I work with a guy who, whenever we have a major problem with a client, always asks the same question: "What's the headline?"
What he's asking, in case you haven't figured it out for yourself yet, is what are our everyday contacts reporting back to their management internally. Sure, we provide them with a solid and lengthy explanation, but their bosses want the most concise answer possible. So a 500 word e-mail or a 30 minute conference call that goes through all of the various nuances of why we don't suck gets boiled down into one or two sentences. "The vendor fucked up." And then we look bad in the eyes of the client's management when we shouldn't. It's all about perception. That shortened explanation? That's the headline.
NBC had similar headline issues earlier this summer, when they announced that both Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip and 30 Rock would both be on the fall schedule.
The story wasn't about how two diverse yet slightly similar shows might both succeed, it was how viewers might possibly confuse them with each other and not tune in to one (or perhaps even both). Now, anyone who actually pays attention to any small detail is immediately going to notice the differences. In the simplest way, one is an hour-long drama and the other a half-hour comedy. But, every news outlet in the country talked about how the public would be confused, and how could NBC make such a stupid move.
Of course I get that our less-intelligent neighbors might confuse the two, because they both take place around the backstage machinations of an SNL-esque show. But, were either of these shows being marketed to our less-intelligent neighbors? Were the people who keep shows like Wife Swap on the air suddenly going to develop the desire to become Aaron Sorkin and Tina Fey fans? No, of course not. But, stories said they would, and they went on to say that when our Fear Factor loving friends tried to tune in they wouldn't comprehend what was going on, simply because of the most basic of similarities. Not by any means because the concepts on the actual programs were way beyond concepts that these people can comprehend.
So, did NBC fight the headline, and point out how different these programs were? Yes, for a time. And then they gave up and succumbed. Of course, they'd never fuck with Studio 60 in a major way (nor should they), and so they messed with 30 Rock. The show hasn't aired yet, but (apparently in August) two major things have been changed:
1. The show's dynamic has changed from backstage antics to an examination of the complex relationships between the Tina Fey, Alec Baldwin, and Tracy Morgan characters, making the SNL-clone almost incidental. I'm willing to bet that the fake Studio 60 is going to prove to be incidental to the real Studio 60 as well, but whatever. They're downplaying 30 Rock's fake sketch show, called 'The Girlie Show'.
2. Rachel Dratch, who I can attest from multiple takings-in of Asssscat at the UCB Theatre in NY, is funny as shit. And in the original pilot she was playing Jenna DeCarlo, the star of 'The Girlie Show'. Now, the pilot has been reshot/retooled and she'll occasionally appear on the show, sometimes as recurring characters (a cat wrangler in the pilot being one of those) and sometimes in one-off roles (I'm guessing under heavy makeup and prosthetics), and Jenna DeCarlo is now going to be played by Jane Krakowski. The blonde chick from Ally McBeal. This change has been implemented so surreptitiously that on NBC's little 3 minute preview trailer for the show that's still on my cable's TV Guide On Demand channel, Rachel is in fact listed first among the other named cast members of Fey, Baldwin, and Morgan, and they show a scene where she introduces herself as "Jenna" and then a PA addresses her as "Ms. DeCarlo."
Now, look, I still think 30 Rock looks great and I'm still going to watch it. Alec Baldwin seems to be playing the egomaniac role he loves so much to the hilt, and the fake news camera scene of Tracy Morgan running on an LA highway in tighty-whiteys with a plastic light saber
What disturbs me, but of course doesn't shock me, is that NBC was so willing to completely de-ball 30 Rock for the sake of trying to change the headline. I'm sure it'll still be funny, but I suspect that if the original version of this series that we were supposed to see would have been infinitely funnier.
The truly funny part though is that, because they're downplaying these casting/concept/plot changes which were actually made back in August, the headline hasn't changed one bit.
