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September 09, 2007
Why I'm Not Formally Reviewing 'Control'
Anyway, I liked it and thought it mostly deserving of its Cannes honours, but towards the end of the film, I found myself growing increasingly restless: instead of dreading Ian's fate, I became impatient with any scene I knew wouldn't end with the money shot. Rather than give the Brothers Weinstein ammunition to butcher another film, though, I'm more apt to blame the anti-piracy measures that have been put into effect for this year's Toronto International Film Festival. Throughout the film, some skinny, anime-looking dork attired in a security uniform that was sliding off his shoulders paced the aisle next to me, stopping occasionally to put a pair of infrared specs to his eyes and pivot his head back and forth, Terminator-style. Call me a prima donna, but when a movie is quiet and intense, as Control most certainly is, there's just something distracting about a guy incessantly goose-stepping in your periphery. The straw that broke the camel's back for me was when he leaned against the screen, spilling some of the projected image onto his smug expression. I kept hoping someone with a little influence would speak up (Dave Poland was seated in my vicinity) until finally I tried staring down the twerp myself. Alas, he wielded those night-vision goggles like a talisman, using them to shield himself from direct eye contact. Eventually I hotfooted it to the other side of the theatre--the Nazi stationed there was much less obtrusive, seemingly conscientious of Control's fragile tone.
Now, I'm not gonna get all self-righteous about being monitored during these press & industry screenings, even though I think they're very obviously going after the wrong people. Everybody knows that the Golden Ticket to Willy Wonka's factory comes with some caveats. But at least properly train this Gestapo to blend into the furniture and conceal their contempt for the whole charade, because it's the films--not the spectators--that ultimately pay the price.
My TIFF So Far:
Just Buried *1/2
Angel **
Emotional Arithmetic **
King of the Hill ***1/2
Love Songs *
A Promise to the Dead **1/2
Amal **1/2
Lust, Caution ***
Control ***
Mother of Tears: The Third Mother ***1/2
58 comments:
- Jefferson said...
I liked 24 Hour Party People as an introduction to Joy Division on film, although for the sake of brevity it made a necessary hash of Ian Curtis' story -- first he's a self-serious comic foil, then he's a neurologically dicey rock god, then he's dead. It's Tony Wilson's movie, after all. Reading an FFC review on a Corbijn-lensed Curtis biopic would turn my crank, so I'm sorry that festival shenanigans make that unlikely.
- Sunday, September 9, 2007 at 7:19:00 PM EDT
- Walter_Chaw said...
Sooooo fucking excited to see the Argento.
Condolences on the night-vision Nazi - have had similar run-ins though have not been virtuous enough to resist reviewing the goddamned things anyway. Gotten to the point, I'm afraid, where I figger if they're retarded enough to fuck with their own product in this way, then I'm an asshole enough to review it in a bad mood.
The screening for The Hoax, for instance, was projected through the wrong lens for fifteen minutes.
I took a ton of heat a while ago for venting about how stupid and arbitrary the screening process is: I think the general expressed consensus was that I was being a baby and should be grateful that the studios are allowing me to see Rush Hour 3 a few days early with a bunch of people who picked up a pass at Gunther Toody's.
Well, my response to getting gang-raped by public/peers/publicists is to offer no defense in the belief, pollyannish, that truth will out.
Has it?
It's really only a matter of time before screenings are done away with altogether. If you don't think that studios are figuring out that they don't need critics at all - you're making the bad mistake of underestimating the money men. They're not good at a lot of things - but they're really, really good at balancing the books. How long before the stigma of not screening pictures flakes away before this avalanche of implanted opinion that "critics don't matter" and let's save a ton of cash by not screening anything anymore? When Ebert dies might be the same hour they only screen arthouse.
Film is worth saving as an artform - as a mirror, as a socio-political excavator, as a barometer. Look around, though, and mark that there are fewer and fewer people left to defend it. My friend Bob Denerstein retired from the Rocky Mountain News a few months ago. His replacement? The wire.
Projectionists are non-union now; many audiences are uncouth, many publicists are untrained, and that's all to the studio's benefit. The harder it is to see a film in ideal conditions, the easier it is for the film to be given a pass for those conditions.
Things are worse since that interview I gave almost a year ago now (more than a year? I forget) - and you know what, I still believe that the truth will out. I believe that the avalanche of populist, catch phrase critics and blurb whores will further convince that critics are unnecessary - that making screenings as unpleasant and distracting as possible will lead to more early retirements of actual defenders of the art, heartbroken by the sty that their church has become.
All this talk about spoilers and box office and all that happy horseshit is publicity-fueled. It's the enemy. So are the security nerds - so are the public promo/press screenings. The more we consent (as I've begun to consent) to that kind of befouling, the closer we are to extinction. Thanks, Bill, for fighting the good fight and for the reminder of what it means to give enough of a shit to be quiet. There's a difference after all, between being quiet because you're too disinterested to fight anymore and being quiet because you're not.
- Sunday, September 9, 2007 at 10:14:00 PM EDT
Question for Alex - in a couple of your reviews over on I Viddied it on the SCREEN, you mention the ScreenIt reviewers - do you read them often? What do you make of them? Have you ever come across a film that they liked?
- Monday, September 10, 2007 at 2:08:00 AM EDT
- Alex Jackson said...
I can't remember the last time I've been there.
That must have been an old review. Yeah, they're not that great and come to think of it I can't remember a time where they actually saw a film they really liked.
- Monday, September 10, 2007 at 4:04:00 AM EDT
Me too - they seem to hate everything. I am very happy with the service they provide - nothing at all like that bullshit CAPAlert or its kin, but the critic seems to hate everything with no backing up of information, beginning every review the same way, very crappy writing.
- Monday, September 10, 2007 at 5:32:00 AM EDT
It's not that the ScreenIt reviewers don't like anything, it's that they rarely give anything a good numerical rating. Even films they love rarely rate higher than a 7.5, and the only 9s I've seen them give are to Saving Private Ryan and Pulp Fiction. I hate that they call them artistic reviews, because they don't seem to know much about art, and they only know marginally more about criticism.
Still, much better than the once-hilarious now-terrifying CAPAlert. The only thing there that is still funny is that they put "reviews" in quotes on their front page.
- Monday, September 10, 2007 at 8:13:00 AM EDT
Terrifying is right - how the hell did they just land a bunch of sponsors to actually pay his dumb ass to continue writing "reviews"?
- Monday, September 10, 2007 at 11:26:00 AM EDT
- Walter_Chaw said...
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
It's official.
More like "The Kingdom of the Brittle Hip".
- Monday, September 10, 2007 at 3:45:00 PM EDT
With a title like that, I wonder if it's too early to officially file the project under "trying too hard."
- Monday, September 10, 2007 at 4:24:00 PM EDT
- Bill C said...
Quick update:
Seeing the new Harmony Korine tomorrow. More capsules on the way.
- Monday, September 10, 2007 at 10:45:00 PM EDT
- Jason said...
Re: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull: Anyone else picture that old Nickelodeon game show "Legends of the Hidden Temple"? Somehow, I can just imagine Indy running around that damn Shrine of the Silver Monkey ("Shrine of the Silver Mooonkeeeey"), trying to get out of the cardboard temple so he can win his Schwinn bicycle. That, and fighting Kirk Fogg and the talking foam statue to the death.
I mean, if you're gonna make Indiana Jones IV and make it suck, why stop at the title? May as well go the whole hog...
- Tuesday, September 11, 2007 at 12:42:00 AM EDT
I'm thinking more along the lines of Indiana Jones and the Gold-Plated Bucket of Cheese. Not that I'm going to be anywhere but sitting giddily in the theater at midnight on May 22 next year, but for God's sake, how's about a title that doesn't sound like it was lifted from a 12-year-old's homemade comic book.
- Tuesday, September 11, 2007 at 3:22:00 PM EDT
- Mark Palermo said...
I like the imagery in the title, it's just too unwieldy. I imagine in the future people will abbreviate it in conversation as "Kingdom," like "Raiders." Too many nouns in there.
- Tuesday, September 11, 2007 at 4:14:00 PM EDT
- Seattle Jeff said...
Here's a question and I apologize for it being way off-topic...this is mostly for Walter, but anyone else can feel free to chime in...
Sarah Silverman. I was a huge fan. But is it me, or does she get less funny every time she opens her mouth? Is Jimmy Kimmel a bad influence on her career?
- Tuesday, September 11, 2007 at 4:35:00 PM EDT
- Walter_Chaw said...
To me, the biggest bomb at the MTV thing was Silverman, Jeff, you're right on. Who's really surprised that poor Britney was a drugged out showpony? See's on the Anna Nicole express.
- Tuesday, September 11, 2007 at 7:24:00 PM EDT
- Jefferson said...
In better genre news, the Iron Man trailer looks fucking boss.
- Tuesday, September 11, 2007 at 11:16:00 PM EDT
- Bill C said...
Folks (well, Alex), MISTER LONELY is fucking beautiful.
Also kinda liked Romero's new DEAD flick.
- Wednesday, September 12, 2007 at 12:00:00 AM EDT
- Rick said...
How exactly did Ian Curtis "accidentally" hang himself in Control? Is this similar to the revisionist theory regarding Elliot Smith's unfortunate cooking mishap?
- Wednesday, September 12, 2007 at 12:04:00 AM EDT
- Bill C said...
They don't actually show the part where he ensnarls himself in the contraption (and subliminal imagery suggests either that he's getting the idea to kill himself that way or a premonition of doom), so I guess it will ultimately appease both camps--even though the last few minutes of the flick is basically a compressed version of LAST DAYS.
