You probably know at least one person who can’t remember his brother’s birthday, but can rattle off the hometown of James T. Kirk. And the captain’s favorite color. And his drink of choice.
In Klingon.
Viewers have powerful connections with the television characters they love. After all, unlike movie stars (or their brothers), TV stars like William Shatner – in guises such as Captain Kirk, T.J. Hooker and Denny Crane — visit their homes weekly or even daily. That makes for a powerful emotional connection that translates into ratings — and that translates into advertising dollars.
Many networks are naturally taking advantage of the Web to help build those bonds with viewers and their characters. One of the absolute best of current shows doing this is NBC’s “The Office,” which used Podcasts to help boost its profile with viewers.
The show’s site (http://www.nbc.com/The_Office/) serves dual functions. One is to be a standard promotional vehicle for the show, with deleted scenes, actor bios and the like.
The other is to be a showcase for the fictional setting of the program, the paper company Dunder-Mifflin, Inc. Visitors can sign up for an e-newsletter that probably seems all to real to some corporate information flaks. I loved the ever-so-helpful workplace safety column in a recent issue. (1. Don’t fall down. 2. Do not burn yourself.)
The latter was penned by Dwight Schrute, an “employee” of Dunder-Mifflin who also has a blog on the NBC site (http://blogs.nbc.com/office/). Written by the actor who portrays Dwight, Rainn Wilson, it’s one of those things better experienced than described. Trust me, clickthrough. If you’ve toiled in a cubicle, you’ve met Dwight’s doppelganger. I know I have.
But while “The Office” site is so much funnier than I can describe, the WB’s “Gilmore Girls” site (http://thewb.warnerbros.com/web/show.jsp?id=GG) is easier to discuss, because the bulk of it is simply not that compelling. It’s good for what it is—a collection of cast bios, interviews, plugs for DVD collections and the like.
The interesting part of the “GG” site is Rory’s Book Club (http://thewb.warnerbros.com/web/o_generic_feedback.jsp?id=GG-Rory’s%20Book%20Club). A big part of the character of Rory on the show is that she is a bookworm, and this pays tribute to her love of literature. Viewers are treated to a list of current and classic selections she recommends via a Web page and an e-newsletter.
The latter, however, is apparently on hiatus, as I haven’t received one since I signed up a month ago. Or, perhaps keeping in character, Rory simply hasn’t had time to write since she went back to Yale and that cad Logan.
While on maternity leave, I started watching “General Hospital” again for the first time since, well, the last time I was on maternity leave. The show’s Web site http://abc.go.com/daytime/generalhospital/index.html offers a lot of soap fan-friendly goodies, like a quiz to see which GH babe they’re most like. (In the interest of science, I took the quiz. Apparently I’m most like Carly. I’ll assume its because I’m a fiercely protective mother and like to shoot off my mouth, and not because I have a desire to date mobsters or steal my mother’s husband.)
The site also scores with Robin’s Daily Dose http://www.drrobinscorpio.com/, a blog from the character Dr. Robin Scorpio. Check out the comments section if you want to see how real the character is to some fans.
But while it is information packed, ABC Soaps Hotsheet e-newsletter is something I’ll be opting out of soon. Why? Simple—instead of teasing about the week’s stories, it reveals too much information about upcoming plot points.
Why bother watching when I know what is going to happen? I might as well just – shudder, you network execs, shudder—change the channel. And that’s a cliffhanger you don’t want to dangle in front of anyone.
