Categories
American TV Videos: Idents

Merger baby: The birth of NBC Sports.

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With the Comcast/NBCU merger complete the newly formed NBC Sports division (which includes a rebranded Versus Network) needed a clear identity.

In steps LA based Troika who created the new branding for the division that would represent everything from the Olympics to Sunday Night Football and Tour de France.

Roll montage..

Categories
American TV Videos: Promos

Happy Super Bowl, America.

All I can say is.. bravo NBC.

Categories
American TV Videos: Broadcast News

An American Breakfast.

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Breakfast television was invented in the United States, and continues to frustrate, entertain, inform and provide moving wallpaper to millions everyday.

Three network broadcasts dominate the genre, and all three are broadcast from New York City. The Today Show from NBC defined the genre in 1952, followed by Good Morning America from ABC in 1975 and the latest attempt from CBS in the form of the Early Show in 1999.

I’m still waiting for Aaron Sorkin to dramatize the world of morning television, but until then I guess we’ll have to keep tuning into the real thing.

Categories
Videos: Idents

The Universality of Universal Channel.

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Developed by Heavenly and produced by We Are Seventeen, this is the new look being adopted worldwide by the Universal Channel. Available through Latin America, parts of Europe and Southeast Asia it is partially owned by NBC Universal and not surprisingly plays a lot of American content.

The rebrand is bright, slick and inoffensive, with all the hallmarks of a “general entertainment” channel, and exactly the kind of thing I’d expect to find myself watching next time I’m in a Polish hotel.

Categories
Videos: Idents

Enter the “worlds” of Mun2.

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Mun2 is a cable television network in the US based primarily at the young Latino population. Owned by NBC Universal, the channels name is actually pronounced Mundos, which is Spanish for ‘worlds’, with the branding of the station as “Mun2” just a stylistic choice.

Designed by PepperMelon, the new set of idents, are meant to represent the stations three different “worlds”.

Categories
American TV Videos: TV

Kath and Kim: Australia v America.

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Comparing the opening titles of the original Kath and Kim to the American remake, its clear this isn’t going to be a line-for-line remake. Most importantly though, for the millions of American’s who will meet Kath and Kim for the first time this Thursday on NBC, I think they might just enjoy themselves.

The pilot made its pre-air debut on iTunes not long ago. All you need to do to download a copy if you’re outside of the States, is get yourself an iTunes account.

Categories
American TV Videos: Promos

Welcome back NBC.

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The Office, Scrubs and 30 Rock are three of the best shows on television, they’re all broadcast by NBC on Thursday nights, and they all made their post-strike returns to our screens just a few days ago.

These three shows have all received Peabody Awards in recent years, and given the chance I’ll happily go on about how important good comedy is.

NBC has a strange place in my heart, and although its unfair to judge any network by the sum of its parts, its undeniable that NBC has some amazing individual programs, and from this outsiders opinion appears to foster quality in its programming, sometimes at the expense of immediate ratings gratification.

Whether its The Office, 30 Rock, Scrubs, Friday Night Lights, or Saturday Night Live, no other network delivers as much of my television content as NBC, which is quite an achievement, and also a little sad that its not an Australian channel.

Categories
American TV Videos: TV

SNL and the cultural institutions of comedy.


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Not surprisingly, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip reignited an interest in Saturday Night Live for me. Sure Studio 60 over romanticised the importance of late night comedy, and its place as a cultural institution, but I still wouldn’t change an episode.

Comedy and satire are important (as I went on about here), and although SNL isn’t perfect, its still pretty good. Locally however, while The Chaser may not have the long history that SNL does, it has been having the actual, tangible impact on Australian culture that Studio 60 claimed its show-within-a-show was having.

This week SNL was hosted by NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams, who pokes fun at himself in this ‘digital short’, the second video is from an earlier ‘digital short’ this season where Andy Samberg serenades Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Categories
Ten Network Videos: Promos

The American Office re-relaunches in Australia.

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The American version of The Office is without a doubt, one of the best sitcoms around. It is one month from today until the fourth season starts in the US, but tonight on Ten, you can catch the beginning of season three, which may not make a lot of sense to the uninitiated since the second season ends on a cliffhanger.. but anyway.

Ten treated this show pretty horribly, pulling it from prime time when the pilot didn’t rate well, and then playing a bunch of episodes late on Sunday nights. Well now they’re giving it kind of a chance, playing it at 10:25pm tonight after Californication.

If you haven’t seen it before, the first two seasons are on DVD, and season three is all over the net, so like I said with Weeds on 9, do yourself a favour and watch it at your own leisure, because you know Ten is just going to end up pissing you off somehow.