Comments on: NBC’s ‘Chuck’ Saved By Sandwiches, Not Fans

By: TechGOnzo

TechGOnzo — Sat, 30 May 2009 00:57:38 +0000

@ttrnet The “core” of my ARTICLE (note, not argument) was that Subway was willing to pay for non traditional advertising. That being said, any and all attempts to strengthen the possibility that they would pony up enough cash to keep the show going means the show’s producers knew this, and so did NBC.

Don’t doubt me go read the NY Times article about non traditional advertising in TV.

Also, if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck… it’s probably a troll flaming about the obvious.

By: Nick Challis

Nick Challis — Fri, 29 May 2009 17:23:58 +0000

Nice try at cya for the NBC execs.

NBC has made it clear that they wish to control or harness all media including guerrilla campaigns like the fan drive to patronize Subway.

To claim they had a plan all along is pathetic. NBC is #4. Number Four. And sliding. The are not that smart, creative or original. Saving “Chuck” for 13 episodes had little to do with NBC acting any differently than they have throughout their slide. They’ve killed the Tonite Show and placed Leno in a slot where his irrelevance will set a new bar for an underperforming primetime hour.

Lets imagine for a moment that NBC execs actually did work this out. That would make their otherwise consistent blunders shine more brightly as an inept leadership knocked a home run in a minor matter while its core business continues to falter.

NBC Universal, in its current structure, is a dying entity.

Subway, on the other hand responds to what its customers want, and we want Morgan at Subway. We want “Chuck”.

By: Tim Wilson

Tim Wilson — Fri, 29 May 2009 14:01:17 +0000

Zachary Levi must have already known this when he pulled this ‘Subway stunt’ at a recent covention he attended in the UK …

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDtePZ1MFT0

By: Erica

Erica — Fri, 29 May 2009 08:28:20 +0000

The sandwich campaign was NOT a “stunt” by Subway, NBC, or anyone else related to the show. And it was AFTER the word-of-mouth promotion (by the fans) that Subway decided to continue sponsorship and NBC decided to renew the show.

This was all weeks before the finale of Chuck, and before final negotiations.

The evolution of the fan effort is very well documented in the forums of the website TelevisionWithoutPity.com. Check it out; the idea and organization started there.

http://forums.televisionwithoutpity.com/index. php?showforum=1009

By: Groo

Groo — Fri, 29 May 2009 04:41:56 +0000

You know what? I don’t care what came first, the post by the person on my TWOP board suggesting this campaign, or subway’s decision to support Chuck.

They saved my favorite show. While Chuck’s on the air, I’m going to be having my Subway Mondays to thank them.

By: dave

dave — Fri, 29 May 2009 03:18:51 +0000

I agree, this idea that Subway somehow knew ahead of time that they were going to sell a bunch of subs to chuck fans is ridiculous.

The fan campaigns started easily a month to six weeks before the finale.

I was writing letters to NBC several weeks before the end of the season and people were talking about eating subway back then.

The girl that gets credit for starting the subway campaign might have started a big leg of the campaign, but that whole idea of eating subway was all over the place on the internet fan sites I went to way back before Zach went and actually ate Subway with the fans. Like a month beforehand.

The idea that Subway got in ahead of all this with renewal money on the table is just wrong.

By: ttrnet

ttrnet — Thu, 28 May 2009 22:42:10 +0000

After reading this article 3 times, the core argument seems to be that Subway had already struck a marketing sponsorship with NBC for Chuck that resulted in its renewal prior to Finale and Footlong grassroots campaign for Chuck. However, I think your citations do not prove this at all and in fact are gross generalizations that ignore the real negotiations that went on. Even if Subway was already in negotiations with NBC, the Chuck finale was April 27, 2009. The NBC “infronts” was on or around May 4, 2009. The Finale and a Footlong campaign could very well have been the final push to convince Subway to agree to a larger sponsorship for the show. Nowhere in your cited articles did it say that Subway had already concluded negotiations with NBC or that it utilized its money to create a PR event with Zachary Levi. Your conclusions are disingenuous to the hard working Chuck fans fighting for its renewal. In fact, Zach Levi credited one fan in particular for suggesting the idea, not Subway. Anything else is sheer wanton speculation. You need more proof, instead you came up with a conclusion and then tried to back it up.