HOT SPOTS: Super Bowl Ads!

January 31, 2012 9:38 PM

Are you getting psyched about the Super Bowl? Or are you getting psyched about Super Bowl commercials?

The NFL's big clash sometimes seems less about pigskin than about advertising, as sponsors fight to stand out among the fusillade of spots coming at viewers on the most-watched program of the year.

Here's some ratings perspective. Last year's NFL championship match between the Green Bay Packers and Pittsburgh Steelers was seen by 111 million Americans, making it Nielsen's most-watched broadcast ever. Meanwhile, the top-ranked prime-time series of the 2010-11 season, American Idol (again), averaged less than 26 million viewers.

Where would you go to make an ad splash?

Last year on Fox, the 2011 Super Bowl raked in nearly $228 million in ad revenue, airing nearly 100 commercials. This year's Sunday match on NBC between unlikely underdog New York Giants and the much-loathed (outside their home turf) New England Patriots is expected to earn around $245 million in gross ad revenue. And the commercials are expected to stir as much conversation as the football.

It's already happening, in fact, as advertisers start to "sneak" their spots early as buzz bait. (Bueller. Bueller. Bueller.) Trade papers, both print and online, roll out increasing advance coverage of the Super Bowl ad race. Sports books even take bets on which commercials will air when and which will be the most popular. And USA Today is readying not only its annual Ad Meter controlled survey of ad impact but also adding a Facebook Super Bowl Ad Meter in which random viewers can vote.

There's so much coverage now, the actual airing of Super Bowl game spots is starting to seem anticlimactic. (Kind of like the game itself most years.) So why not wallow beforehand, then hit an empty movie theater Sunday? Or watch that TV marathon of How It's Made, Absolutely Fabulous or Charlie's Angels instead?

Here's an intriguing assortment of advance Super Bowl commercials whoop-de-doo to click to:

Super Bowl Ads for Geeks

Super Bowl Ads Bingo!

Search, Social Networks Also Cash In

How USA Today's Ad Meter Broke Super Bowl Advertising

12 Ads That Changed Super Bowl Marketing

How Apple’s ’1984′ Ad Was Almost Canceled

The 10 Best Super Bowl Ads of All Time

Favorite Serious Super Bowl Ads

Hulu Ad Zone - Super Bowl

Super Bowl Commercials Rated

Super Bowl Spending Reached $1.72 Billion Over the Past 10 Years

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FLICK PICKS: Bela Says 'Pull the String!'

January 21, 2012 12:56 AM

If I tout a triple feature of Bela films, nobody's going to ask "Bela who?"

Eighty years after his first Hollywood splash, Bela Lugosi remains an icon, whether it's from Martin Landau's delirious tribute in Tim Burton's Ed Wood or Lugosi's eerie work in films like the three '30s chillers unreeling Sunday night (Feb. 22) on Turner Classic Movies.

And we're not talking Dracula, either. These are three lesser-known but just as creepy, creaky and classic pre-Code early talkies -- 1932's Murders in the Rue Morgue (Sunday at 8 p.m. ET), 1934's The Black Cat (9:15 p.m. ET) featuring (Boris) Karloff, and 1933's Charles Laughton starrer Island of Lost Souls (10:30 p.m. ET, all on TCM).

That's three full features in a mere 4 hours, from the days when Hollywood could deliver an extravagance of effect from an economy of effort.

Read more about these still-arresting films at the links above, in TCM essays that deliver their own wealth of information and insight.

Stick around past midnight ET for TCM's Silent Sunday Nights showcase -- one of the wonders that makes this channel indispensable -- and discover 1922's indescribable Haxan (midnight ET). It's an influential journey through the history of witchcraft from Danish auteur Benjamin Christensen.

Oh -- and our headline? It's a crazy line from Lugosi in Ed Wood's Glen or Glenda? -- a legendary moment not airing Sunday night; but hey, that's what the internet and DVDs are for.

(And that's Island of Lost Souls at top, The Black Cat at right.)

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PRESS TOUR: TV Critics Meet J.Lo

January 14, 2012 4:33 PM

Oh, to have been at this press tour session!

Train wreck!

It's already going down in TCA lore, says this fun report from our friend Ray Richmond in Deadline Hollywood on Univision's J.Lo/Marc Anthony appearance Saturday morning.

