"Fast Cars And Superstars" Is An Informercial Disaster

Promoted as a way to "extend the brand," ABC led into the NBA Finals Game One with a thirty minute paid advertisement called "Fast Cars and Superstars." The success of the Gillette Young Guns advertising campaign in NASCAR led to the creation of this "concept" in programming. Unfortunately, success is a word that will never be associated with "Fast Cars and Superstars."

Created by the ad agency that handles the Gillette account, this series is paid for by the sponsors and is no different than an infomercial for "The Firm" or George Foreman's "Miracle Grill." In today's chaotic TV marketplace, broadcast networks are proving to be the new playground for paid and sponsor-driven programming.

"The creative concept and the brand are intertwined...really, the show is the ad" says Steve Fund, a Gillette business executive. This means that not only did Gillette help conceive and create the series, but its company is constantly featured throughout the entire thirty minutes, from logos on driver's suits to commercial advertising and signage at the track. Somehow, the information that this "primetime series" is really just another "Ab Roller" style infomercial was not passed along to the viewers...imagine that.

B-grade celebrities were recruited for this series with specific stereotypes in mind. Serena Williams, William Shatner, and John Elway serve three very different demographic groups. The remaining celebrities fill-in the gaps. Apparently, being a celebrity enables people who have absolutely never followed NASCAR before to suddenly be very impressed by the sport and then drive fast. Perhaps, national TV exposure and a very healthy paycheck for just showing-up does not hurt either.

Kenny Mayne, quite possibly the most bizarre on-air "talent" in sports broadcasting, acts as the host for the series. He is joined by Brad Daugherty, who quickly surrenders the credibility he built up on the ESPN/ABC NASCAR broadcasts. One website refers to Mayne as "an over-caffeinated lap dog." He spews sponsor plugs and ridiculous commentary while pretending to somehow keep his dignity...or what's left of it. Daugherty is completely mis-cast in his racing role, and no one even mentions what connections Daugherty has to this sport. He is just plain lost.

The "Superstars" get to follow one of the Gillette Young Guns a couple of times around Lowes Motor Speedway in Charlotte. The suggestion is that they are trying to "keep up" with the NASCAR veterans, and record a winning qualifying time. Kurt Busch leading Serena Williams around an oval track at a slow speed is not exactly going to set the world on fire. In fact, it was kind of embarrassing.

As the show progressed, it became clear that this was pretty much a disaster. Yet, this was only the first "episode," as if infomercials have episodes. There was Kenny Mayne, standing on pit road with his blue dress shirt untucked between three sweaty celebs in driving suits and one "Young Gun." Serena Williams was the slowest at following Kurt Busch around the track, so she had to be eliminated.

But really, no one cares. The myriad of sponsors have had their logos and commercials splashed on broadcast network TV for thirty minutes without the usual "restrictions" of actual TV programming. Without all the hassle of somehow generating actual "content" or "skill" or "excitement." Without the pesky limitations of "good taste" and "dignity." Everyone got paid, everyone had fun, and the checks cleared for Radical Media, the company with low enough self-esteem to produce this infomercial.

In the broadcast promotions for this series, ABC and ESPN try to generate viewer interest by showing "accidents" and suggesting that these celebs spun out wildly or hit the wall hard or "lost it" in the high speed turn. In reality, there was NASCAR NEXTEL Cup veteran Kurt Busch with Serena Williams slowly following him down the back stretch. There is just no way to hide really bad TV.

The first episode generated a tiny 1.9 Nielson rating, and was destroyed by Jeff Foxworthy and his whole "smarter than a 5th grader" franchise. Kenny Mayne exclaimed "We're making history here!" early on in the program. There is absolutely no doubt that when ABC takes a look at the damage this series is doing to its sports and NASCAR credibility, it is going to realize that Mayne was right. They are making TV history for all the wrong reasons. Look for clips of this series to live forever on YouTube. Another classic case of putting the wallet before the brain.

