It probably also keeps production costs down
Oh, definitely that too. But I wonder if the lack of product placement adds to the financial stress on the network in any appreciable way.
Please...Wesley...why can't I stay?
Fred ,'A Hole in the World'
Natter 41: Why Do I Click on ita's Links?!
Off-topic discussion. Wanna talk about corsets, duct tape, or physics? This is the place. Detailed discussion of any current-season TV must be whitefonted.
Jessica - Dec 12, 2005 7:26:33 am PST #1294 of 10002
And then Ortus came and said "It's Ortin' time" and they all Orted off into the sunset
tommyrot - Dec 12, 2005 7:27:25 am PST #1295 of 10002
Sir, it's not an offence to let your cat eat your bacon. Okay? And we don't arrest cats, I'm very sorry.
Take the cash, Tom.
Yeah, I'm not that much of a gambling man....
I wonder if this is why most network sci-fi shows take place in alternate-nows, rather than on spaceships (Star Trek being the obvious exception).
Well, special effects and set construction would add a lot of costs to a sci-fi in space show. (eta: xpost)
BSG recently purchased the sets from a cancelled pilot - it was the only way they could afford to, um... do some stuff this season (too lazy to whitefont).
Theodosia - Dec 12, 2005 7:27:46 am PST #1296 of 10002
'we all walk this earth feeling we are frauds. The trick is to be grateful and hope the caper doesn't end any time soon"
There was also a Ford Fusion featured in a recent episode of Smallville. Given that the town is probably the car crash capitol of the US (if not the world -- how many cars have the Kents gone through in the run of the show?), really was this a good placement?
TomW - Dec 12, 2005 7:28:21 am PST #1297 of 10002
"The fact that we live at the bottom of a deep gravity well, on the surface of a gas covered planet going around a nuclear fireball 90 million miles away and think this to be normal is obviously some indication of how skewed our perspective tends to be."
It's easy to do a Star Trek product placement episode. You just do a time travel episode where meddling aliens from the 30th century try to destroy the federation by sabotaging the sponsor's product.
"But without the powerful torque of the Ford F-150, humanity would never have survived the Eugenics Wars!"
"I know. Their plan is devilish in its devilishness..."
Jesse - Dec 12, 2005 7:29:30 am PST #1298 of 10002
Sometimes I trip on how happy we could be.
"Wow, where'd you dig up that old relic?" "I KNOW! I didn't think there were any of these old Ford F-150s left anymore."
Also, there's always the holodeck.
tommyrot - Dec 12, 2005 7:32:11 am PST #1299 of 10002
Sir, it's not an offence to let your cat eat your bacon. Okay? And we don't arrest cats, I'm very sorry.
"Wow, where'd you dig up that old relic?" "I KNOW! I didn't think there were any of these old Ford F-150s left anymore."
"They really did build them Ford Tough™"
gag
TomW - Dec 12, 2005 7:33:48 am PST #1300 of 10002
"The fact that we live at the bottom of a deep gravity well, on the surface of a gas covered planet going around a nuclear fireball 90 million miles away and think this to be normal is obviously some indication of how skewed our perspective tends to be."
You could also do the old trick where a planet bases its society on just one thing from Earth.
"Are you telling me that their entire system of government is based on schematics for a "Truck" from the 20th century?"
"Indeed, Captain. A Ford F-150, to be precise. It would explain why their planet functions so efficiently."
Jesse - Dec 12, 2005 7:34:02 am PST #1301 of 10002
Sometimes I trip on how happy we could be.
That kind of stuff makes me want to shoot my TV with a Glock 9 mm.
shrift - Dec 12, 2005 7:36:16 am PST #1302 of 10002
"You can't put a price on the joy of not giving a shit." -Zenkitty
Argh. My coworker told me this morning that he gave his two weeks.
I don't want to be a department of one.
§ ita § - Dec 12, 2005 7:37:50 am PST #1303 of 10002
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.
I wonder how much they get for this placement. Normal ad revenue goes to the network, right? In-show placement goes to the production itself?