• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, December 16, 2008

It's not about slow-moving show business -- it's about the actual footwear.

A quickly produced MSNBC cable network promo yielded this: "What will Bush's legacy be in Iraq? Has the other shoe dropped?"

Is this making light of that very serious war on the other side of the world -- or just an honest TV marketing attempt to bring in viewers? The answer has yet to be determined. David Letterman, Jay Leno, and Jimmy Kimmel hadn't chimed in by press time.

Bush was at a press conference in Iraq with the Iraqi president when a peeved Iraqi journalist threw not one but two shoes at Bush, who ducked twice, and remained unhurt.  How could you not watch? How can you not make your own jokes?

For a few years now, consumers have had to remove their shoes when boarding planes, and now honest working reporters will probably have to do the same under the Obama Administration.  Just kidding -- I think.

Cold winter TV months are still to come. The election has come and gone. Networks are out of the sweep period and out of original programming.  

TV marketing? Now more than ever there is a lot to do -- especially when many traditional TV platforms are in big transitions.  Wasn't it just a couple of months ago that ABC's marketing department was directing us to stay home, save money on high-priced gas, and watch TV?

Some new attempts will fail; some will succeed.  Some will make us smile. Even President Bush added -- somewhat involuntarily -- to the TV marketing spin: "I can tell you for a fact it was a size 10 shoe that he threw," he said. Well, he had a close enough look. But did he get brushed by the tassels ?