The estranged couple had come back together to promote their new talent search series ¡Q'VIva! The Chosen, debuting Jan. 28 on Univision, before Television Critics Association writers gathered in Pasadena.

We'd guess you'll be reading more about the resulting critics' revolt everywhere soon, though Univision may deep-six the video it obviously hoped would result from the ill-fated session.

Just click above, and savor.

Want more inside-baseball coverage? Try The Wrap on Univision's misguided "strategy" for protecting J.Lo and Anthony from the TCA hordes.

There's other (less colorful) coverage here and here.

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THIS PAGE!: Here, There and Everywhere

January 9, 2012 10:41 AM

You never know what you'll find at TVWW. Or where. So be sure to check out all the little nooks and crannies of this home page. (If you can find the cranny.)

We link to other smart TV coverage every day in the right-side column at TODAY'S MUST-READ, like Monday's preview of this week's huge Consumer Electronics Show spotlighting tech trends. Or Tuesday's planned link to a smart column about the joys of Parenthood, or Wednesday's to the lip-smacking bitchiness of Madeleine Stowe on Revenge.

We've stockpiled other cool links to game-changing Super Bowl ads (which occasions the photo at right), Parks and Rec dude Nick Offerman, and other ongoing tube thrills. Plus, you never know what kind of breaking news will find its way to MUST-READ status. (Like last week's story about Netflix streams now outranking FX viewership.)

Same goes for our TV WORTH BUYING spotlight on DVD/Blu-ray sales, current TV-related books, and other great goods.

And then you've got our click-and-view VIDEO WORTH WATCHING tributes -- to TV celebrations (like Danny Thomas' 100th birthday), upcoming shows (we're planning peeks at midseason's new Smash, Alcatraz and more), tube highlights/lowlights, and other surprises.

Posted fresh daily, for you, at TVWW. Eat 'em up!

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FLICK PICKS: Angela Lansbury, Movie Star

January 4, 2012 12:06 AM

Yes, before she was TV's Jessica Fletcher -- even before she was on Broadway in Mame or Sweeney Todd -- Angela Lansbury was an MGM contract player, sharing both studio lot and screen time with Spencer Tracy and Judy Garland.

Turner Classic Movies takes us back to that Hollywood "golden age" on Wednesday nights in January, unreeling 27 features Lansbury made from 1944 to 1978, as this versatile actress becomes 2012's first TCM Star of the Month.

Then for good measure, TCM adds a 1982 staging of Lansbury's Tony-winning triumph in Stephen Sondheim's devilish musical Sweeney Todd.

And there's also Lansbury's 2006 sitdown chat with TCM host Robert Osborne for Private Screenings.

Talk about starting with a bang -- both Lansbury's Hollywood career and TCM's monthlong salute begin with an iconic classic, 1944's Gaslight (Wednesday, Jan. 4 at 8 p.m. ET on TCM):

In fact, TCM lines up Lansbury's first five films on the first night of its tribute, following that Charles Boyer-Ingrid Bergman spellbinder with National Velvet (10 p.m. ET), The Picture of Dorian Gray (12:15 a.m. ET), The Harvey Girls (2:15 a.m. ET) and The Hoodlum Saint (4:15 a.m. ET, all on TCM).

The second week moves toward the '50s with films like State of the Union and Samson and Delilah on Jan. 11, then showcases Lansbury's mature dramatic muscle in 1962's The Manchurian Candidate Jan. 18. Wrapping things up on TCM Jan. 25 are that Osborne interview, Sweeney Todd and 1978's Death on the Nile.

TCM's other January salute goes to a cinematographer, Jack Cardiff, on Thursday nights. His acclaimed projects include British '30s epics like The Four Feathers and H.G> Wells' stunning Things to Come (overnight Jan. 5 at 12:30 and 2:30 a.m. ET); opulent early Techniolor titles like '40s legends The Red Shoes and Black Narcissus (both unreeling on TCM Jan. 12), and later directing stints for for scenic '60s globetrotters, including The Lion and Young Cassidy (on TCM Jan. 26).

Best of all, the documentary Cameraman: The Life and Work of Jack Cardiff (Jan. 5, 12, 19 on TCM) puts his lengthy resume in perspective for those to whom his name is considerably less familiar than, say, Angela Lansbury.

