Television Previews – Free Tickets!

Posted by Thomas Alan Gray May 28, 2009

This has nothing to do with RVs, but it's kind of funny.

Yesterday's mail brought us a letter from "The New Television Previews" containing four tickets and an invitation to attend a preview of previously unreleased TV materials.

YOU HAVE BEEN SELECTED TO PARTICIPATE IN A SURVEY WHOSE FINDINGS WILL DIRECTLY INFLUENCE WHAT YOU SEE ON TELEVISION IN THE FUTURE.

YOU HAVE BEEN SELECTED TO EVALUATE NOT-YET RELEASE TELEVISION MATERIAL THAT IS BEING CONSIDERED FOR NATIONWIDE BROADCAST.

Oh, my. We've been selected. How exciting! But wait. Say what? Not TV pilots, not new shows, but "not-yet-released television material." Why the vague language?

YOU HAVE BEEN SELECTED TO HELP REPRESENT TELEVISION VIEWING PREFERENCES OF THE ENTIRE COUNTRY.

Now, doesn't that sound exciting and important? This was followed by a bunch of comments from people who absolutely loved the experience and simply just can't wait to do it again. Another notch up on the suspect-a-scam meter.

"I wonder what that's all about?" wondered my wife.

"I expect that they want a captive audience so they can sell something. Timeshares, maybe?"

"Oh, no, not another one! Pitch it!"

But I was curious, and didn't throw out the tickets or letter right away. I couldn't wait to get on Google and find out what they're selling.

The answer: Commercials.

Seems that they've been running this same gig since around 1970, using old withdrawn TV shows or pilots that were pulled because they were so bad the networks wouldn't run them. This outfit sucks in a couple of hundred people each night and uses them as a free focus group to test commercials.

The best explanation is in Zach Dubinsky's Now On article from September 2000 (Vol 20, No. 1)

I pitched the tickets.