James Lee's Demands of Discovery

The Discovery Channel MUST broadcast to the world their commitment to save the planet and to do the following IMMEDIATELY:

1.. The Discovery Channel and it's affiliate channels MUST have daily television programs at prime time slots based on Daniel Quinn's "My Ishmael" pages 207-212 where solutions to save the planet would be done in the same way as the Industrial Revolution was done, by people building on each other's inventive ideas. Focus must be given on how people can live WITHOUT giving birth to more filthy human children since those new additions continue pollution and are pollution. A game show format contest would be in order. Perhaps also forums of leading scientists who understand and agree with the Malthus-Darwin science and the problem of human overpopulation. Do both. Do all until something WORKS and the natural world starts improving and human civilization building STOPS and is reversed! MAKE IT INTERESTING SO PEOPLE WATCH AND APPLY SOLUTIONS!!!!

2. All programs on Discovery Health-TLC must stop encouraging the birth of any more parasitic human infants and the false heroics behind those actions. In those programs' places, programs encouraging human sterilization and infertility must be pushed. All former pro-birth programs must now push in the direction of stopping human birth, not encouraging it.

3. All programs promoting War and the technology behind those must cease. There is no sense in advertising weapons of mass-destruction anymore. Instead, talk about ways to disassemble civilization and concentrate the message in finding SOLUTIONS to solving global military mechanized conflict. Again, solutions solutions instead of just repeating the same old wars with newer weapons. Also, keep out the fraudulent peace movements. They are liars and fakes and had no real intention of ending the wars. ALL OF THEM ARE FAKE! On one hand, they claim they want the wars to end, on the other, they are demanding the human population increase. World War II had 2 Billion humans and after that war, the people decided that tripling the population would assure peace. WTF??? STUPIDITY! MORE HUMANS EQUALS MORE WAR!

4. Civilization must be exposed for the filth it is. That, and all its disgusting religious-cultural roots and greed. Broadcast this message until the pollution in the planet is reversed and the human population goes down! This is your obligation. If you think it isn't, then get hell off the planet! Breathe Oil! It is the moral obligation of everyone living otherwise what good are they??

5. Immigration: Programs must be developed to find solutions to stopping ALL immigration pollution and the anchor baby filth that follows that. Find solutions to stopping it. Call for people in the world to develop solutions to stop it completely and permanently. Find solutions FOR these countries so they stop sending their breeding populations to the US and the world to seek jobs and therefore breed more unwanted pollution babies. FIND SOLUTIONS FOR THEM TO STOP THEIR HUMAN GROWTH AND THE EXPORTATION OF THAT DISGUSTING FILTH! (The first world is feeding the population growth of the Third World and those human families are going to where the food is! They must stop procreating new humans looking for nonexistant jobs!)

6. Find solutions for Global Warming, Automotive pollution, International Trade, factory pollution, and the whole blasted human economy. Find ways so that people don't build more housing pollution which destroys the environment to make way for more human filth! Find solutions so that people stop breeding as well as stopping using Oil in order to REVERSE Global warming and the destruction of the planet!

7. Develop shows that mention the Malthusian sciences about how food production leads to the overpopulation of the Human race. Talk about Evolution. Talk about Malthus and Darwin until it sinks into the stupid people's brains until they get it!!

8. Saving the Planet means saving what's left of the non-human Wildlife by decreasing the Human population. That means stopping the human race from breeding any more disgusting human babies! You're the media, you can reach enough people. It's your resposibility because you reach so many minds!!!

9. Develop shows that will correct and dismantle the dangerous US world economy. Find solutions for their disasterous Ponzi-Casino economy before they take the world to another nuclear war.

10. Stop all shows glorifying human birthing on all your channels and on TLC. Stop Future Weapons shows or replace the dialogue condemning the people behind these developments so that the shows become exposes rather than advertisements of Arms sales and development!

11. You're also going to find solutions for unemployment and housing. All these unemployed people makes me think the US is headed toward more war.

Humans are the most destructive, filthy, pollutive creatures around and are wrecking what's left of the planet with their false morals and breeding culture.

For every human born, ACRES of wildlife forests must be turned into farmland in order to feed that new addition over the course of 60 to 100 YEARS of that new human's lifespan! THIS IS AT THE EXPENSE OF THE FOREST CREATURES!!!! All human procreation and farming must cease!

It is the responsiblity of everyone to preserve the planet they live on by not breeding any more children who will continue their filthy practices. Children represent FUTURE catastrophic pollution whereas their parents are current pollution. NO MORE BABIES! Population growth is a real crisis. Even one child born in the US will use 30 to a thousand times more resources than a Third World child. It's like a couple are having 30 babies even though it's just one! If the US goes in this direction maybe other countries will too!

Also, war must be halted. Not because it's morally wrong, but because of the catastrophic environmental damage modern weapons cause to other creatures. FIND SOLUTIONS JUST LIKE THE BOOK SAYS! Humans are supposed to be inventive. INVENT, DAMN YOU!!

The world needs TV shows that DEVELOP solutions to the problems that humans are causing, not stupify the people into destroying the world. Not encouraging them to breed more environmentally harmful humans.

Saving the environment and the remaning species diversity of the planet is now your mindset. Nothing is more important than saving them. The Lions, Tigers, Giraffes, Elephants, Froggies, Turtles, Apes, Raccoons, Beetles, Ants, Sharks, Bears, and, of course, the Squirrels.

The humans? The planet does not need humans.

