Drum corps as TV "product"

[dieselfume]

In worst case terms, drum corps is (at least) as interesting as figure skating and NASCAR. Yet, those activities are seen by producers as infinitely superior TV products. Can (or should? or how?) might drum corps be reshaped to be more TV suitable? Does it matter? With hundreds of channels, most of which are looking for product, why is drum corps largely ignored? I'm baffled. Lead me out of the forest.

[sburstall]

Part of the reason is the short shelf life of a corps show.

[drumcat]

Doing a "head to head" 30 minute show is a weekly possibility... the prohibitive part is the equipment. There's lots that could be done, and you wouldn't even have repeats much in that format... but are you really going to be happy with coverage by the lowest bidder?

[madscout96]

I don't remember if I said this back in september when people were reacting to the ESPN2 broadcast, but I'll say it now.

The on-air personalities need to talk to the TV audience during the shows. I mean alot more.

- It's a way to make sure that, in a TV show about drum corps, DRUM CORPS gets showed more than anything else. Take the time during shows to talk to the TV audience about what they're seeing, rather than show 3 minutes of a corps and then talk for 8 minutes.

- It's a way to give people a taste of drum corps, without giving it all away (if you wanna see the show without the announcers, buy the CDs and DVDs).

- There will be time for a corps' entire performance to be shown, and then go to commercial in between corps.

[AzEuph]

The thing with iceskating and NASCAR is that every time it's on tv it is different. I would love to see DCI on tv but lets face, would you watch every weekend to watch pretty much the exact same show you saw the weekend before? There is only enough time to work on one show the entire summer compared to iceskaters who can have several different shows, plus there are a ton more iceskaters.

[mistofflies]

The thing with iceskating and NASCAR is that every time it's on tv it is different. I would love to see DCI on tv but lets face, would you watch every weekend to watch pretty much the exact same show you saw the weekend before? There is only enough time to work on one show the entire summer compared to iceskaters who can have several different shows, plus there are a ton more iceskaters.

O rly?

I mean yeah, I just watching about a billion different ice skaters doing the triple axle over and over and again is somehow "different." As is watching cars go around in a circle. YAY FOR CIRCLES!!!

There's 30+ years of DCI history alone (and not just top 12 finalists) that is just waiting to be shown to the world. Drum corps has just as much variety as anything else.

[marshamello]

I've been a drum corps fan forever, but even I find drum corps on TV (or even on the big screen) to be substantially less captivating than seeing it in person. So I can see where it wouldn't get a big market share (and, therefore, not much interest from producers and sponsors) when there are so many more options for the casual TV viewer.

Whereas I've been to a number of "world class" skating competitions and found that TV coverage gives more the sense of being on the ice and allows you to not miss a single move. I believe NASCAR must offer much the same where going in person is great for the social atmosphere but wathcing it on TV allows for more total coverage of the racecourse.

Heck, it's hard to find an audience for the best professional musicians on TV - even the world's best symphony orchestras usually only get PBS coverage. However, I still don't understand where schmaltz like Andre Rieu and the like get their popularity and repeated TV coverage!!!

Now, if we allow electronics and expanded instrumentation in drum corps, we may be able to attract a young crowd that wants to see repeated corps coverage on MTV, VH1 and the like!!! I keed, I keed!!!

[tommytimp]

Andre Rieu is 1) very good at what he does, and 2) light entertainment. It's easier to find a market for light entertainment than it is for a 4-hour drum corps telecast--that probably seems like a heavy slog to the uninitiated. Even the two-hour live broadcasts of the past might have seemed too intense and repetitive for the average viewer. I won't even discuss the abomination that is the ESPN2 broadcast.

[Jared_mello]

tom, your blog entertains me. thats pretty much all i have to contribute to this thread.

[marshamello]

Andre Rieu is 1) very good at what he does, and 2) light entertainment. It's easier to find a market for light entertainment than it is for a 4-hour drum corps telecast--that probably seems like a heavy slog to the uninitiated. Even the two-hour live broadcasts of the past might have seemed too intense and repetitive for the average viewer. I won't even discuss the abomination that is the ESPN2 broadcast.

I guess the issue is that they're tying to cover two very different audiences with the one program.

If the intent is to expand the audience, market drum corps, and grab as much attention as possible, maybe a one-hour "best of (current year)" program would work better. You'd have to cut way back on the number of corps performances and/or the length of each show clip since you'd still want to have a lot of "a day in the life" clips. It would become much more of an entertaining "marketing" piece than the broadcast of a performance. Keep things short, keep thing moving, keep the audiences' attention.

Then what about a pay-per-view event for the real fans with a broadcast of the top 12? I'd rather pay to see the full shows and not be bothered by all the marketing fluff - leave that for the "uneducated masses".