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Dish Network Ruins "The Dream" For NASCAR Fans

Wednesday night was intended to be one big dirt-track racing party for fans across the nation. Tony Stewart and twenty-five of his racing buddies were going up to Eldora Speedway in Ohio to have some fun. Tony had put together a night of NASCAR and NHRA drivers taking to the half mile dirt track in Late Model Stock cars. The idea was to have that fun while raising funds for the Victory Junction Gang Camp. This is a cause near and dear to the hearts of many in NASCAR, especially Tony.

This was the third year of this "one night stand," but this time something was different. Television had come to Eldora, in the form of "the pros" from Fox Sports and the facilities of HBO. This year, the entire evening of The Prelude to the Dream would be on pay-per-view. A one time fee would get viewers an exclusive night of racing the likes of which had never been "seen" before.

While HBO was the "host" for the pay-per-view event, other companies that offer satellite feeds directly to viewers also participated. One of those companies was the Dish Network. This twenty-five year old company offers high-tech direct satellite service to homes and commercial facilities. They serve over thirteen million customers nationwide.

The Prelude to the Dream was a live sporting event that was scheduled for 7PM to 10PM Eastern Time. As with most sports, there are always circumstances that cause a program to run a bit longer than scheduled. This was especially true for this pay-per-view offering, because it only had a "created" format. There was no shot clock, there were no referees keeping track of the quarters, and there was no scoreboard in the end zone telling everyone how much time was left in the game. This was auto racing, and much like baseball, when it was over...it was over.

The Dish Network broadcast went on the air without a glitch. Subscribers paid their fee and ordered an exclusive night of racing under the lights in the Midwest. As the evening continued to showcase exciting racing action, it was clear that "the Feature" was going to occur after the scheduled "off" time of 10PM. This was absolutely not a problem, because the organizers had told the satellite companies that this was a live charity sporting event. Everyone understood that The Prelude to the Dream would be over when the last lap of "the Feature" was complete.

Apparently, someone at the Dish Network Operations Center was asleep at the wheel. Dish Network subscribers nationwide have emailed The Daly Planet to say that at 10PM, the suggested "end time" of this event, their screens went black. This suggests that the "computer" had been scheduled to end their pay-per-view access at a certain time, as if they had ordered a movie, and not a sporting event. Any Network Operations Coordinator monitoring this event would have had plenty of time to determine that it was not going to end at the "suggested" off time.

The correct course of action would have been simply to enable the computer to continue the pay-per-view access on this channel to the subscribers who were watching a sporting event in progress. Readers have stated that this occurred after the "B Main" and that only after a black screen for thirty minutes did a graphic appear telling them to turn to another channel for the end of the event.

Several readers immediately tried to call Dish Network, but were kept on hold for over thirty minutes. This is not a hard problem to fix, unless the manpower was not available and all that was running the show was a computer programmed earlier in the day. Most cable and satellite companies have Network Operations Centers specifically to avoid this type of problem. As the program progressed, it was obvious it was going to run long. It never should have been scheduled by the Dish Network with a "hard off" as they say in the business. It was live sports.

Eventually, Dish Network allocated another channel and told viewers to turn to it for the rest of the event. There was only one problem. The event was over. Dish Network viewers missed "the Feature" and the Dish Network did not have the decency to store the program and then play back the part that everyone missed. Even if they had played back "the Feature," everyone who had set a DVR or VCR for one specific channel to tape this event would have come up empty. Simply put, this was an on-air operations foul-up compounded by continual bad decision-making and poor customer service.

Many Dish Network subscribers that emailed The Daly Planet said that they went black after the "B Main" and never came back again. They liked what they had seen, but they might have missed one of the best dirt-track races in years when they missed "the Feature."

On a night that made TV racing history, it is simply a shame that a logistical and technical error by one satellite company could cause so much pain for racing fans. Almost everyone who emailed stated very clearly that they loved the show, and look forward to next year's event. Everyone said it was the charity aspect that drew them in, and then it was the awesome racing that kept them glued to the screen.