You MUST KNOW the human population is behind all the pollution and problems in the world, and YET you encourage the exact opposite instead of discouraging human growth and procreation. Surely you MUST ALREADY KNOW this!

I want Discovery Communications to broadcast on their channels to the world their new program lineup and I want proof they are doing so. I want the new shows started by asking the public for inventive solution ideas to save the planet and the remaining wildlife on it.

These are the demands and sayings of Lee.

Ford Drives on 'Vampire Diaries' With Social-Media Twist--Use of Twitter Helps Reduce Distraction of Inevitable In-Show Appearance

By Brian Steinberg
Advertising Age

A Ford Fiesta won't crop up in CW's "Vampire Diaries" until early October, a veritable eternity in terms of TV-show viewing, but the automaker is trying to get people to talk about it now, even though the fan-favorite show won't hit the screen until Sept. 9.

The effort aims not only to boost Ford's presence in the minds of younger consumers who might be ready to make a first-car purchase, but also to get people talking about "Vampire Diaries" well before its second season starts. A new contest that started this week solicits essays via Facebook, Twitter and email, all the while suggesting to friends who read those web bursts that they ought to watch the program. The winner -- who will be announced during the season premiere -- gets one of the cars.

The practice of weaving name-brand products into TV shows has risen over the last several years, as more advertisers struggle to get their wares in front of TV viewers more prone than ever to fast-forward past or otherwise skip expensive commercials. Yet to most couch potatoes, the result is the same: Someone jammed a car, soda can or hand-held gadget into a favorite program. By alerting fans to the placement weeks ahead of time and even rewarding them for showing interest in it, TV networks and marketers hope to avoid some of the distraction that often goes hand-in-hand with such promotions.

In other words, the story is not so much told in the show but in the social media, where the placement doesn't risk causing the rolling of eyes.

"We don't just want it to be seen," said Jeff Eggen, Ford's car experiential marketing manager, speaking about the Fiesta's appearance in "Diaries." The idea is to "have a second element or a third element" rather than just a placement on a TV program, "where we can engage with the fans outside of the show with additional content," said Mr. Eggen, who oversees the automakers's product-placement projects.

Ford's sponsorship of the program continues after the contest submission deadline. Following the premiere, fans get a chance to ask questions about the show, then have those queries answered via an online video series sponsored by Ford Fiesta. Questions will be collected between the Sept. 9 second-season debut and the Sept. 30 episode. After that date, viewers can check in online to watch "behind the scenes" videos that offer answers to their queries.

The promotional effort shows CW reaching beyond its own air to please advertisers. "We recognize the audience is important and want to give them more of what they care about," said Alison Tarrant, senior VP-integrated sales and marketing at the CW network.

The Detroit car maker has made extensive use of social media and experiential events to generate buzz and awareness for the Ford Fiesta, which rolled into showrooms in June. But Ford also is driving behind a trend that has gained traction over the last two years. TV networks have started to recognize that the fan base for each of its programs responds to different triggers. Simply running promos on air won't necessarily bring viewers in droves any longer. So more TV outlets are trying to use social media in an effort to catch the interest of hardcore fans of a specific piece of content in the hopes those die-hards will bring others in their sphere of influence to the screen.

In late 2009, for example, fans of the syndicated "Ellen DeGeneres Show" were able to follow the program's Twitter feed for a chance to win a gas-card giveaway from General Motors -- and at the same time follow an "Ellen" intern as she drove a GMC 2010 Terrain that was featured on the program. Some ad wags have dubbed this joint use of TV and social-networking tools "social TV."

Press Release From The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences About the 62nd Annual Primetime Emmys Awarded on Aug. 29, 2010

HBO, AMC Lead Winners at 62nd Primetime Emmys, ABC and CBS Top Broadcast Networks

Modern Family takes top comedy, Mad Men repeat as top drama; Edie Falco, Jim Parsons, Kyra Sedgwick, Bryan Cranston, score lead acting honors; Temple Grandin grabs five. First-time host Jimmy Fallon brings music and high energy to the proceedings.

August 29, 2010

A mix of new comedies and veteran dramas dominated the 62nd Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday night, while HBO monopolized the statuettes for movies and miniseries.

ABC’s Modern Family led all series programs with three Emmy wins, including outstanding comedy. It also won for supporting actor Eric Stonestreet and writers Steven Levitan and Christopher Lloyd.

“All I wanted to be was a clown in the circus when I was a kid growing up,” Stonestreet said. He vowed to ship the award to his the home of his parents, Vince and Jamey, in Kansas City, Missouri.

Fox’s Glee, which led all series with 19 nominations, won Emmys for supporting actress Jane Lynch and director Ryan Murphy. Murphy dedicated his Emmy “to all my teachers who taught me to sing and fingerpaint.” Lynch praised fellow cast members: “You’re fresh-faced, and when I’m not seething with jealousy, I’m so proud of you.”

On the drama side, AMC’s Mad Men won its third consecutive Emmy for outstanding series. It won a second Emmy for writing, which went to series creator Matthew Weiner and Erin Levy for the episode titled, “Shut the Door. Have a Seat.”

AMC picked up two more Emmys with acting wins by Bryan Cranston (lead actor) and Aaron Paul (supporting actor) in Breaking Bad. With its four Emmys, AMC led all broadcasters in the series categories.

Emmy prognosticators were caught off-stride by wins by Kyra Sedgwick of TNT’s The Closer and Bravo’s Top Chef.

