New Chuck Poster

Somewhere in the crush of Comic-Con madness, NBC revealed a new 70's inspired poster for the next season of Chuck. Enjoy it, Chuck fans, you guys worked your asses off eating Subway footlong subs and hitting the message boards and blogosphere so hard that NBC had no choice to bring the show back for it's third season.

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Ben Silverman Out At NBC

Quite a surprise to wake up to this morning: co-chairman of NBC Entertainment Studios and Universal Media Studios Ben Silverman is leaving. The surprise is due to the fact that, not only are we quickly approaching the fall season, but just two weeks ago his employment contract had been extended.

When I first heard about Silverman's departure, I have to admit that a smile came to my face. Since a young age, I've always felt like NBC was my channel. Like your mom or grandma who refers to her favorite soap opera as "my story", throughout my life I felt like I had become invested in the network. That's loyalty only a true TV junkie could possibly understand, of course, but hey, that's why I'm writing a TV blog for absolutely no money and you are not.

Anyway, the majority of my favorite shows were on the network and many of the shows shaped my hopes and aspirations as I grew up. My life long fascination with New York City was constantly egged on watching shows like Law & Order, Mad About You and Seinfeld. The dazzling skyline after the evening news and shots of Rockefeller Center didn't hurt, either.

When Silverman first took position at the network, I was pretty hesitant. NBC was pretty down at the time, already in final place, and losing big time. What I knew of Silverman didn't give me much hope. He had produced one of my favorite shows, The Office, but also complete crap like Date My Mom and The Biggest Loser.

I also thought it odd that they would hire someone with so much potential for conflict of interest, considering he would still profit from both his current Reveille shows already on the network and even new ones sold after his move. Trumping even that: not long after taking his place at the company, stories circulated about frat-boy behavior, caged tigers, and lot's of party-hopping.

Here we are at the end of his reign now and I am a bit conflicted. Should I celebrate? He was the guy that made the ridiculous decision to cancel both Medium and My Name Is Earl and then make it publicly known that he did so because, according to The LA Times "neither the fans nor the advertisers had waged a campaign to save them the way viewers and the Subway restaurant chain did for Chuck."

Well, yeah, you know, people didn't wage a campaign to save the shows because no one knew they were on the verge of being canceled. I mean, you know, most networks don't cancel a highly rated show like Medium for no reason, therefore the fans, even devoted TV geeks who try to stay "in the know" such as myself, would never have imagined that we would be obligated to campaign around every single show they want to return, especially if it is one of the highest rated and most consistent shows on a dying network.

But then there's also the fact that, without Silverman, Friday Night Lights, easily one of the most brilliant shows to ever grace network television, probably wouldn't not have made it past it's first season. Because of the deal Silverman worked out with DirecTV, we are guaranteed new Friday Night Lights up through it's fifth season.

So there ya go. It's hard to know what to feel. He made some terrible decisions, acted like an ass, but also created some quality TV. His tenure was not all good or all bad. Not sure if it was even more bad than good or vice versa.

Anyway, we're not gonna go into all the politics and power shifts involved in his departure. If you're interested in that side of things, I would suggest reading the Hitfix article about the situation - they lay it all out in an easy to understand way.

Update: While rinsing and shampooing this very morning, I thought of another point I wanted to bring up about Silverman's reign: the majority of "new" scripted programming on NBC hasn't actually been "new". In his time at the network we've been treated to really terrible remakes (Bionic Woman, Knight Rider), imports (Merlin, The Listener), or remakes of imports (Kath & Kim). There's even been a remake of an import remake (Parks & Recreation).

Just kidding about that last one. While the whole mock documentary thing was over long before it debuted, Parks & Recreation definately got better towards the end of the season. At first we kinda passed it off as The Office (US Version) part two, but it kinda grew into it's own eventually.

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Drumroll Please....NBC Renews Chuck! (Roar of the crowd deafens all in ear shot)

It is official. After weeks (and weeks and weeks) of speculation NBC has officially renewed Chuck for a third season. Variety reported that the show will return with a tighter production budget but no specifics were listed. I have no idea how much help all of the fan-based campaigns were, but I'd like to think they helped a bit.

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NBC Stars In Commercials

Being a DVR addict, I rarely see commercials...Usually just when I'm in the midst of doing something with the TV on in the background, not really paying attention, or when watching something on the DVR and not being able to find the remote come fast forward time.

For the last two weeks I had been seeing the Greg Grunberg (Matt Parkman) Insight commercial during Heroes and then today I just happened to catch it during a rerun that was playing while writing a previous post. This evening while watching Law & OrderGossip Girl on the DVR I was scrambling to find the remote and wait...is that Hayden Panettiere on this cell phone commercial?

Youtube...search...Hayden...how the hell do you spell that?...Panettiere...at&t...It is!

And then there was the related video, another Insight commercial featuring Chuck's Zachary Levi. Huh. NBC stars are really getting out there. I wonder, though, if this is all just coincidence or if NBC is making deals for it's actors. The fact that both Greg Grunberg and Zachary Levi are in commercials for the same car, in the same ad campaign, makes me think so. But where does the phone commercial fit in and why haven't I caught it on NBC yet?









Update:5/05/09 Just caught a new Neutrogena Deep Clean Cream Cleanser starring Hayden Panettiere. She's actually been a spokesperson for a while now, but this is the first new one in quite some time. Funny, too, is that it aired during Gossip Girl, the same show her cell phone ad ran on.