- Wednesday, September 12, 2007 at 12:10:00 AM EDT
Right on the nose, Mark. To me it's kind of like calling the third film Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade for the Holy Grail.
Agreed, Jefferson--can't say I ever cared much for the character, but that trailer has me pretty fuckin' psyched. Terrence Howard as War Machine? I'unno, we'll have to see.
Also, am I the only one who really likes "The Sarah Silverman Program"? Applied to those crazed, fractured narratives, her feckless "it's cool" demeanor seems a whole lot funnier to me than it does in her stand-up.
- Wednesday, September 12, 2007 at 1:43:00 AM EDT
So Diary of the Dead--better than Land? I'm pretty psyched.
- Wednesday, September 12, 2007 at 8:08:00 AM EDT
- James Allen said...
Re: Indiana Jones and the Terrible Case of Sciatica
It reminds me of a Simpsons gag from years back where they showed a clip from Star Trek XII: So Very Tired
Re: Sarah Silverman
I agree with Jeff. The jokes from her new show just hit the floor. The lady has nerve, but misanthropy is a tough comedic line to walk, and her material (not to mention her acting) just doesn't get it done.
I saw 3:10 to Uma the other day and enjoyed it quite a bit. Russell Crowe played the quintessential charismatic bad guy with such a knowing gleam in his eye that I actually bought the ending, which was fairly ludicrous when you stop to think about it. Christian Bale was also quite fine in his grim determination. The payoff was a bit of a downer, but that's post modernism for you. (And the two guys I thought were definitely going to die didn't. Shows you what I know.)
The only character I didn't care for was Charlie Prince. I just don't think Ben Foster was playing it as well as he thought he was, and the gay subtext of the character struck me as unneccesary (although when I told my wife about this observation of the Prince character, she thought I was nuts, so maybe it was just me.)
Finally, for the 15 minutes of trailers I saw before the film, only Eastern Promises looks interesting, although I must say a pet peeve of mine is fake Russian Accents. Nails on a goddamn chalkboard.
- Wednesday, September 12, 2007 at 8:17:00 AM EDT
- Bill C said...
DIARY is way better than LAND, but no DAY, NIGHT, or DAWN. It's a film with terrific set-pieces (zombie-fighting Amish!) but no faith in subtext. Will try my damnedest to cover it soon.
- Wednesday, September 12, 2007 at 10:37:00 AM EDT
- Seattle Jeff said...
I could only take a few minutes of Silverman's TV show...and I had been excited about it.
I was thinking last night how some of her schtick has become ripping people at awards shows while they sit in the audience.
But compare her ripping young blonde druggies with Colbert's ripping of the president at that press dinner. Pretty obvious to see which comic performance had some weight to it.
- Wednesday, September 12, 2007 at 11:44:00 AM EDT
- James Allen said...
I was thinking last night how some of her schtick has become ripping people at awards shows while they sit in the audience.
Ah, what Comedy Central Roasts hath wrought. Not that it's bad to get a few zingers in here and there, but it seems to become her raison d'etre.
And you mention Stephen Colbert. Now there's a satirist. And as you say, he has a set of huge ones.
- Wednesday, September 12, 2007 at 8:18:00 PM EDT
- Rick said...
Also, am I the only one who really likes "The Sarah Silverman Program"?
I think so. I am surprised Ian likes the show, considering that The Ten review seemed to declare that hipster irony is dead. "The Sarah Silverman Program" seems to have many elements of that genre, such as "Throwing such a deadly-serious figurehead into a light of silliness" ( in this case, sleeping with God. Boring.) And her ironic bathroom humor is just plain annoying.
- Wednesday, September 12, 2007 at 10:38:00 PM EDT
- Vikram said...
Bill, it might be worthwhile getting kicked-out by bringing a laser pointer and pointing it into the guys's goggles for acting like such a clown.
Then again, that would be mean.
It's hilarious that they do this type of thing at press/industry screenings. It makes no sense except when you realize that somebody's probably making money on selling this type of "security."
- Wednesday, September 12, 2007 at 11:43:00 PM EDT
- Seattle Jeff said...
Forget that I said I was loving "Rome" Season 2...God, the Pullo/Verenus story lines are so awful. Irrelevant and uninteresting. Horrible.
The dynamic just seems way off, as if the writers couldn't get it together after a long layoff.
- Thursday, September 13, 2007 at 8:10:00 PM EDT
- James Allen said...
Just realized I typed 3:10 to Uma (instead of Yuma) up above. What the heck was I thinking of? Uma Thurman, I suppose (but not in My Super Ex-Girlfriend, that's for sure.)
- Friday, September 14, 2007 at 8:09:00 AM EDT
I'd be more interested in why Walter's not reviewing "Eastern Promises". You guys have been reviewing less and less new movies each week. What gives?
- Friday, September 14, 2007 at 1:51:00 PM EDT
- Walter_Chaw said...
Dunno. . . I'm thinking that working for free or at a deficit for ten years starts wearing on folks after a while. Just a guess.
That being said - will review the new Crony for certain when I get the chance to see it - it's not opening in Denver until next week and not screening for us until the day before.
- Friday, September 14, 2007 at 6:03:00 PM EDT
- Bill C said...
Ironically, we've actually logged more theatrical reviews this year than we had last year at this time.
The grousing is flattering, but it does feel sometimes like we're churning out product to the tune of "dance, monkey, dance," given how infrequently our tip jar runneth over.
- Friday, September 14, 2007 at 8:29:00 PM EDT
Sorry sorry. I don't mean to sound unappreciative. It's just you guys are so good, and you spoil us, so we act like a jilted lover when you give us less than we're used to.
- Friday, September 14, 2007 at 11:55:00 PM EDT
- Jefferson said...
In fairness, although it's visible on the TIFF capsule page and elsewhere, your PayPal donation button has disappeared from the main page.
- Saturday, September 15, 2007 at 11:39:00 AM EDT
- Bill C said...
Touche, Jefferson, though there are also donation links at the top of almost every review page.
Anyway, I know you didn't mean anything by it, Paul. Speaking for myself, I think I have post-TIFF partum.
- Saturday, September 15, 2007 at 12:10:00 PM EDT
- Bill C said...
Just to apprise y'all, my bloated capsule review of DIARY OF THE DEAD is now online, and I'll be periodically updating that page with new material over the coming week.
- Saturday, September 15, 2007 at 1:41:00 PM EDT
- Bill C said...
Wow, the Emmys awarding Jaime Pressley over Jenna Fischer has to top their list of stupid decisions.
A broken back, a divorce, The Brothers Solomon...it just ain't her year. But anyone not choked-up by Pam's little victories on "The Office" last season truly has a heart of lead. I suppose it's not the comic gold that screeching "Eaaarrrrlll!" ad nauseam is, though.
- Monday, September 17, 2007 at 2:24:00 PM EDT
I finally caught up with Haneke's Funny Games, as I figured I should see the original before his remake, and man... what an asshole. Is it just me, or does he greatly underestimate the value of horror movies,the intelligence of their fans, and the artistic merits of the genre in general? I felt like I was being pandered to as if I was a 6-year-old. And now I've watched the trailer for his remake, and it appears to be a carbon copy of the original with different actors. Talk about a pointless exercise.
- Monday, September 17, 2007 at 4:25:00 PM EDT
- rachel said...
Me, I can't wait to see who robs Stephen Colbert next year. Will it be Wayne Newton? Linda Rondstadt? Eydie Gormé? Whatever, it'll be awesome.
- Monday, September 17, 2007 at 5:26:00 PM EDT
- Seattle Jeff said...
If anyone from "My Name is Earl" desrerves recognition, it's the guy who plays Crabman.
- Monday, September 17, 2007 at 5:42:00 PM EDT
Walter, I finally got to see the enormously wonderful Tony Jaa flick "The Protector", and what a balls-out awesome film that was. I can't wait for this to somehow arrive in HD so I can buy it and watch it over and over. Only question is, where was the scene where he took out the guy with his penis?
- Monday, September 17, 2007 at 9:24:00 PM EDT
Funny Games is just pure hate for everything, which is admirable in its own way. Who financed it, let alone a remake? Its the movie you show to people you want to leave your house.
- Tuesday, September 18, 2007 at 4:30:00 AM EDT
I just watched Haneke's Funny Games tonight, and I'm really confused by your reaction, Dennis. How did you find it pandering? Also, where can I grab the remake trailer?
- Tuesday, September 18, 2007 at 11:28:00 AM EDT
Pander in the sense that Haneke thought he was being much more clever than he actually was, giving horror fans what he believes they want while subverting those expectations and illustrating their debasedness. He is a pseudo-intellectual talking down to anyone who watches his movie
Nick Pinkerton over at Reverse Shot gives the best take that I've seen for the movie, it's a recommended read.
The trailer can be found here: http://video.msn.com/v/us/v.htm???f=msnmovies/64&g=c85ab50d-6ed1-4ea4-9e72-f281e8d11864&
- Tuesday, September 18, 2007 at 12:18:00 PM EDT
- Ryan said...
This is pretty amazing - CG Reel for Fincher's Zodiac
- Tuesday, September 18, 2007 at 8:58:00 PM EDT
- Alex Jackson said...
Well, Haneke did say something like "Those who leave don't need the film, those who do will stay".
But, the omnipotent post-modern serial killer has been a part of the horror genre since at least A Nightmare on Elm Street (probably much earlier, I'm sure) and the violation of a domestic sanctuary has always been the predominantly employed premise. I never really felt it was placing itself above the genre, but rather that it was implanting itself firmly within it.