(And if mentioning Jessica Fletcher gets you wanting to watch Lansbury's longrunning series Murder, She Wrote, its episodes are available daily on Hallmark Movie Channel, afternoons at 2 and 3 p.m. ET, nightly at midnight and 1 a.m. ET.)

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NHL UPDATE: Outdoor Game Moved

January 1, 2012 8:05 PM

Mother Nature is always in charge. And thanks to her, the NHL has moved the start of Monday's 2012 Winter Classic game back two hours. The New York Rangers will face off outdoors against the Philadelphia Flyers at 3 p.m. ET (rather than the planned 1 p.m. ET), from the Phillies' Citizens Bank Park.

The game airs on NBC, but pregame coverage begins at 1 p.m. ET on the network NBC Sports -- the renamed cable channel that used to be called Versus. NBC's Sunday announcement said the game was moved back "to facilitate optimal game conditions."

FYI, at Sunday 8 p.m. ET, it's raining in the Philadelphia area, with a temperature around 50 degrees F -- not exactly "optimal" hockey weather. Tomorrow's forecast is for temperatures around 40 F, getting chillier as the afternoon progresses.

Also moving back on Monday, Jan. 2 -- NBC Sports' postgame premiere of the documentary Cold War on Ice: Summit Series '72 (now 6 p.m. ET on NBC Sports cable, the channel that used to be called Versus). It's a political as well as sports document, flashing back to the landmark 1972 series of games between Canadian all-stars and the Soviet Union team. At a time Soviet players were kept behind "the iron curtain," unable to play elsewhere and held up as a beacon of their country's Communist regime, the Soviet team was a year-round global juggernaut.

If you don't know who wins the series, seek no spoilers! This is one of those stranger-than-fiction melodramas that's well worth watching.

Especially 40 years later, when its heated geo-political permutations may seem like ancient history.

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YULE TUBE: Holiday Hangover

December 27, 2011 10:24 PM

And you thought Christmas was over.

Not on TV, it's not.

A holiday miracle on Quantum Leap, Christmas trees hijacked on The Dukes of Hazzard, secret Santas on the strip in Las Vegas, and Art Carney's smart Santa sack on The Twilight Zone -- they're among the holiday tales still to come.

There's even a new Christmas episode of MTV's Teen Mom!

Here's where to click for titles and times:

CLICK HERE for 2011 HOLIDAY TV EPISODES/ANIMATION/MUSIC/MORE

CLICK HERE for 2011 HOLIDAY MOVIES/TV MOVIES

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YULE TUBE: Weekend Best Bets

December 23, 2011 10:24 PM

The Doctor Who Christmas invasion has begun, and that's just some of the juiciest holiday fun airing over the weekend. While you can always click to our complete holiday listings, look below for a quicker take on our seasonal best bets.

CLICK HERE for 2011 HOLIDAY MOVIES/TV MOVIES

CLICK HERE for 2011 HOLIDAY TV EPISODES/ANIMATION/MUSIC/MORE

HOLIDAY-THEMED BEST BETS

ANIMATION -- It's another Rankin-Bass marathon Saturday on ABC Family, from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. ET., including such classics as Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town and The Year Without a Santa Claus (with a mini-marathon Sunday 7:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. ET on ABC Family). There's also a Christmas night network run of Chuck Jones' Dr. Seuss cartoon How the Grinch Stole Christmas (Sunday at 8 p.m. ET on ABC) -- and an encore of this year's new holiday episode of The Simpsons (Sunday at 8 p.m. ET on Fox). Lucky viewers with Me-TV can savor the surprisingly strong telling of Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol (Saturday at 8 p.m. ET, Sunday at 4:30 p.m. ET on Me-TV).

FANTASY -- Doctor Who premiering a special adventure on Christmas night is a British TV tradition that we're now adopting here, hence the new The Doctor, The Widow and The Wardrobe (Sunday night at 9 ET on BBC America). It caps BBC America's entire weekend of holiday Doctor, including last year's delightful Matt Smith version of A Christmas Carol (Saturday at noon and 7 p.m. ET, Sunday at 5 a.m. ET, BBC America).

