The weird marketing of "Frank TV"

TBS, as baseball fans know, owns the rights to the early preseason rounds of the MLB playoffs. I've even heard a rumor that TBS is carrying the games in high definition, though Time Warner Cable hotly denies that. Oops — I read that wrong: Time Warner Cable is denying its Kansas City subscribers TBS games in HD. My bad.

Anyway, TBS is using the playoffs to promote the November launch of its new late-night series Frank TV. Now, I have no objections to naming a show after Frank Caliendo, a comedian much of the population hasn't heard of. A lot of folks hadn't heard of Roseanne, either, until she got a TV show with her name on the label. But I find it awfully strange bit that TBS is asking baseball announcers to routinely read this piece of copy: "Hey fans, do you remember the guy who did those hilarious impersonations of John Madden and Jack Nicholson?"

"Well, of course I do," the sensible fan says at home. "He just did them during the last commercial break." In fact, there are only a handful of these ads, and they are used so heavily by TBS during the breaks, that the average viewer could be excused for thinking that he has gotten enough Madden and Nicholson impersonations for the next two years. (In another spot, Caliendo plays a fat Robin Williams. There's another one where he's wearing a leather jacket and impersonates ... uh, someone.)

I have no idea if this show is going to be any good. TBS's track record is just too spotty to predict anything. It has brought out two pretty good comedies in the past year ("10 Items or Less," "House of Payne") and two not so good ones ("My Boys," "Bill Engvall Show"). (Those of you who don't find Tyler Perry funny probably like "My Boys." I'm not typecasting; I'm just saying.) But none of those got the kind of repetitive, hit-them-over-the-head promotion that always seems to befall shows pimped during sporting events.

But at least I understand why they're not showing Caliendo in his civvies. Dude looks exactly like Jimmy Kimmel's other brother.

Comments

The track record on programs getting this kind of ad time from sporting events seems to be really low.

[Stuart Goldman]

In Boston, with Comcast, the TBS HD channel sprung to life days before the playoffs were to begin (thankfully). However, TBS suffers from the same HD annoyance as TNT: people either unclear, or too lazy, to understand ASPECT RATIO. I'm really getting tired of seeing stretched and squished programs and commercials. Frank Caliendo is a stocky guy already, so why make him extra portly by taking a 4:3 picture and stretching out to fill the HD screen? And it just ain't commercials. Vin Diesel looks extra beefy in "Chronicles of Riddick" before the game on Sunday. Are people going to figure this out before the switchover in 2009? Or is this similar to how people "prefer" full-screen pan-and-scan videos?

[Mike]

If you have DIRECTV you can get the games on TBS in High Def. Nothing looks squished

[Mike]

If you have DIRECTV you can get the games on TBS in High Def. Even if you live in Kansas City or the surrounding areas Nothing looks squished

[David]

You seem to have a typo in your article when naming the comedies. "10 Items or Less" and "House of Payne" are the less than enjoyable ones where "My Boys" and "The Bill Engvall Show" are the pretty good ones. I am sure it was just a typo. :-)

[Mark Jeffries]

"My Boys" has promise, but has yet to fulfill it. "Bill Engvall" has the still-hot Nancy Travis, but not much else. "Ten Items" has Jennifer Elise Cox, who I think is a great comedienne, but the improving was better on the Lifetime show she did with Jane Lynch. The less said about "House of Payne," the better.

IMHO, of course.

[Robert Seidman]

i have to admit it might have been ever so slightly more fun to watch Torre grimace (one last time in pinstripes?) in crystal clear HD.

I have watched maybe 18 hours of TBS playoff coverage and other than Frank TV and TBS having reruns of The Office, I don't TBS promoting any of its other shows. I don’t get it from a bang for the buck perspective -- Frank TV doesn't even begin airing for about a month *after* the NLCS is over.

The ads for The Office make a lot more sense to me.

[DonBoy]

In case you weren't just being arch: the impression in the leather jacket is Robert De Niro.

[Aaron]

Ah, De Niro, of course.

Well, it's a limitation of cable TV that you see them overpromoting too few shows. My Boys and 10 Items only run certain times of the year, and this ain't that time.

(Although I do recall big ole CBS in 1994 using hours of promotional time to plug that godawful Glenn Frye action drama "South of Sunset" during the Olympics. I swear, the promos got more airtime than Glenn did - the show was yanked after one airing.)

As usual, some good observations from Stuart, which I wish I were in a position to corroborate.

Interestingly enough (or not) I just received an email from DISH Network this afternoon that TBS in High Def is now avalable.

Aaron, when will you and the Star finally recognize that several thousand homes and many bar/restraurants in this area do not get thier television signals from just Comcast or Time Warner? When you mention shows, your articles tell us which network carries them and the channel numbers where they can be found only on cable. The sports section does the same thing. It's time to drive around the neighborhoods and note how many satelite dishes are outside the homes, with more and more every day.

[Aaron]

I think you're confusing me with the Star TV section. I almost never mention channel assignments except to follow newspaper style and mention the VHF/UHF channel assignments of over-the-air signals. Sometimes I identify something as "digital cable" (like Discovery Times) and give out its TWC channel number, though in the past two years I've really stopped doing that and just simply say "digital cable" as a hint.

For the record, our reading area is served by a variety of system operators, including Everest, Sunflower, Charter, LongView, Mediacom, News Press Gazette and those hardy few who still proudly fly the C-band flag. I think Dish and Direc subscribers would come in third and fourth in pecking order on that list. And the telcos are only now (quite tardily) entering the fray.

[Schneid]

I've said it before and i'll say it again: DirecTV is the way to go. they have recently added an additional 15-20 HD channels to the line up and will keep adding more. Better selection and better quality picture than cable. and, since i'm on the west coast, shows like South Park and Always Sunny are on at 7 instead of 10. been a customer 11 years now, don't think i can go back to cable. yeah, on demand is cool, but i don't mind tivoing stuff.

[Ian]

Actually, the TBS announcers ask if they know the guy on NFL Sunday (ommiting Fox) that does those impersonations.

I do agree that TBS could have done a better job promoting its own shows that were premiering closer to the end of their playoff coverage, besides the distant Frank TV...