I dunno, maybe that didn't address your complaint. Hopefully, later I can come up with something better.
- Tuesday, September 18, 2007 at 11:25:00 PM EDT
- Rick said...
Funny Games may be the most pointless remake in movie history. But I do love the original, and I guess I am dumb if the film is pandering, because to me it felt just as intense as Cache was. Actually, I would love to see the remake if they would cast UF student Andrew Meyer as one of the victims, purely for sadistic purposes.
- Wednesday, September 19, 2007 at 12:18:00 AM EDT
Funny Games is intense, at least for the first half, until it dawned on me that Haneke was just having a lark at the expense of the movie's viewers, who he clearly sees as below him. He thought he was implicating me with all of his silly self-aware gags, but I just thought they were funny. Sorry Haneke, it will take more than juvenile tactics like that for me to feel ashamed with myself.
- Wednesday, September 19, 2007 at 2:24:00 AM EDT
I guess I'll have to file my love of Funny Games and giddiness at the remake's trailer under the inexplicable. I don't really agree with Haneke's ideas at all, I just like his audacity, his technical control, and the tremendous gut-twisting intensity he achieves while barely showing any violence.
- Wednesday, September 19, 2007 at 10:31:00 AM EDT
- jer fairall said...
Speaking of Tarnation (in Bill's most recent TIFF review), I'm sure we must've all seen ths by now, but I had no idea that Jonathan Caouette was such a Britney fan.
- Wednesday, September 19, 2007 at 9:44:00 PM EDT
I guess the movie bugged me because its only seen by people who watch foreign horror films, and then proceeds to judge the audience. By exposing ourselves to that we are essentially saying we are better than everyone else (at least when it comes to movies) and Haneke calls us on it. Then again that statement presupposes Americans are the only worthwhile filmgoers. So i guess I am an ass.
- Wednesday, September 19, 2007 at 11:10:00 PM EDT
More dumb than The Office losing out Best Comedy to the horror that is 30 Rock, or even Jenna Fischer's loss (at least she'll always have the whitest sneakers) is James Gandolfini losing to freaking James Spader. Are they just trying to be contrarian? The pool scene with AJ's suicide attempt should be enough to get any actor an Oscar.
- Thursday, September 20, 2007 at 12:21:00 AM EDT
- Kenneth said...
30 Rock is the best show on television.
- Thursday, September 20, 2007 at 1:15:00 AM EDT
- permazorch said...
"Faulknerian." You said, "Faulknerian catfish."
Mr. Chaw, I'm going to love you forever.
It's going to hurt, too.
I fancy myself a Subgenius, and I think I want to order the Sublime smoothie, for sure.
You absolutely have to listen to The Gun Club.
- Thursday, September 20, 2007 at 9:56:00 PM EDT
Tina Fey is great...if your idea of humor is putting "vagina" into every other sentence.
- Friday, September 21, 2007 at 11:49:00 AM EDT
- Alex Jackson said...
"Vagina" is a funny word! Though not as funny as "cooch" or "cooter".
- Friday, September 21, 2007 at 5:55:00 PM EDT
Larry Fessenden is the man.
- Sunday, September 23, 2007 at 1:31:00 AM EDT
Roger Ebert... most powerful pundit in the USA (officially)... recent post on Jim Emerson's blog "Scanners"
- Tuesday, September 25, 2007 at 5:16:00 AM EDT


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subset: commoncrawl


text:
Pencil drawing:
Inked by Brian Romero:
Marc audio:
Raketu's site looks great! Really entertaining! The old site was so confusing - couldn't tell what Raketu was or what it did - The animations make it clear and fun! Here's hoping they make piles of money now that people can see what they're selling!
AWESOME....love the sista - cute!
John I really whish you could make ads for every god damn thing on earth. You make everything so appealing.Oh and wonderful job with the coloring Brian.
you are one of the best cartoonist i´ve never meet
check my website
Fun! Fun! Fun! Even with limited keyframes your characters still maintain their energy and fun.
WOW! Best yet!
Thank you, RAKUUUU-TIIIINNNNAAAAAA!
F*#king GREAT!
just saw the cartoons and I love them!!! if I had a company and needed advertisements I would come to you, but I am just a College Student, so hopefully other people will come to you.
keep up the great work!!!
Hey John -- Those look amazing.
Here's my life story, haha.
I used to watch Ren and Stimpy when I was growing up and the first time I saw it, I decided that's what I wanted to do with my life. Ever since I was about 2 or 4 years old, I've been improving my art. By age 8 I picked up animation with a GIF program. I moved on to flash at age 10 and now I'm improving every day. I'm 17 right now and I guess the point of telling you this is to let you know that you were the spark to my fire. I really enjoy reading your blogs and one day hope to become one of the greats like you. Keep on doing what you do, and work hard at it!
Thanks for the inspiration
neat stuff
These turned out great! I especially love the the George and Sody spots. That Chucky guy from the other post jumped the gun on his lip sync assessment. I think Sodys lip movement works well for what she's saying and for the fact that she's a fun. cartoony character.
Hey Brian, the inking looks good man! Did you use Illustrator?
Congratulations!!! Superb ads, really entertaining and clear in their message. I hope you'll continue to make more of them.
Has anybody from Raketu offered you to make design of the user interface, or skin for their software?
Everything is cool, except for the voices. Sometimes I can't really hear what they're saying and at other times they're just annoying.
What did use to ink your artwork once in your software program?
Mouse, Wacom or tracing program?
Huge improvement over the old site. The animations are great, and Brian's inking looks fantastic. I too have an issue with the voices, or rather the audio, which has way too much echo. Sounds very tinny in a couple of the animations, particularly the latest one, which doesn't fit with the great looking visuals. Other than that, it's a winner.
beautifully done, like all your stuff - love it. raketu are to be congratulated for an innovative approach to advertising.
oh that's weird... the first time i watched the sody and talking phone ads, it was really zoomed in, so that i could only see parts of the animated characters for the first maybe 5 seconds.. but upon rewatching them, it was framed so i could see everything just fine... AWESOME!
Everything was alive and bouncy and told what the products do. They at Raketu will need to buy T.V. air time to advertise, since they will be selling lots!
Everything turned out great!
I hope I get as good as you someday! Practice, practice, practice. Well I'm off to work hard on drawing. You inspired me again.
outstanding! watching the toons actually made me want to download and try it out - the old site never dod that!
Cool work John, cooler than ice on a grill..
Love the animations John!
The Sody ad is my favorite, its timed out so well!
Keep up the good work!
I ink everything with the brush tool in Illustrator. I've set up a couple of simple custom brushes. There's a brief tutorial on my blog. Hopefully Adobe upgrades the brush tool in Flash with the next release. Right now it sucks. The edges can get too rough and it doesn't react to pressure with the Wacom as well as the brush in Illustrator.
I'm not sure how the folks at Copernicus Studios inked most of the art on these pieces.
Excellent work! And now I understand Bobby Bigloaf and why you broke the 180 rule...it's so demented, I love that.
Nice ghetto booty!
Great Animation man! I would've loved to see it in an entire frame though, seeing it in a talk balloon deprives me of looking at you and the rest of your crew's brilliant drawings :(
Whoa, those are fantastic!!
Makes me miss Weekend Pussy Hunt... you really gotta finish that cartoon!
I'm notorious with my friends for always seeing your new cartoons the day that they're released. That being said, I LOVE them! It's so good to see George Liquor and Friends in new material! My favorite is Sody's, 'cause the timing is just perfect. I love the voices in all of them too! So alive, and happy acting! Great job to Michael, Katie, Kali, Marc and Eddie!
Those cartoons are HIGHLY phat, player! Please make a Sody Pop and Jimmy show.
These are great, especially the Sody one! Kali must have been pretty stoked to get to talk to Sody with Raketu in a commercial haha. This is the kind of thing that advertisment agencies should be jumping to do, it's not every day that I actually enjoy a commercial and end up feeling better about the product like I do with this, now they just need to come out with the OS X version of Raketu and I'll definetly give it a download.
congrats on those ads turning out really great, john. what i like is how simple every one of them are, giving you room to watch each characters' craziness.
SIGN ME UP for raketu, player! 23 skidoo!
awesome cartoon ads, john and crew! ... MAN i hope there is more George Liquor coming in the near future! i know everyone's drooling (and posibly other bodily fluids)over sody, but GL is my favorite! i miss jimmy... did they not want their product to be associated with a retard? it seems like he'd be a good pitch man, showing it's so easy to use, that even a frikkin retard could do it...
after seeing these i really wonder what's coming next from you.. it's been really awesome following your blog this past year and seeing you talk about what you're pitching and working on, and seeing what comes to fruition and how things turn out. maybe it's not "spumko" any more, but i'm sure the danes would still call it "Quality!"
p.s. on a side note, do you know if classico is on the new tenacious d dvd? and if not do you know where or when it might be released?
looks great! i can't believe an advertisment looks so cool.
Awesome, man.
If they make it for the Mac I will totally download it.
My animation class loved Bobby and Sody!
They didn't even recognize my voice! So I gave them a sample and they all gasped!
Everyone's new favorite catchphrases:
BLING! BLING! BLING!Twenty-three skidoo! (All the homies are quoting this).
What's cooler than the ice on your grill, fool? (My personal favorite).
That's highly phat player! (Another gang-banger fav).
Marc, you have such a professional voice- you could always fall-back on being the voice-over on a Boniva commerical, or Flomax, or Lunesta!
The artwork is absolutely awesome. Too bad Raketu isn't. They hid the fact that you have to put money into your account to use their "free" service on calls to Europe from the US, for example.
