Because Time Inc. reader surveys indicate the most-read blog posts are those which detail what a TV critic got in the mail that day, allow me to share: I finally got ABC’s fall-pilot mailing. Good? Bad? We shall see, but ABC runs away with the prize for Most Threatening Legal Warning of the 2006-07 season:
"The ABC legal team has asked that I remind you that the enclosed DVDs are provided for preparation purposes only, and are not to be copied, played publicly, loaned, sold, given away, or transferred in any other way without express prior written permission. Each disk has been digitally watermarked and copy protected, and any unauthorized use can be traced back to the original recipient."
After which, Ty Pennington shows up with a bulldozer and knocks your house down.
Now this warning should not in itself be surprising, given how nervous all entertainment and media companies are about digital piracy. Except that it doesn’t square with what, for the past couple seasons, TV networks have been doing with their new shows before they air: namely, copying, playing publicly, loaning, giving away, and transferring them. Last season, shows like Everybody Hates Chris and My Name Is Earl got publicity blitzes that included the entire pilots being previewed on American Airlines flights and given away on DVDs in magazines. NBC is already running lengthy previews of all its fall shows at its website. Within a few years, you’ll probably be deluged with more fall-pilot screeners than AOL software discs.
All these free giveaways happened long before critics like me were able to review the shows, and, more important, long before the networks and affiliates could sell commercials for them. You would think this move would have annoyed the affiliates, who risked having their audiences and ad sales cannibalized by the motherships’ giveaway, but it didn’t matter, so desperate are the networks to build buzz and publicity, in an age when it’s hard to get the attention of a fragmented audience. They just don’t want anyone else giving the free previews away. Not until they’ve had a couple months to decide which of their new shows suck.
In any event, there is at least one ABC show that is safe for now from piracy: the Calista Flockhart vehicle Brothers & Sisters, which, despite having had a lengthy trailer of scenes played at ABC’s May upfront for advertisers, "is not available for viewing at this time." I bet because it’s so good!