Beware Of Prime-Time Entertainment Hoax Called Television Preview

A few weeks ago, I received in the mail four tickets to a preview of pilots for the upcoming TV season. Naturally being both a TV and film junkie, I decided to go. Luckily my husband also seemed game. Before going, I made sure the market research group sponsoring the event was legit and sure enough Television Preview had a website that, while not giving away too much info, seemed real enough. I fully realize that having a website doesn’t make something less of a scam, but all the content in the envelope I received from them seemed to match up with the content on the website. Not to mention when I Googled the works “Television Preview” and “scam,” I wasn’t inundated with any warnings indicating anything to the contrary. Besides, the letter also mentioned something about up to $250 in prize giveaways taking place. While the pragmatic part of me knew that pretty much amounted to getting nothing for my time, it sounded somewhat enticing given the appeal of previewing new pilots.

The event took place on Saturday, August 11, at a hotel just North of Boston. Far enough away that city dwellers might easily be turned off. Sure enough, the majority of folk there were over 60 and most likely not urban folk. The type that still use dial-up, no doubt. As we were waiting in line to get in the conference room at the Holiday Inn where the event was taking place, the man half of the couple in front of us complained that there were no flat-screened TVs - only four huge silver boxes turned towards a series of chairs. Sealing the deal, when that couple got to the front of the line, the slippery man working the event (who could easily have been Drew Carey’s less successful, morally vapid brother) informed them that the entire screening would take over two hours and wouldn’t end till 10 PM. Being wiser than the rest of us, the couple left. Maybe it was the quality of TV that tipped this couple off, maybe it was our enthusiasm over a sneak peak into the new Fall season, but we decided to venture on.

After sitting in sub-zero conditions and complaining about the temperature in the room twice, the temp finally restored to meat freezer hotel type weather (not before the event was just about over, mind you). Up first on our night o’ fun, we each received packets of forms to fill out which we’d be weeding thru throughout the course of the night. The first set consisted of about 50 pages of products which we were told to circle. First up were different brands of pickles, next was nail polish remover. Overall, the prizes consisted of drugstore beauty products, Viagra (not kidding you), and canned soup and tuna fish (still, not kidding you). After circling our choices, the Drew Carey dude and his equally weird duo of henchmen picked up our packets and got some girl from the audience to pick out three of the packets. Naturally, my husband and I didn’t win anything, but we were more concerned, that as announced, that there would be another repeat “prize giveaway” later in the evening.

Soon after, Drew Carey’s long-lost brother told us that we’d be watching two pilots - one was a drama and the other a sitcom. The first starred the successful 24 star Kim Raver in a show called Soulmates. In format and style, the show looked like some lame Lifetime made-for-TV movie circa 1988. Sure enough, our MC told us it was meant to be from the early 90s. What we later found out was the pilot was actually from then and not simply meant to look like it was from then. I turned to my husband as we were watching it and kept saying, “No way Kim Raver would do this type of pilot right now. She’s too successful to be involved in this.” As it turns out my instincts were on. Another blogger confirmed this. And as he astutely pointed out, this show was so awful it’s not even mentioned on IMDB. Btw, this blogger also confirmed that Television Preview is in fact a total scam so be sure to read the post.

After painfully enduring the ridiculously titled Soulmates, we filled out a series of questions on the show that we now know were simply aimed at getting us to think that the focus group was actually about the show. In between awkwardly pieced together scenes and frames that were clearly re-edited, were commercials. We were told the commercials were there to make us feel like we were watching TV at home. As a sidenote, there are plenty of people these days who don’t watch commercials at home. It’s called TiVo. So as we’re watching the commercials, we noticed that every one of the commercials is one of the products we were told to circle as part of the “prize giveaway.” Most of the commercials are in rough, storyboard condition, but the audience still laughs more from the commercials than the actual TV shows.

After answering the questions on Soulmates, we watch a sitcom called Dads. When I Imdb’d the show, I saw it was from 1997, which makes sense because Rue McLanahan looked about 60 and Ross’ lesbian ex from Friends, actress Jane Sibett also looked to be around the same age she was on the show Friends. Dads didn’t suck quite as bad as Soulmates. Besides it gave us more commercials to view and more products to preview.

So after this show ends, we wait about 5 minutes as Drew Carey and his cohorts had left the room. Even they couldn’t bear to watch the shlock they were feeding us. Maybe their consciences also caught up with them. Probably not. They all had that blank, cult-like stare in their eyes like they weren’t quite Scientologists, but like it wouldn’t take a whole lot to convince them to con people into attending events like these under false pretenses and then not only, not pay them for the participants for their insights, but give them 6 pages of questions on products like deoderant, paper towels, dandruff shampoo, viagra, and tissue paper to fill out.

So exactly what do any of these product questions that took the audience half an hour to fill out have to do with previewing pilots of the upcoming season? This was the question my husband and I later posed to Drew Carey wannabe. He told us he just gets a script (huh?), reads it every night, and doesn’t know who the actual focus group he works for is. Um, so what does your check say, buddy? The market research group behind Television Preview has been around for over 40 years (on the site it says, “over 25 years“) and who knows how long this MC has been with them. Long enough to know how to deflect the negative attention that intellectually curious people like myself might direct at this group. Following up with the host, post-event, I told him how insulting it was to bring us here under the guise of TV previews (as a TV and film critic, I find it especially so-I let him know this as well) and then bombard us with product research and not pay participants for this research. It’s sleazy and unethical. He then told my husband and I to go out and enjoy what’s left of the night. Unfortunately, after such a demoralizing event like this, it wasn’t quite such an easy feat.

I’m writing this post because I want to get the word out on operations like this and alerting people to what a hoax this is. It’s my hope that eventually this group will be run out of business or actually do the right thing and pay their audience-in-captivity for their time, instead of preying on their naivete and trustworthy natures. In the meantime. I’ve reported their practices to the Bureau of Better Business. It’s a start, anyways.