Carl Icahn Now Wants ALL Of Lionsgate 
FINAL MGM BIDS DUE FRIDAY: So Who's In And … 
Action Comedy TV: Showrunner Matt Nix 
SAG National Board Approves Joint Bargaining … 
BBC Drama Unfreezes Development Money; … 
Lionsgate Board Rejects Icahn's $6/Share 
Is Betting On Box Office Good For Films? 
Marvel Still Looking For Captain America 
'Sopranos' Creator To Film Rock Drama 
LIVE-SNARKING THE 82ND OSCARS... 
'ALICE' IS A MONSTER! $116.3M Blows Past … 
Oscar Not-So-Thriller: Diller Mogul Picnic 
'Precious' Sweeps 25th Indie Spirit Awards 
Howard Stern Won't Be Next 'Idol' Judge 
Justin Theroux Readying 'Zoolander 2' For … 
Forget Jay Leno in the cat food aisle. 
Now the CBS marketing team has found an even more unusual way to flog its new fall series The Good Wife: by offering to bribe journalists just to consider mentioning the show. This would be pathetic if it weren't so hilarious. (Note to Les Moonves who's at the Cronkite memorial at Lincoln Center this morning: a $20 Amazon gift certificate isn't gonna cut it with me. A new Benz, maybe.) Amy Morales, a "Community Activator" for the YouCast Corporation working for CBS, emailed me overnight thusly, after I deleted all the promotional bullshit:
Dear Deadline Hollywood Daily Editorial Team,
I know I just emailed you recently about CBS's Three Rivers - I don't mean to stalk your inbox - but I didn't want you to miss out on The Good Wife either! ... My goal in writing to you today is to see if you’d be interested in sharing this information with your readers. As a thank you for considering the story I would love to send you a $20 Amazon Gift Certificate...
I look forward to hearing from you!
Best,
Amy
So I looked for her Three Rivers email but found no bribe offer in that message. Poor Amy had to up the ante to flack The Good Wife to me. That can't bode well for the show, can it? So Amy, since I didn't just consider a story, I actually wrote one because of you, here's what to do with that $20 Amazon gift certificate -- stick it where the sun don't shine, you asswipe.
Loading ...
Wow. I work in book publishing so don’t swim in the stream of TV and film production much. But a publicist actually offering a gift card to consider plugging her show? I am truly shocked, it feels so illegitimate coming from a major network. They must really be desperate about the decline of network series.
3-2 odds that Amy just lost her job. If so, hard not to feel a little schadenfreude …
“here’s what to do with that $20 Amazon gift certificate”
Er, buy a Canterbury’s Law DVD box set?
What a ruthless, nervy, and ballsy thing to do ..I can’t believe what Amy did either!
The new site is growing on me and it’s hardly the “crapfest” I had originally thought it was. You are back in true form..Thanks@!
Nikki, honestly, did you not sleep well? Ass wipe? The poor girl’s just trying to do her job as sanctioned by CBS. Misguided yes but have some compassion woman.
Nikki, does this post qualify you for the gift certificate?
Maybe you can pre-order The Good Wife on DVD w/ it.
All it takes is a new Benz?!
If true, how does someone like an Amy Morales actually do what she did and think the backlash won’t occur? Amy take the certificates out of your darkness add it to about 1000 more and stand at the
intersection of Hollywood and Vine and pass them out. Now that is getting the word out.
Robert Goldstein
When will producers wake up and realize that their failed shows don’t fail? Rather, the networks’ ineffective promotion, the worst advertising in the history of American business, fails at not attracting high enough sampling levels and, if it did, more shows would be successful. They should sue for promotional malpractice and the irony is the people in charge of promotion at the networks know it doesn’t work!
Nikki,
Wow, just wow. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you be so mean in a posting. I don’t necessarily disagree with you and I do think it was tacky of them to do this, but wow. Though it should be noted that even bad press is good press, so you got The Good Wife some attention, which is probably their intention all along. They should have known you wouldn’t take a bribe…
$20?
Talk about playing penny-ante.