Top Chef won for outstanding reality, breaking the lock on the award by CBS’ The Amazing Race, which captured the Emmy in each of the last seven years. “This is something we never expected,” exulted executive producer Dan Cutforth. “I really have nothing prepared at all to say.”

Sedgwick took home an Emmy for outstanding lead actress in a drama series after being nominated in the category the last five years.

Other series winners for comedy were Jim Parsons for lead actor in CBS’ The Big Bang Theory and Edie Falco for lead actress in Showtime’s Nurse Jackie.

In the drama category, Archie Panjabi was honored for supporting actress in CBS’ The Good Wife and Steve Shill took the directing Emmy for Showtime’s Dexter.

HBO, which traditionally dominates Emmy awards for longform programs, this year won all eight Emmys in the genre.

Temple Grandin, the story of a woman who overcame autism to pioneer humane treatment for cattle, received five Emmys, including best made-for-television movie. Claire Danes was selected for her performance as Grandin and Julia Ormond and David Strathairn won for their supporting roles. Mick Jackson received an Emmy for directing the film.

Jackson hailed Grandin in the audience. “I tried to make your movie like you: spunky, smart, honest, vivid, sometimes crazily emotional, never sentimental.”

You Don’t Know Jack, about Dr. Jack Kevorkian, a controversial proponent of assisted suicide for terminal patients, earned Emmys for lead actor Al Pacino and writer Adam Mazer. The Pacific, a 10-part opus about World War II combat in the Pacific theater, won for outstanding miniseries.

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, on Comedy Central, won for outstanding variety, music or comedy for the eighth consecutive year.

Jimmy Fallon, host of the telecast, eschewed the usual opening monologue in favor of taped pieces that focused on several shows that led the list of Emmy nominations. In the opening piece, Fallon put together a 10-person singing group that included Betty White, Jon Hamm, Kate Gosselin, Tina Fey and several Glee cast members.

In another taped piece, a network executive suggested alternative approaches to Modern Family, several of them including George Clooney, who was awarded the Bob Hope Humanitarian Award for his charitable efforts on behalf of natural disaster victims in Haiti, New Orleans and elsewhere.

This year’s “In Memoriam” segment featured an original song by Jewel, “Shape of You.”

COMPLETE LIST OF PRIMETIME EMMYS AWARDED AUGUST 29, 2010

[Name of show followed by the network on which the show airs]

●Drama Series: "Mad Men," AMC.
●Actor, Drama Series: Bryan Cranston, "Breaking Bad," AMC.
●Actress, Drama Series: Kyra Sedgwick, "The Closer," TNT.
●Supporting Actor, Drama Series: Aaron Paul, "Breaking Bad," AMC.
●Supporting Actress, Drama Series: Archie Panjabi, "The Good Wife," CBS.

●Comedy Series: "Modern Family," ABC.
●Actor, Comedy Series: Jim Parsons, "The Big Bang Theory," CBS.
●Actress, Comedy Series: Edie Falco, "Nurse Jackie," Showtime.
●Supporting Actor, Comedy Series: Eric Stonestreet, "Modern Family," ABC.
●Supporting Actress, Comedy Series: Jane Lynch, "Glee," Fox.

●Made-for-TV Movie: "Temple Grandin," HBO.
●Miniseries: "The Pacific," HBO.
●Actor, Miniseries or Movie: Al Pacino, "You Don't Know Jack," HBO.
●Actress, Miniseries or Movie: Claire Danes, "Temple Grandin," HBO.
●Supporting Actor, Miniseries or Movie: David Strathairn, "Temple Grandin," HBO.
●Supporting Actress, Miniseries or Movie: Julia Ormond, "Temple Grandin," HBO.

●Variety, Music or Comedy Series: "The Daily Show," Comedy Central.
●Reality Competition Program: "Top Chef," Bravo.

●Writing for Comedy Series: Steven Levitan, Christopher Lloyd, "Modern Family," ABC.
●Writing, Drama Series: Matthew Weiner and Erin Levy, "Mad Men," AMC.
●Writing, Miniseries, Movie or Dramatic Special: Adam Mazer, "You Don't Know Jack," HBO.
●Writing, Variety, Music or Comedy Special: 63rd Annual Tony Awards, CBS.
●Directing for a Comedy Series: Ryan Murphy, "Glee," Fox.
●Directing, Drama Series: Steve Shill, "Dexter," Showtime.
●Directing, Miniseries, Movie or Dramatic Special: Mick Jackson, "Temple Grandin," HBO.
●Directing, Variety, Music or Comedy Special: Bucky Gunts, "Vancouver 2010 Winter Games Opening Ceremony," NBC.

Conan's TBS Show Nears Leno and Letterman Pricing--A Conan O'Brien Spot Costs $30,000 to $40,000, but Package Deals Complicate Comparisons

By Brian Steinberg
Advertising Age

Do advertisers consider Conan O'Brien's upcoming cable show equivalent to Jay Leno and David Letterman's programs on broadcast networks?

Time Warner's Turner cable unit is securing $30,000 to $40,000 for 30-second berths in Mr. O'Brien's show on TBS starting this November -- an eyebrow-raising figure because it's close to the cost for commercials during NBC's "Tonight Show with Jay Leno" and CBS's "Late Show with David Letterman," according to ad buyers. Cable shows typically draw smaller audiences than broadcast programming but in recent years that gap has begun to narrow.
"The value they are charging is in the ballpark" of the broadcast networks' late-night prices, said one buyer. The price of a 30-second ad on "Tonight" or "Late Show" can range from $30,000 to $45,000, buyers estimated.

