NBC DoND Promo SPOILER

[Matt Ottinger]

I've been making fun of NBC's promotion department for more years than I'd like to count, but the latest was inevitable, I guess.  No longer content to let you watch a DoND game develop naturally with no idea where it's going, NBC ran an ad during football Sunday (and who knows when else) revealing a very specific late-game choice offered to one of the contestants.  Forget ice cream ponies and visits from Canadian pop royalty.  When a network begins running ads that say, "tune in because this specific thing is going to happen," that's the beginning of the end as far as I'm concerned.

[BrandonFG]

[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' post=\'136080\' date=\'Oct 30 2006, 12:45 AM\']
I've been making fun of NBC's promotion department for more years than I'd like to count, but the latest was inevitable, I guess.  No longer content to let you watch a DoND game develop naturally with no idea where it's going, NBC ran an ad during football Sunday (and who knows when else) revealing a very specific late-game choice offered to one of the contestants.  Forget ice cream ponies and visits from Canadian pop royalty.  When a network begins running ads that say, "tune in because this specific thing is going to happen," that's the beginning of the end as far as I'm concerned.
[/quote]
I saw said commercial...inexcusable. There was another promo over the weekend that basically spoiled an outcome similar to one from last season.
In case nobody knows what that means, I put it below in white...forgive me if this is against the rules.

(highlight to read) [color=\"white\"]someone will have a high-dollar amount case[/color]

[TonicBH]

Didn't ABC do the exact same thing with Millionaire promos when they aired it regularly?

[ShoeHorn]

[quote name=\'TonicBH\' post=\'136092\' date=\'Oct 30 2006, 12:52 AM\']
Didn't ABC do the exact same thing with Millionaire promos when they aired it regularly?
[/quote]

Not only would they go ahead and use the promos, they had a press conference for Olmstead's win, I believe the day of the ep airing.

[Ian Wallis]

The thing that gets me is when you tune into the beginning of the show, they spoil part of the show right in the first 30-second "preview".

I miss the old days!

[TimK2003]

[quote name=\'Ian Wallis\' post=\'136104\' date=\'Oct 30 2006, 10:07 AM\']
The thing that gets me is when you tune into the beginning of the show, they spoil part of the show right in the first 30-second "preview".

I miss the old days!
[/quote]

Exactly, there's a big difference in doing a 'spoiler' TV promo for game-shows versus non-game shows.  Shows like CSI,  According to Jim or Desperate Housewives are okay since, yeah, you are giving a little bit of the plot away, but you dont have that 'play along' factor and you still have to watch a lot of the show to see how they got to that scene.

With game shows, even if you show and promote an unusual contestant reaction for 2 seconds, you spoil the play-along factor for the people playing at home.  Sure you may pull in fair-weather viewers to watch the show that day, but at a great expense for those who watch it for the natural competition.  Air a promotion which shows a clip of the defining moment of the game, and for a lot of people, you don't have to watch the show now.

Maybe NBC should lay-off 95% of the people in charge of creating the promotional ads in their budget -cutting.  Then maybe those left wont have time to go looking for defining moments to spoil the game!!

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'TimK2003\' post=\'136106\' date=\'Oct 30 2006, 06:35 AM\']
Sure you may pull in fair-weather viewers to watch the show that day, but at a great expense for those who watch it for the natural competition.
[/quote]
You know, I'd buy this if you were talking about just about any show OTHER than DoND. "Natural competition?" Come ON.

Air a promotion which shows a clip of the defining moment of the game, and for a lot of people, you don't have to watch the show now.

I will once again point out that I'm sure that NBC has decided that the extra eyeballs that running an ad like that will bring in are worth the couple hundred game show geeks they're going to piss off.

I don't like it any more than anyone here does, but I understand why they do it.

[MrGameShow]

Let us not forget CBS and the Game Show Marathon teaser that shows Kathy and Brandi at the Family Feud faceoff podium before finding out that it was an elimination tournament and Feud was the LAST show..

