Posted on 02/27/2006 3:13:23 AM PST by abb
Host to Appear in Every Ad For Sunday Awards Telecast; A Year With No 'Titanic'
Faced with an Academy Awards program featuring few blockbuster movies and a host who is more niche than mainstream, ABC is trying some new advertising tactics to attract viewers. For starters, it's giving the host an unusual amount of advance screen time.
ABC has created more than two dozen Oscar promo spots that will air hundreds of times this week, and host Jon Stewart will be in every one. Mike Benson, senior vice president of marketing at ABC, says this is the first time the Walt Disney Co. network has put the Oscar host in all of the plugs. Although the cable-TV personality is a best-selling author in addition to being the acerbic host of Comedy Central's "The Daily Show," he isn't a star with the profile of Chris Rock, Billy Crystal, Whoopi Goldberg or David Letterman, all previous Academy Award hosts.
"You still don't want to take it for granted everybody knows him," Mr. Benson says.
Promos for the awards ceremony, to be held Sunday, will emphasize the stars of the nominated movies more than the movies themselves.
ABC also is changing how it links the Oscars with promotions for its regular lineup of shows, with the actors playing their TV characters in the spots. For instance, the female characters in "Desperate Housewives" will be seen holding an Oscar party while watching the awards show.
"We're trying to do a lot of things differently," says Mr. Benson, especially since even once-invulnerable marquee shows such as the Oscars have been losing viewers. "The ratings of the Olympics bear that point out," he says, referring to the less-than-stellar audiences who tuned in to the Turin Games on NBC.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie. Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")
Especially considering this is occuring simultaneously with robust economic expansion.
Just one more self indulgent, self congratulatory self promotion given by a talentless group of self important nitwits.
I refuse to watch that "homos on the range" flick,
besides, I rearly go to see films that I know are painful in the end.
Will ABC have Jon Stewart reprise the 'tent scene' from Brokeback Mountain with ?
AKA 'The Gay Super Bowl." I ask you - when during the rest of the year do the networks doggedly pursue such a small audience segment?
Jon Stewart is a talented comedian. But for this show he (and its producers) must choose. If he stays true to his left-wing schtick, he'll alienate half the audience bigtime. If he tries to stay away from that, he'll be too boring.
Don Knotts(*) is funnier than Jon Stewart.
TS
(*) Yes, I know.
Its obvious that Hollywood knows the Oscars are a joke, they place a Comedian in charge of it. I never heard of Jon Stewart. Is he a Comedian? As a matter of fatc what happened to Comedy. Saturday Night Live now is about as funny as a brain tumor.
Meanwhile, the #1 movie this weekend was "Medea's Family Reunion," a critically-reviled comedy drama, written, directed by and starring Tyler Perry, a man who works entirely outside the Hollywood system, making movies that encourage his fellow black people to reject drugs and thuggishness, respect each other, obey the law, be responsible to their families and go to church. It made over $30 million in three days.
Hollywood loves to send Americans messages; I wonder if they ever get the messages that Americans are sending them?
Promos to Homos.
But now the dominance of the stupid, stupid Hollyweird politics is tooo much.
(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie. Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")
Of course, Backside Mountin' has got an 8.0, and this movie of yours, Madea's Family Reunion, has got a 3.9!!!
If it's patriotic or Christian, the IMDB usually craps all over the rating. ;-)
Is this a joke by the WSJ? The Oscars ITSELF is the Titanic. A ritzy, liberal, sex-and-drugs Bush-bashing cruise that's going to get sliced and diced by the iceberg of American sensibility and disgust.
I expect that the Oscars will get pretty good ratings since it has no noteworthy competition on TV next Sunday. That is unlike the Olympics, which had to compete with "American Idol", "Survivor", "Dancing With The Stars", etc. (BTW, I thought that the wrestler-chick on "Dancing With The Stars" got robbed!)
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