This year they have expanded the advertisement to include a third on the couch. Jay Leno.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WT7woALgv5A[/youtube]

The advertisement is genuine and was reportedly shot at the Ed Sullivan Theatre on Thursday night. For fans of US late night TV, this is practically mind-blowing. A few thoughts on this:

• Following the fallout of the Leno/Conan NBC debacle, Leno needed to gain some credibility back and something like this would be wildly beneficial for him.
• Is Leno really this desperate to start generating some cred?
• The fact NBC would allow Leno to appear on his direct oppositions television commercial is mind boggling.
• The fact Letterman would be willing to share the stage with Leno is surprising considering his intense dislike and ridicule of the man.

UPDATE: The New York Times Bill Carter has published a story which explains how the TV spot came about.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3zvM0EzT7c[/youtube]

Something that seems to be overwhelming in the US is the excessive amount of TV commercials for drugs and healthcare products. We do get a little bit of it here in Australia, but outside of the occasional advertisement for thrush, its not overwhelming. Pharmaceuticals are clearly a massive business and they certainly get a massive run on US television. It sometimes feels like every second or third advertisement on US TV is for a drug of some description (prescription?).

Of course, drug advertising in the US does require side-effect disclaimers to be mentioned in the commercial. I’m sure that local Australian audiences have chuckled along with jokes on The Simpsons or Colbert Report (with Prescott Pharmaceuticals) regarding the crazy side-effects that a drug can have. Joke as these shows may, the jokes are simply not that far removed from reality.

In the US, controversial drug Chantix has been very prominent within the US ad-space recently. When I saw this advertisement air recently, I was gobsmacked at just how excessive this advertisement was. The following advertisement is not a parody. This is a genuine advertisement.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzMqIGzXli8[/youtube]

To highlight this, a wonderful clip, that for reasons that are made obvious in the joke, have been edited out of the Hulu footage for the show. I present to you “Conan’s 1.5 million dollar sketch”:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WONb88w5aQ[/youtube]

UPDATE!!!!

It seems Conan didn’t get no satisfaction with that expense claim. In an effort to go one step further, the next night Conan introduces “Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird”. Total cost = $4.8 million.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGSydmOIa1o[/youtube]

*Whether the horse was in fact Mine That Bird is a matter being disputed on horse forums across the Internet.

I was glad to hear (via the sassy @becness) that someone else was talking about the issue. Charming, funny, and quite right to suggest that toddlers sit through The Wire (I kid!).

Caution: there is light cussing.

Children Watching Television – The Inquiry 16.10.09 from Melb 31.

Sky Business News each week at 14:30 on Thursdays airs Mediaweek – a television extension of the Mediaweek magazine/email newsletter.

For anyone working in the industry, or those with a strong interest in the business aspects of Television, the magazine Mediaweek has proven itself to be a reasonably valuable resource. Televised Revolution would love to subscribe, but the cost is certainly prohibitive. As a periodical, the magazine does suffer from lacking the immediacy that online can provide, so it has lost some of its sheen. The launch of the Mediaweek TV show has aided in providing more immediacy in Mediaweeks reporting and has subsequently become essential viewing.

For those of you without access to Foxtel, Sky Business Channel have now made the entire program available on their YouTube Channel.

While the copy was written by the advertising agency, reportedly it was supervised by Frasier showrunner Christoper Lloyd.

Hugh Jackman.

Vin Diesel.

THUNDERCATS

Watching this reminded me what it is that I love about the Internet. Sure, all of this material is cribbed, but gosh if it wasn’t done with a heck of a lot of passion, vision, and ingenuity. I guarantee you that when Hollywood does get around to re-making this cartoon series as a big budget P.O.S, it won’t have anywhere near the raw vitality this exudes.

Video: First million-dollar winner crowned on ‘Deal’

After three years on the air, somebody finally won a million bucks on NBC’s “Deal or No Deal.”

Here’s a 5-minute video clip showing the climax of Monday night’s game, where 27-year-old Utah housewife Jessica Robinson opened all the briefcases and won the grand prize (note: all the celebrating at the start of the clip is for Robinson clearing a hurdle leading up to the final offer).