While catching up on Secret Diary of a Call Girl, and inspired by Engadget’s periodic Screen Grabs column, a few bits of tech caught my eye last night. Season 2 is just getting started (in the US, anyway), and the first thing that struck me is the opening sequence resembling the (former?) Zune desktop software – colors and swirls. Episode 2 also pretty prominently features a Nokia phone and a Macbook Air.
Along with Engadget, I caught the OQO mini notebook on Lie to Me this week. However, with all spottings like these, it’s safe to assume a certain percent are paid placements of one sort or another. For example, we know OQO has worked with television and film marketing firm Eclipse in the past to get their wares on TV. (This is the kind of advertising I can tolerate!)
All pics can be enlarged:
I’m also catching up on the latest season of Robot Chicken, giving United States of Tara a chance, heading back to the island with Lost, and doing my best to sit through Melissa’s American Idol. I want to take a look at Life on Mars and Flight of the Conchords at some point. BSG has gotten progressively worse every season… until last night. Now I’m intrigued. Thanks to Brent’s suggestion, we may take in some Friday Night Lights on Netflix. Oh yeah, we’re also taking in Burn Notice. Although I fear that show is dead. The networks haven’t yet learned that splitting a season in half with a several month hiatus can be disastrous. We’ve got short attention spans and poor memory recall.
I don’t know if you’re right about splitting shows in half, most cable shows do that, USA’s been doing it with Burn Notice, Psych and Monk, TNT with The Closer and others and has kept them on the air for years so far.
the major plus is they’ve got new shows coming on when the networks don’t.
Maybe you’re right, it’s less of an issue on the smaller cable networks. But I do believe it killed Jericho and pissed off viewers when Lost and others tried taking a mid-season break on the major networks a couple years back. Then again, I have no idea where/when to find Monk and Pysch with all the shifting and will only watch after the fact on DVD. And who knows if we’re still feeling the effects of the writers strike.
PS I appreciate that you (and Ben D) take the time to periodically contribute in the comments here. There’s very few A list blog writers who engage beyond their own sites.
A few years ago, a company could buy a season of product placement on a major network show for as little as $25K. Anyone know what it costs today?
dwgsp, I’m not sure. I imagine it varies by show and amount of exposure. Coke cups all season long on American Idol probably run much higher than a single OQO appearance on a new show. And it’s possible, they needed a computer and OQO was happy to provide one. In addition to whatever the show placement fees might be, the firms get paid for going around and pitching the product. It’s a unique skill and set of relationships from traditional marketing and advertising.