They're all corrupt! Ratings theives I tell ya!

[TimK2003]

[quote name=\'clemon79\' post=\'136107\' date=\'Oct 30 2006, 11:14 AM\']
You know, I'd buy this if you were talking about just about any show OTHER than DoND. "Natural competition?" Come ON.
[/quote]


Sure you may pull in fair-weather viewers to watch the show that day, but at a great expense for those who watch it for the natural competition progression of the show.

Fixed.


BTW, anybody know when the first game show 'spoiler' promos started?  The earliest I can remember  was back in the early "New Treasure Hunt" days during the montages when Geoff Edwards would be yelling "TWENTY-FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS" as he pulled the checks out of the box.

Since that was back in the bicycling era, there were a lot of faces on that montages that many had not seen yet. So when you finally did see said person actually playing their game, you knew what was coming.

Yeah, the spoilers were seen under different circumstances (bicycling vs. first run promos), but those '70 spoilers did their job as well.

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'TimK2003\' post=\'136132\' date=\'Oct 30 2006, 10:57 AM\']
Sure you may pull in fair-weather viewers to watch the show that day, but at a great expense for those who watch it for the natural competition progression of the show.

Fixed.
[/quote]
Slightly better, fair enough. I'll admit, though, that a "spoiler" promo makes me more likely to watch DoND than it would if I didn't know what would happen, but then again I've quickly tired of the show and would only care to watch if something significant were to happen. I don't HATE it, but I do think it's severely flawed, and it's fallen way off of my radar because of that.

I think the nutshell is that if DoND is "appointment television" (a phrase I loathe, but there it is), then yeah, you're not gonna like those promos. For everyone else in the world, though, it increases interest. And there are a lot more "everyone elses".

[bandit_bobby]

I carefully hide my face when such promos come up.

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'bandit_bobby\' post=\'136432\' date=\'Nov 1 2006, 07:06 AM\']
I carefully hide my face when such promos come up.
[/quote]
Do you know Jared Oswald, by any chance?

[aaron sica]

[quote name=\'clemon79\' post=\'136440\' date=\'Nov 1 2006, 11:05 AM\']
[quote name=\'bandit_bobby\' post=\'136432\' date=\'Nov 1 2006, 07:06 AM\']
I carefully hide my face when such promos come up.
[/quote]
Do you know Jared Oswald, by any chance?
[/quote]

Or Darryl Heine, as well?

[tvmitch]

Yeah, it was a spoiler.

But.

The spoiler didn't necessarily give away the outcome of the game until the moment the contestant (OPINION: foolishly) took the deal.

This isn't a spoiler in the same vein as OMG JOHN CARPENTER WINS A BAZILLION DOLLERS!!!!!1 at all.

[Matt Ottinger]

[quote name=\'mitchgroff\' post=\'136457\' date=\'Nov 1 2006, 12:45 PM\']
The spoiler didn't necessarily give away the outcome of the game until the moment the contestant (OPINION: foolishly) took the deal.

This isn't a spoiler in the same vein as OMG JOHN CARPENTER WINS A BAZILLION DOLLERS!!!!!1 at all.[/quote]
No, of course not.  But if you wanted to watch the game, and wonder at each stage whether ot not she would take the offer (or whether or not she'd open the million dollar case, or any number of other variables) then that part of your experience is ruined, because you know where they're heading, even if you don't know exactly what the end result was.  Even NBC isn't stupid enough to reveal that.

A comparable "spoiler" would be if CBS showed you a clip and said "Tomorrow on The Price Is Right, which one of these two people will win the showcase?"  They didn't tell you the absolute last result, but they told you enough that as you're watching, you know all sorts of things that will and will not happen along the way.  Depending on your fondness for the show, you might enjoy watching anyway.  Still, many people -- maybe even MOST people -- would rather not know stuff like that.