One of my favorite TV private eyes was Jim Rockford, in The Rockford Files played superbly by James Garner. Rockford lives in a trailer off the beach in Malibu, drives a gold Pontiac Firebird and keeps a little printing machine in his glove box to make fake but professionally looking business cards so he can […]
One of my favorite TV private eyes was Jim Rockford, in The Rockford Files played superbly by James Garner.
Rockford lives in a trailer off the beach in Malibu, drives a gold Pontiac Firebird and keeps a little printing machine in his glove box to make fake but professionally looking business cards so he can pretend to be whoever he wants to be — insurance adjuster, funeral director, even TV reporter.
He also has a shifty friend named Angel who seems to always drag Rockford into his schemes, which makes for entertaining comedy.
What kind of schemes? Angel, the actor Stuart Margolin, goes to a fancy restaurant with a little glass vial of bugs which he pours over his salad, then loudly calls the waiter to complain, thereby getting his dinner free.
Here’s a clip where the annoying Angel drives Rockford just a little over the edge.
All this week, Market Share is examining how the diginets, subchannels, multicasts or dot-twos — those secondary networks — market their classic TV shows with often wildly inventive, creative and often hilarious promos to create awareness and drive viewership.
The Rockford Files is just one of many classic TV programs that live on Cozi TV, the diginet network owned by the NBCUniversal Owned Television Stations division of NBCUniversal, and tied for 9th out of the top 25 multicast networks ranked in terms of TV households covered.
Other classic TV programs on Cozi TV include several of my favorites while growing up including The Lone Ranger, Lassie, The Munsters and Roy Rogers. Miami Vice is still way cool here, as is Baywatch, and the smart and sophisticated series, The Avengers.
Diane Petzke, Cozi’s programming and promotion VP, says her network has an attitude about TV.
“We always have contemporary fun — embracing our shows in the ‘here and now’ and promoting them in fresh, modern ways that attract both long-time and new viewers. We have a very engaged social audience, so we’re creating all sorts of original, shareable content. Viewers and their experiences are at the center of the network.”
Here are a couple inventive promos for The A-Team, where Mr. T got his start, and Fraiser.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxHYYWWv2Mw
And to celebrate Herman Munster’s memorable performance in the episode Dance with Me, Herman, COZI TV got 50 Broadway performers to create a flash mob in Times Square, and the team appeared on NBC’s Today Show in front of a live audience doing the MunsterStomp.
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