"New Classics"

One of my favorite daytime TV background noises is TNT. "Drama...is on TNT" I love it. Listening to Law and Order as I patter in, out and around the house is comforting.

This exposes me to a lot of TNT brand positioning. Days when they have Nascar and they're trying to pass it off with the same branding as Judging Amy has always made me giggle. "Drama is..." waiting to see a redneck crash into a wall and "Next there's nothing but drama when Amy hears a child abuse case". Hee hee. Right. The same branding for the soccer moms glued to early morning ER reruns as the golf tournaments. One size fits all branding.

The other recurring branding message from the "We Know Drama people" is for their prime time movie series, the "New Classics". Okay, so I get the "Saving Private Ryan" could be considered a new classic. I get that it's a movie that in twenty years people will need to know for tokens in Trivial Pursuit. I get that my kids or grandkids might have to watch it for credit some day. New classic? Sure.

What's tripped my out is how much they are willing to dilute their branding. I can see how car crashes and child abuse cases are dramatic. I could sort of see how the same brand can be streched to cover both cases. I even see how marketing prime time airings of movies that influenced pop culture is a good idea. But it has to be real influence.

TNT is showing Blade 2 soon.
Apperantly it's a "new classic".

Did anyone actually see Blade 2? Or, god forbid, Blade Trinity? I suffered through both of them, cause I love vampire movies. I love cheesy hero zingers and pretty people in leather breaking shit and making things blow up. But that movie was shit! Not only was it shit, but from what I remember no one really busted their ass to see it. Unlike Saving Private Ryan, it wasn't a movie people were chatting about around the water cooler. Blade 2 is a new classic like Van Wilder is a new classic. It was a movie. Some people saw it. Some people liked it. Most people didn't do either.