I say get an auction going, perhaps on e-bay. Make them shell out the top dollars.
Priceless
Genius. I’ll bet you get these all the time.
Please – post more. Am loving the new site, by the way!!!
Jesus Christ!
Probably cost Amy her job. Which I guess is a good thing?
as evidenced by your above comments, the world could use more of mr. archerd’s civility and less of your snarky vitriol.
an opinion can be presented in many ways. vulgar is only one option.
why do you continue to lower the bar in an industry already in the mud?
Nikki,
You missed an opportunity, instead of being rude to Amy you could have done the same story and offered the gift certificate to one of your readers (like the first to comment…).
Maybe a contest to see who could come up with the best obituary line for the new CBS show?
It would let us (your readers) participate a little bit.
Jeff (hoping for the first option
Why not ease up on Amy a bit — “asswipe” is pretty harsh. She’s just doing her job. And, those are hard to come by these days.
Hey man, that’s pretty unprofessional language, Nikki. You can get your point across without being a jerk.
Wow, Nikki.
I would’ve thought you were worth @ least a hundred…
But you have to admit, she did do her job.
Sooo her tactic completely worked.
Seriously, Nikki. It’s alright to take a swipe at this new kind of advertising and at CBS. But at Amy personally? I know you’re better than that.
Mean, mean, mean. She’s clearly a newbie, lots of enthusiasm, not hardened yet but she’ll learn soon enough. Make that right now: you just gave her her first lesson in Hollywood nastiness. Bravo.
You’re a blogger, not a journalist. A journalist would phone news organizations like the NY TIMES, the LA TIMES, USA TODAY, etc…and ask whether their reporters received the amazon gift card offer from Amy to write about The Good Wife. Most likely they have not. Simply slamming Amy her for doing her job because you don’t like an email she sent you is not journalism.
Amy and CBS are just carrying out a marketing campaign being utilized by many brands – reaching out to popular bloggers and offering them free products and gifts to give their products a positive mention. The growing popularity and effectiveness of this kind of marketing has been widely reported in the such places as the NY TIMES, the Wall Street Journal, etc…
Amy should have just checked her list more carefully before she sent out her email, and removed you from it.
Not only pathetic, but unethical – not that it doesn’t happen 24/7 in the real world. But hey, Nikki, you mentioned the two shows! You should get a free foot massage or somethin’…
Seriously… is it really necessary to publicly crucify Amy here?? Why the personal attack? CBS is the bad guy here, not Amy.
This blog is a great source of information — but why must it also be such a breeding ground for negativity? This business is ugly enough all on its own.
Agreed… but this isn’t a CBS employee! Obviously CBS farmed out the job to another company who farmed it out to someone else who hired a bunch of idiot teens to infiltrate those hip new things called “blogs”. Amy is probably 19… answered a ‘make money with your computer’ ad on craigslist and is trying to earn a couple of bucks in a tough economy. Asswipe? That’s a great way to describe this ‘writer’ who has admitted to being a whore… just for the Benz, not the giftcard. This ‘writer’ is suggesting that Les Moonves himself is personally responsible for this? That’s funny. Thinking that this two-paragraph, poorly-written “article” will have ANY influence over a network tv show… that’s sad.
Which model Mercedes Benz did you get from Fox for the “glee” ad that’s posted just below this story – in your news section?
“glee” – TONIGHT at 9 PM on FOX!!
“The Good Wife” – Catch all the drama on the premiere Tuesday, September 22. Only on CBS!
Now… please forward me a Mercedes Benz & $20 Amazon gift card.
A bit rough on her I think. I hope you don’t start handing out goatses too.
I agree “asswipe” to that particular person seems a little tacky Nikki. You know I’m a huge supporter of yours but I read that and was like, that’s wrong. This woman is doing her job. Can I have the gift certificate? Hey $20 is $20. LOL.
I’ve seen both shows and am withholding comment.
