I saw this coming a million miles away. The Hollywood Reporter writes that Hollywood is already looking to capitalize on veep candidate Sarah Palin’s fame and pure star and Nielsen ratings power. Who can blame them? Last Saturday’s Saturday Night Live drew 15 million viewers!
“Any television person who sees the numbers when she appears on anything would say Sarah Palin would be great,” said veteran morning-show producer Steve Friedman, citing the double-digit ratings gains her appearances on “Saturday Night Live” and “CBS Evening News” generated. “The passion she has on each side, love and hate, makes television people say, ‘Wow, imagine the viewership.’ “
My dream of Sarah vs. Oprah inches closer to reality:
Most industry insiders believe a talk show is the probable route for Palin. Although daytime syndication can be tough sledding, it would take a personality of her stature to break through the clutter, and her folksy red-state persona could be just the thing to connect with this female-skewing audience.
Unless of course McCain wins. It seems the odds on that at this point are about as good as the odds for Tampa Bay getting in the World Series at the beginning of the season, but still…
Fox News is of course another opportunity, and not everyone thinks she will do well on TV. Read the full story via The Hollywood Reporter.
It seems the odds on that at this point are about as good as the odds for Tampa Bay getting in the World Series at the beginning of the season, but still…
Of course, the guy who runs fivethirtyeight.com did see that coming.
I think the problem with these theories is that, 1) the novelty will quickly fade and 2) she’s not very good at thinking on her feet. When she can stick to a script, like she did during the debate, she’s fine. When she actually has to have a conversation, she’s not so hot. (See: Couric interview.) It would be a fun trainwreck to watch, though, which would definitely get some viewers.
at least if she doesn’t win, she still has something to fall back on! call it a consolation prize…
fivethirtyeight.com predicted the Rays in the World Series!? If so…wow, and I hope they bet a lot
You may be right about Palin’s ability to carry a show, but I sense there will be a bidding frenzy and too much money on the line for her to pass up working with a coach to be more comfortable on her feet. And I’m not sure how good of a data point the Couric thing really is about her abilities (though I’m not sure it’s not an indicator!).
Whether it fails or succeeds I can’t say, but if nothing is even attempted I’ll be shocked. If Obama wins and Palin winds up not doing anything on TV — that would surprise me even more than McCain actually winning the election!
The woman has to continue being governor of Alaska for 2 years. It will be interesting to see if the TV popularity is still there afterwards.
Ven, she still is Governor of Alaska. I assume that would be her fall-back plan at the moment?
Bill, *no way* a little thing like being the governor of Alaska will get in the way.
Well, I’m not sure if he predicted Ray in the World Series, but he was on Colbert recently and was talking about how he’s a baseball statistician by trade and he saw Tampa Bay doing very well this season. But I don’t follow baseball (other than the Tigers, which my sister cursed by being born, she was out of the country in 2006) enough to really know.
God Almighty, I hate Sarah Palin. I do.not.understand. why more people don’t. My fondest wish is that McCain loses the election, she goes back to Alaska (after returing her $150,000 wardrobe), gets impeached, and we never see or hear from her again.
If she loses (which is 99.9% likeley) she’s history. Nobody will care anymore
everyone keeps talking as if she is the presidential candidate.