left Good Morning, my theory has been proven right: my profile is up. The results are in: May saw eight press mentions across the company—up on 2006, but down on some months in 2003–5 where we were seeing something written about us at least daily. (The idea that appearing on TV regularly enhances your profile is, I can now say, bollocks.) It is reaching the levels (measured in column inches and mentions) it was at before I began on the show; indeed, we seem to be returning, as a company, to pre-2004 levels, before we made some bad hiring decisions. I do seem to have rid myself of the negative influences in my life—and Good Morning, and whatever sickness TVNZ has, were the last.
   I love being proved right—it was a good lesson, reminding myself to stick to my guns, remembering that sort of magic that helped us get an international clientèle to begin with, and exposing me to seeing a bad organization that wasn’t paying me to fix it. It’s not every day I have that opportunity: while I have seen ill organizations, I am usually called in after they have realized they need help. TVNZ has not got there yet and, in recent memory, is the only first-hand example I have of an organization I got to see over a period that wants to stay in its funk. It had more often been a management-textbook theory.
   As to my personal profile, I believe the slip in press mentions was due to an energy mismatch here at work in 2005–6 and the fact that appearing on Good Morning took me away from building my media appearances doing the things that mattered to me as a CEO. From a personal-brand standpoint, it was not authentic, to coin a phrase from Johnnie Moore. Not that that was the intent: I had been promised by the network that I could promote Lucire, most of all, through the show. That promise, as those of you who listened to my voice post last month, was not kept.
   Furthermore, I cannot see, with hindsight, how the ‘You’ve Got Male’ segment was a dignified forum for a company leader. I say this with respect to men like Paul Sinclair, with whom I regularly stay in contact.
   When I think of interviews I have had with CNN or the BBC, the show went against the image I had built up as a businessman.
   As each week passes, I feel more comfortable with my decision to leave Good Morning, and the positive consequences are coming up more frequently.
   My main regrets are endorsing the show to friends, getting caught up in it. I should have recommended that Laural and Sharaine Barrett not appear, though it was a good excuse to catch up in Wellington. Jennifer Hamilton of Avidiva reports no increase in profile, bookings or ‘Oh, I saw you on …’ since appearing on Good Morning.
   You may see me on C4 in mid-July (to be confirmed), and there may be some news that could net some television attention in late June–early July. The key is to not get sucked in to negative organizations or be around negative people as part of my routine—and if I have to appear on a TVNZ network, then it must be totally in line with my real job and personal mission.

I never understand the reports on American football, but at least with this broadcast, I have an excuse.

   Yes, it is incredibly sexist and exhibitionist, but another example of why privateers may well outdo the networks if this sort of stuff grows further on video-downloading services.
   Simple equations: (a) network pulls a great show—leads to viewer resentment; (b) network broadcasts reality TV, but anyone can make those shows, and stick them up online—result: network differentiation and branding suffer; (c) people upload their own videos, without network interference, and viewers choose what to watch—consequently, no resentment.
   I can foresee a day when even the networks shop online for programming.
   Some of you youngsters may remember Chilly Beach, the Canadian cartoon series that started on the internet. It became a network show. Many more will follow suit. 
   And Foxxy News is merely the old Fox formula taken a step further: get a lower-chakra concept, and watch the viewer ratings rise. No, I do not know which week this report is from. I doubt that even a football fanatic will care.
   In fact, I am not totally sure Ms Anderson said anything. (‘Oi, my face is up here.’)
   They can get a lot more blue: any of our French readers wish to enlighten us about Les Nuz on their comedy channel? (When the Anglos do nudity, it’s porn. When the French do it, it’s comedy.)
   Solution: quality programming can be the solution to differentiation and network branding. But if the networks keep knocking out cheap fare like reality TV, then I will not be surprised if we begin going online, spreading videos via viral methods, and bypassing the big corporations.

A very amazing ending to Life on Mars. I liked it, as it confirmed some of my theories, but the decision Sam makes on top of the building was unexpected. Let’s just say that I wouldn’t have done so in his position, certainly not for someone whom I could not prove existed. You also do not abandon a parent: if they didn’t have the scene where Sam visits his Mum, I might have accepted it more. (I am intentionally vague for those who have not seen the episode yet. The DVD of series two is released Monday in the UK.)
   Despite these niggles, I enjoyed what Matthew Graham cooked up for us. It shows that the Brits still can do quality drama and that a network, if it wishes to create “event TV”, merely has to provide excellent writing, acting and direction.
   That means shows like Big Brother, Survivor and Fear Factor do nothing for a network’s loyalty and simply opens one up to competition from hobbyists on YouTube. Quality is where the battle is going to be if the networks wish to retain any relevance to society.
   Sadly, the short-term profit motive may put paid to that, all while the Emir of Qatar keeps pumping money in to al-Jazeera and reminds the west of what can be done. Sooner or later, someone with that much money might do his own network.
   That sounded pretty implausible 20 years ago before Rupert Murdoch launched Fox as the US’s fourth network.
   Now, how it all ties together with the spin-off, Ashes to Ashes, remains to be seen.
   Fans may be interested in today’s Life of Wylie blog entry, where co-creator and writer Matthew Graham talks about some of the behind-the-scenes thinking to the finalé. Don’t think too deeply about it all for now: it will do your head in.