Wow! that website is 1000% better now! great job guys!
Those are fun.
Better those 'Pc and Mac' ads at least.
A wee boring, but I dislike Flash animation anyway. John, your style is so much more fluid with full animation.
I think ye olde NBC and pizza commercials were much better. Good job to all the new people helping out in the project though.
haha marc deckter sounds like ashton kutchner!(watch the trailer for open season, you'll hear it.)
23 skidoo! that kills me.
I heard this origin of "23 skidoo":
New York City's Flatiron Building, on 23rd Street, is a triangle. This shape made it very windy, which would blow ladies' skirts, revealing ankles, which in the early 20th Century, were seldom seen in public. Rascals would loiter around the Flatiron Building hoping for glimpses. Local constables, shooing such rogues away, were said to be giving them the "23 Skidoo."
The Raketu site looks much better, thanks to you, John! I watched each cartoon almost a dozen times. I love those characters. I would give my left one to see 'em in their own show!
I'm going to repeat what everybody already said, but anyway, I enjoyed the cartoons a lot! I also think the Sody Pop one is the best, but George Liquor's one is pretty neat too. I like the phone bill with devil atributes. It seems like a Donald Duck cartoon situation, which is also a greedy character that usually would be convinced by things like this. And Bobby is a funny character too, I wouldn't mind to see him again in other cartoons, though his haircut is too similar to Jimmy's. Is this guy created for the Rakety ad or did you already have this character in George Liquor's world? You finally did all type of crazy cut and movements in this one!
The other cartoon with the phone and the black woman is quite limited, but they have nice designs. Congrats to Brian Romero too!
It's been a true privilege seeing the works in progress over the months, and the final results turned up great.
The only thing is that the coloring for George Liquor was different. It was probably intentional to fit the mood of the project.
Anyways, Kudos!
Holy crap John! That George Liquor Raketu ad is the funniest shite ive seen in awhile! I must have watched it a dozen times..
I am glad that all that hard work for you is over or maybe I am a bit sad it is over. Either way the animation looks sharp with it's limitations meaning the layout looks good. Relax put your feet up and enjoy a martini. You and your team deserved it, cheers!
Haha - thanks Kali! It was fun working on this project with you. If I did voice-overs for all those products my dad would probably be proud of me for being a part of the medical community!
Hi Murray! - I'll have to check out that Open Season trailer... Interesting 23 Skidoo origin - I was wondering where Eddie got that from.
Pass the dailymotion version of the Sody cartoon around to your friends!
Great website! Wonderful cartoons! The look on Sody's face when she grasps Raketeena and thanks her - whoa, I've never seen that character look so demented! George Liquor is spectacular (So when are we gonna see the Raketu teevee ads?)
Say, how is Michael Pataki doing?
HAHAHAHAHAHAH!!! Awesome!!!
These ads are a triumph!!!
You know, if not for you these guys would be chopped liver. One big fat pipe dream.
It's amazing what a happy combination advertising and good cartoons make. It's a phenomenon that really makes you think.
BTW, love the old-skool HB sound effects.
Great stuff. Was any of it inked in Flash at all? Or just in Illustrator?
Great ads, but they weren't all that funny.
I'm surprised they let you put teenage panties on an innocent advertisement! That's awesome!
The cartoons are great! I like the dailymotion Sody cartoon better because the animation isn't cropped like it is on the Raketu website. What's up with the comic word balloons? I want to see the whole frame ones!
-David O.
Too damn cool! I love Sody's and George's expressions! Beautiful limited animation! I love the way Brian inked the phone guy and the chick! Bobby was friggin' hilarious! Raketu is lucky to have those characters! I've been dying to see Sody and George animated again!
looks alot better with the sound, came out purty nice really.
The pictures are really nice, and these are a good advertising tool.
When I get home, I'm going to download the latest version of Raketu (I have the original version) and experiment with it some more.
From a "business perspective", their web site redesign and the ads that they're using featuring your artwork are aces. This will help them appeal to Joe User or Jane User.
I'm going to withhold my "technical perspective" opinion of Raketu until I download the latest version and try it. There were some things in the original version that they needed to improve in order to appeal to Joe User or Jane User.
Listen i love John K and hence why I followed the links to find this site - but my job is marketing and it kills me to see this. Yeah Raketu just got a ton of publicity for people like myself who had never heard of them - but weird stylized tits and ass and some fat geeks are not a valid branding mesage. In my not so humble opinion.
"But my job is marketing and it kills me to see this."
I worked as an art director and designer at a couple of big agencies in NYC for nearly 10 years. I don't see anything wrong with Raketu using Johns characters to try and reach their audience. My bet is they're aiming for younger users who will find these shorts entertaining and not offensive. In my experience marketers and focus groups only serve to water down concepts, perpetuate mediocrity and cripple original thinking.
i want to bang sody so bad
What Brian R. said. I actually think these characters and their relation to Raketu is more realistic than most of the people we see in advertising. Mature people should identify with George's money problems, internet users should relate ,or ,at least, find Bobby funny and young girls and boys should identify with Sody's desire of having only one instant message service. I think they are functional, apart from being entertaining.
I'll download it when and if Raketu comes out for Mac OS X.
In the meantime, that's some killer flash animation, everyone! Makes me homesick for "The Goddamn George Liquor Program" and "Weekend Pussy Hunt."
Impressive...most impressive...


text:
Thanks to today's hip-hop artists Wesley T., Jen C., Erin R., Tim W., & Andrea L.
Related Wreckage- Conditions Froggy
I think what I said last time bears repeating:
Just painting anything green does NOT make it a frog.
Frogs have actual body structures, with actual shapes. And many of them are not even green.
The second one is actually kind of good, and the decorators of fourth one probably think the frog looks awesome next to the rest of the cakes in that case (the german chocolate thing underneath?)
Love your website!
Awww, the second one is actually really cute-- he's just stylized!
-- abadidea
Is there a good frog cake out there anywhere??
I love how #4 has a lovely poo dollop on the cake under it. Is that the catch tray under its cage? Ick
I think the second one with the huge feet is adorable!
As soon as I saw the third cake, the words "deranged demon pokemon" popped into my head.
And I realized how amazing it is that those words pop into my head so often when I read this blog.
The boob eye frog is really hot...not lol :)
I actually think that 2nd one is kinda cute. But you're right about the rest-slimy hell beasts!!!
Oh man. The third/flat one is my favorite.
Is that a giant suppurating boil waiting to pop atop the first froggy's well-rounded derriere?
The second clearly has lymphodema, while the CCC one (PTOOI!) looks like a mutant Pokemon.
A very angry mutant Pokemon.
With weird, lumpy eyes.
The fourth one looks like the Wreckerator got a couple of stale cinnamon buns, stuck them on the front then slathered over them with virulent green icing, under the mistaken impression they made perfect eyes.
The last one is kinda cute, like he tried to catch a fly, but over-stretched his tongue, and now can't wind it back up - like when you pull a blind down just a bit too far....
I think the second cake is kind of cute!
Did that 4th frog just take a dump on the cake below? Eeewww!
i wish folks would just stop trying to make frog cakes.
they creep me out. frogs and the wrecks.
however, the eyelashes are kinda cute ...
You'd think I'd be the first to get the association between frog and cake, but I'm missing a few nuts and bolts it appears...
Oh my! I just went to Yahoo and did an image search for "frog cake". And while I'll contest there are some cute(r) frog cakes and they aren't all wreckage, these are just the tip of the iceberg. Run! Run away now!
Oh, and frogs and science should never mix with cake: http://www.flickr.com/photos/40987116@N04/4046818985/
GLARGH. Horribly unappetizing.
Maybe applying to be a cake decorator should include a thorough eye exam. Many of these wrecks look like they were done by a person who couldn't even see what they were doing.
I can't help it but... the second one is kind of cute. Somehow.
that's tragic. especially because I think a frog-themed cake could be cute. maybe some lilly pads and tiny frogs? less wrecktastic?
I like the second one! :P
Was that frog CCC must have been done by a true picasso type artiste.
Is the fourth cake a frog or the scary chair from Pee Wee's Playhouse?? (Chairry I think was her name) :)
This might be something for you http://blixman.blogg.se/category/cupcakes.html
I have to admit that I too think the second frog is pretty darned cute.
Also, I couldn't stop myself from reading Dribbles words out loud.
Then I proceeded to laugh so hard that I may or may not have peed my pants a little.
Thank you, Jen. Thank you.
why are there even frog cakes? Is this something regional?
The second one is cute. The third one is just plain scary!
My mum, having been brought up in the 1920's, was of the opinion that any food containing green colouring was potentially poisonous. After seeing these, she may well have had a point...
That first cake gives me an idea for a Halloween costume for my Roomba vacuum cleaner!
I must admit to making not one, but TWO frog cakes in the past. They looked nothing like these, tho, thank goodness!! ;-)
The last one looks like a dog they covered in green icing.
andygirl said...
that's tragic. especially because I think a frog-themed cake could be cute. maybe some lilly pads and tiny frogs? less wrecktastic?
Exactly.. can anyone say Kermit!
But don't you think it's good that they keep TRYING???
I found today's blog entry quite amusing, and then I noticed that the ad on the left hand side was for "Frogger." hahaha I realize that the ad changes, but I thought it was very appropriate.
LOL this should have been titled "The Rainbow Disconnection" its not easy being green...
The Princess and the Frog cake, anyone? :D
Add my voice to the growing number who think the second one is actually kinda cute, and not a Wreck.
