RARA-AVIS: Re: Sleuth Poll/"America's"

From: mmiano3 ( mark.miano@nbc.com)
Date: 24 Jul 2006


Mark,

Thanks for the comments. Replies below...

> [Before starting, I just want to say none of this is targetted at
Mark
> (who has said several times that he voted for Marlowe, but was
> overruled), but at the decision making process of the corporation
for
> which he works.]

Let me make it clear that none of these choices was a "corporate decision" in the sense that some Powers That Be at NBC News or the SLEUTH channel dictated that we had to do this. Instead, this was a group decision made by the people working on the project.

Yeah, I got overruled on a choice - but so did other people on other choices. It's all part of the imperfect process.
 
> Although I am often drawn to edgier, less overtly commercial fare,
I am
> not automatically averse to market considerations (always find it
> amusing when old fans automatically dismiss a cult fave's commercial
> breakthrough as a sell-out, even if they loved it before it crossed
> over). And all of the authors under current discussion certainly
took
> the market into consideration.

I crack up about this, too. I think we like to dismiss a cult fave that goes mainstream because it's a way of crowing that we were "in the loop" LONG before Joe Public.

  But this rationale seems to go beyond
> market consideration to pandering. In rejecting Dick Powell simply
> because he is no longer an instantly recognized name, you imply
that the
> goal is nothing more than to give the public exactly what it already
> knows and has embraced.

Yes, that is exactly what we're doing. We're celebrating a list of the Top Sleuths for the American public. I don't have a problem with that.

> Now I'm a fan of "best of" lists, and I do like to have my faves
honored
> (and my good taste confirmed). However, the other big appeal of
lists
> is discovering something new that I had previously missed, but
should
> know about: "If you like these, maybe you should check out this,
too."

I still think most viewers will learn something new from the project. Perhaps not the Rare Birds that exist here, who are experts in the subject, but regular people who just enjoy watching cop shows or remembers like MURDER SHE WROTE.

>but I agree with Jim

Now that's a statement I never thought I'd read!

Mark, I appreciate the note - and especially what you wrote at the end. I'm not going to copy and reply to it again since I think I shed as much light on the process as I can in the earlier note to Jim.

Thanks, Mark

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