Five different stories air--one each night--leading up to Valentine's Day. The short-form content ran during "Outrageous Moments" on Sunday and on "Deal or No Deal" on Monday. It will also run on "Deal" on Wednesday and Thursday; and during "The Biggest Loser" on Wednesday.
In one story, a man with a heart condition gets better with his girlfriend's help. An avid Boston Red Sox fan, he lures her to Fenway Park (as a prospective contestant of "Deal or No Deal") and proposes marriage.
"They are like [commercial] pod busters," says Jim Vescera, executive vice president of on-air advertising of NBC. "It's something we have been planning for some time. We thought, what would make sense to hold viewers from surfing?"
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Couples were culled from a campaign started on NBC's women-oriented Web site, iVillage. The stories will have an afterlife on NBC.com, where they will be extended to up to five minutes in length.
The deal to do the episodes was not predicated on getting a sponsor. Vince Manze, president of program planning, scheduling and strategy for NBC, initiated the Valentine's Day short-form idea. "We would have done them anyway," says Vescera. "There is real entertainment value here. It plays as a programming element, not advertising."