Aw, I think the one with the huge feet is cute. :)
The rest, though.... kinda scary.
Gross. Just gross. The way the tongues of the frogs stick out, I'd have to think they agree...
That first one looks like a squashed Grinch!
wv- rearke. I rearked back when I saw these frog cakes.
That first one would turn your mouth green for a week! But I love the cupcake one! It is the most hideous thing EVER!
I agree that the second one is adorable.
WV: refunte - what I'd be asking for at the counter for most of these cakes
There is hope! Google "frog cake" and many of the images that result are oh-so-cute!
To the last picture my daughter said: "Oh look it's a doggy!"
Slimy hell beasts indeed! Frog #4 has anus eyes... ANUS EYES!!!!
I have never seen a good frog cake, personally. However, if people insist on defending them, have them send in frog sweets! That would be wonderful.
the huge footed 2nd one is cute.. but yeah, those others are some hell beats for sure!
Is it just me, or does the third one down appear to have some sort of cauliflower wart skin disease? Seems to be adding insult to injury given he has also been recently run over by a steamroller.
Stella said...
"why are there even frog cakes? Is this something regional?"
A lot of people seem to think frogs are cute. It must have something to do with their big eyes, and the fact that from certain angles they appear to be grinning.
Of course, to the extent that frogs embody cuteness, these cakes are very un-cute, since they bear almost no resemblance to frogs. And the idea of a frog cake doesn't seem very appetizing to me (sort of like a trout-flavored cake?).
I do feel I need to correct your description of the CCC...that's not a frog, it's an amoeba.
"It's not slime. It's mucus."
The one with the huge feet looks a little crazy, but he's the best of the bunch!
Add me to the list of peeps who think the 2nd cake is actually pretty cute. Could have used smoother lines, but at least you could actually TELL it was a frog. And not a turtle. Or Atari's Frogger after he's had a run in with an asphalt roller...
It's hard for me to imagine a dark green cake of any kind that I would actually want to eat. Bleh.
But as always, Jen, the commentary is brilliant!
The second one is actually cute.
I'm trying to decide if cake #3 is more disturbing as a frog or as a stand of man-eating broccoli.
Perhaps these will give the frog lovers hope:
Call me crazy but I think the second one is cute in a mis-proportioned way. It's just goofy enough to be acceptable in my book. The others CLEARLY belong in wreck status.
I also thought the last one was a green dog. And the ccc is a perfect example of why you should just say no to cupcake cakes.
@kiddan — those are some pretty cupcakes at that link you posted
wv: egqkz - ingredient for a frog cake recipe: add two medium sized egqkz, beaten
The second one is surrounded by other wrecks, a fugly christmas log and some random blue thing. Wreck-o-rama!
I had to go look at the Sunday Sweet frog cake featured awhile back to even remember what frogs are supposed to look like!
i like the second one too.
the broken tongue one is funny.
funny this should come up.
I actually looked for pictures of nice frog cakes after your first post. i thought i'd find them and e-mail them to you for sunday sweets.
naturally, i found none.
frog cakes are clearly not cake worthy
Isn't the bigger question here why anyone would want to eat something that looks (or embodies the spirit of, as represented by the mad genius of a wreckerator) like a frog?
Hahahahahaha. Oh well. They tried. :O
It took me a few seconds to figure out what was going on with the second to last one. It looked like the frog had defecated on the shelf below, but it turned out to just be another cake.
WV: brall. Jen's so freaked out by frog cakes, there's gonna be a brall.
Eyelashes? On an amphibian?
That third cake would have been a fairly good CCC if it hadn't been turned upside down before frosting! the eye stalks turn into pretty good legs, and the lump body into eyes (if there was still a cupcake where one of those glue spots is.)
Have any of these people actually seen a frog? I guess if they see those mutant frogs from MN, they might have an excuse.
There is some hope...google "frog wedding cakes," and you'll see what I mean! A frog cake can be nice, but I think it requires a wedding-sized budget.
I thought with the exception of some seriously fat lips my frog cake came out ok.. Or is that my wreckerator side peeking out?
The one with the thpeeth pwobwem hath a cute fwoggy bottom. (You can thee it in the miwwuh.)
I enjoy the "best foot forward" wreck. Totally Wrecky, yes, but somehow cute. :-)
Bwa ha ha! These are great! Love 'em!
CWAP! With hell beasts like these, the frog cake photo I sent you with the guacamole green lilypad side cake doesn't stand a freaking chance!
C'mon wreckers! Give a small town cakewreck a chance! Take the day off!
I LOVE LOVE LOVE your two dimensional joke and about being crushed. :-D
Cake number four looks like the decorator was playing a serious game of Frogger and the cake was run over by a truck..
This calls for a Sunday Sweets on frogs to give us hope...
Come on troops! Find those Actual frog cakes!
So now you will have to actually do a Sunday's Best with the Frog Theme... Work really hard and find some that are done cute....
HAHAHAHAHAH one of your best posts in recent times
I made this frog cake for my son's 1st birthday. First cake I'd ever decorated completely by myself - thought it turned out really cute! Much better than the wrecks on here! By the way, I'm self-taught, never taken a decorating class, so I don't claim to be any good at this. :)
the one with the big feet is kinda cute.
Frankly, that second-to-last one looks more like a Cthulhu Cake...
I don't think I want to admit to this, but I bought that cup-cake cake for my son's 1st birthday...and I saw what it looked like before I bought it. Sad but true. Other than the green out of place wort or whatever it was it looked very much the same (tounge sticking out and everything). What was I thinking?
Oh well, my lil' one still looked cute eating that green frosting on his single cup-cake.
PS: I put a picture on my blog if you all want to see...just about identical. Except I think the one Jen posted was actually cuter than mine.
The second one is pretty sweet...but way too green !
shoot - I've actually made a frog cake I was kinda proud of once...
at least IT didn't show up here...
and yeah - the german chocolate poo catcher underneath the one frog made me lose my appetite, maybe I should start checking your blog PRIOR to dinner and it would help my diet?
I think this one needs to be added to the frog cakes... creepy... they look like green leeches...
I think the isolated swirl of poo on the cake under the second to last frog is more disturbing than the frog cake.
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A Cake Wreck is any cake that is unintentionally sad, silly, creepy, inappropriate - you name it. A Wreck is not necessarily a poorly-made cake; it's simply one I find funny, for any of a number of reasons. Anyone who has ever smeared frosting on a baked good has made a Wreck at one time or another, so I'm not here to vilify decorators: Cake Wrecks is just about finding the funny in unexpected, sugar-filled places.
Now, don't you have a photo you want to send me? ;)
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text:
BOOM widget 57356Following up on last week's story, Electronic Arts today officially announced Tiberium, a squad-based first person shooter set in the Command & Conquer world.
Set release on PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 late next year, Tiberium has you playing as Ricardo Vega, a "Forward Battle Commander." As Vega, you take control of multiple infantry, armor, and air squads as you fend off an alien invasion (and presumably the forces of Nod) in single-player as well as multiplayer modes.
Executive producer Chris Plummer of developer EA Los Angeles noted, "After two years of pre-production, it is exciting to finally reveal this game and its rich fiction to the world. We've put a lot of effort into evolving the tactical shooter experience by taking core gameplay compulsions like commanding, choice and dominating your enemies and delivering them in first-person. Some of the weapons and mechanics are truly innovative for a first-person game. We're very proud to be part of a project that has the potential to really make a mark on the canon of sci-fi fantasy fiction."


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Wednesday, October 8, 2008
ESPN's Stick-And-Ball Feeding Frenzy
Wednesday marked another milestone in ESPN's feeding frenzy for the rights to college sports. This time, it was the Big West Conference signing a five year deal with the media giant.
Over the last several months, ESPN's senior executive John Skipper (pictured above) has been leading the charge to add more-and-more live events to the company's line-up of college and pro sports. The biggest deal of the season was in August. Skipper signed an agreement with the Southeastern Conference (SEC) that was monumental in nature.
The SEC had been poking around about starting a free-standing cable TV network just like the Big Ten Conference had done. ESPN's response was to make them an offer they could not refuse. On the table went a deal for 15 years of coverage on the ESPN networks for all kinds of SEC sports. The check attached to it was made out for 2.25 billion dollars. That would be billion with a "B."
This is the exact same ESPN that recently made mincemeat out of the newly unified Indy Racing League. They sent Tony George and his IRL teams packing to the relative obscurity of the Versus digital cable TV network. Skipper wanted the Indy 500 and four other races on ABC. The remaining thirteen IRL races were suddenly not even on the ESPN radar. There was no more room for auto racing.
"The Indy 500 is something we were focused on," said ESPN VP/Programming & Acquisitions Scott Guglielmino. "It really boiled down to that." The rights fee paid by ESPN for the Indy 500 and the other four races combined is less than 4 million dollars a year. How is that for a clear indication of where priorities lie?
In a September 29th interview in MediaWeek, Skipper elaborated on the new ESPN philosophy. "We have found that what sports fans really care about and why they come to ESPN properties is to watch live games," said Skipper.
With this new focus, Skipper's shopping list in incredible. He wants more college product, additional professional golf and tennis events as soon as possible. As a longtime soccer fan, Skipper also plans more extensive coverage of the World Cup in 2010. But, that is not the biggest fish in the ESPN ocean.
The ultimate goal is to combine ESPN and ABC to cover the Olympics. Skipper is working on a bid for the 2014 and 2016 games. ESPN saw the success that an entertainment-driven network like NBC had with Beijing and they want a piece of the pie.
