Posted Jan 3rd 2010 10:00AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: OpEd, Ratings, Chuck, Reality-Free, Press Kits Unwrapped
One of the pleasures of blogging here at
TV Squad is getting a press kit from a network to promote a new or returning show. Sometimes it's just a folder with a screener. Sometimes it's a cornucopia of doo-dads and tchotchkas that might be cool. I've seen some reviewers build an entire wardrobe from press kit tee-shirts, hoodies and caps. So, it was with real excitement -- like the anticipation of a birthday gift -- when Fedex turned up with NBC Entertainment Publicity's big box of promotion for
Chuck.
Continue reading Chuck season three: Press Kits Unwrapped
Posted Dec 16th 2009 7:03PM by Jonathan Toomey
Filed under: 24, Reality-Free, Press Kits Unwrapped
With just a little over a month before the season eight premiere of 24 (it returns for a two night/four hour event on Janurary 17th and 18th), Christmas came early here at TV Squad this week when we received the new 24 press kit.
The above promotional image for the new season is enough to get us excited -- Jack Bauer jumping on top of an NYC cab and aiming a gun at the passenger seat is pretty damn exciting -- but just like the cast photo for the new season, it could contain some secrets as well. Thinks there's any weight to the word "PLOT" on the folded New York Post? I'm guessing there is, but the press kit didn't offer any answers.
Continue reading 24 season eight: Press Kits Unwrapped
Posted Nov 11th 2009 5:01PM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, OpEd, Reality-Free, Press Kits Unwrapped
AMC is certainly pulling out all the stops to promote their re-imagining of
The Prisoner. The new mini-series airs for three nights straight, starting Sunday November 15 at 8/7 Central. The network was kind enough to send out a press kit in anticipation of the new series, and right off I have to give them credit for sticking to their theme.
Some press kits seem to have random objects thrown in that have little or nothing to do with the show they're promoting. Everything that I found within this little box worked toward establishing the feeling of paranoia that pervades the world of
The Prisoner. Even better, aside from the DVDs themselves, I could imagine this being the propaganda kit I would receive were I to ever wake up in the village.
Continue reading Press Kits Unwrapped: The Prisoner
Posted Sep 28th 2009 10:02AM by Jonathan Toomey
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Interviews, Celebrities, Pickups and Renewals, Early Looks, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free, Press Kits Unwrapped, Lie to Me
Lie to Me is not a show that grew on me last season. When it first premiered earlier this year, I didn't even bother watching it. I tend to shy away from mid-season replacements to begin with and something about seeing Tim Roth speaking in his normal British accent in promos for the show seemed weird to me.
Then summer arrived, TV viewing options started to dwindle, and suddenly Lie to Me became a viable option. I watched the pilot, was mildly amused, and then dropped it for over a month before I looked at another episode. At first, it wasn't that great, and now that I've had the opportunity to speak to Roth about it, it's good to know that I wasn't alone in thinking that.
Continue reading Talking truth with Tim Roth of Lie to Me
Posted Sep 24th 2009 10:00AM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: Animation, Pickups and Renewals, Reality-Free, Press Kits Unwrapped
You've heard it before. The character of Cleveland Brown is the last person in the cast you'd expect to get a spin-off from
Family Guy (well, except maybe Herbert, the pedophile down the street). Well, he did in the form of
The Cleveland Show. Fox is trying to promote the hell out of this program and as a result, members of the press got a cute press kit to go along with a DVD containing the first three episodes of the show.
This particular press kit contained a body brush (for scrubbing those hard to reach places while in the bath or shower) as well as a plastic bag that contained a towel and some bubble bath . The only thing I can conclude from this particular batch of items is that watching
The Cleveland Show will somehow make one feel unclean. This is a nice continuation from the same feeling one would get from watching any given episode of
Family Guy.
Actually, the kit is a bit contradictory. The bag is obviously to keep a wet towel from dripping on anything, but who brings such a thing to the bath? That sort of item is usually reserved for the beach. I guess they were afraid the towel would get wet in transit or something.