Turner has aggressively told marketers that commercials during Mr. O'Brien's much-anticipated show carries similar value to those during Mr. O'Brien's "Tonight Show" on NBC last year. "Overall the pricing we've achieved for Conan's new show is comparable to that of late-night programming on broadcast television," a Turner spokesman said, declining to comment on specific prices. "What we continue to do, whether it involves Conan or other original programming, is to offer premium content that creates a great environment for advertisers."

There is enough complexity in the ad sales process that direct comparisons are difficult. But establishing the value of Mr. Conan's new program is crucial to Turner. The cable unit has forcefully been adding to its programming lineup, part of a broader effort to give advertisers "broadcast replacement" fare that attempts to mimic broadcast's reach at more attractive prices. Turner has added several dramas to its TNT network, snatching up cult-favorite cop show "Southland" after NBC dropped it last year, for instance. It also formed a joint effort with CBS to show a good chunk of the NCAA men's basketball championships across its many cable outlets.

But Mr. O'Brien isn't a must-see sports event or a favorite drama. His cable debut will further fragment the late-night audience, and his show's 11 p.m. berth could also vie for young male viewers with Comedy Central's "Daily Show with Jon Stewart" or even the Adult Swim programming block on the Cartoon Network, a Turner sibling within Time Warner.
There is a significant number of viewers, however, to fight over. "Daily Show" has captured a bigger average audience of people between the ages of 18 and 49 -- around 861,000 viewers -- this season to date as of Aug. 15 than ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live." But ABC's "Nightline," CBS's "Late Show"and NBC's "Tonight" bring in the lion's share of this demographic, the one that most advertisers covet. "Nightline" captured about 1.27 million viewers from 18 to 49 in the season to date through Aug. 15, while "Late Show" drew 1.21 million and "Tonight" averaged 1.41 million, according to Nielsen.

In its outreach to ad buyers, Turner guaranteed that Mr. O'Brien's ratings among audiences aged 18 to 49 would match those of Mr. Letterman and run about 15% below those of Mr. Leno, according to a person familiar with the company's offer to advertisers. Turner now believes Mr. O'Brien's 18-to-49 ratings could be just 10% below those of Mr. Leno, this person said.

Buyers expect robust ratings for the first few weeks of Mr. O'Brien's program, but also believe they'll have to wait until January to see if his ratings are sustainable. Indeed, according to two people familiar with the situation, some ad buyers have tried to see whether Turner would take lower ad rates for the first quarter of 2011 in case Mr. O'Brien's show cools over time. Turner refused to negotiate such deals, according to these people.

Turner has been selling packages of ad inventory for Mr. O'Brien that could include a marketer's commercials showing up not only in the first-run broadcast of his new program but also in a repeat later the same night, according to several ad buyers and the person familiar with Turner's offer. A small number of packages aimed at keeping advertisers who bought time in lower-rated, lower-priced comedies last season but who could find the new prices prohibitive call for ads to run in Mr. O'Brien's show as well as in "George Lopez Tonight," the TBS companion comedy show that will also run two times in late night, these people said.

Arranging such parcels of ad inventory prompts the question of whether it lowers the ultimate cost of a single ad unit. "I don't think anybody that I represent has bought a 'Conan-only' package," said one media-buying executive. "Most advertisers do business across multiple dayparts with the network, and actually with both of their entertainment networks, so it's hard to isolate [a single unit price]." Turner also owns TNT, as well as TruTV, Cartoon Network and TCM. Broadcast networks also make use of packages to sell late-night programs, ad buyers said.

Advertisers are likely to structure their schedules so the majority of their commercials appear during the first run of Mr. O'Brien's show, another buyer said.

Sales for Mr. O'Brien's show have been robust, according to buyers. Movie studios have shown strong interest in the first week of the program, and so-called "scatter" advertising, or commercials purchased closer to air date, for the show's run in the fourth quarter is close to being sold out, according to the person familiar with Turner's offer to advertisers.

Buyers, however, will be making sure they get the ratings they've been promised. "There's a lot of speculation about how well he's actually going to do," said one buying executive.

Hallmark's Big Marketing Push Behind Its Upcoming Martha Stewart Block

By Brian Steinberg
Advertising Age

Hallmark Channel's recipe for launching a new block of Martha Stewart-themed daytime programming on its air calls for generous helpings of, well, any promotional tool you can conceive.

In an effort that will encompass everything from TV promos to coupons to entreaties at a bevy of national retailers, the Crown Media Holdings-owned cable outlet is working furiously to ensure fans of Ms. Stewart's recent programs, which have been syndicated though local broadcast stations for years, will make the move when her popular "Martha Stewart" program and others start airing on Hallmark on Sept. 13.

"Having her fans know where they can find her on a consistent day on a consistent network -- that is a challenge when you're in syndication," said Susanne McAvoy, senior VP-marketing, Hallmark Channel. The new effort, she said, aims to make sure her fans know where to come and when. The effort carries the tagline, "Make the Move with Martha."

Getting fans and other home-arts aficionados to follow Ms. Stewart from syndication to cable is crucial for Hallmark, which is hoping eight hours of Martha-themed programming set to air Monday through Friday will reposition the network and make it more than just a venue known for sentimental Hallmark movies and "M*A*S*H" reruns.
"Hallmark is thinking this is kind of a little bit of a rebranding," said Derek Baine, a senior analyst at SNL Kagan. The move "definitely gives the network more of a definition."

