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tune-in unimpressive Other shorts: Big Four to Congress: A pox on drug ads proposal Jul 10, 2009 Horizon: Just so-so Jackson memorial tune-in For a summer afternoon in July, Michael Jackson’s memorial service generated a large audience, 31.1 million total viewers across 19 TV networks. But compared to other events of global importance over the past few decades, the King of Pop’s passing wasn’t all that impressive. That’s according to an analysis by independent agency Horizon Media, which put out a report yesterday that compares Jackson’s death to presidential inaugurations, the start of Operation Desert Storm, and President Clinton’s apology for the Monica Lewinsky affair. Roughly 6.7 million more viewers tuned in to Barack Obama’s swearing in last January than Jackson’s funeral, and the inaugurations of Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Carter and Richard Nixon (the first time) also drew more viewers. The first day of Desert Storm drew 85.6 million viewers in 1991, and Clinton’s apology drew 67.6 million in 1999. In fact, Jackson in life even beat himself in death. A 1993 interview with Oprah Winfrey at the Neverland Ranch drew 62.3 million viewers. Big Four to Congress: A pox on drug ads proposal The Big Four broadcast networks rarely agree on anything, from programming tactics to ratings successes. But they can all agree that losing money on advertising in the current recession is a bad thing. ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox teamed to send a letter to House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee chairman Charles Rangel protesting a plan that would disallow business deductions for prescription drug advertising. The networks claim that the U.S. advertising industry, which supports more than 21 million jobs, would sustain job losses from the proposal. “The current economic recession requires that we do everything we can to generate more sales and more jobs -- not adopt policies that would reduce them,” says the letter, excerpted in the Wall Street Journal. The Advertising Coalition also sent a letter protesting the plan yesterday, though it targeted President Barack Obama. Rangel has claimed that the change to the pharmaceutical ads would generate $37 billion over the next decade, helping to pay for major changes to the U.S. healthcare industry. Programming notes: ‘Runway’ returns Aug. 20 Lifetime will be a model network beginning Aug. 20. That’s when the network finally rolls out “Project Runway,” after a lengthy legal battle between “Runway” producer The Weinstein Co. and NBC Universal, parent company of the show’s former network, Bravo. “Project” will air at 10 p.m. and be followed by spinoff “Models of the Runway” at 11, which will look at the series through the eyes of the models rather than the designers. Also at Lifetime, the network has picked up the cable syndication rights to CBS’s sitcom “The New Adventures of Old Christine,” with episodes beginning in the fourth quarter of next year. Meanwhile, in other programming, TV Land has moved the premieres of Joan Rivers’ “How’d You Get So Rich?” and the hidden camera reality series “Make My Day” to Aug. 5, up a day from Aug. 6. ABC on Aug. 2 at 10 p.m. will premiere “Defying Gravity,” about eight astronauts who go on a six-year space mission. And PBS plans to cover the hearing of Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor beginning on July 13, including all day coverage on the days she testifies. The hearing will also be covered on CNN, C-SPAN and C-SPAN3. Best Buy and TiVo team for new ad platforms There’s been a lot in the news lately about the legality ramifications of DVR projects from cable providers like Cablevision and Dish Network. But a new partnership announced yesterday between Best Buy and TiVo probably won’t face any legal challenges while ramping up the number of DVR users, which currently account for 32 percent of U.S. households, according to Nielsen. TiVo is working on a Best Buy exclusive, a DVR that will also deliver in-home advertisements for the retailer’s products and services. In return, Best Buy will heavily advertise TiVo in its 1,100 stores nationwide. As part of the deal, Napster, which Best Buy acquired last year, will become available on TiVo. ShipOfFools: Help us find the worst Bible verse There are endless debates over what are the most beautiful and meaningful verses in the Bible. But the web site ShipOfFools.com wants to remind folks that the disciples sometimes offered too heavy-handed a metaphor or too graphic a death scene. The site, which says it aims “to help Christians be self-critical and honest about the failings of Christianity,” has launched an interactive project called Chapter & Worse, in which readers are encouraged to nominate the worst verse in the Bible. Some examples the site offers are Titus 1:12: “The people of Crete always tell lies. They are greedy and lazy like wild animals;” and Joshua 8:26: “For Joshua did not draw back his hand, with which he stretched out the sword, until he utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai.” Through the end of this month readers can fill out a form on ShipOfFools that asks for the verse reference, the actual text of the verse, and why they think that verse is particularly bad. Says the submission page, “You don’t need to be a purple-faced atheist to notice that the Bible is a pretty mixed book. For every hymn to the loveliness of love, there’s a story about God squishing someone because they worshipped the wrong god.”
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