Bee Movie, Seinfeld Over-exposed?

[mark f.]

Having kids that used to go to animated movies I'm well aware that such movies often get a lot of advertising and merchandising. But the advertising for Bee Movie seems over the top to me. It started with Seinfeld's (horrible IMO) appearance on 30 Rock and continued with those mini-spots on NBC. I've been a Seinfeld fan since his stand-up days but I don't find these things all that funny. Even worse he seems to have gone from being a near recluse to being over-exposed. Does anyone else agree?

[phish]

i really enjoyed the seinfeld show, but after it stopped i became anti-jerry. almost pulling against him. and i'm not sure why.

at this point, to me, i say less is more when it comes to jerry seinfeld.

[tommy-thewho]

I agree on the overexposed part. He disapeared for a long time having kids and now he's everywhere. Even his wife is out there with the cook book.

[Jerry]

YES! He's annoying and seemingly desperate with those promos. I used to like him too, but between his shameless promotions for his movie and for his wife's cookbook, I can no longer stomach him. There was a short profile of him in the NY Times last week, and he came off as cold and mean and snobbish. Stick a fork in him, he bee done.

[phish]

I agree on the overexposed part. He disapeared for a long time having kids and now he's everywhere. Even his wife is out there with the cook book.

scandal with that one as well. apparently, the idea may have been "borrowed" from another chef/author. i was reading about this in the missus people magazine i think (the gospel you know).

[jligon]

Nothing new to add other than my annoyance of the Bee Movie ads. Where do I keep seeing them? Football game halftime?

Unfortunately, children do not tire of the overexposure.

I agree that he was once a very funny stand-up but I think he's used most of his ideas up on his show and he hasn't appeared very comfortable in public since. He can't even sit with David Letterman and talk without using "material." I say, if you're that uncomfortable, just go ahead and stay out of the limelight.

[mark f.]

I guess that's it. He's painful to watch or at least uncomfortable.

[Jerryb]

When he does the talk shows for the new movie he tells the same jokes on each show and they're all old jokes he's done before.

[Dan Halen]

Seinfeld is one of my all-time favorite shows, and he's a brilliant comedian. However, I would agree that those promos on NBC are painfully unfunny. That NY Times profile didn't exactly do him any favors either.

[Mal]

Luckily we are getting zero promo hype over here - still, if I was in the States right now I don't think I'd turn on one of my comedy heroes just beacause he was back in the media spotlight.......

I'll always love Jerry (well, unless he ever does a "Michael Richards"...... :wtf:).

[mark f.]

Luckily we are getting zero promo hype over here - still, if I was in the States right now I don't think I'd turn on one of my comedy heroes just beacause he was back in the media spotlight.......

...oh he's back alright.

[A.G. Pennypacker]

He can't even sit with David Letterman and talk without using "material." I say, if you're that uncomfortable, just go ahead and stay out of the limelight.

It looks like I'm the only one around here who isn't sick of him. I didn't enjoy the NBC shorts, but I'm still looking forward to Bee Movie. As far as him doing material on talk shows, doesn't every comedian? Watch the old Tonight Show episodes with Rodney Dangerfield. He never let up, even during the interview portion.

[Ted Bell]

I'm a huge Seinfeld fan & have seen his stand up act several times. That said, I do think this "Bee Movie" is terribly overexposed, the TV spots annoying and unfunny, and I almost find myself wishing the movie tanks. There is a thing as too much publicity IMO.

[Jack White]

Tough crowd.

If you're someone like Jerry Seinfeld, it is probably difficult not to be in the public consciousness constantly, especially if your legendary and critically acclaimed television show is shown constantly - 24 hours per day, seven days per week.

This past week or so, Jerry has doing what anyone else with a big budget movie that is opening soon would do - he's promoting it. He's been working on this project for four years. How often have you seen him make the talk show/ entertainment 'news' show circuit in the past four years? He only appears on talk shows when he has something to promote. The last time was the release of the the last seasons of 'Seinfeld' on DVD (unfortunately co-incided with the Michael Richards fiasco in the LA comedy club). Before that it was the opening of his documentary film on stand-up comedy.

If you're sick of him, wait a week. Then he'll be gone for another year or two.


P.S. I guess I haven't been paying close enough attention. I've only seen the promo spot for "Bee Movie" once.

