We first saw a promo spot for TBS's new show My Boys last night. The premise: Single girl has only guys for best friends; hilarity ensues. It's a storyline we're nearly certain that even Metro dating columnist Julia Allison passed on. The show premieres tonight, which gives NYT ad man Stuart Elliot the timely opportunity to explain why we'll soon be able to replace Emily's Reasons Why Not as the punchline for shows that get quickly canceled.
It's all thanks to a "match" made in advertising heaven. (Forgive us that one pun.) Dating site Match.com – which is like MySpace, but with fewer hookups and a monthly fee, and owned by new CollegeHumor.com overlord Barry Diller/InterActiveCorp – has signed on for a cool $1 or $2 million to appear in all promo material about the show and, most importantly, be featured in each of the season's 13 episodes with promiment placement in two. Which means plenty of plotlines where main character PJ Franklin, a lady Chicago sportswriter, tries to find love in the bottomless pit of Craigslist missed connections that is the Internet — all of which will ultimately result in programming that doesn't have half the comedic value of Dateline's "To Catch A Predator."
I watched this show last night and I heard Match.com mentioned and I was surprised. I thought "who uses Match.com anymore?". Secondly I was surprised because it was the Black woman who mentioned it, and as a Black woman myself I would never turn to match.com because I don't think that a lot of Black males are signed up. BUT nothing says one has to limit oneself to race so I brushed that surprise aside.
It was a pretty seemless integration into the plot of the show. But over time it will become weird. I had no idea about this whole behind the scenes advertising placement.
The show itself has an interesting unique premise, but I didn't like any of the actors, especially the lead. The dialogue was stupid as well. I think that the show was filmed in Canada and so it had that "off" feeling to it. I feel that people who live the same lifestyle as these folks or possibly Chicago people (setting of the show) might be interested in it, otherwise it is a BORE. There were a lot of strange references to sports that I did not get either. It made me confused– is this show targeted to men or women? Doubtful that it is to men so considering myself to be a "typical" woman– this show was confusing to me.