Just as NBC make's it's own radical programming changes (see sidebar for story) for the upcoming Fall season, ABC is making changes as well. Biigest news: The Practice is returning to it's Sunday 10PM timeslot. Here's what will be new:
- Hope and Faith, a comedy starring Kelly Ripa (Live With Regis and Kelly) as a failed soap star who adjusts to small-town life with her sister, played by Faith Ford (Murphy Brown). Ripa will continue to co-host her talk show.
- I'm With Her, a romantic sitcom about a movie star (Teri Polo) who dates a high school teacher. It's from writer Chris Henchy, who is married to Brooke Shields.
- It's All Relative, a comedy about a man from a conservative family engaged to the daughter of gay dads.
- Back to Kansas, a comedy about a shy New Yorker who marries into a large Midwestern family.
- Karen Sisco, a drama starring Carla Gugino (Spy Kids) as a federal marshal in the role originated by Jennifer Lopez in Out of Sight.
- 10-8, a drama about rookie cops training in Los Angeles.
- Threat Matrix, a drama about a homeland security task force.
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Battle Mountain, Nevada was named in a humorous Washington Post article as the armpit of America. The town has taken advantage of it's status by erecting a a billboard on I-80 that reads, "Battle Mountain, Voted the Armpit of America by the Washington Post," and "Make Battle Mountain Your Next Pit Stop."
Of course, a marketer had to take advantage of this as well. Old Spice will sponsor the town's now annual "Festival of the Pit" but will, of course, rename the event, "Old Spice's Festival in the Pit."
The town first had the event last year just after being named and had events such as the deodorant toss. Old Spice will now sponsor the event annually.
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A study commissioned by the Magazine Publishers of America and conducted by The Hudson River Group. While the study reveled television to more efficient than magazines, it also reached the saturation point much quicker leading to the conclusion that some media dollars might see a better return if shifted into magazines. Read the press release here and topline study results here (pdf).
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Five surgeons are discussing who makes the best patients to operate on.
The first surgeon says, "I like to operate on accountants, because when you open them up everything inside is numbered."
The second responds; "Yeah, but you should try electricians, everything is colour coded."
The third surgeon says, "No, I really think librarians are the best; everything inside them is in alphabetical order.
The fourth surgeon chimes in: "You know, I like construction workers.....those guys always understand when you have a few parts left over at the end, and when the job takes longer than you said it would."
But the fifth surgeon shut them all up when he observed: "You're all wrong. Ad Agency bosses are the easiest to operate on. There's no guts, no heart, no brains, no balls and no spine, and the head and the arse are interchangeable."
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Last week Arianna Huffington's Detroit Project launched the next chapter in it's campaign to challenge Detroit to deliver more fuel-efficient cars and SUV's. You may recall the prior campaign that made owning an SUV analagous to supporting terrorism.
This campaign features a David Duchovny voiceover while an tarp-covered SUV races across the dessert. Duchovny introduces this ficticious vehicle that can "take America to work in the morning without sending it to war in the afternoon. It gets 40 miles to the gallon, with thousands of dollars saved at the pump. The only problem is, Detroit won't build it."
Detroit Project co-founder Huffington says, "If today's vehicles averaged 40 mpg, we would save more oil than we import each year from the Persian Gulf. We have the technology to start fixing the problem, but the Big Three in Detroit and their friends in Congress and the White House are blocking the road."
The television ads will air in markets across the country, including Detroit, Washington, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Jose, Philadelphia, and Tampa-St. Petersburg. A print version is appearing in USA Today on May 7. The spots were directed by Scott Burns, co-creator of the 'Got Milk?' campaign. Read the press release for more. Click the picture to view the spot.
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As if there were not enough reality shows out there already, now comes a campaign designed to solicit even more ideas for the genre. In an ad campaign that will reach 25% of all Chinese restaurants, messages will be implanted inside fortune cookies for a "Hollywood Pitch and Win" promotion allowing people to submit reality series ideas to real Hollywood producers.
The campaign is run by Buzzmarketing who, in November, launched it's fortune cookie advertising service.
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Mentioned earlier, GM has launched an ad campaign for their new overnight "test drive". This campaign incorporates a musical bed featuring Meatloaf's "Paradise By The Dashboard Light". Also from this week's Ad Age TV Spot of the Week, we have antlers being jammed into a mail slot, pointless use of a Corvette, Samsung and Powerade in the Matrix, and an ad about how deodorant really works.
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Oh, the big city life. Or, in this case, life in the Ozarks. As you may have heard, Fox is about to air yet another reality series. This one, entitled, "The Simple Life" stars Hilton heiress Paris Hilton and friend, Nicole Richie, daughter of Lionel Richie. (Any one heard from him lately?)
The show's premise places two celebutantes on an Arkansas farm for six weeks, removing them from their cushy New York city lifestyle. The show follows Hilton and Richie as they do farm chores, pump gas, and sling sandwiches at the Lakeside Foodmart.
According to The Smoking Gun, just a few days before Richie departed for Altus, Arkansas to film the show, she was charged with possesion of heroin and a driving misdemeanor. Read all the details here.
And if you just plain want to know more about celebutante life, check out New York gossip blog, Gawker. It's Celebutante Central.
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The site that has all the dirt on everybody before everyone else does is coming to TV. The Smoking Gun prides itself on it's ability to scour government and law enforcement documents via Freedom of Information requests to bring you confidential and quirky items on celebrities, politicians, and the just plain odd ball human being.
Bought by Court TV in December of 2000, The Smoking Gun will appear on that cable channel and be hosted by Mo Rocca, political correspondent for Comedy Central's "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart". Rocca also appears on NBC's "Today" show as well as CNN and Fox News Channel.
Two premiere episodes debut back to back on Court TV Wednesday, August 20 at 8P. Get your snark and dirt on TV now.
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For all you single guys out there that don't want to be tied down with a kid, watch this commercial. This really does happen. Do you want it to happen to you? No? Then strap on the latex. It's already happened (not as dramatically) to me so I can just laugh at all you guys who are destined to go through this sooner or later.
Courtesy of ApeChild.
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