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TiVo This: NBC Making Minimovies
This sounds like an idea only Kramer could dream up: Really mini-miniseries.
To combat those inveterate channel surfers and TiVo-addicted remote jockeys, NBC will introduce one-minute minimovies this fall that will play during prime-time commercial breaks and star such name-brand talent as Seinfeld's Michael Richards, ex-Baywatch beauty Carmen Electra and funnyman Tom Arnold.The network will serialize its "Must See" shorts, with the first 30 seconds airing among a block of commercials in the 8 p.m. hour, say during Friends, and ending in a cliffhanger, and the concluding half-minute segment running during the 9 or 10 p.m. hour.
A total of 10 shorts have been produced so far, with subject matter ranging from suspense plots to comedies.
Richards will lend his voice to a Claymation minimovie. Electra will star in one with her scantily clad dance all-babe troupe, the Pussycat Dolls. The longest, Henry Tammer, Prodigal Bully, about a genius eight-year-old who torments schoolmates, will run four minutes total, broken up into eight 30 seconds segments over two nights.
The minimovies will debut with the new fall shows and will be repeated through the beginning of 2004.
Ironically, NBC somehow thinks the same short attention span that causes viewers to flip during ads will be the exact thing that keeps them tuned in to the miniflicks.
"We know that contemporary audiences are primed for this format and we have provided a means for creative people who are ready to deliver in 60 seconds or less," NBC Entertainment President Jeff Zucker has said of this latest gimmick.
NBC already begins prime-time shows "seamlessly" after their predecessor, eschewing commercial breaks in between. Zucker has even extended show's running times to keep audiences from jumping ship to another network after a hit show segues into a turkey.
The minimovies, Zucker hopes, will not only keep viewers tuned to the network's programming, but also to advertisements, which pay the Peacock's bills.
Since the advent of TiVo's commercial-skipping functions, networks have been trying to placate nervous advertisers, trying everything from overt product placement (see American Idol and Survivor) to show sponsorship (i.e., General Motors underwriting the season premiere of Fox's 24 so the thriller can air commercial-free).
NBC's not the only network experimenting with minimovies. ABC is also planning to do three-minute films that will be broken up into minute-long segments. The Cartoon Network has a series of two-minute animated Star Wars shorts slated to run between shows this fall.
While NBC's plan may look good on paper, we have one worry: With Richards involved, will the minimovies be able to overcome the Seinfeld curse? Stay tuned.
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