Sep 16, 2005 05:25 PM
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Hollywood, 5:41 PM
Tue Feb 9
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Demonstrating that he's certainly no "blubbering basket case" passively waiting for another season-long Nielsen colonic, NBC president Kevin Reilly fired off an e-mail rallying cry to his troops this afternoon as the network prepares to launch its new Fall season. Things are really "sparking," he says, instantly conjuring an image of the fourth place pres struggling valiantly to conjure fire from a child-proof Bic, from which a nearby six year-old easily coaxes a two-foot flame. But putting aside our predictable negativity, Reilly maintains that they have a lot to look forward to:
We have a lot to be proud of. While our challenges remain and our work will more than likely be portrayed negatively in the coming weeks, I think we all know in our hearts that things are sparking at NBC.
We've got new shows that range from very good to really inspired. The current team has done an excellent job taking these shows to the next level - things like adding Angie Harmon to Inconcievable or Kelly Rutherford to Ering. Research has been very helpful in these efforts. The agency has hatched a new launch strategy supported by truly fresh creative execution. We have tapes of DJ's talking about our "talking ads" and our Earl campaign puts it amongst the top new shows in awareness.
Those talking ads have certainly raised awareness for My Name is Earl, haven't they? The show has some good early buzz, but the ad campaigns (we've heard one particularly annoying radio spot, in which some "friends" yak self-consciously about the aforementioned buzz, roughly 35 times a day) are trying their best to eradicate it. We haven't had the pleasure yet, but if we ever find ourselves being suddenly and audibly exhorted to tune in to Earl by the pages of our Entertainment Weekly during our alone time in the porcelain library, we're going to take great pleasure in ripping out the Jason Lee soundalike's electronic throat, then flushing it away along with any chance that we're going to watch the show. My Name is Earl and your bowel movements—a winning combination!
The rest of Reilly's e-mail follows after the jump. Stay positive, gang, fourth place is almost a distant memory.
——-Original Message——-From: Reilly, Kevin (NBC Universal)
Sent: Friday, September 16, 2005 1:43 PM
To: @NBC UNI
Subject: The Fall Season
Just a quick note as we head into the season next week.
We have a lot to be proud of. While our challenges remain and our work will more than likely be portrayed negatively in the coming weeks, I think we all know in our hearts that things are sparking at NBC.
We've got new shows that range from very good to really inspired. The current team has done an excellent job taking these shows to the next level - things like adding Angie Harmon to Inconcievable or Kelly Rutherford to Ering. Research has been very helpful in these efforts. The agency has hatched a new launch strategy supported by truly fresh creative execution. We have tapes of DJ's talking about our "talking ads" and our Earl campaign puts it amongst the top new shows in awareness. The development and casting teams did not rest a minute upon return in May and have worked closely with our studio partners to generate a full slate of new projects for the mid season pipeline. You'll be seeing these hatch in the next month or so. The publicity department has harnessed some great buzz- Earl and Martha top the list of most talked about shows on anyones Fall schedule. Scheduling, business affairs and finance have collaborated closely with all of these groups to work up a detailed plan to keep our air waves fresh and our rebuilding effort consistent throughout this season. We have an exciting lineup of specials and movies in November. Of course, latenight & daytime continue to keep our franchises at the top in their dayparts despite primetime challenges. I also want to acknowledgte the HR department, who have been so helpful facilitating the many changes that have been made in our various departments over the last year.
As many of you know, some of us spent yesterday with Jeff Immelt, Bob Wright and the New York senior management to discuss our plan for the year. I have to say, especially in light of our significant business challenges, they were extremely supportive. They fully recognize that our problems will not be fixed quickly or easily and they are prepared to back us as we methodically rebuild.
Obviously we need to see signs of progress throughout the season - stability in some time periods, growth in others, and some unique shows that could be our next generation "brand driver" hits.
We should all take pride in the work we are doing. Our efforts will probably take at least a full season to really start paying dividends. Let's keep our great energy and creativity up, stick together as a team, and not be thrown by any negativity from the outside.
Good luck to everyone. Let's go get em!
Kevin
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