Nikki I love your moxie!! Amy may have been doing her job but what she represents is sleazy if you ask me so the ‘asswipe’ title is deserved. This email pr they are doing is ridiculous….if the show was good it should have good buzz on it’s own not because the network has chosen to do things ‘grassroots’ style with a bribe and personal emails to journalists practically begging for coverage. We all know that Amy expected Nikki to ‘bend over’ and write a glowing piece on the two shows promoting them to the public as ’shows to watch’ for the fall. The audacity of people….
Yeah, I agree. She’s just a girl doing a job. “Outing” her by publishing her full name is just mean-spirited. She’s not a journalist or a CEO – or any type of public figure – so why publish her full name and call her “asswipe”?
Nikki, sometimes I worry about you.
“asswipe”
Give the girl a break – someone told her to do that. There’s no need to be cruel to someone.
Damn, you are so tough back there behind that computer!!
ginger is right, it’s just someone doing their job. It doesn’t sound like they were harassing you and went out of their way to be polite. Just another transparent attempt to prove you and your column aren’t for sale!!!(!(!…. but oh wait, you already did that.
Only you could make me feel sympathy for an advertiser essentially offering a kickback, great job.
I’ll give you $40 not to write about my show.
Is this the same CBS that claims that they don’t pay for interviews, the same CBS that will use its “news” programs to flog projects that other CBS entities are doing?
While you’re at it, ease up on The Good Wife. Making comments like “That can’t bode well for the show” is pretty gratuitous – from everything I’ve heard, 3 Rivers looks like the disaster while Good Wife is being picked across the board as one of the top new shows to watch. Of course that may all not be true but it’s still kind of harsh to pick on a show you know nothing about just because some marketing flak offended you with her offer of an Amazon gift certificate – after all, the show (and it’s hundreds of WGA, DGA, SAG/AFTRA and IATSE employees who all need their jobs) didn’t have anything to do with that and are all I’m sure working hard to make the show as good and successful as it can be.
Agreed! And outing Amy was unnecessary.
Wow, that’s your reasoning for calling someone an asswipe? I’m disgusted, and not by Amy. Judicious editing so you don’t look so much like what you just called her would probably be a good move on your part.
Nikki, you’re such a tool sometimes. Unless I’m missing something, seems like someone hustling and trying to establish contacts.
Being called an “asswipe” comes with the territory as a PR rep. And someone who is just “doing her job” as an asswipe is still an asswipe.
I agree with Gingersnap. Ease up on Amy. Reserve your vitriol for the bloggers and traditional journalists who took the bribe. After all, the ranks of ones WITHOUT integrity are quite plentiful these days.
God, just imagine what they’re gonna have to offer for people to watch the wretched Accidentally on Purpose.
Yeah, she doesn’t seem like an asswipe, but it seems like she doesn’t read DHD; if she did she wouldn’t email you at all!
Is she a CBS employee or an employee of a marketing firm contracted by CBS? There’s a huge difference. I’m pretty sure that if Leslie or any of the execs in the CBS marketing department knew about this beforehand, they’d be furious — not because it’s unethical, but because it’s just stupid and has the potential for backlash. I mean, the networks do have twice yearly Press Tours and they bombard the tv writers with swag and suites and star parties. But a gift certificate is just plain clumsy and stupid. At the very least, it should have been hidden inside an elaborate press kit along with a baseball cap and t-shirt and a Roots fleece vest with the show’s logo embroidered on it. I have a feeling that not only is someone losing their job, but YouCast is losing a lucrative contract.
WOW. “Asswipe”. Are you sure you didn’t mean WHORE or DOUCHEBAG? Did that make you feel better? Because reading it made me feel like shit and completely diminished your point.
Has Nikki ever really used the term ‘asswipe’ before? sounds weird coming from her.
I refuse to watch any AFTRA shows, such as “The Good Wife” on CBS.
All actors should be in one union, SAG. Just like writers and directors. AFTRA raided SAG jurisdiction with the help of the studios. Don’t watch any AFTRA shows. Pass it on.