The potential benefits include more than just ad sales. At present, Hallmark is paid about 6 cents per subscriber from the distributors that make it available to viewers, according to SNL Kagan. That's a far cry from the 24 cents per subscriber paid to Cablevision Systems' AMC and the $1.03 paid to Time Warner's TNT. More pull with viewers could mean more leverage in negotiations with cable and satellite providers.

To call attention to the move, the channel is pulling out the stops in a promotional effort believed to be valued somewhere between $5 million and $8 million -- representing the largest marketing effort Hallmark Channel has ever put into practice. Advertising will play out on TV, on the radio, in print and across out-of-home venues, said Ms. McAvoy, as well as with messages distributed through Valpak mailers; a sweepstakes; and local street teams giving out satchels with a Martha Stewart recipe inside in select cities. The campaign began in earnest this week.

In a sign of the effort's total sweep, Hallmark is running ads on billboards and digital kiosks in 105 malls in 19 different markets.

Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, the company that manages various Martha Stewart properties, is also doing some promotional work. The company will leverage its relationships with retailers that sell Martha Stewart-branded goods -- including Macy's and PetSmart -- to call attention to the shift.

The company, after all, also has something at stake. By moving its flagship show to cable from syndicated distribution on broadcast, the corporation risks reaching a smaller audience. What's more, the show had seen declining revenue in recent months. Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia notched $8.2 million in broadcasting revenue in the second quarter of 2010, down from $10.3 million in the previous year, according to the company, which cited lower revenue from "The Martha Stewart Show" as one of the factors in the year-over-year shortfall.

At the same time, Ms. Stewart is likely to have a greater, more sustained presence on Hallmark, as MSLO is also contributing two other programs—“Mad Hungry with Lucinda Scala Quinn" and "Whatever With Alexis and Jennifer," which features Ms. Stewart's daughter—to the mix.

Ms. Stewart also joins a gradual exodus of popular daytime personalities moving from syndication to cable. Oprah Winfrey is set to debut a eponymous cable network -- OWN -- through Discovery Communications in early 2011. Joining her on that channel's programming roster will be popular daytime personality Rosie O'Donnell, who will launch a new daytime show there.

One TV executive believes advertisers will still be interested in Ms. Stewart's offerings, including her flagship show. "Even though it may not have the same presence as it might on broadcast, it will certainly have a substantial presence on cable and will likely deliver if not the same audience, a similar and maybe more targeted audience," said Bill Carroll, VP-director of programming at Katz Television Group, where he advises local stations on programming choices.

And few folks think Ms. Stewart is still lingering under any sort of a cloud from her time spent off the air and in jail as a result of a stock-trading misadventure that took the spotlight off her cooking and decorating skills earlier in the decade.

"Her redemption now seems to be complete," said Denis Riney, exec VP-marketing at BrandLogic, a branding consultant in Wilton, Conn. "Hallmark, one of America's most wholesome brands, must have determined that her negatives are mostly forgotten. In a post-Madoff, post-Lehman world, her financial shenanigans now seem relatively trivial."

No Critical Huzzahs Like 'Mad Men,' But TNT's 'Rizzoli & Isles' and Shows of Its Ilk are Cable's Meat & Potatoes

By Brian Steinberg
Advertising Age

The TV grid has long been littered with "ampersand shows," programs that focus on team-ups of two disparate personalities who have one thing in common: doing good. And while the world may or may not recall the justice meted out by "Starsky & Hutch," "Tenspeed & Brown Shoe" or even "Tequila & Bonetti" (a cop and his talking dog), the industry could have reason to recall a program like TNT's "Rizzoli & Isles."

The female-focused cop show, which stars Angie Harmon and Sasha Alexander, respectively, as a flinty Boston police detective and a quirky-but-elegant medical examiner who use their friendship to solve crime -- as well as life's little challenges -- is widely being seen as a breakout hit this summer, even though reviews have been somewhat tepid. "Rizzoli & Isles" "is clearly more about character than plot," said the Los Angeles Times, while Michigan's Kalamazoo Gazette deemed it a "formulaic show without much of a pulse."

Even so, the ratings are impressive for a scripted summer series. "Rizzoli & Isles" has notched a live-plus-same-day audience of between 6.5 million and 7.5 million in its five outings on Time Warner's TNT, according to Nielsen. Those figures trump most other cable offerings this summer, including HBO's "Entourage," MTV's "Jersey Shore" and USA's "Covert Affairs."

The "Rizzoli" ratings don't come close to matching the nearly 25 million people who flock to an episode of Fox's "American Idol," but as more broadcast-network programs see viewership fall in the 6 million to 10 million viewer-range (ABC's "Modern Family," widely considered a hit, has notched only an average of 8.5 million viewers for the season through Aug. 8, Nielsen said), a by-the-numbers drama on the order of "Rizzoli & Isles" could spell the difference between success and failure for TV outlets hoping to delve more seriously into scripted fare. TNT has already renewed the program for a second season.

"You always have a couple of 'buzz' shows, but it's the meat-and-potatoes stuff" that's becoming more important, said Ira Berger, director-national broadcast at Dallas independent Richards Group.

Indeed, a program like "Rizzoli & Isles" could prove more solid than critically acclaimed efforts such as AMC's "Mad Men" or cult favorites such as the CW's "Gossip Girl," each of which typically draws around 2 million or less for an original TV airing. As more TV fans use computer screens or portable digital devices to scan their shows, audiences for each airing of a program are bound to dwindle. Sometimes, the numbers some ballyhooed programs attract aren't sustainable -- one reason why "Damages," a well-heeled drama starring Glenn Close, is moving from FX to DirecTV.