Currently, ESPN is in the second year of a TV contract with NASCAR. ESPN steps into the Sprint Cup Series in late July and has a good run for a couple of weeks right up until college and pro football season hits. Then, finding more than a forced NASCAR blurb on ESPNEWS or SportsCenter becomes very hard to do.
Other than NASCAR Now, the sport is nowhere on any other ESPN shows from The Sports Reporters to PTI. Some ESPN shows still continue to make fun of NASCAR and celebrate the stick-and-ball culture of ESPN as a whole. When the football blizzard of content begins, NASCAR gets snowed-under very quickly.
The Nationwide Series suffers the worse fate by racing on Saturdays. Fans remember the tough times last year when college football overlapped with live races and the ESPN Classic Network became the second home for the Nationwide Series teams.
One live Nationwide Series race last season was yanked totally off-the-air during the pre-race prayer. It was time for college football.
Ultimately, don't all of the Nationwide races, the Sprint and Nationwide Series practices and the qualifying sessions fit the same criteria as the 13 dropped IRL races? What ESPN really wants is the final seventeen Sprint Cup Series events and the entire Chase for the Championship to show on ABC.
As Skipper and company continue to pile-on the new college and pro sports, isn't it only a matter of time before the same eyes that just dealt with the IRL turn toward NASCAR? The results should be very interesting.
The Daly Planet welcomes comments from readers. Simply click on the COMMENTS button below and follow the easy instructions. The rules for posting are located on the right side of the main page. Thank you for taking the time to stop by.
(photo courtesy of F. Scott Shafer for Wired Magazine/2005)
45 comments:
- The Western New Yorker said...
I think NASCAR will be fine at ESPN, because it still brings in the ratings for them week in and week out, even if they have slightly dropped. The main reason for the IRL leaving is the fact that its ratings were anemic for so long. I would bet that the Big West would be mostly relegated to ESPNU, so it wouldn't affect NASCAR that much.
I just hope they never get the Olympics, that would ruin sports as we know it.
- October 8, 2008 at 9:13 PM
- PammH said...
OMG, this is terrible news for Nascar..:( We are literally toast on ESPU when this starts-like it doesn't suck now. I'm gonna have to give up on Cup Lite. The plus side is I will have Sats free in the fall!! My furkid will appreciate that..:)
- October 8, 2008 at 9:21 PM
- Anonymous said...
I don't understand why ESPN paid so much to buy the rights to show NASCAR racing, but now works so hard to minimize it, both in the way it is aired (or not) and in the comments made about it on other ESPN shows.
If they didn't want racing, they shouldn't have bought the package in the first place.
- October 8, 2008 at 9:23 PM
- Daly Planet Editor said...
Anon 9:23PM,
We first said it when the ESPN and NASCAR TV deal was announced. It is the reason that we started this blog.
ESPN and ESPN2 had been full of quality live programming for years and suddenly NASCAR was going to try to fit ten months of new programming into those two networks.
This new buying spree is going to be very interesting if ESPN does not try to change ESPN Classic into ESPN3.
- October 8, 2008 at 9:49 PM
- alex said...
With all this talk of more and more events, they'll need 2 more channels. If they don't just imagine how tight the program listings would be. One game in overtime screws up everything. (more so than currently)
I'd hate to see them try to have all of the live sporting events, and just push the majority of them to the black hole known as espn360.com
- October 8, 2008 at 10:00 PM
- Anonymous said...
Keep adding channels. If Classic becomes ESPN3, that puts us only five away from THE OCHO!
- October 8, 2008 at 10:03 PM
- Sophia said...
360 STINKS. NOBODY I know even has heard of this let alone has it??
Somebody called me a couple weeks ago about a Marshall football game he wanted to see...ESPN 360..nobody he worked with had heard of it. He thought it might be on our digital cable stations.
LAME, LAME, Lame.
Is NASCAR so arrogant they will let ESPN ruin this auto sport rather than say they sold their soul to ESPN???
I have heard the NW ratings are not much better than IRL...not sure that is true...IRL IMPROVED by end of season after the first season of the merger. over a million I read on an IRL site.
sad how ESPN hates autosports and OVER CROWDS their dials.
- October 8, 2008 at 10:20 PM
- haus20 said...
anon @ 10:03 --- LOL
I would be interested to know if the terms of the new contract stipulates that the Big West Games must be on ESPN or ESPN 2 or if simply they can be on any of the ESPN family of networks.
If only SPEED had the same passion for Live Racing Programming...where is the racing version of John Skipper?
- October 8, 2008 at 11:17 PM
- bevo said...
The next big contract that will play havoc for NASCAR on ESPN? English Premier League.
- October 8, 2008 at 11:45 PM
- Photojosh said...
"If only SPEED had the same passion for Live Racing Programming...where is the racing version of John Skipper?"
EXACTLY my thought. With IRL having no home and the nationwide series + cup/NW practices/qualifying taking it in the shorts, you'd think the door would be open for a full on racing network. One that was based around auto racing in all it's forms.
Nah, screw that idea. Let's just have a network that does reality shows about the dangerous lives of tow truck drivers.
- October 8, 2008 at 11:48 PM
- Dot said...
This does not bode well for us NASCAR fans.
Excuse my ignorance, but where does one find ESPU360? I think that only a chosen few get it with their cable companies. I tried to find it once, and I think that's is what ESPUs website said.
JD, Do you have any insight into the racing contract between NASCAR and ESPU from some of your buddies? For instance, are they allowed to show the NW races on tape delay like they do drag racing? (I see this coming). Are there any escape clauses? Or is this information like the NASCAR rule book? You know, we know it exists but the contents are not for public consumption.
@ Pammh, what is a furkid? Is it a pet? It sounds like a bad word. Like, ESPU shows furkid up race coverage.
@Photojosh, Ditto from Dot.
- October 8, 2008 at 11:54 PM
- Anonymous said...
If they did go to ESPN 3, do you think it would be on Basic Plus with no additional fee? Some of us do not get Classic, so we're just
miss out when they switch. I agree with the other posters, why spend the billions on NASCAR, and not have more programming, or at least a decent calling of the races. Is there an escape clause for NASCAR, or ESPN.
- October 8, 2008 at 11:57 PM
- Karen said...
Dot said...
This does not bode well for us NASCAR fans.
Excuse my ignorance, but where does one find ESPU360?
Go to espn360.com and it will tell you you can get it through selected broadband services or if you have Verizon high speed internet. Or you can select your cable company, which isn't an option for me b/c it's not listed.
- October 9, 2008 at 1:02 AM
- stricklinfan82 said...
I'm hoping this is going to signal the end of the failed two-year experiment that was "NASCAR on ESPN". The network has delivered nothing but negatives for NASCAR, so in my opinion it's definitely time to move on.
NASCAR probably hoped ESPN would treat it with more respect across all of its platforms if NASCAR allowed itself to become an ESPN property. NOPE! It's still just as irrelevant on Sportscenter, ESPNEWS, PTI, Around the Horn, Mike & Mike, etc. as it was before 2007. The same anchor jokes, the same lack of knowledge, the same burying of highlights or outright ignoring of the sport on these shows, and the same zero respect for the sport by ESPN that existed before 2007 haven't gone away.
All ESPN has brought to NASCAR is black-eyes for many of its star drivers and major headaches to all of its fans. Tape-delays, TV blackouts of practice/qualifying sessions, and joined-in-progress broadcasts are hard enough to swallow. Add on top of that the fact that the ESPN NASCAR production truck blatantly mocks NASCAR as being boring and covers up the on-track action with full-screen videos and other junk, and that crosses the threshold of what is bearable for me as a fan.
So.... NASCAR hasn't improved its rung on the ESPN priority ladder since moving to the network. Many drivers are completely fed-up with ESPN's approach to "covering" this sport and stabbing everyone in it in the back. And most fans are completely fed up with not being able to watch our sport on TV because ESPN is either deadbeat, busy covering another sport, or covering up the screen with full-screen junk when they are actually on the air from the track. What GOOD has actually come from this association? Who has benefitted from this, other than ESPN/ABC itself (who still gets much bigger rating numbers with NASCAR than they could with anything else they could pick up in its place on Sunday afternoons)? NASCAR loses, the drivers lose, and the fans lose. Only ESPN wins. I say enough of this garbage and it's time for NASCAR to move on from ESPN.
NASCAR, you hit a major home run with your first TV contract but you struck out BIG TIME the second time around. It was a nice try. It was a calculated gamble. It could have produced big dividents for your sport, but unfortunately it blew up in your face. It's now time to swallow your pride, admit your mistake, pick up the pieces, move on, and do the right thing for your sport, your drivers, and your fans and find a new TV home before it's too late.
To me the potential loss of over-the-air TV that could accompany leaving ESPN/ABC is a minor price to pay to free the drivers, the fans, and the sport as a whole from the prison sentence that has been trying to endure dealing with ESPN making a complete mockery of this sport practically every day for the last two years.
Move the ESPN NASCAR schedule to Turner, to some combination of Fox/FX/Speed, to Versus, to PBS, to the Food Network..... ANYTHING would have to be better than what we have right now with ESPN's ignore-the-track and mock-the-sport coverage styles.
- October 9, 2008 at 1:22 AM
- Dot said...
@ Karen, Thanks. I don't get it here (LV) either. I would never change my cable/phone/internet package to get this anyway.
And really, who wants to sit and watch racing on the computer? (unless you're away from a TV). I like being with my e friends here during the race, but I still like seeing it on TV. Plus, roommate wouldn't like me interrupting the coverage to post a comment. I really hope this is not a sign of things to come.