BLACK-AND-WHITE FAVES -- Always worth watching from TV's early years: George Burns and Gracie Allen (Saturday at 1 and 1:30 p.m. ET, also midnight and 12:30 a.m. ET on Antenna TV), plus Jackie Gleason and Audrey Meadows on The Honeymooners (Saturday at 11:30 p.m. ET on WPIX; Sunday at 5:30 p.m. ET on Me-TV). The gang puts on a Christmas show on Car 54, Where Are You? (Saturday night at 2:30 a.m. ET on Me-TV) and The Dick Van Dyke Show (Sunday at 9:15 a.m. ET on TV Land). Stay tuned till Tuesday for Art Carney's Santa in "Night of the Meek" on "The Twilight Zone" (Tuesday at 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. ET on Chiller).

CLASSIC/CULT COMEDY -- Moving into the start of TV's modern era, there's the sharp-edged wit of a memorable M*A*S*H (Saturday at 5:10 p.m. ET, Sunday at 4:40 p.m. ET on TV Land) in which Hawkeye writes a Christmas journal to his dad, and a workplace holiday on The Mary Tyler Moore Show (Sunday at 6:30 p.m. ET on Me-TV). It snows in Puerto Rico on Sally Field's The Flying Nun (Saturday at 5:30 p.m. ET on Antenna TV), and a Brazilian Christmas carol is sung on The Monkees (Saturday at 6 p.m. ET on Antenna TV).

MORE RECENT SITCOMS -- They're both silly and sentimental on seasonal episodes of Scrubs (Saturday at 2:50 and 3:20 p.m. ET on Comedy Central). Family humor is never smarter than in Everybody Loves Raymond (Saturday 9-11:30 p.m. ET, Sunday 8:30-11 p.m. ET on TV Land), or wackier than on Malcolm in the Middle (Sunday at 2:30 p.m. ET, Monday at 7 p.m. ET, IFC; Sunday at 11 p.m. and 4 a.m. ET on TeenNick). Tim Allen's holiday displays are always fun on Home Improvement (Sunday morning 3:30-6 a.m. ET on TV Land). And Andy Dick headlines a nutty NewsRadio (Sunday at 9 p.m. ET on Antenna TV).

HOLIDAY MASHUP -- Chrismukkah with a red yarmulke is the idea behind four seasonal outings of The OC (Sunday 3-7 p.m. ET on SOAPnet). But you'll have to wait till Tuesday for Festivus on Seinfeld (Tuesday at 7 p.m. ET on TBS).

MOVIES -- Santa claims he's real in 1947's original Miracle on 34th Street (Saturday at 2 p.m. ET on TCM). Christmas Eve hosts its annual screening of It's a Wonderful Life (Saturday 8-11 p.m. ET on NBC). Starting at the same time is the yearly every-two-hours marathon of A Christmas Story (Saturday 8 p.m.-Sunday 8 p.m. on TBS). And of course, Christmas is crazy in National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (Sunday at 10 p.m. ET on ABC Family).

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YULE TUBE: Rugrats & Eliot Ness!

December 23, 2011 12:23 AM

Ready for some new holiday TV listings? We've just added more shows, among them Spongebob Squarepants, Rugrats, Ugly Betty and Veronica's Closet.

And those folks lucky enough to receive Me-TV can settle in for holidays with Mister Magoo, Fat Albert, Dobie Gillis, Daniel Boone, Eliot Ness, Mary Tyler Moore and more.

But maybe you're really ready for some expert Christmas recommendations among the 100s of holiday episodes still to air this weekend. Well, we're about to revisit everything we've posted, to pinpoint this year's festive best bets.

So check back soon to get a much shorter list of the holiday TV airings really, really worth watching.

In the meantime, search these pages for your Christmas faves:

2011 HOLIDAY MOVIES/TV MOVIES

2011 HOLIDAY TV EPISODES/ANIMATION/MUSIC/MORE

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YULE TUBE: Still MORE Holiday TV!

December 21, 2011 9:53 PM

New among our hundreds of Christmas listings -- Scrubs, House, Monk, Little House on the Prairie and many more!

And we're still scanning station schedules to make sure we find all your TV faves, so please keep checking back.

Here's where to click for holiday listings galore:

2011 HOLIDAY MOVIES/TV MOVIES

2011 HOLIDAY TV EPISODES/ANIMATION/MUSIC/MORE

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