The Death of Buzz: Politicians and TV Show Runners Beware!
Observing a political paradox this election year a fascinating phenomenon seems to be unfolding - that we may have reached a phase in our cultural evolution where there is no such thing as good attention.
A poll this week revealed that Mitt Romney’s favorable ratings have risen over the past few weeks, during a time when he’s largely been off center stage. There’s been the Bain brouhaha, but Romney himself has mostly let others take on the fight, with Pres. Obama and Romney surrogates occupying the foreground, while he’s taken a step or two back. Compared to the primary battles when he was standing in the floodlights every day.
Likewise, it's been demonstrated that Obama’s approval rating tends to go up when he was out of the limelight, during the Republican primaries or when he’s been on vacation for instance.
Looking at this it seems very clear that there is no such thing as positive attention in the Twitter age; that anyone who sticks their head up is going to just have it picked apart by 100,000,000 gnats. The internet has largely become a roving lynch mob and you can’t stop a lynch mob with comedy GIF’s.
What might perhaps be true in politics at this point absolutely holds true in entertainment, that any attention you receive only serves to inspire an even greater backlash. (e.g. Girls). I dont think its possible any more to have hype without inspiring a greater reaction. Unless your hype is ironic to start with like Betty White’s.
Another scenario is the Game of Thrones model, in which your core hype-base is so nerdy and unwholesome it scares off everyone else from jumping on your hype parade. Until the series is off and running anyway. I’m not sure if that model could translate to politics but it’s worth trying.
Also helpful - if like Veep or Justified or Adele actually you are really bulletproof level good. But that almost never works even in entertainment and it’s a metaphysical impossibility for anyone in politics to be that good, because if they were, they wouldn’t be in politics, and certainly wouldn’t have risen in it.
For TV shows and movies, however, we have almost reached an inflection point where nobody talking about a show or movie is better than anyone talking about it. This chart certainly made that point clear. Longmire last night, which not a single person on all of Twitter or Tumblr mentioned, got 4.2 million viewers - as much as GOT, or Mad Men and Girls combined on a typical night - shows that having no buzz may be the new path to media enormity.
As for would-be Presidents, asking them to get through their party’s convention, the debates and the fall campaign without anyone talking about them is a tall order. But if they want to win it all, they’ve got to try. The Longmire/Lou Diamond Phillips strategy is the only one that stands a chance in the post-buzz era.
(This piece was originally posted at RushfieldBabylon.com)
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Sep '11
Re: The Death of Buzz: Politicians and TV Show Runners Beware!
I really enjoyed the first episode of Longmire, and only watched it because happened to see an advertisement about an hour before it started. I recognized it as the Craig Johnson series, and thought "this could be good." I did not miss the months and months of hype that usually precedes new shows on cable.
Jul '11
Re: The Death of Buzz: Politicians and TV Show Runners Beware!
Obama is incapable of keeping his mouth shut even if everything he does is scripted for him. He cannot help himself.
Mar '12
Re: The Death of Buzz: Politicians and TV Show Runners Beware!
My operating theory of Twitter is that it's a chick thing; even guys who tweet/twit become chick-like. And as anyone with a working memory of high school can attest, chicks really go for the silent type, and have nothing but contempt for the guys who follow them around like puppies. Thus, the winning slogan:
Mitt doesn't care a wit about those who twit.
Edited on June 7, 2012 at 12:50amMay '10
Re: The Death of Buzz: Politicians and TV Show Runners Beware!
Veep is considered bullet-proof level good? Really? It's put me to sleep -- literally -- on three separate occasions. It's not caused me to laugh out loud once (maybe I've smiled.) I keep checking it out because it's only 30 minutes and "has good bones," but bullet-proof? Really?
Nov '11
Re: The Death of Buzz: Politicians and TV Show Runners Beware!
Out: Famous for being famous.
In: Famous for not being famous.
Re: The Death of Buzz: Politicians and TV Show Runners Beware!
Julia Louis Dreyfus' comic skills are absolutely unquestionable. I could watch her read Craigslist. And Veep is funnier than Craigslist.
Dec '10
Re: The Death of Buzz: Politicians and TV Show Runners Beware!
Perhaps because of the flood of data (not necessarily information) that the age of the Internet has thrust upon us with no end in sight, presidential campaigning will revert back to an earlier era when it was considered "unseemly" for the candidate to go on the hustings and campaign for himself. He would stay home and let surrogates do the campaigning. This would take the ego out of the equation as the candidate would be not representing his own personal ambition but a set of ideas in the form of the Party he was the candidate of.
May '10
Re: The Death of Buzz: Politicians and TV Show Runners Beware!
Richard Rushfield
Julia Louis Dreyfus' comic skills are absolutely unquestionable. I could watch her read Craigslist. And Veep is funnier than Craigslist. · 19 hours ago
Actually having Julia Louis Dreyfus read Craigslist would be funny.