May 27, 2001

8:51 PM

Brand virus leaps to another level.Law & Order episodes on TNT next month will have ads digitally inserted.

Which reminds me--I was thinking about a device that would remove objects (say, Bruce Willis) from any channel I pick. . .I say we should get paid for watching ads customized to our specifications. (via Q)
posted by aflakete (15 comments total)

I love it. Die Hard 3 would have been so much better if Samuel Jackson spent the whole 2 hours talking to thin air.
posted by jpoulos at 8:55 PM on May 27, 2001

Well, I often feel as if my entire life has been digitally altered...however, for some reason (and I'll be candid and admit I don't know why) this reminds me of this old story.

And, if we're going to digitally extract people from movies, can we digitally extract the plot to Lost In Space and replace it with an old episode of the show? Combine the cheesy yet entertaining plots of the show with the special effects of the movie? At least then it would be funny, instead of merely agonizingly bad.
posted by Ezrael at 9:53 PM on May 27, 2001

You know, I am simply appalled. This is disgusting. You take a beautiful piece of work like L&O, and turn it into a tacky sticker board for sloppy unimaginative capatalistic commercialistic corporate greed machines.
This may sould like a rediculous comparison, but what if the Mona Lisa had a poster in the background saying "buy from medicci, his products are the best" painted by leonardo da vinci himself?
Worst yet, what if we wallpapered the inside of the oval office with "buy your dog Busters dog chow, because its the best for your pets health needs"?
Starting to sound like a bad idea (ok, Im lieing, I think the "laughing till I pee" value in that thought quite high), but still we dont seem to care about it on television, magazines, movies, and every fricken other place possible.

I want to live in a world where I am not distracted by the lazy greed of large corporations and the shark like confrontation with banners for overly bloated business enterprizes.
Whats next, reading an e-book, you "flip" the page, and instantly you are hit with adverts for nike shox? (sigh)
posted by Azaroth at 10:52 PM on May 27, 2001

Many classical works of art are, in fact, thinly-veiled ads for God, or more precisely, the Catholic Church.
posted by kindall at 12:14 AM on May 28, 2001

Yeah, Kindall's got something, there. Artists have always had someone they have to please in order to get buy on their art. For a while it was the church, then rich patrons, then corporations. Though comparing Law and Order to the Mona Lisa seems a little odd to me. It's television, guys. Television has always been commercial mass entertainment. Not art.
posted by dagnyscott at 7:09 AM on May 28, 2001

Not to sound cynical, but Law and Order exists solely as a vehicle for advertising. Is this surprising?
posted by Doug at 8:47 AM on May 28, 2001

Law and Order is "beautiful"? Cardboard characters, prefab stories, hack dialogue, Angie Harmon? You can cover Jerry Orbach with dog-chow ads any day as far as I'm concerned.
posted by rodii at 9:23 AM on May 28, 2001

If I live to be 100, I will never understand how L&O could achieve so much critical and commercial success while Homicide was largely ignored and constantly struggled to stay on the air. That show was one of the very few that I might submit as evidence to dagnyscott that TV can be art. The one with Vincent D'Onofrio as the man pushed onto the subway tracks ranks as one of the best things I've seen on any screen.
posted by gimli at 10:03 AM on May 28, 2001

For a prime time network drama, Law & Order already contains a fair number of product placements and the like. Street shots in particular are set up to feature name brand store fronts and delivery trucks. I'm not saying that it's as bad as Friends (which once did an entire episode completely centered around Pottery Barn) or anything, but the amount of in situ advertising for a critically acclaimed show like this is quite a lot.
posted by jkottke at 12:15 PM on May 28, 2001

We still need those business suits for politicians covered with ads like race cars, to show who's paying for their votes.
posted by LeLiLo at 12:43 PM on May 28, 2001

Law & Order kicks ass, one of the few shows worth watching anymore. And Angie Harmon is gone, with that hack football player husband of hers - damn! Criminal Intent is coming this fall, and I'll be watching that too.
posted by owillis at 2:18 PM on May 28, 2001

However, gimli johnson is right! (Sorry...watched Blazing Saddles the other night)

Homicide was one of the best things I ever saw. TV, Movie, whatever...it was simply great at its best, and even at its worst it was worth watching. The fact that Homicide lost in the ratings to Nash Bridges was a horror story.
posted by Ezrael at 2:24 PM on May 28, 2001

If I live to be 100, I will never understand how L&O could achieve so much critical and commercial success while Homicide was largely ignored and constantly struggled to stay on the air. That show was one of the very few that I might submit as evidence to dagnyscott that TV can be art. The one with Vincent D'Onofrio as the man pushed onto the subway tracks ranks as one of the best things I've seen on any screen.

Now, now. Homicide got plenty of critical acclaim and its ratings were strong enough to keep it going for several years. Unlike L&O, though, the quality of the show dropped way off with the cast changes.
posted by ljromanoff at 2:35 PM on May 28, 2001

[i]We still need those business suits for politicians covered with ads like race cars, to show who's paying for their votes.[/i]

lelilo, that's the most brilliant suggestion I've read in a while. Thank you.
posted by MegoSteve at 2:48 PM on May 28, 2001

Who cares what is being advertised in the "background" on L&O (or other shows)? I don't notice what brand of cola Lenny is drinking, or what brand of pen Adam writes with. Know why? Because it doesn't matter. The important thing is the plot, the story, the characters, the interaction, etc. The other stuff is just *there*. If having Pepsi pay $20,000 to insert pictures of their product instead of Coke will help keep L&O on the air so I can enjoy it for many more years, power to 'em. And, BTW, isn't Lenny Briscoe just the greatest TV cop in many a year? His "seen it all" weary attitude, his wry sense of humor, and his gruff exterior covering up years of pain and sorrow...cliched, to a degree, but he pulls it off with style. Great stuff.
posted by davidmsc at 4:39 PM on May 28, 2001