Douglas M. Gaus
www.newproductconsultant.com

Is it just me or are some new logos and branding of important television real estate look like they are coming from students working on beginning high school graphic design projects?

Case in point:  The one that sticks out to me most recently is the new logo (pictured left) seen at the bottom of the screen during CNN's Headline News....It doesn't get any more bland, boring or non-distinct than this..

Furthermore, with Jay Leno set to step down from The Tonight Show in late May (and being snubbed by NBC for any "Jay is Leaving" promotions, a major goodwill blunder for NBC and his fans) and Conan the Barbarian salivating to take over, a new Tonight Show logo for Conan (yawn) has been announced (below, click on images for better viewing).. Can they just use Jay's old one and substitute in Conan's name or use Conan's old logo and change it to "The Tonight Show with.."?

Late Night with Jimmy Fallon's graphic artists seem to have the same undesirable graphic design affliction.  How come Letterman's 15+ year old logo beats them all for visual appeal?  And moreso, Comedy Central's The Colbert Report, whose wildly popular host Stephen, probably has about as many coffee mugs on Cafepress as fans of his Colbert Nation, with ALL of them more visually interesting than Mr. Fallon's mug?

The fictitious Dharma Initiative logo as seen in ABC's Lost at least has more cool factor (and marketing appeal based on all the D.I. gear being sold on ABC's website) than the non-fictitious television stuff coming out for certain mainstream late night shows and cable news...Can someone please hire away the island's fictitious graphic artists for the real shows?

 
With Donny Deutsche's "The Big Idea" scratched in the 3rd race, a good replacement bet is to watch 2A "The Pitchmen" or 2B "As Seen On TV".  This is must see-as-seen-on-tv, especially for inventor types like myself...

"The Pitchmen" is a new television series owned by Discovery Channel and ridden by jockeys Billy Mays (the guy who anounces he's "here" everytime he jumps into your living room) and Tony Sullivan (another respectable veteran product spokesman, but a kinder and gentler version of Billy).  This looks to do well in a reality tv series format where American Inventor and Everyday Edison's didn't or haven't really gone. Both Mays and Sullivan run well on Lasix...

"As Seen On TV" is an hour show that is owned by CNBC and ridden by veteran (and Emmy-nominated) correspondent Darren Rovell.  The show is dedicated to delving into the ASOTV products that make up the $150 Billion dollar industry, with interviews and great insights from many of the big DRTV heavyweights, both past and present...

Bet to Win, but will at least Place or Show for those not so interested in this industry...

Big Dog Boston Dynamics and Big Dog B.D.Parody.  I'll take 1B, although 1A is a great Blair Witch machine in it's own right.  Extra points for just thinking about attempting a parody, let alone the nice execution after actually putting it all together, outfits and all.  Could have gone without the ending on 1B, though....