While cult favorites "have a little bit more of a problem finding" a broad audience, said David Scardino, entertainment specialist at Santa Monica, Calif., independent RPA, a program like "Rizzoli & Isles" is more reliable. The show is not "intellectually taxing" but stands as a "neat entertainment" that is more viable in a difficult media economy.
Success isn't guaranteed. Cable shows tend not to hold audiences for commercials as well as broadcast programs, Mr. Scardino said. And ad buyers say TNT has had issues in the past in trying to devise a show that follows its veteran hit "The Closer" and keeps steady ratings week after week. The network garnered some buzz with "Saving Grace," but moved the air date, and the show lost some of its "Closer" lead-in. The network followed next with a legal drama, "Raising the Bar," that generated big buzz initially, only to see its viewership fall.

Executives at Turner say they knew immediately upon seeing a "Rizzoli" pilot last year that they had a show that could be a companion to "The Closer." "If you're a 'Closer' fan, it's a pretty accessible show, but it has its own voice," said Michael Wright, exec VP and head of programming for TNT, TBS and Turner Classic Movies. Both programs feature strong female leads who must reconcile personality quirks with the process of crime solving.

With confidence in the show and its casting high in early 2010, Turner's ad-sales team went about securing longer-term sponsorships, said Linda Yaccarino, exec VP and chief operating officer, Turner Entertainment ad sales, marketing and acquisitions. Chrysler, Vonage and MillerCoors's MGD 64 have all taken a longer-term interest in the program. This week, for example, rough-and-tumble Rizzoli persuades standoffish Isles to forsake red wine and try beer for the first time. "This is delicious!" crows Isles. The two are drinking from Miller bottles.

Turner isn't solely in the business of coming up with middlebrow police procedurals. TNT is expected to air a second season of "Men of a Certain Age," a critically acclaimed series featuring Ray Romano, Scott Bakula and Andre Braugher, as well as "Southland," a dark police drama that was jettisoned by NBC. But Mr. Wright suggested a network has to devise a portfolio of programming that is financially sound, and can't simply run shows just to please critics.

How the Steven Slater Story--He's the Flight Attendant Who Took the Evacuation Slide to Quit His Job This Week--Is Stifling JetBlue's Social Media Strategy

By Rupal Parekh and Michael Bush
Advertising Age

At a time when every brand wants to master social media, what's a marketer that's already pretty darn good at it to do when it's muzzled by lawyers?

That's precisely the conundrum JetBlue seems to be facing amid the media sensation that is Steve Slater, who, shortly after noon Monday, when JetBlue flight 1052 arrived at the gate at New York's John F. Kennedy International from Pittsburgh International, quit his job dramatically: by exiting via the inflatable evacuation slide. For a brand that's become known for its customer service and is a leader in the social-media space for its rapid responsiveness and transparency, JetBlue has had little to say on a matter that's bringing it tons of PR buzz.

As the widely reported story goes, a fight with a rude passenger was the last straw for Mr. Slater. He got on the in-flight PA system to drop some expletives, grabbed a couple beers to chug after his ride down the exit chute, and walked off the tarmac and to his car. He then drove to his beachfront home in Rockaway, N.Y., only to be arrested shortly after on criminal mischief and reckless endangerment charges. With bail set at just $2,500, it's probably just a matter of time before Mr. Slater will be out of jail and working the late-night talk-show circuit.

Overnight, a slew of Facebook pages cropped up dedicated to the flight attendant. A public page for Steven Slater already has nearly 50,000 fans as of press time, while a "Free Steven Slater" page approaches 15,000 fans. Then there's a "WWSSD?" page (What Would Steve Slater Do), a Steve Slater PayPal fund and, maybe the most telling of his rapidly rising star, the "Can Steven Slater Get More Fans Than Justin Bieber?" page.

While brand Slater has taken off, brand JetBlue is doing its best to keep its distance.

Take a look at JetBlue's Facebook page and it's as if the incident never happened -- there's not one mention of the incident. On Twitter, there were just three tweets acknowledging the situation, two of them blunt responses to a CNN reporter along the lines of, "We will not comment further on ongoing investigations."

Even its head of marketing and avid Twitter user Marty St. George (@martysg) has been mum, while JetBlue's lead marketing agency, Mullen, declined to comment (as did resident social-media expert Edward Boches).

When Ad Age asked the airline to comment for this story, a spokesman said, "I'm afraid we aren't able to assist you (or any other media outlet) with additional information at this time."

"One of the difficulties they are facing is they have to reconcile the contradiction between the public's expectations that they are going to get the full story from JetBlue immediately, especially based on JetBlue's history," said Jonathan Bellinger, VP-social media strategy at Omnicom Group's Ketchum.
Indeed, the airline was one of the first companies that used social media to be transparent and address customers' concerns and compliments alike via the web. In so doing, it has put a lot of thought into how it structures things such as its Twitter presence, which currently is a seven-person operation with participation from multiple disciplines including corporate communications and its loyalty marketing program TrueBlue. In a wide-ranging interview with Ad Age last month, JetBlue's Mr. St. George said, "Fundamentally this is a brand with a customer base that skews young and affluent; they are on social media, and we want to be where our customers are."

Said Mr. Bellinger: "Right now they are probably trying to reconcile that desire they are seeing from the public and that precedent they've set with pretty strict restrictions being forced upon them by the FAA and maybe Homeland Security and whoever else is involved. The expectation among myself and any other consumer, based on their own precedent, is that they are going to talk about it, and that has to be a tricky situation to navigate it. They have no choice, and it's probably frustrating to them on the inside because they are used to responding to this type of thing very quickly and in a very transparent way."