The Daly Planet would respectfully suggest that one way Dish Network executives might put a positive spin on a very bad situation is by helping to support the very cause for which their subscribers paid their hard-earned money. Perhaps, a donation to the Victory Junction Gang Camp from the Dish Network would go a long way in healing the pain that this technical glitch inflicted on racing fans nationwide. Then, Dish Network could replay this event from start-to-finish for all their subscribers without any additional charge. At least let them see the whole program once.

If the folks at the Dish Network Operations Center took the time to watch the replay, they might even become race fans. That way, next year the Dish Network employees would be part of the solution, instead of part of the problem.

The Daly Planet welcomes comments from readers. Simply click on the COMMENTS button below, or email editor@thedalyplanet.tv if you wish not to be published. Thanks again for taking the time to stop by.

TV Viewers Get An Eyeful Of Dirt And Love It

There were lots of folks around the racing community who chuckled when HBO said the words pay-per-view. There were lots of people who rolled their eyes when they heard the name Tony Stewart. There were lots of NASCAR fans who got a puzzled look on their faces when the race location was announced as Eldora Speedway.

Nothing got the world ready for the complete success of Tony Stewart's Prelude to the Dream charity race that ran on Wednesday night live on pay-per-view. It may have been the most interesting and successful pay-per-view racing event in TV history.

Sometimes, things on TV just come together and the end product is wonderful. Good weather and a great crowd set the table for an evening of Late Model Stock Car racing on the half mile dirt of Eldora. Producer Pam Miller organized a professional television evening that was second to none. From the start of the pay-per-view program, it was clear that between show host Matt Yocum and play-by-play announcer Mike Joy, the evening would be classy and fun.

All of the TV personalities and production staff donated their time in the exact same way that the NASCAR and NHRA drivers had done for the evening. Darrell Waltrip and Kyle Petty formed an interesting union as the booth announcers. DW had just ended his Fox Sports racing season, and Kyle was about to debut in "DW's spot" with the TNT crew at Pocono. They got along great, and had a blast. It was nice to hear the racing knowledge flow from both of these veterans.

Give credit to the organizers who kept the event on schedule, even though Bill Elliott flipped at the finish line in his heat race. After a quiet moment, Elliott emerged and was still smiling. He had flipped at Eldora. The rest of the evening went off as planned, with good heat races, a B Main, and the Feature.

Lots of credit for the smooth flow of the evening goes to Dick Berggren and Matt Yocum. With Berggren patrolling pit road and the garage, he was able to introduce the viewers to many of the family members and associates of the NASCAR drivers. This brought back the family feeling that has been so missing this season on the other racing broadcasts.

Matt Yocum filled the role of host, interviewer, and reporter. He and his buddy Tony Stewart were keys to the overall organization of the event. Matt showed the TV industry just how versatile he is. He has hosted this event, a weekly NASCAR TV studio show, is a pit road reporter, and also is Tony's producer for his Sirius Satellite Radio show. Can it be long until Yocum gets an offer to step-up to a key TV role in the racing world? Can you say Hollywood Hotel?

While HBO will wait until Thursday to release the number of households who subscribed to this telecast, that information really does not matter. This concept was an unbridled success and will lead to huge numbers for this weekend in 2008. I certainly hope that lots of money was raised for the Victory Junction Gang Camp this year, but everyone at the camp in Randleman, NC can sit back and smile. The future for this event is assured.

Who imagined that a great looking TV broadcast from Eldora Speedway could be sold on pay-per-view? Who imagined that it could fund a good portion of the operating costs of Kyle and Pattie's camp? Who imagined that top NASCAR drivers and TV professionals would show up for free and be happy to do it? Who imagined that NASCAR and racing fans nationwide would step-up to watch an evening of Late Model Racing? Who got NEXTEL and Old Spice to fund the entire evening without running one TV ad?

Love him or hate him...that would be one man. This was a great idea, and thank you Tony Stewart. See you again in Eldora next year.

The Daly Planet welcomes comments from readers. Simply click on the COMMENTS button below, or email editor@thedalyplanet.tv if you wish not to be published. Thanks again for taking the time to stop by.