IT’S not you – every other show on ABC this week really is namedropping the Oscars.
ABC instructed all of its comedies to make some sort of reference to the Oscars this month – in hopes of creating more awareness that the awards show will be on this Sunday night.
In some cases, the plot contrivances turned out to be one little joke. But on others, the Oscar theme turned into multiple-episode stories that have lasted a month.
Among the ABC shows promoting the Oscars this year have been:
* “I’m With Her” – A natural for this sort of thing, the comedy, which is based on the life of Brooke Shields and her husband, featured an Oscar storyline over several episodes. Last week’s episode even included an appearance by red-carpet style cop, Joan Rivers.
* “It’s All Relative” – Last night’s episode featured a character whose Oscar-viewing plans was spoiled when his remote control broke.
* “George Lopez” – On Friday, the show will have a line or two with George making fun of his wife Angie’s crush on Jude Law and her defending it by saying Law’s nominated for an Oscar.
* “Hope & Faith” – Friday’s episode will open with Kelly Ripa’s character in a tanning bed. When nephew Justin asks, “Why are you getting a tan in February?” She says she needs it for the Oscars. . . ” ’cause you never know when they’ll cut to the audience.”
* “Life With Bonnie” – Bonnie gets cast in a soup commercial, and when her husband, Mark, comes home, their son Charlie says something like: “Hey, Dad, Mom’s going to win an Oscar?”
“If the audience sees our shows – and the characters on our shows – referring to, or celebrating the Oscars, we feel it will generate more excitement around the show and hopefully provoke more people to make Oscar Night a ‘can’t miss event,’ ” says Mike Benson, senior vice president of marketing for ABC.
“Especially now that [the Oscars] are in February sweeps and we’ll have competition” from other networks,” he says. “The idea is to make the Oscar Night a bigger event, much like the Super Bowl.”
Dropping brand-name advertisers into programs – a practice called product placement – has become a TV norm these days. But this is probably the first time a network has plugged its own upcoming special event throughout the scripts of its regular primetime schedule.
“It’s one thing to slip a bag of Doritos into ‘Survivor‘ as a prize,” says an insider at a rival network, “it’s quite another to get the characters in eight or 10 scripted comedies to mention an upcoming Oscar broadcast.”