@Joe Brown – So by refusing to watch the show, you’re punishing whom exactly? The companies? Their shows fail all the time – they just produce new ones. And they are sure as hell more and more likely to produce them AFTRA since SAG in its infinite stupidity has allowed AFTRA to come in and undercut it. I agree there should be one union, but there isn’t – and it’s up to SAG to fix that. No, instead, you’re punishing the innocent writers, directors, editors and other crew who work on that show and need it to succeed to pay their bills. Hmm… there’s an asswipe here alright. And it seems to be you.
Psst. Don’t watch AFTRA shows Pass it on…
Nikki is the bitter mean girl in class who thinks her bitter meanness makes her strong. Good catch, good point, bad delivery.
Amy, Amy, Amy.
Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant.
Nikki, Nikki, Nikki.
Flack, flack, giant flack.
Those are some harsh words… Geez. So don’t take the gift certificate… What does that have to do with the show being good or not? I hope you don’t have a daughter.
The Good Wife had an awesome pilot. Well worth watching, just saying.
Ironic that you did mention the TV show
I think Nikki’s reaction was appropriate for someone offered a $20 bribe to repost network flackery bullshit.
I guess this makes you wonder now about those others times New CBS Fall shows have been mentioned by anothers in their stories….How many of those Amazon 20$ have been used already???…at least you would had expected 200 $ from a network like CBS…I wonder if the gift certificate gets bigger if you add a positive comment about the show you are asked to write about…If you want to bribe someone at least do it right , 20 $ ??, Well, It should be used at the Big DVD Sale Amazon List. LOL.
what a turnoff. give us the news. in your own special nikki way. don’t be cruel to some lowly pr person. simply unnecessary. totally crass. shame on you.
CBS pays people just out the casinos in Vegas…literally offers them slot machine money to test their shows. Which is why they pick up what they do. They offer money to whoever they can to manipulate their test scores. Giving drunk people 20 dollars off the strip to say good things about their worst shows. They then use this skewed test data to support bad decisions internally. 3 Rivers is an unspeakable mess. But someone internally loved it. Or wanted other shows not to make the schedule.
@Rodney – True dat! Nikki,
Good or Bad – you still publicized CBS and THE Goodwife
Ha ha – now stick this post where the sun don’t shine!
Amy was simply doing a job she was hired to do. Especially if she’s new to the job, she may not have the experience or confidence to tell her supervisor this was wrong. But she’ll certainly know better now.
And to stoop to the level of name calling? That is not only unprofessional, but rude.
Amy obviously had NO IDEA who she was emailing.
This is something a brand spanking new PR flak would do. Pity no one gave her the heads up.
WTF is a community activator? She is a PR person asking or editorial coverage.
But since YOUCAST is a “social media agency” rather than a “pr agency” they may not know traditional PR etiquette, and perhaps they think sending gift cards is ethical to do on behalf of clients.
I’d guess she has little or no PR background (or if she does it is very poor).
The MOST important thing for a client to do is ask “who is working on my account?”
Agencies always pull this bait and switch crap and THIS is a result of that.
Amy, you or your boss should have edited your list more carefully. Nikki has a point but she made it in a really shitty way.
This company is very shady. It’s about time someone said something.
What a bunch of idiots! Why the hell would you be BRIBING someone to write a story or blog about a show no one even cares about in the first place. Secondly, a $20 Amazon Gift Card, REALLY, Amy?! REALLY!?
Your company, YouCastorateMyself, should have thought about their client ahead of time, rather than how much money they could SWINDLE out of CBS. I often find it ridiculously hilarious when media companies that have no idea what they are actually doing, try and buy exposure instead of doing the research on what an effective marketing campaign works best for specific clients.
Seems like this YouSuck Corp has a lot to learn. Oh, and I wouldn’t be putting the blame on Amy; I’m sure she’s just being told what to do by the owner(s). If you’re listening, Amy, take all of those gift cards (even the one’s that you’ve shoved up your ass) and place them where they belong.
How many of these obvious comments are from CBS and the marketing company? Unethical and lazy.
Methinks her real mistake was the use of exclamation marks in half her sentences.