Great post agree 100%. Promo's are not important at all. SPIKE has a dedicated audience that will 'pick up' on the show. If they like it, it will move forward on 'word of mouth'. we know they are filming, we know it is listed on the SPIKE website. it is airing. and it does not need huge numbers to be profitable 250,000 viewers would make it a very successful cable TV show and appealing to sponsors. I am a big UFC fan, and the only promo they ran when the UFC reality show first came on the air was during one of the UFC fights on SPIKE. Bitching about promos and making it into some-kind of secret conspiracy is way off course.
About Letterman and shows like that, and getting 'free' promotion on Network TV. There is NO SUCH THING AS FREE PROMOTION. When you see a movie star on a talk show pitching his latest movie. The studio PAID A FEE, either by paying the star to be on the show (this way the show gets a big star and they don't have to pay for them) or the studio runs an ad during the show, or the flat out pay a fee). Or, the show airs on the same network. Newspapers work like that too. Ever notice a story about a product and then the same paper has an ad in it for that product.
I live in LA, and in our paper it will tell you that 1000's of shows are pitched to Networks each season, only a select few make it on. RRGI is on, that in and of itself is huge.
And it does not matter if they pay for the time, the networks will not let crap on, just because you paid for the time. They want productions that fit the look and feel and standards of the network. Oh and more than likely, the network kept some of those ad spots, no mater if RRGI paid or not.