Continue reading Press Kits Unwrapped: The Cleveland Show
Posted Sep 21st 2009 1:02PM by Kona Gallagher
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, Reality-Free, Press Kits Unwrapped
I feel sorry for the poor intern who had to put this thing together. I understand that Lifetime is a cable network and all, but they've become pretty high-profile lately. I would think that if they were going to send out press kits, then maybe they could spring for more than some confetti and crappy stickers printed out on the office ink jet.
Even
Sit Down, Shut Up, which is last press kit I did, at least had a t-shirt. It was actually a super-comfy American Apparel shirt, and I still wear it around the house. The
Rita Rocks/Sherri press kit, on the other hand, is a do-it-yourself lunchbox-type thing, filled with confetti, containing the DVDs, a bunch of crappy candy, and some un-inflated balloons. It's kind of the saddest thing I've ever seen.
Continue reading Press Kits Unwrapped: Rita Rocks and Sherri
Posted Sep 14th 2009 1:36PM by Danny Gallagher
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, Reality-Free, Press Kits Unwrapped
FOX's new family Friday night sitcom
Brothers seems like a relatively (see what I did there?) low key and uninspiring bit of prime time. And that's coming from someone who hasn't seen it yet. Call it my "suck sense." (I see
Cop Rock.)
It is nice, however, to see the multi-camera, live audience sitcom making a comeback to the big three networks (four if you count the CW). They almost feel like a warm hug from the past, reminding me that they haven't forgotten me or the shows I remembering watching instead of getting regular exercise or dating.
The same things can be said for the show's official press kit.
Continue reading Press Kits Unwrapped: Brothers
Posted Sep 8th 2009 3:00PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: Industry, OpEd, House, Reality-Free, Press Kits Unwrapped
As most people who follow our
Press Kits Unwrapped series know, one of the most interesting perks to what we do is the free stuff the networks send us, usually along with their preview screeners. However, in the last year, the number of elaborate press kits have dwindled. Networks are starting to realize that sending a DVD in a sleeve is much cheaper than sending one with a water bottle or a t-shirt, and the show will get just as much coverage. Heck, ABC doesn't even send the DVDs anymore; they ask us to view screeners on their
ABC Medianet website, which sometimes work and sometimes don't.
But FOX and its cable sibling FX are still plugging away, sending expensive-looking press kits to promote their shows. While FX is content with sending
elaborately-packaged folders with DVDs and a glossy press guide, their broadcast cousins are still sending tchotchke-laden packages, like the one I got for the new season of
House. An explanation, and more pics, after the jump.
Continue reading What recession? Fox / FX press kits are as elaborate as ever
Posted Sep 6th 2009 2:00PM by Danny Gallagher
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Industry, Reality-Free, Press Kits Unwrapped
Normally, TV press kits come with more useless junk than an IKEA furniture kit. They usually come with T-shirts that are too small for the average TV critic's billowy build, toys that can turn the brightest human beings into easily-amused cats, and other assorted paraphernalia.
FX's press kit for the forthcoming second season of
Sons of Anarchy has none of these things. There are no bloody brass knuckle sets, fake handlebar mustaches or even a lousy T-shirt that reads "The bitch fell off" on the back, perfect for that upcoming christening or bar-mitzvah.
That doesn't mean it's bad. In fact, it's one of the most bitching press kits to ever grace my cold, ink-stained hands.
Continue reading Press Kits Unwrapped: Sons of Anarchy Season 2
Posted Aug 20th 2009 2:09PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Other Comedy Shows, Industry, Reality-Free, Press Kits Unwrapped
In this day and age of shrinking network budgets, the days of the elaborate, swag-filled press kit are pretty much over. As far as some of the broadcast networks are concerned (
coughABCcough), even sending out DVD screeners is too much of a burden on their budget; they figure we'll be content to squint at their online screeners, praying that the player doesn't skip or buffer in the middle of a crucial scene.
But FOX, bless its heart, still sees fit to blanket critics with goodies. Take the press kit I just got that contained episodes two and three of
Glee, which restarts on September 9. With the DVD came this warm-up jacket, with the FOX logo and "National Cheerleading Champs 2009" on the front, and "Sylvester" on the back ("Sylvester" is the last name of Jane Lynch's character on the show).
I was told by those in the know (namely, my fiancee), that the warmup was "very soft." So, I guess she'll be wearing this around the house if she gets cold. More pics are after the jump.
