Sci-fi’s Bonnie Hammer – Is enough enough?
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It is not that we are not aware of how twisty Ms. Hammer is when it comes to promoting pet projects, but apparently it may be coming as news to Sci-fi’s new owners NBC.
As Lexx Lurker reported in the news section the Sci Fi Channel admitted that it lied last month in claiming it was at odds with film maker M. Night Shyamalan and was making an unauthorized biography about his “buried secret.” Apparently according to some sources it may be more of a mockumentary.
The whole thing was part of a “guerilla marketing campaign” that network president Bonnie Hammer approved of. She admits the supposed unauthorized bio is all a lie, and there is no buried secret. Not too surprisingly sci-fi does not think it will be working with Shyamalan anymore. No duh there huh?
The author objected to and tried to stop the airing of the piece. For some reason he was upset about the now admittedly fictional special that was part-fact and part-fiction. Hammer tries to justify their airing of it, by saying that ,Shyamalan was part of the creation from the beginning.
Well yes, but one tid-bit that has not gotten much mention from sci fi is that he with drew his co-operation when he saw the way the special was shaping up. What are the odds? 😛
Sci fi has recently been taken over by corporate parent NBC Universal and their spokesperson says, “This marketing strategy is not consistent with our policy at NBC, we would never intend to offend the public or the press and value our relationship with both.”
Sci Fi not offending their public??!!? 😯 They won’t know how to act if that policy has to be adhered to!
Well what really irks me is she “fessed-up” as a promotion for the show as well.
So not only did she lie to the entire audience, she again lied by coming foward not to tell the truth, but to promote the show YET AGAIN.
Here’s a paraphrasing from Miss Cleo about Ms. Hammers mind:
“Bad publicity, good publicity. It’s all publicity!!”
She’ll probably get a raise.
[quote]Sci fi has recently been taken over by corporate parent NBC Universal and their spokesperson says, “This marketing strategy is not consistent with our policy at NBC, we would never intend to offend the public or the press and value our relationship with both.”
[/quote]Whatever could have made Bonnie Hammer think NBC would approve of intentionally deceiving the public and abusing its trust? Hmmmm…could it have been that Dateline NBC’s use of model rockets to make the crash tests of pre-87 GM trucks more visually dramatic set a precedent for her to follow? Seems to me her behaviour is very consistent with NBC’s.
I see no change forthcoming in Sci-Fi channel’s treatment of its viewship as a result of NBC Universal’s takeover. They can fire Hammer in an attempt to save face, but it’ll make little difference to me. I expect things to remain business as usual at Sci-Fi.
Having fallen for the hype, all I can say is:
WHAT A WASTE OF 3 HRS OF MY LIFE!! 😡
I should have turned the thing off in time to watch pt 2 of “The 4400” on USA.
GGGGRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!
I would like to thank Bonnie for showing me the error of my ways. That bitch is the reason I cancelled my satellite service:
[b]Cancelling high-rated shows +
Changing shows which reached too many female viewers=
I don’t care what you think.[/b]
She proved to me it doesn’t matter if I have a Nielsen box or not, she wasn’t going to listen to it. No point in getting attached to something new. I believe I’ve only watched half a dozen Simpsons episodes and 1 ep of SNL (Best of Walken) off the snowy antenna since December 1.
Nothing else I’ve watched is in danger of being cancelled or over-hyped, as they are all sitting on shelves in my livingroom.
BTW: This is not a holier-than-thou post in regards to those of you who can still handle that channel without cringeing. My compliments to your strength. I just couldn’t stomach the BS anymore and found I was much happier spending my sat money on DVDs. I am surviving perfectly well without The Sly-Fi channel as broadcast because now I can actually be sure I’m going to watch some science fiction when I expect to see it. If you wait long enough you can get the Sly-Fi shows you want without the other crap, anyway, assuming you really want it after you see what’s out there, (especially with a multiregion/region free player).
Pet
I know right where you’re coming from pet. The ONLY thing that kept me watching SF was Farscape. I realize it wasn’t their fault that Lexx left, even though they didn’t do much for the show. Lexx is the first thing that got me watching SF, Farscape kept me there.
After Farscape, I deprogrammed the channel. I visited for TTtR, am not happy with what I saw on the channel otherwise, and left it deprogrammed. When and if something comes on and I hear about it (usually here), I tune in.
Streudel is also very correct, NBC isn’t going to change things unless it’s to fire everone there, suck all the money from the place and then sell it’s nearly dead carcass off to someone else.
Amen!!!! She’s giving women a bad name.
As anyone that follows GE (owner of NBC) knows — they don’t make changes right away … but once they start, look out.
As long as Hammer keeps turning over a profit, she’ll stay. But too many of these mistakes and out she’ll go. Let’s see if she’s goes for Strike 4.