[music4life]

I might be in the minority here. Although I think "Seinfeld" was a brilliant show, and is one of my favorites, I just never though he was funny as a standup comeidian. I was actuallly glad when they stopped showing his club performances towards the end of the run of the series.

[Ted Bell]

I agree that those snippets of stand up played during the TV show felt out of place. However, every time I saw him live, I laughed so hard I had tears in my eyes.

[Dillydipper]

1) If you're using the movie as a cross-promotional vehicle for your company, there's hardly a downside to aligning yourself with a winner (which, technically, ALL movies are, during the pre-opening ad blitz; your product's esteem is raised to the level of all the other sponsors' brands in the consumers' mind).

2) This film isn't just another "and ____ as the voice of___". The film had direct creative involvement from a known talent, and that's a message the marketers and the studio want to push. And, he's got serious creative capital invested in both this project and his own personal "brand".

3) Consider somebody like me, who takes his entertainment from two DVR's and two VCR's, and seldom watches programs in real-time; a zap of the remote, and ALL awareness of any commercial promotion is lost on me. The marketers have to buttress their ad buys with other cross-platform promotional schemes if they intend to reach me with that message. And really, they care more about me getting that message than I care about avoiding it.

4) The "Seinfeld" in question is no longer the same "Seinfeld" who's hotter-than-snot in showbiz with a #1 show. He's a guy who's been out of the public eye for years now, and every time a re-run shows up on TBS or a local station out of prime-time, it just re-affirms in the customers' mind: "has-been". So, getting the media to fawn all over him as if it were the Second Coming, is crucial to the promoters of this film.

[Jack Theakston]

Fortunately, the fad of CGI animated cartoon features automatically dragging in dough has somewhat resided, leading many of these studios to go back and try to write good material to base their animation on.

It's clear that with the constant (and even suggested here over) exposure of these commercials that DreamWorks has no faith in the film.

Judging from the "humor" of the spots, I can see why.

[four sticks]

If Seinfeld and the Bee Movie are overexposed these days that only means they are stealing airtime from Ellen Degeneres or Britney Spears. Buzz Buzz.

[mark f.]

It's clear that with the constant (and even suggested here over) exposure of these commercials that DreamWorks has no faith in the film.

Judging from the "humor" of the spots, I can see why.

That's what it looks like to me and it all just seems awkward. The Seinfeld spots don't really feel related to the movie and are uncomfortably unfunny.

I admit that I'm not a fan of any of Dream Works animated films but at least there were enough funny things in Shrek pull an interesting commercial together - and without dragging the stars in front of the camera.

To some earlier points: I enjoy Seinfeld when he's on talk shows, even the defense of Michael Richards thing was interesting to me. When the DVDs for his show are released there has been nowhere near the amount of exposure that he's getting for this movie.

[OakBarrel]

He's not hungry anymore. it happens to a lot of them.

[Pinknik]

I must not watch much NBC, anymore. I haven't noticed it being particularly over hyped, and I'm accused of watching too much TV.

[Bertly]

I prefer to remember him as the guy from that great t.v. show.
There isn't anything he's done in the last eight years that interests me.

[rburly]

Once I started seeing him on NBC with those N-Bee-C commercials I thought they were overdone quickly. He does seem desperate now.

I'll watch the Seinfeld shows. As noted above, he'll never be able to accomplish that again. If he is ever able to match the Seinfeld show, I'll be amazed.

[jligon]

I think some people are misinterpreting what some of are saying. For me, it's not the typical overexposure sickness. It's more of an embarrassment for him.

Here is a guy that was an incredibly funny stand up comedian. Like what was mentioned earlier, when I saw him live my face hurt from laughing and smiling so much. And then, remarkably, his sitcom translated to a national audience. Something I never would have predicted, being there to watch those first shows.

But now I'm seeing a comedian that's heading in the direction of a Jay Leno. A direction that I'm not fond of. OK, these guys are growing up and don't want to be the acerbic comedians they were when they were 25. But a kids movie? What a completely safe, sure thing. How about disappearing for a couple years and re-appearing with a unique idea. Not just another cheap, surefire success (which almost all kids movies are these days).

BTW, he was promoting this movie on Letterman over a year ago, not just the last two weeks, and Dave (I've got my beef with him too) was laughing at him about the idea of the movie. Jerry, again, looked embarrassed.