Related to some things that have been discussed on a different thread, I have been wondering lately about the practice of using late night talk shows to hype new films. We have noted here on occasion the "old days" when guests would show up on Johnny's show just to talk (apparently) even when they had nothing to pimp. I think even Dave used to have guests who were part of his broader circle of friends or acquaintances, and not just stars of current films and television shows.
My question is this: During the Writers strike it seems there was an opportunity to learn if all this hucksterism really has an effect. When the late night talk shows were dark, did the opening weekend box office for films noticeably decrease? Has any analysis of the actual effectiveness of film stars appearing on talk shows been published? I can think of a long list of really bad films that tanked at the box office even after pushing the top 2 or 3 or even 4 stars through the entire late night talk show gauntlet. I can also think of a list of films (bad and not so bad) that were destined to make a sh*t load of cash even without any late night pimpage (do the Teen Vampire or Harry Potter films really needs the late night exposure to do boffo?). I would enjoy these late night shows a lot more if they could just cut the percentage of box office pimping by even 25 or 33% - especially if they could filter out some of the more vapid and insipid of the stars. I guess we will always have to suffer through folks like Megan Fox and the Vampire boyz, since they probably boost ratings, but there is a level of vapid move star that probably does not add to ratings, and also does not increase box office of the film, and serve only to annoy the hell out of me. -- TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en