@ All, Since Cup is racing on Sat night, are we playing the drinking game? I'm buying.
- October 9, 2008 at 1:24 AM
- Anonymous said...
I think ESPN's focus on programming shows an attitude held by the general sports viewer that readers of this blog don't want to admit. The majority of sports fans see Nascar as an entertainment business, rather than a sport. They see the cars covered in sponsor logos and the driver's racing suits looking like walking billboards and think much like Tony Stewart stated: similar to WWF. The inconsistency in rules applications and perceived preferential treatment of certain drivers all weakens the arguments of legitimacy in the eyes of mainstream viewers. I've been following Nascar for a while. I remember when Fireball died. I think some of the perceptions are legitimate.
- October 9, 2008 at 7:37 AM
- cvt said...
NASCAR, the IRL and the ALMS need to get together and negotiate a deal with Fox and Speed for broader and deeper coverage of their respective events. They need to negotiate greater clearance rates with cable operators for Speed so it is part of basic cable and move-on from ESPN.Even if that means creating Speed2.
Take the capable on-air racing staff from ESPN, TNT, NBC etc and move them over to Fox/Speed.
Autoracing is always going to be the ugly stepchild to Stick 'n Ball sports, even golf, because of the inherent cultural bias in the journo industry. Get over it and move on.
- October 9, 2008 at 7:48 AM
- Adam T. Martin said...
Well, it feels like 1999-2000 again.
I still can't believe what they did to the IRL. Now I think NASCAR will probably suffer on the Cup coverage.
- October 9, 2008 at 8:06 AM
- GinaV24 said...
Great, just great. I think ESPN's coverage of NASCAR is bad right now and this won't improve things anyway. JD, I know whenever it gets mentioned that many of us don't get ESPN classic that we need to talk to our cable provider, but I sure don't have much clout with them -- maybe if all the NASCAR fans banned together? I don't watch ESPN on any kind of regular basis -- I actually forget that Monday Night Football is even on because it moved onto their network. I would like to see a little more respect paid to racing and if Speed would pick it all up for the NW series and Cup, that would be awesome. I've quit watching most of the programming on Speed in the past couple of years -- I'm with Photojosh -- now we get the "dangerous lives of tow truck drivers". A program that I have TOTALLY ignored.
- October 9, 2008 at 8:23 AM
- Tom said...
Sad. I truly believe that ESPN was responsible for NASCAR and it's booming popularity in the
80's and 90's. They had solid broadcasts, good announcers, and fairly simple, yet innovative, technical aspects (the original "Digger"). Today none of these things are true. As uninteresting as many of these new college TV deals are for me (and hey, I am a Gator alumni), I guess I am not sure it is a bad deal for ESPN. That stuff is huge, most people I know spend entire weekends watching football/basketball, and don't give a thought to racing. I think at this piont the best we can hope for is more ESPN channels, or better, a switch to another network. I was distraught about the IRL deal initially, but after researching it a little further, It may turn out all right. Turns out Bright house even has VS on HD, and I guess there is some deals to bring it to more Cable systems. NHL has been there, and the coverage (house-wise) has improved, but there is reason to be optimistic that event coverage will improve-longer post race, a weekly open wheel tv show (bring on Robin Miller!). Between satelite and fiber optic systems, the channel availabilty situation will be changing fairly radically in the next 5 years.
Inverness, FL
- October 9, 2008 at 8:31 AM
- Anonymous said...
@dot--yes a "furkid" is your dog, cat, hamster, etc. :).
Yes Saturday is going to be interesting...like I said in the other thread, while they have the post-game shows to help with OT, who knows if it does go there, if they'll try to still have their full 30 minute wrap up show, especially after the last game. And Classic is the only available channel as everyone else has football.
- October 9, 2008 at 8:41 AM
- PammH said...
dot-a furkid is a pet, ie, dog or cat. I'm single & don't have any children, but I do have a "furkid". think she mite be spoiled? ;)
I have stopped taping practice & quals on the four letter network. There's just no point..They don't seem to get that in general, the "casual" fan does NOT watch those shows anyway. I know I didn't the first couple of yrs I was watching racing. But found that I was missing some good info, so I started. When it's presented correctly, it's fun & informative.
- October 9, 2008 at 8:52 AM
- majorshouse said...
It makes me wonder how much longer that NASCAR will be on the four letter network because they hate any form of auto racing. I think it is high time that NASCAR voids this contract and gives it to TNT. They gave us the best coverage of any of them. I never thought I would say that, but the entire team was good and entertaining as well, they also provided us with race buddy and that was great too. It is high time that NASCAR listened to the fans and did something because it is obvious that the four letter network definitely does not have racing's interest at heart at any level.
- October 9, 2008 at 9:05 AM
- Anonymous said...
You know , there is a possible silver lining in all of this . ESPN has botched the NASCAR coverage about as badly as they could have . SPEED has done a fair job on NASCAR , but their regular line- up of non stop infomercials and that horrible Pinks leaves the door open for an interesting possibility .
The arena is wide open for a brand new network to step in and do what ESPN and especially SPEED always promised but never delivered . Quality AUTO RACE programming . A channel that has non stop auto racing , no infomercials , and race broadcasts that are repeated two to three times at differing hours . This idea sound familiar . It is . Thats what we were promised but never really received . NASCAR contract tied up for another year or two . Fine . Show all of the USAC races , bring along a version of Thursday Night Thunder , DIRT series ( or whatever they call themselves these days ) , Austrailian Super Cars . The list of possible race shows is endless .
- October 9, 2008 at 9:32 AM
- chase said...
JD: Well, indeed this is lousy news BUT as most of us have been grousing about for a long time and that is NASCAR has got to negate their K with ESPN and let ESPN do their other sports rather than shift racing around to their other various channels at their whim. It is really unconscionable what is happening and either NASCAR steps up to the plate and makes this happen or else they will continue their downward spiral. I am at a loss as to suggest an alternative but my gut reaction would be to put ALL racing in all series on SPEED and keep it there - have SPEED surround themselves with the best announcers and PxP, and pit people and crank it out - after all, SPEED Channel means racing - throw IRL, ARCA, some F1, some regional series in to the mix and voila! SPEED will be a star and the masses will come back and watch. Short of this, I think we're all in deep trouble! Thanks John - but I'm glad you reported the bad news, lousy though it is.
- October 9, 2008 at 9:34 AM
- 3bud said...
When is NASCAR going to wake up to the lack of respect their TV partners show. I can not believe anything close to this would be happening if Bill France Jr. were still with us. I know not all agree but we lost alot on Febuary 18 2001. and again June 2007. They need to take a stand or there may not be awole lot to stand up for. So much going on in the world, you need your escape ,for me NASCAR has been it for many years. I hate to see the level of poor treatmeant ESPN mostly shows. Be it the drivers, fans, races, they really don't seem to get it
- October 9, 2008 at 9:39 AM
- Ken said...
ESPN wants as many live shows on as possible and racing does not fit well because of the unpredictability of the "sport". Football, basketball and other sports have a starting time that does not vary plus overtimes are infrequent that makes finishing times predictable. Baseball is frequently postphoned when the weather is bad. However, racing's starting time can be delayed for hours due to weather and wrecks, red flags, rain delays, etc. makes the finishing times unpredictable. Racing messes up their schedule badly.
Before the end of the contract, you you think NA$CAR might start their own network to take the "burden" off of ESPN. This would be a good excuse and it might have been the plan all along.
- October 9, 2008 at 9:41 AM
- haus20 said...
anon@7:37 said, "I think ESPN's focus on programming shows an attitude held by the general sports viewer that readers of this blog don't want to admit. The majority of sports fans see Nascar as an entertainment business, rather than a sport. They see the cars covered in sponsor logos and the driver's racing suits looking like walking billboards..."
I must ask, have you been to a stick & ball sporting event lately? Have you noticed the billboards everywhere around the stadiums? Have you ever checked out the names of the stadiums, fields and arenas? Companies pay upwards of $20 million for the naming rights to the stadiums. Have you seen Manchester United's uniforms lately or any other professional soccer teams uniform for that matter? It is nothing but company logos and sponsorships.
I think it has less to do with that and more to do with a lack of understanding of the sport. No matter what the sport is, if you don't understand what is going on or how the game is played, you will have a lack of interest in the sport. For example, cricket is very popular in England and other countries in Europe as well as around the world. However, I have no interest in watching the sport. I have tried, but I don't know what is going on and I don't understand the rules therefore I am lost when I watch it. The same can be said for NASCAR, until a few years ago, I had no interest in watching cars go "around in circles" for 4 hours, but then I had some friends who were fans and they helped to instill an interest in the sport. Since I had an interest, I started to learn about it. Now I prefer Nascar over most any other sporting event on TV.
It is all about having an interest and and understanding of the sport. You can create interest by producing good competition and rivalries in the sport. You also create interest through the quality of the broadcast of your sport. If you watched the last 10 laps at Talladega, you would have thought that DJ was the PxP guy. JP was barely heard from. The announcers can make or break a broadcast. When hardcore NASCAR fans are turning off the broadcast, what do you think the casual fan is doing?
- October 9, 2008 at 9:52 AM
- 3bud said...
Things pop in my head I have to get them out before they disappear and I'm not good at typing, that being said,I know Bill France Jr. was not really running the show the last years of his life, what I mean is if he were I don't beleive he would have let the shabby treatment we see happen at all. His family needs to try to atleast keep some of His and Bill France Sr. vision alive. 60 years in the sports world deserves that much.
- October 9, 2008 at 10:01 AM
- Tracy said...
