Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Going For Blood (True Story)

Despite the abysmal trends in the homevideo marketplace (sales have fallen about $1 billion a year to $10 billion this year), the marketing team at HBO has breathed new life into its retail sales with the living dead. Yup, you guessed it, the vampires of “True Blood.”

Sofia Chang, senior vice president-retail marketing at HBO, rattled off some impressive media metrics to prove that, but it was the one she cited about actual “True Blood” sales – the drink, not the show – that really impressed me. 


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‘Deadliest Warrior’: Vampires and zombies out for blood

What happens when a show founded on the science of hypothetical battles between knights, ninjas, gangsters and centurions swaps swords and guns for fangs and claws? Fans of Spike TV’s “Deadliest Warrior” series are likely to find out Wednesday when the show, in the second half of the 2-1/2-hour season finale, will pit vampires versus zombies in a bloody battle to the death. Airing at 9 p.m. PDT, the two classic horror movie monsters will spar to determine who has the bigger, badder bite and more skull-crushing strength.
On a visit to the set of the season finale earlier this year, hosts Richard “Mack” Machowicz, Geoff Desmoulin and medical expert Dr. Armand Dorian were busy trying out an arsenal of mechanically propelled limbs and sharp-toothed animals (and reptiles)  designed to mimic the damage supposedly inflicted by both sides.

“Every nerd has this argument at least once after every episode of ‘The Walking Dead,’” said vampire expert Steve Niles, referring to the hit AMC series about a post-apocalyptic world ravaged by zombies. “It’s kind of interesting to turn into some sort of fact so we can at least address it and see who would win.”

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