Through the Wire
By Linda Haugsted and Todd Spangler -- Multichannel News, 9/9/2007 8:00:00 PM
Gearing Up for Emmy Party Smackdown
While you are cleaning up the popcorn bowls and heading for bed after the Emmy telecast on Sunday, Sept. 16, the show’s participants will be deciding which parties to grace.
HBO always throws a fine soirée. Then there are the must-see spots from the entertainment magazines and other party throwers.
The trend now is beyond the cool gift bags: planners schedule big-name entertainment to go with the free booze, top-notch eats and product-placement stations.
TV Guide magazine is touting the performance “get” for its invitation-only bash at Les Deux in Hollywood. Grammy Award-winner John Legend will headline the festivities there. The R&B performer will have an opening act, the Band from TV. It features a few names of its own: Emmy nominee Hugh Laurie (House) on keyboards, James Denton (Desperate Housewives) on guitar, Greg Grunberg (Heroes) on drums, Bob Guiney (The Bachelor) and Bonnie Somerville (the upcoming Cashmere Mafia) on vocals.
The band is not just a vanity project, FYI: Grunberg formed it to raise money for the hospital at UCLA where his son is treated for epilepsy.
But the music headliners will have competition: the Entertainment Tonight party sponsored by People magazine at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles has snagged the ’80s pop juggernaut Duran Duran.
We guess party planners were inspired by the title of Duran Duran’s upcoming CD: “Red Carpet Massacre.”
Cartoon to Give Kids Control of the Remote
Kids will become the masters of their own cartoon universe with the Sept. 24 launch of “Master Control,” a Cartoon Network multiplatform initiative that will let young viewers select programming in the 5:30 p.m. slot each day.
Viewers will go to www.CartoonNetwork.com to find virtual clubhouses with themed logos. They can join Shadowmark (attributes: stealthy and mysterious, Shadowmark achieves its goals by any mean necessary); Vikinators (fiercely competitive warriors, the Vikinators never back down) or Blastadons (elite warlocks by birthright, Blastadons have powerful and ancient magic). Kids will cast votes daily; the winning club will have its logo featured on-air, and its program selection will be played Monday through Thursday at 5:30. Competitors can chose the entire 4 to 6 p.m. block on Fridays.
Art Roche, Cartoon Network’s new media creative director, said afternoon is primetime, as far as kids are concerned.
“We’ll have a nice overlay over our most popular shows,” he said. The Master Control area is set up so kids can vote quickly and get back to viewing TV; participants must have a code televised during the block in order to vote the next day.
Cartoon Network tested each of the team names via a survey on its Web site. Kids provided positive feedback both on the names and the viewer programming concept, Roche said.
The goal of the effort is to provide interactivity to viewers, not necessarily pump up traffic to the network’s Web site, he added. CartoonNetwork.com and its sibling Web sites (ToonamiJetstream.com, Awesomehouseparty.com and CartoonNetworkYa.com, the Spanish language version) are already some of the most popular kids destinations online. According to Nielsen/NetRatings, the sites average more than 6 million unique users a month. Users are attracted to games at the sites, which recorded 2 billion game plays in 2006, according to Cartoon Network New Media.
“We’re really happy with the traffic already. Kids are busy and overprogrammed already, we don’t want to add to that. This is just a fun little extra,” he said.
Gives New Meaning To 'Streaming Video’
Diuretic P.R. Stunt of the Week: Sony Pictures Entertainment’s Crackle.com online video network sent out an announcement promoting the launch of a comedy-themed channel called Moving Targets — along with an adult diaper. In case you didn’t get it, a note was pinned to the diaper: “Don’t fight the funny. Let yourself go.”
Fare on the site’s new channel is supposed to include Jennifer Shiman’s 30-Second Bunnies Theater, the lovable lapin shorts made famous on Starz.
TBS Tabs New Digital Czar
03/10/2008Cartoon Launches ‘Master Control’ Initiative
09/06/2007Kids Prove To Be Demanding
01/28/2007