While Mr. Slater's actions have been overwhelmingly met with cheers from the public, the legal ramifications of his behavior are numerous. "People are laughing in support of this guy, but as much as they would like to keep that humor about it, they have to worry about lawsuits," said Michael J. McSunas, a lawyer with Chambliss, Bahner & Stophel, P.C.

Mr. McSunas said that if JetBlue is observed to be taking the matter lightly on Twitter or in discussions with the media, it could be used against the company by Mr. Slater or the Federal Aviation Authority. "He can say the company's position was that it wasn't a serious issue. ... The FAA could say this is a major breach and you're not taking it seriously and are making light of it." It's possible that passengers on the flight could bring legal action too.

"I guess they could say they suffered emotional trauma. Whether they'd be successful or not is a different story," said Mr. McSunas. "I would advise a client to not necessarily address the matter on Twitter or Facebook, but if people are posting about it, respond with something like, 'Joking aside, this is a serious issue, and our passengers safety and security is the number one priority for us.'"

For all the tension the incident is bringing JetBlue, experts say that, in the end, Mr. Slater is likely to bring mostly positive attention to the brand.

"Usually when a flight attendant gets called out it's for something they have done wrong that pissed off passengers," said Mr. Bellinger. "But when an attendant does something where passengers say they wish they would do the same thing at their own job, that's great. It's a net positive story for the brand."

Noted Steve Rubel, senior VP-director of Insights at Edelman Digital, "JetBlue has done a good job of building a tremendous amount of relationship capital with the online community by embracing new digital platforms and communicating with people through them so they might not have to answer as many questions about the details of this incident. When a company puts itself out there as a company adept and active in social media, it gains social capital that it can cash in later on in a crisis or legal situation."

Drawing Little in Ad Revenue, How Does 'Mad Men' Stay on the Air?

By Brian Steinberg
Advertising Age

On cable's "Mad Men," characters such as Don Draper and Roger Sterling eat and breathe advertising (as well as red meat and liquor). Without ads, after all, they'd be out of business.

Yet "Mad Men" isn't a particularly huge draw for advertising itself, despite plenty of interesting tie-ins with marketers such as BMW and Jack Daniel's whiskey over its three-plus seasons. Airings of "Mad Men" took in only $1.98 million in ad revenue in 2009, according to Kantar Media. In 2008, the show nabbed just less than $2.8 million, and in 2007, approximately $2.25 million. These are paltry amounts when one considers that a 30-second ad in an equally buzzy program such as "24" on Fox cost between $200,000 and $280,000 as the show, off its peak, headed into its final season.

Despite the meager ad sums -- and a small audience for its first-run episodes -- "Mad Men" is an important program. Mr. Draper, Mr. Sterling and their cohorts aren't just trying to keep marketing clients happy. They are also carrying aloft an economic model for TV production that grows in importance as more cable outlets test their hand at edgy dramatic fare.

Programs such as "Men of a Certain Age" and "The Glades" are supposed to help cable compete with broadcast counterparts. In turn, those programs help cable push for the greater subscription and programming fees that keep its business stable. Under this emerging formula, TV networks and show producers must make do with smaller audiences and then work more furiously to secure every dollar that comes from merchandising, digital viewing, DVD purchases and international sales.

Advertisers will "only pay so much" to be in high-quality programs such as "Mad Men," said Kris Magel, exec VP-director of national broadcast at Interpublic Group of Cos.' Initiative, because its traditional TV reach is limited. "Once that cost hits a ceiling, the network has to make a decision: Can they afford to continue to make the show for the amount of revenue it generates?" he asked. "Sometimes they do, because the halo generated for the network as a whole and its other programs outweighs the expense. And sometimes they can't."

TV critics have lavished praise on "Mad Men," which revolves around the aforementioned Mr. Draper. Set in the 1960s, "Mad Men" depicts ad-agency executives grappling with account management and personal drama even as modern -- and more permissive -- American culture starts to rear its head. The Plain Dealer of Cleveland is pleased the show features "characters at an intersection where Madison Avenue crosses awakening sensibilities." And The Baltimore Sun praised the use of complex figures like Mr. Draper who "come to stand for such an important part of our collective history and national psyche."
Low ratings

Despite the critical acclaim, the program, which is found in bursts of 12 or 13 episodes each summer on AMC, draws a minuscule audience. The 2.9 million viewers who tuned into its fourth-season premiere on Sunday, July 25, are no match for the legions who tune in to CBS's "NCIS" (17.3 million on average, as of July 25) or even ABC's "Modern Family" (8.7 million). Cable's most-watched dramas -- stuff such as "The Closer" or "Rizzoli & Isles" on TNT -- have in recent weeks drawn a live-plus-same-day audience of around 7 million, according to Nielsen.

The average viewership for "Mad Men" -- 925,000 for first-run episodes in 2007, 1.51 million in 2008 and 1.81 million in 2009, according to Nielsen -- would get it canceled if it aired on any broadcast network in prime time. Of course, a significant chunk of the show's audience may watch days or weeks later with a digital video recorder, through iTunes or by buying the series on DVD.
That broader "after-TV" audience keeps "Mad Men" coming back to the TV screen each summer. Just as the executives at Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce try to help their clients sell Lucky Strikes and Glo-Coat to the masses, so too do they attempt to bolster both AMC, which airs the program, and Lionsgate, the show's production studio.

