NBC ‘Must See’ Its Stars Behind the Camera Too

Though there’s some debate about the promotional value of tying television series to feature filmmakers, NBC’s recent on-air advertising clearly demonstrates that top TV writers and producers can be depicted as stars in their own right.

One commercial running on NBC this summer trumpets three new series as “The Next Generation of Must-See TV,” by touting “Trinity,” “Encore! Encore!” and “Jesse” as coming from the producers of, in order, “ER,” “Frasier” and “Friends.”

John Miller, NBC’s executive vice president of advertising, promotion and event programming, said focus group research demonstrates that there’s clearly a benefit in getting viewers to associate a new program with the producers of a show they already like.

“They may not know the producers [by name], but they do know their favorite shows, and they figure if the people who do that show are doing this show, it may be worth giving this a try,” Miller said. “It does at least increase the interest in sampling the program--’What have I liked from them before that I might like again?’ ”

From a practical standpoint, NBC saw added value in lumping those programs together based on their production auspices to get more bang for its promotional buck. In addition, Miller noted that producers don’t necessarily prompt the same expectations among viewers that building a new series’ campaign around a recognizable star can foster.

“With the audience for television, when you bring back a star, they think not so much of the star as a certain character. They don’t think of Tom Selleck, they think ‘Magnum,’ ” he said.