This reminds me of the "we dont' get no respect" syndrome that seems to attach to many a popular form of entertainment. And yes, Nascar is entertainment as well as a sport. I'm highly entertained! But I can say that I feel the same way about a great baseball game with a pitching duel or a slammin' book. I belong to a writing organization that represents 9,000authors who garner 54% of the mass market publishing pie. The numbers are rock solid and its profits support many other aspects of the publishing industry. But its members feel highly slighted, and rightly so, by the media. They're denigrated regularly as the purveyors of porn, as the biddies of bodice rippers. The "we don't get no respect" label fits and it seems as if there's nothing they can do about it. But they fight back every chance they get. And it doesn't hurt to be financially successful for the corporations that publish them.
So what do we, as people who enjoy Nascar or a good romance novel, do to fight back? We buy the books, we go to races, we let the powers-that-be know we demand our fair share of respect for our racing or literary favorites, as the case may be. Don't just post on this blog. WRITE Espn. Write Nascar. Let them know how you feel. You may not get a response (more than likely), but it's the only way to let your voice be heard.
Sorry, I get this bee in my bonnet now and then. . .
- October 9, 2008 at 10:01 AM
- steadicam_clay said...
ESPN foolishness is not a loss for NASCAR. It's an opportunity.
For the consumer, looming on the event horizon, is free, over the air, digital TV.
The picture is as clean and crisp as cable. The audio is perfect. Channels are broken up into groups of ten. For example, the available channels between channel "2" and "3" is 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 2.5, etc.
It's easy to see possibilities. For example, ABC could put Sticks on one channel, Balls on another, and NASCAR on another.
I think it's absolutely nuts for ABC, ESPN, Disney, NASCAR, and all the rest of 'em, to not take advantage of this opportunity while they have the chance.
- October 9, 2008 at 10:26 AM
- 3bud said...
haus20, once again you nailed it.
- October 9, 2008 at 10:35 AM
- Anonymous said...
Great article. The most telling thing was your sentence about soccer & Skipper. He wants more soccer. Great. Theres a marginal sport,but still considered a sport by espu because it involves a ball.
the espn channels do not have enough room to air live what they have committed to Now, how when the feeding frenzy is over, will they have room? espn3,4,5????
It is high time for NA$CAR to admit it was a mistake & break that contract, set the fans & drivers free & get back to SPEED.
We are a Sport that espu ridicules, & casually hates. On espu family of channels, save NN, there is only derogatory, cursory mention (if any). We are the red headed stepchild or rented mule.Its time to go.
We all know that - would someone please give King Brian & Co their meds - so they may join us in reality land & save the sport?
Or has Brian been so busy being a NYC resident millionaire he has forgotten what pays the bills & got his family started?
- October 9, 2008 at 10:43 AM
- Adam T. Martin said...
"Tom said...
Sad. I truly believe that ESPN was responsible for NASCAR and it's booming popularity in the 80's and 90's. They had solid broadcasts, good announcers, and fairly simple, yet innovative, technical aspects (the original "Digger"). Today none of these things are true. "
That was when the broadcasts on ESPN/ABC were classics (Bob, Benny, John Kernan, Ned Jarrett). Now new management is always throwing it's weight.
You need to remember, NASCAR and ESPN cannot break the contract until 2014. Sorry to say that.
ESPN/ABC can only go up in quality for now. Until then, we need to start listing improvements for them and remain vocal till we get the point through.
- October 9, 2008 at 11:43 AM
- Anonymous said...
Isn't ESPN somehow violating the terms of contract with Nascar when it treats it like the red head step child?
Speaking of ... someone put a bug in Dale Jr.'s ear. He's rollin', let him hook up with Tony Stewart and start their own dang coverage with no points for f-bombs and media obsessions with radio chatter. That would be some real race coverage there. I'd bet we'd even get to see some midget, IRL etc. if those two went into broadcasting.
- October 9, 2008 at 11:50 AM
- Jayhawk said...
Given that college football is about ten thousand times more exciting and interesting than stock car racing as NASCAR presents it, I think ESPN's decision makes perfect sense. Watching paint dry is more exciting that NASCAR.
- October 9, 2008 at 12:37 PM
- Anonymous said...
Hey Jayhawk...
Hummm...your female....RIGHT?
- October 9, 2008 at 1:45 PM
- Wisconsin Steve said...
NASCAR shouldn't be surprised by any of this. They had these same problems in the 1990s with ESPN, only back then it was arguably worse. I remember several races being pre-empted or dumped early or tape-delayed or joined-in-progress, which was maddening for me since my cable operator didn't provide ESPN2 back then.
Of course, the difference now is NASCAR's popularity is far beyond what it was then. You would think NASCAR would now be a priority to ESPN.
Apparently its not.
- October 9, 2008 at 3:17 PM
- Anonymous said...
Versus isn't an obscure "digital cable" network. Not in all markets, at least.
When I lived on the west coast, Comcast offered Versus in it's basic cable lineup. Now that I live in North Carolina, Time Warner also offers Versus in it's basic cable lineup.
I may be familiar with only two cable television markets, but in both cases the Versus network was not digital (except for the HD channel, of course).
Not that I disagree with your point. If I remember correctly, ESPN offered "only" $280M for the rights to nearly half of a NASCAR season for six years. While that was a 40% premium over what NBC thought was too substantial a pricetag, it still pales in comparison to the deal with the SEC.
- October 9, 2008 at 3:45 PM
- KoHoSo said...
Just some random thoughts and open questions...
With the Big West now being mainly a basketball conference with no football, I would not give it so much worry specifically. I have pretty much given up on watching the Nationwide Series for various reasons (mostly for too many Buschwhackers) to care whether or not E$PN carries the practices and qualifying for that series. Even then, it would only affect the first two months of the NASCAR season until March Madness was over.
I wonder...does E$PN's lust for soccer have anything to do with America's rapidly changing demographics? While the growth in NASCAR interest seems to have plateaued, I would think there will be nothing but potential growth in soccer interest considering this country's current immigration patterns (which I am stating only for fact and with no inference intended as to whether that is bad or good).
On the subject of PTI, I will stick up for Michael Wilbon. While he plainly admits that he is not an informed racing observer, he has always been generally curious, inquisitive, and courteous on those admittedly rare occasions that the program discusses any form of racing. It is Kornheiser who is the bad one, and the one time Dan LeBetard was charged with asking questions of Dale Earnhardt, Jr. still makes me cringe when I think about it.
I'm not sure what's going to happen with all of this as it relates to E$PN, and I'm not sure how much I really care. As a big IndyCar fan, I am changing my mind as time passes and becoming more and more glad that, no matter how obscure, the coverage on Versus can't be any worse than what E$PN/ABC has provided ever since the American open-wheel split. I don't expect the world, but I do expect to be shown some inkling that my patronage as a customer (fan) is at least occasionally appreciated by the sanctioning body, telecasters, and the major sponsors. Even with the great improvements E$PN made over last year's debacle that tried to pass as racing coverage, I still mostly feel like I am not wanted at almost every portion of their broadcasting day except when college football is on (as I love that sport as much as I love my racing). I guess that there's just not enough of us to make the final pushes needed to get things back to the competent days of Bob, Benny, and Ned and those times when NASCAR fans were the true kings in the mind of the France family. If I continue to not feel wanted, it's only going to take the retirement of a few more drivers before I completely throw in the towel after what now stands at 23 years of being a loyal and dedicated NASCAR follower.
- October 9, 2008 at 4:03 PM
- Daly Planet Editor said...
Anon 3:45PM,
Versus is a digital cable network. It comes with the digital cable box and on some systems is housed in an additional cable sports package for a extra fee.
Since Comcast bought the network and moved it to Philly, they are working hard to get it expanded and available everywhere.
This is Comcast's attempt at building their own version of ESPN just like Prime Network was TCI/Liberty Media's attempt in the early 1990's.
Versus is working hard to develop the production and operations needed to support the kind of sports product it will be seeing in 2009. I wish them good luck.
- October 9, 2008 at 6:59 PM
- Tracy said...
Anon at 1:45: what do you mean, "your female?" (It should be "you're," btw.)
Cut out the sexist remarks. A ton of women post here. Doesn't Nascar boast that something like 49% of fans are female?
- October 9, 2008 at 7:47 PM
- Anonymous said...
Maybe the money spent getting all these college games make a more pay per view for ESPN.Last year the Big Ten was free on DISH, now it's $29.95 per game through ESPN...Does that make sense now for them getting more of the college games..
Maybe ESPN will want to PPV Nascar next...??
- October 9, 2008 at 11:09 PM
- haus20 said...
to anon @ 11:09, I think you may be a little off on your Big Ten statement. Since the Big Ten has its own network, I don't believe their games are apart of the ESPN College Game Plan pay per view package any more. Also, if NASCAR pay per view was commercial free, I may be interested. Of course it would depend on who was in the booth...
- October 9, 2008 at 11:46 PM
- Bobby said...
The ESPN/SEC deal is not just ESPN and ESPN2. The deal also gives Disney Television Distribution the syndication rights to the SEC's syndicated football and basketball package, and SEC baseball. Already the reaction is heavy in South Carolina, where deposed rights-holder Raycom O&O's are plenty (WIS, WCSC, WFXG, WBTV, WMBF, WTOC). None of the O&O's are likely to bid on the DTD package.
Last year we learned how "unfaithful" ESPN was in moving from Broadcast Network to ESPN2 Kansas after the race ran long (weather) in order to protect Desperate Housewives, a show I've referenced as one which has a "franchise" tag.
- October 10, 2008 at 11:36 AM


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