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Wednesday, July 11, 2007
7/11: Court TV’s new name, Singing Bee buzzes
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Welcome to my 1,000th entry since I started this blog in September 2004!
Turner’s Court TV has changed its name to reflect a changed mission: starting on January 1, 2008, it will become truTV. This is yet another network that has tried to “broaden” its mission by obscuring its original cable name. (Remember when A&E acutally mean “arts and entertainment” and MTV actually meant “music”?)
As an MBA student, I’m highly amused by the press release Court TV came out with because it uses all those silly buzzwords I hear all the time in class. The headline alone is a hoot:
New Name is Latest Step in Major Branding Initiative Targeting Highly Coveted “Real Engagers” Psychographic
Wow! The PR people should get points for including the word “psychographic” in the headline. (At least my marketing professors will appreciate it.)
According to Broadcasting and Cable, a team of seven Turner executives in New York and Atlanta considered some 4,000 names before settling upon three finalists in April. After that, Turner conducted focus groups with viewers and the overwhelming majority of them picked tru.
Basically, since Turner took over Court TV, the network has cut back on its bread-and-butter news coverage of actual trials. Instead, it appears to be focusing on tons of reality TV-type programming. Trial coverage will now be from 9 to 3 p.m. The Star Jones show will start at 3 p.m., featuring Jones gabbing with “top guests from the worlds of pop culture, entertainment, crime and justice.”
Other upcoming shows include yet another show about bounty hunters: this time, four women in Miami. There’s reality life-or-death rescue show called “Most Daring.”
And here are shows “in development,” which means they may or may not make it on air at some point. They all sound like shows the Discovery Channel has had success with along the lines of “Man v. Wild” and “Deadliest Catch”: macho men and women doing macho, dangerous things. There’s “Neighbors 911” about a Green Beret going into people’s homes to resolve differences. There’s “Ski Patrol” about, well, folks who patrol the slopes. And “Black Gold” is about wildcatters in Texas prospecting for oil. Finally, there’s “Outlaw Chasers” featuring storm junkies who track twisters just like the film.
Sing it loud, sing it proud! The ratings last night for karaoke “fill in the lyrics’ show “The Singing Bee” on NBC are in and wow, people swarmed to it. The show buzzed in at 13.1 million viewers, the most viewers for any TV show in six weeks. That’s also possibly more than the baseball all-star game last night on Fox, based on preliminary numbers. We’ll see how copycat “Don’t Forget the Lyrics’ does tonight on Fox.
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7/11: Welcome to Kimmel!
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
At 12:05 a.m., “Jimmy Kimmel Live” arrived in Atlanta for the first time, a mere four years and six months after he debuted on ABC in most other markets.
Kimmel wasted no time, welcoming Atlanta by quoting, well, Jermaine Dupri’s “Welcome to Atlanta.”
Welcome to Atlanta where the players play/ And we ride on dem thangs like ev-ery day
“Can you imagine the suffering these people have been through?” he said. “This is our 894th show.” He introduced Atlanta to his band, his announcer, his security guard and his family. Then he had the “mayor of Atlanta” give him a plaque and the key to the city: our very own Emmanuel Lewis, best known as “Webster”!
Kimmel, after the commercial break, said that “we’re like the pickle in the Chick Fil-A sandwich” and noted Lewis is in fact not the mayor. Shocking!
His first guests for us had nothing to do with Atlanta: Nick Lachey, NFL player Reggie Bush and Rich Boy.
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7/11: Thompson at Hannity concert
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I was in class last night (sixteen days and I’ve got my MBA!) and skipped the sold-out Freedom Concert at the Arena at Gwinnett. Fortunately, my colleague Ben Smith was there. Here’s his story.
The big news: possible presidential candidate Fred Thompson showed up.
Thompson’s last-minute Georgia visit was launched after midnight Monday when the unannounced candidate told an aide that he would accept Hannity’s invitation to attend the concert. The conservative Fox News talk show host made the offer to Thompson on Sunday afternoon, said Joel McElhannon, a staffer for Thompson’s exploratory committee.
McElhannon also arranged for a “meet and greet” session with nearly 200 supporters, local officials and business leaders at the Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce before the concert. The chamber is adjacent to the arena.
Our photographer unfortunately had problems getting access to take shots of the concert and didn’t get any. I’m sorry. I would have loved to have seen some myself.
Besides Hannity, guests included the Charlie Daniels Band, Lee Greenwood, Larry the Cable Guy and Montgomery Gentry. WSB Radio has photos and audio on its main site right now but I can’t figure out the URL for the galleries. For those who did go, how was it?