Each episode of "Mad Men" costs approximately $3 million to produce, estimated Sandra Stern, Lionsgate's chief operating officer, owing to the show's large cast and the producers' attention to the smallest historical details. To cover part of its costs, Lionsgate depends on a license fee paid to it by AMC. The licensing cost of a high-end drama could come in between $2 million and $3 million per episode. Meanwhile, Ms. Stern estimates Lionsgate is able to secure "slightly north of" $500,000 per "Mad Men" episode by selling it to international distributors. Digital revenue, DVD sales and merchandising add more dollars to the coffers, though some of those monies are shared with AMC.

While the revenue that comes in isn't on par with what a broadcast-network crime procedural might generate, she said, "We declare success and victory with a much smaller audience."
AMC also has reason to keep "Mad Men" on the air. The cable outlet, once known for showing older films with limited commercials or even without commercials at all, has over the past decade worked to modernize itself. In the earlier part of the last decade, it started showing contemporary movies that some may not have immediately labeled "classic" -- think 1987's "Desperately Seeking Susan" instead of "Casablanca." More ad breaks began to surface. While the channel has run scripted drama in the past, the introduction of "Mad Men" marked a significant step forward. Other shows, including the critically acclaimed "Breaking Bad," followed. Now there's a zombie series, "The Walking Dead," and a Western drama, "Hell on Wheels," in the works.
While ad dollars placed against "Mad Men" may be small, AMC's use of the program can help it win more revenue from other sources. Since "Mad Men" arrived, the amount AMC gets paid by cable and satellite operators per subscriber has increased to 24 cents from 22 cents, according to SNL Kagan. Before the show debuted, that fee had declined to 21 cents in 2006 from 22 cents in 2005. The channel is available in more than 95 million homes.
"Mad Men" has "raised the game for our brand," said Charlie Collier, president-general manager of AMC, which is part of Cablevision Systems' Rainbow Media Holdings. The program "has absolutely raised our ability to monetize the network," he added.
Up next is an effort to turn "Mad Men" into merchandise, said Lionsgate's Ms. Stern. Already, the company is exploring ways to extend the show into cocktail culture and furnishings, even clothes.
And a one-time promotional idea -- Lionsgate has in the past enlisted the "Mad Men" cast to sing as part of a "Mad Men Revue" -- might have potential over time, she said.

Is Your Detergent Stalking You? (Dirt is Good)

By Laurel Wentz
Advertising Age

Unilever's Omo detergent is adding an unusual ingredient to its two-pound detergent box in Brazil: a GPS device that allows its promotions agency Bullet to track shoppers and follow them to their front doors.

Starting next week, consumers who buy one of the GPS-implanted detergent boxes will be surprised at home, given a pocket video camera as a prize and invited to bring their families to enjoy a day of Unilever-sponsored outdoor fun. The promotion, called Try Something New With Omo, is in keeping with the brand's international "Dirt is Good" positioning that encourages parents to let their kids have a good time even if they get dirty.

Omo accounts for half of Brazil's detergent sales and is already found in 80% of homes there, so Unilever's goal is more to draw attention to a new stain-fighting version of Omo and get it talked about rather than looking for a big increase in sales.

That made the idea of doing a promotion where the prize finds the consumer, rather than the consumer having to look for the prize -- and maybe not bothering -- appealing.
Fernando Figueiredo, Bullet's president, said the GPS device is activated when a shopper removes the detergent carton from the supermarket shelf. Fifty Omo boxes implanted with GPS devices have been scattered around Brazil, and Mr. Figueiredo has teams in 35 Brazilian cities ready to leap into action when a box is activated. The nearest team can reach the shopper's home "within hours or days," and if they're really close by, "they may get to your house as soon as you do," he said.

Once there, the teams have portable equipment that lets them go floor by floor in apartment buildings until they find the correct unit, he said.

Of course, Brazil has a high crime rate, and not everyone is going to open the door to strangers who claim to have been sent by her detergent brand to offer a free video camera. Bullet has thought of that. If the team tracks a consumer to her home but she won't let them in, they can remotely activate a buzzer in the detergent box so that it starts beeping. And if the team takes too long to arrive, and the consumer has already opened the box to see if she's a winner or just do laundry, she'll find, along with the GPS device and less detergent than expected, a note explaining the promotion and a phone number to call.

"Anything can happen," Mr. Figueiredo said. "We have to be innovative, but we don't know what reaction to expect from consumers."

In a big web component, the site experimentealgonovo.com.br (Portuguese for "try something new") goes live in August, and will include a map showing roughly where the winners live, pictures of each winner and footage of the Bullet-Omo teams hunting down the GPS-enabled detergent boxes, knocking on doors and surprising consumers.

"It costs more than a traditional promotion and is riskier because it's never been done before, but it's worth it," Mr. Figueiredo said.

The technology aspect of the promotion costs less than $1 million, out of Omo's overall marketing budget of about $23 million. "We believe in using new technology for promotional marketing," Mr. Figueiredo said. Plus Bullet just likes figuring out how to ingeniously embed stuff in products.

Two summers ago, sales of Unilever's Fruttare Popsicles soared when Bullet disguised 10,000 iPod Shuffles as popsicles and popped them in freezer cases. The agency's creatives had noticed while reading their iPod instruction manuals that an iPod can operate at temperatures below freezing. They immediately began freezing their own devices as a test, then constructed a fake ice-cream bar case that mimicked the popsicle but fit an iPod, and a wildly successful summer ice cream promotion was born.#