Strike 1 – Farscape
Strike 2 – Ignoring the fans
Strike 3 – Her latest debacle with M. NightThe plot thickens….
Now they are saying that Shyamalan was in on the entire production, which was cooked up to generate publicity for his upcoming film. So the documentry was fiction/fact, the fight was fiction, the promotion was a lie….
*Cue fruity Music*
Tune in tomorrow for the next addition of Bonnie Hammer’s “As the Network Executives Turn.”
I’m so pissed at being taken in by the hype and wasting my time watching the MOCKumentary that I REFUSE to go see “The Village.” I was never a Shyamalan fan, anyway, until a friend in work lent me a copy of “Unbreakable” to watch for another friend in the crowd scene. I liked that movie and the way the unreal seemed almost plausible and was planning to check out 6th Sense and Signs with my Blockbuster Summer discount card. I might still do that, but I’m not going to spend full price to go see The Village.
BTW, SciFi has finally started a forum for “Buried Secret” on their new and improved message boards and so far there’s NOTHING posted. I hope it stays that way and Hammer gets the idea that people were so ticked off by it that they won’t even bother to reply in the negative. 😈
MM
I don’t mean to sound condescending, but you guys didn’t know all along? I remember a press release almost a year ago that discussed the documentary, it’s premise and Shyamalan’s active involvement in its development. The recent controversy, including what sparked this discussion was all part of its promotion, which was really just in turn to promote the new film.
My brother and I did watch the documentary to find out what we could about the movie, but mostly to MST3K the parts that deserved it. It’s easy when one recognizes many of the landmarks in the background. [i]”Hey look they’re on 422, what’s the chances of that? Besides that you can’t go anywhere in Chester County without being on 422!”[/i] etc.
As for Bonnie Hammer, venting won’t do much good. It really counter productive, as it will only aggravate fans further. As I understand it, she was recently promoted. Something which typically doesn’t happen to people who fail in their previous position. I don’t like the direction the channel is going either. But I just stopped watching the channel. No need to get myself aggravated, because they stopped showing re-runs of Space: Above and Beyond, Crusade or Seaquest.
[quote=”Headgehog”] because they stopped showing re-runs of Space: Above and Beyond.[/quote]
I got a pretty good floating-icon-free DVD set of this. Finally the B+witch-w word isn’t cut out, so it is actually better than the Sly-Fi and Fox broadcasts. Win-win. 😉
83
(To be honest, the first I heard of this Mocumentary was here, but I’m always up for a Bonnie Bash!)
I’m also right with you again pet! I hadn’t heard of the thing either, but Bonnie-bashing is great fun. I’ve long held a grudge against her. I have no expectations she’ll be going away any time soon.
Yep, Headge, I fell for it. 😳
All I saw were the ads on Scifi and the articles on Scifi Wire, all of which WERE designed to deceive the viewer into believing this was a REAL documentary. What I resent is being hit in the head with a bonnie sledge hammer to make me think this was REAL. 😡
As far as knowing the locations, you’re talking to a South Jersey girl who doesn’t like to cross the river if she doesn’t have to. 😉 HubbyEd is a truck driver and he would have known better if he would have watched the show, but after the first 1/2 hr he banished me to the bedroom TV so he could watch HIS shows. I should have stayed in the living room with him.
If you look at it, all the hype before the show was designed to make you think it was real. If you weren’t in the “know” in some way, you would be taken in. Yes, the show didn’t feel right. Too many people saying “Oops, I shouldn’t have told you that. No, really I can’t say anything more. ” Rabid fans who were to willing to give away “inside info” without asking for the doc maker to get them into the closed set for a one-on-one with Night. Actors having a hard time acting like real people caught in the spotlight.
If they had hinted in their own advertising that this might be a “Beyond Belief” type story, or even dropped the hint during commercial breaks, fewer folks might have been offened. I watched the whole thing because I was waiting for the punch line at the end if it WAS a hoax, but they kept up the lie right to the last frame.
At least Orson Wells had the decency at the end of “War of the Worlds” to add an epilog saying this was the Mercury Theater players equivalent of putting on a sheet and jumping out and saying “BOO!!”
I would have watched it, but all the previews were making it out to be a serious interview. I wasn’t taken by that, but the only reason I wanted to see it was to see if they would claim that Shyamalan was an unbrakeable/alien/werewolf/ghost/whatever, which would have been hilarious. Ah well.
[quote=”Tiefling”]I wanted to see it was to see if they would claim that Shyamalan was an unbrakeable/alien/werewolf/ghost/whatever, which would have been hilarious. Ah well.[/quote]
Actually they did reveal something…..he’s a “dweeb”
Sorry, couldn’t resist 🙄
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