Continue reading Press Kits Unwrapped: Glee
Posted May 18th 2009 4:25PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: OpEd, Music and Variety, Reality-Free, Press Kits Unwrapped
When you write about the television business, one of the little perks is
receiving the press kit for a new or returning program. Occasionally, some little trinket will be included -- Kona got a whistle for
Sit Down, Shut Up, there was a tee-shirt with
My Boys -- but for the most part, the thing you remember about a press kit ultimately is the show.
When the press kit for
Glee arrived, it made me laugh. The package was like a long, CD box (remember those?), all in red and looking like a typical high school locker. It even had a combination lock, which gave me the willies as I recalled the apprehension I had that first day in school when I wasn't sure I'd remember the combination in time to make it to home room! There was also a small mirror on the left side -- which I guess qualifies as a trinket -- and it caught my smile in its reflection.
Continue reading Press Kits Unwrapped: Glee
Posted Apr 16th 2009 10:04AM by Kona Gallagher
Filed under: OpEd, Animation, Reality-Free, Press Kits Unwrapped
I don't know about you guys, but I've been super-excited about the premiere of
Mitch Hurwitz's new animated show,
Sit Down, Shut Up. It seems like I've been hearing about it forever, but it finally premieres this Sunday night on Fox. Recently, the screener came up for grabs, so naturally I jumped at it. What I didn't realize is that I would be getting the whole press kit with it.
All press kits are not created equal: I'd definitely enjoy a
talking Barney bobblehead from
How I Met Your Mother, but a busted picture of
Eliza Dushku's face from
Dollhouse really wouldn't do a whole lot for me. The press kit for
Sit Down, Shut Up is kind of low-rent, but it
is for a Mitch Hurwitz show on FOX. The low-rated
Arrested Development didn't exactly make FOX a boatload of cash while it aired, so they're probably waiting to see how the ratings go for this one before they shell out any more dough on fancy tschotkes for the press.
Continue reading Press Kits Unwrapped: Sit Down, Shut Up
Posted Apr 14th 2009 6:03PM by Jonathan Toomey
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, OpEd, Reality-Free, Press Kits Unwrapped
Let's just get this out of the way:
My Boys isn't a very good show. Calling it mediocre is even going too far. However, I can't be the only one that's watching it, because the TBS sitcom is already a few episodes into its
third season. That's right -
My Boys has actually been somewhat of a minor success for TBS, partially due to some wise scheduling. Save for the first half of season one,
My Boys is always on during the spring and summer months when - surprise - there isn't much else to compete with. The show might not be great, but hey, new TV is better than no TV.
Continue reading Press Kits Unwrapped: My Boys, season three
Posted Feb 2nd 2009 12:03PM by Hemal Jhaveri
Filed under: OpEd, House, Reality-Free, Press Kits Unwrapped
This isn't the first time I've gotten a press kit, but it is the first time I've gotten a press kit for a TV show I actually like. So, I was pretty excited when the kit showed up on my front stoop and would have been impressed with a box full of Styrofoam pellets. Which is fortunate, because that's exactly what Fox sent.
Ok, that's not exactly fair. I thought it was a box of Styrofoam pellets until I dug a little deeper and pulled out a DVD of the 100th episode of
House and two wonderful little surprises.
Continue reading Press Kits Unwrapped: House's 100th episode
Posted Jan 26th 2009 11:05AM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: Other Sci-Fi/Supernatural Shows, Programming, Reality-Free, Dollhouse, Press Kits Unwrapped
It is going to be an uphill battle to success for Joss Whedon's
Dollhouse. One defining factor in the quality of support that a network gives its programs is the impressiveness of the press kit it releases for the show. If this is the case,
Dollhouse is in trouble.
For the sake of full disclosure, let me mention that our editor-in-chief Joel had the package first because he desperately needed to watch the premiere the moment he got it (as someone who is anticipating the series, I understand completely). The package was opened and re-packaged by the time it got to me. That being said, it still didn't look anywhere near as cool as the
24 press kit that Jonathan reviewed. It did have one or two saving graces, though.
Continue reading Press Kits Unwrapped: Dollhouse
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Morgan Spurlock on the Simpsons 20th anniversary documentary
Chuck season three -- An early look
