Piety Hill Musings

The ramblings of the Rector of St. John's Episcopal Church of Detroit. Piety Hill refers to the old name for our neighborhood. The neighborhood has changed a great deal in the over 160 years we have been on this corner (but not our traditional biblical theology) and it is now known for the neighboring theatres, the professional baseball and football stadiums and new hockey/basketball arena.

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Location: Detroit, Michigan, United States

Monday, January 23, 2006

Only 3 paid commercials....

Should we start a pool to guess how many weeks it will be until NBC pulls its dreadful series, "The Book of Daniel"? Yes, I have subjected myself to watching it again, and it is getting worse (writing, plot, theology), not better. But most notably, of all the commericals during the hour, only three 30 second commercials were paid (ie...not for NBC shows, NBC coverage of the Olympics, or movies from Universal Studios owned by the same company). The only paid commericals appeared to be local feeds - The North American International Auto Show here in Detroit, Anderson replacement windows, and Marshall Fields Department stores. I give it two more weeks before NBC scraps if for re-runs of a Law and Order type show that will attract advertising revenue.
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UPDATE - JANUARY 23rd - Adweek Magazine (www.adweek.com) is the advertising industry's journal. In yesterday's on-line version the "Programming Insider" Marc Berman confirms 'TBOD' lack of advertising. NBC Entertainment President Kevin Reilly is asked about it and....

“Well, Mattress King has stepped up and he’s going to sponsor the entire hour,” joked Reilly. “Look, we knew there was going to be fallout because advertisers take a cautious approach to risky shows. If the show performs, we find that people get comfortable and advertisers come back.” Unfortunately, few viewers are watching The Book of Daniel.

And later on in the article, when talking about programming changes at NBC we see this - "On Friday, an evening ABC and CBS have made great strides on this season, recent returnee Outrageous Moments will lead into the relocated Las Vegas at 9 p.m., followed by new Dick Wolf legal drama Conviction at 10 p.m."

Yes friends, that is TBOD time slot.

Later in the article they give the entire primetime line-up for NBC starting in March and TBOD is no where to be found. With a couple of Friday 10pm slots taken up with the Winter Olympics, it looks like TBOD has about 2 or 3 episodes left - which is about as many episodes as were originally produced (6). It would be interesting to see if any insiders will report whether the cast is being called back to production for more episodes or if NBC is ready to let it die.