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Chuck Versus Subway

I came across this video of Chuck star Zachary Levi leading an estimated 600 people into a Subway restaurant to order the infamous $5 footlong subs. Avid watchers of Chuck may have noticed these subs making a few appearances this season, especially in the last few episodes.



NBC's Chuck has never been a winner in the Nielsen's ratings game but it's had a pretty rabid fanbase since the beginning. The noticeable increase in quality this season has no doubt lead to a lot of growth in that audience, too. And so now it's sweeps time.

It's been well documented that Chuck sits precariously on the bubble and may not make a return for a third season, so that rabid fan base has begun what every rabid fan base of every threatened to be or already canceled show does - they start a campaign.

Most campaigns consist of online petitions, trying to get people to watch the show, et al. The best come up with some quirky way to let the network know they mean business, such as fans of Jericho inundating CBS offices with peanuts when the show was canceled a couple of years ago. Recently I posted about Slate's The Big Money's recommendation for online streaming.

The Chuck masses have been doing the online petitions and mail campaigns as usual, they've also taken to mailing Nerds candy but the big news online today is a push to get fans to buy $5 footlong subs from Subway restaurants tomorrow, the day they air the season finale.

At first I wondered if this was a real grassroots campaign or just a viral marketing trick secretly put together by Subway and NBC marketing creeps to see how many subs they could sell, sort of like cops sending plain clothes officers into protests to start riots but then I noticed the end of the post on Zachary Levi's page thanking Wendy Farrington. A quick google of the name and I came across a letter:

Hi Everyone,

As I’m sure you’re aware Chuck is struggling to find an audience amidst a very competitive Monday 8pm line-up and is in danger of not being picked up for a 3rd season. I’ve done my duty and written my letters to the network, but given the economy and the Jay Leno effect, I’m not confident that will be enough. I wanted to request your help to promote a ‘Save Chuck’ strategy that goes beyond the standard fare of sending letters or bobbles to the networks. What I’m proposing is a consumer driven campaign that will lend a voice to all the loyal Chuck fans that are not represented by Nielson ratings.

With the changing media landscape, the key demographic that most advertisers are seeking is also the segment most likely to be viewing TV programming in non-traditional ways (online, DVR, iTunes, etc.). Nielson ratings are not as strong an indicator of advertising value as they once were, but they remain the industry standard because there are precious few ways to demonstrate and really capture the success of product promotion in this digital age.

As a non-Nielson viewer, I feel the most effective means of making an impact is to wield my consumer power in a way that NBC and their sponsors will be able to measure. I’ve noticed that Subway has worked with Chuck/NBC to incorporate product placement within the show. To demonstrate my gratitude to that franchise for their support of Chuck, I’m pitching a ‘Finale & FOOTLONG™’ campaign to all the Chuck forums and boards. I’m also sending this idea out to key TV critics who’ve been supportive of Chuck, asking them to write articles and raise awareness for this effort. Included below is a list of the boards, forums, and critics to whom I’ve sent this concept.

The ‘Finale & FOOTLONG™’ campaign will call on fans to show their dedication by pledging to purchase a $5 FOOTLONG™ from Subway on the evening of the Chuck season finale (which hopefully isn’t the series finale). If enough Chuck fans ban together to do this and Subway sees a rise in sales Monday April 27th as a result, it would give NBC/Universal an actual metric to gauge the fan dedication in relation to the return on investment of a key sponsor.

At the end of the day, the television industry is still a business and I hope other fans will recognize that fact and organize with me to show their support in a tangible way. I’ve sent in my ‘Save Chuck’ letters to Ben Silverman (NBC) and Angela Bromstad (Universal) including this idea, but I really need the help of other Chuck fans to drive this program and make it happen. To that end, I’ve also sent a letter to the Chief Marketing Officer at Subway (Mr. Bill Schettini) outlining the effort I’m putting forth to galvanize the show’s loyal fan base to reward their sponsorship of our beloved Chuck.

Chuck is in one of the toughest timeslots on television and continues to hold its own against fierce competition on every major network. The cast is fantastic, the story is compelling, and I truly believe the show deserves another season (hopefully on Wednesday’s at 8pm). The best way to save Chuck is to give NBC/Universal a legitimate business justification for keeping their quality programming on the air. It’s more likely that the network and sponsors will hear our pleas for a Chuck renewal if we speak their language…$$$. So fans, please write your letters, mention the campaign, and buy a $5 FOOTLONG™ from Subway on April 27th (bonus points for those that drop off a comment card saying they’re buying their sandwich in support of Chuck.)

Put a reminder on your calendar, alarm on your phone, whatever it takes to remember…personally I’ll be buying my sandwich from Newark International Airport after an 8hr flight on the 27th, but I’m going to do it! If the mods for this board or forum would be so kind as to post a reminder on April 27th as well, that would be phenomenal! Thanks for listening and I hope I can count on your support.

Warmest Regards,

Wendy Farrington

FYI – I swear on all that is holy, I do NOT work for Subway or any marketing/media based company. I’m just a lowly sales rep in the pharma industry, who happens to have an underused undergraduate degree in marketing and a deep affection for CHUCK.

I guess all we can do is take that FYI and trust that it's not some NBC marketing guru being extra-jerky. It's a good idea, though, which makes me seriously doubt that it actually came from someone in the marketing department because, really, when was the last time a TV series had a good, in depth, evolving marketing campaign? I can't think of many.

We get something like "Save The Cheerleader, Save The World" once every few seasons with no growth or continuation, so really, I doubt NBC would have been smart enough to pull this off.

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