If You Were Nina Tassler: Part III

This is Part III of the question that was posed to Jericho fans on the CBS board.

"Pretend that you are Nina Tassler for a moment.
What would you be doing to promote Jericho?"

Tomorrow: What does this all mean and what happens next?


1. "If I were Nina Tassler I would embark on a visionary mission.
I would hire very smart people to help me see the endless possibilities for my network online and to advise me on how I could grow my network beyond the current model.
I would do everything in my power to facilitate the inevitable merge of television and the internet.
I would begin offering full catalogs of my networks past programming online with modern day commercials. The fees for these advertisements could help me to develop better and better content that would also become available online ad infinitum."

2. "I really think the best thing to do is to put the show on Sunday nights. I work downtown Portland Friday nights and without fail the bars, clubs, restaurants, and streets are packed to the gills with every advertiser's dearest demographic. These people are never going to stay home to watch Jericho...or any other show for that matter. Friday night is very iffy for any show. Sunday nights are completely different, it's a ghost town out there. Those people are indoors somewhere where they COULD run across Jericho if the tube is on. X-Files almost got cancelled right away but the network hung in there and it became a juggernaut on Sunday night, maybe another government conspiracy show would take off there, too. One thing's for sure, and I said it from the moment they announced the "renewal", Friday night is NOT going to work. And CBS isn't stupid, they know it better than anyone."

3. "I would make a point of keeping the existing and potential new fans out there informed of changes to the schedule by placing ads on CBS through out the day - maybe even make it humorous like -
"Please don't send nuts, but Jericho will be seen next on Aug 17th with a re-broadcast of a season 1 episode."
Placing the changes on the Jericho message boards are well and fine, however If you don't get on-line you miss the change notice ... that plus the main CBS board needs to be kept up to date along with the main Jericho page."

4. "If I were Nina Tassler I would be worrying about how many shipments of nuts they will be receiving if they don't start getting some more promos going!!!!"

5. "I would try very hard not to ever again rip a show that so many viewers love from them ever again!"

6. "I would shout out loud about JerichoRises.com
I would use RubberPoultry's video to promote during primetime
I would have the "Pool Guys" on every talk show on TV...
I would have a week long Jericho update on my CBS "E" News shows ~ Looks who's back! How they came back! Why CBS cares about the people so much that they just had to listen..."


7."If I were Nina Tassler my top three priorities (judging from the issues that fans have raised) would be to:

~Communicate return dates/pre-emption days, times and plans with the fans and

viewers so that they, in turn, can arrange things with their ‘new’ audiences and not have egg on their faces when the show doesn’t come on as anticipated.

It is a lot of hard work to promote shows, especially to those who are either skeptical to begin with or have lots of entertainment options available. It can be downright embarrassing to talk about all the promotion and the return of Jericho and suddenly the backing appears to have evaporated.

CBS has built a perfect venue for communicating with the existing fans in their own website. It is a most effective tool! Having the cast and crew and fans communicate with one another on the Jericho website is fabulous. Having the people who hold the ‘keys to the kingdom,’ so to speak, communicate regularly with all of us speaks of respect and not dismissal.


~Have next-episode teasers after the credits of the current episode…again, with RETURN DATES

(if necessary). PLEASE! That communicates something important to the fans who might be feeling a bit squeamish about CBS’ commitment... that there will be a next episode and what we can look forward to and promote.

Trust is something that needs to be built and maintained. The fallout from the mid-season hiatus is still fresh in everyone’s minds. Nowadays when one doesn’t hear, one suspects the worst. It is a natural reaction after being dropped in any arena of life.


~ADVERTISE the Jericho DVD’s at the end of each showor at one commercial break per show!

This is particularly important because the new viewers might be somewhat frustrated by the lack of consistency in programming and with the sudden pre-emption ofJericho in certain areas. This will give the new viewers hope that they can get their questions answered especially before the ‘next season’ begins!!
People just don’t have time to work hard at understanding a TV show. Too much work and inconsistency will have viewers giving up and leaving for something that is mindless entertainment. Been there, done that."


8."A "Jericho Ranger" Sweepstakes or contest. You can have say, 5-10 grand prize winners. The grand prize could involve the winners being flown to California and watching the filming of the new season, heck, perhaps give them some backround face time in one of the episodes."

9. "If I were Nina Tassler...
I would not have written to thousands of educated fans promising to rerun Jericho Season 1 and form a business agreement only to fall short on my end of the deal.
I would have had a better plan in place before making a public commitment to such a strong devoted group of world wide individuals."


10. "I would start by giving away DVD copies to Radio Stations...or any book stores...music stores.....like a contest for every so many callers or shoppersfor the full season of Jericho..I would get some of the cast to maybe when DVDs launched in Blockbuster etc...to be there to sign the DVDs.....random stores ,with random cast.I also would maybe start with news type infor in People mag Us....and others about this show and how rare it is to be coming back after cancelled.More interviews with the Music Video Stations...Much Music in Canada , VHI,MTV.I think it would be a nice fit."


11. "I understand the need to pre-empt Jericho for football (contracts and such). What I don't understand is the silence from CBS. Others have stated we could have been told at the end of the last episode (08/3/07), "Due to contracts with the NFL, Jericho will not be aired next Friday". I have another thought for CBS. Why not move Jericho to Saturday for those football conflicts. They could tell us "Due to NFL obligations, Jericho will be seen next Friday. Please be sure to tune in for a special Saturday showing one hour earlier 8pm/7pm central time." That time period is for airing repeats of other CBS shows."

12. "If I was Nina Tassler right now, after what she just went through, I would be in a NUT HOUSE right now."

13. "I say with preseason football coming this week double the advertisements during the games so that football fans will know to turn on Jericho because football games attract many viewers so that would be a very good way to advertise Jericho or CBS should do a comercial somewhat like a movie trailer to give people a taste of the show because adds just giving information on the show don't show to much of what happens in the show that might interest people."