Horizon Media, the New York-based independent media shop, said today it was launching a new research effort called the “Horizon Proving Ground” in partnership with low power TV station WNCE-TV, an independent low-power TV station in Saratoga Springs-Glen Falls, New York. And additional station partners will follow. As part of the arrangement with WNCE, known as Look TV, Horizon bought an undisclosed stake in the station, which has about 300,000 viewers. According to Horizon CEO Bill Koenigsberg, the agency plans to invest in a handful of additional LPTV outlets, expanding the potential test audience to upwards of 2 million and creating a proving ground network. He expects to complete two more agreements by the third quarter, he said. “Several agencies have put media labs in their offices,” said Koenigsberg. “This one is out in the marketplace.” The agency said the “Horizon Proving Ground” would provide a testing opportunity for new technologies and consumer and social media sentiment, as well as channel planning and engagement theories for Horizon and its clients. Several Horizon clients have already indicated they will use the new research facility -- including Geico, which is likely to test different versions of commercials to determine which go over best with audiences, said Koeningsberg. The History Channel, another client, plans to test program pilots and concepts via Proving Ground. Koeningsberg said the research operation could test all sorts of “creative and theoretical strategies” for clients. Among them will be a number of retail offers to better understand consumer purchase motivation. Some of the testing will be conducted through the station's site. Horizon is also working with MegaPhone Labs to deploy interactive mobile capability for additional real-time testing capability. In addition to revenue from the Horizon investments, the agency -- which has complete control over the Proving Ground operation -- will also share at least some findings with the participating stations. “Potentially stations can learn more about the likes and dislikes of their audiences,” said Koenigsberg.
Thinking of new and creative ways to turn a profit, Hulu has tapped a third-party distributor to sell its original shows abroad. Going forward, FremantleMedia Enterprises (FME) will get “first look” privileges at any programming potentially fit for international audiences. “We now have the opportunity to extend [our] reach,” said Andy Forssell, Hulu’s senior vice president of content. Following HBO and Netflix, Hulu broke into original programming just this past January. Soon after, the online TV service owned by ABC, NBC and Fox released its first scripted show, “Battleground,” a drama with comedic moments set in the world of political campaigns. Hulu also ordered 10 new episodes of Morgan Spurlock’s “A Day in the Life,” a documentary series that returns in March, and a six-part documentary from Richard Linklater, director of “The School of Rock” and “Before Sunset,” called “Up to Speed,” that starts later this year. Not wasting any time, FME said it plans to distribute “A Day in the Life” worldwide. “This is a groundbreaking deal, which sets a new precedent for acquiring content that can live on both digital and linear platforms,” said David Ellender, Global CEO of FME. Original content is seen as a way to compliment Hulu’s ad-supported model. While Hulu Plus exceeded the company’s expectations in 2011 -- reaching a reported 1.5 million paying subscribers -- ad revenue was lower than estimated during the second half of the year. Overall in 2011, Hulu said its business grew by 60% year-over-year, and raked in $420 million in revenue. News of Hulu’s first scripted series came on the heels of Netflix’s preparations to launch its first original series -- a “fish out of water” tale from Steven Van Zandt called Lilyhammer.
TV ads featuring CEOs continue to be fairly rare. That’s in no small part because advertising professionals view them as risky -- potentially either grand slams or strikeouts – with the CEO’s reputation, as well as the company’s, riding on the outcome. What’s the reality? According to a new study from Ace Metrix, CEO-starring ads actually perform better, on average, than other ads. Among the 13,000+ TV ads assessed by Ace through consumer surveys and proprietary scoring methods since January 2009, Ace’s database showed just 76 CEO-starring ads, spanning 12 categories. The average ad-effectiveness Ace Score -- calculated based on measuring component scores for “persuasion,” “watchability,” “desire,” “relevance,” “change,” “attention,” “information” and “likeability” –- was 556 for CEO ads and 512 for other ads. (Ace Scores and component scores range from 1 to 950; the median scores fall around 535.) CEO ads also performed at least somewhat better than other ads, on average, on each of the eight components. In particular, CEO ads tended to score considerably higher on desire (the extent to which viewers want a product/service); relevance (how well they relate to the ad’s message); and information (their perception that they learned something new from the ad). Moreover, Ace found these patterns holding across gender and age groups. However, Ace is quick to stress that not all CEO ads are effective. Winners: Papa John’s, Samuel Adams The standouts on the positive side were Papa John’s ads featuring CEO John Schnatter, and The Boston Beer Company’s ads for Samuel Adams and Sam Adams Light, featuring CEO Jim Koch. Ace Metrix tested 47 Papa John’s ads featuring Schnatter, and seven without him. The average score for ads with Schnatter (over 580) was well above the average for all ads, and nearly tied for the top of pizza-category ads with Pizza Hut and Domino’s. Those without Schnatter scored 60 points lower, putting them below the all-ads average. Papa John’s ads, 87% of which feature Schnatter, also show significantly less variation in performance than its competitors’ ads. Papa John’s ads “rarely miss the mark, do not alienate, and generally yield predictable outcomes,” notes the report. (Interestingly, by the way, more than three-quarters of all 76 ads featuring CEOs were from the restaurants and QSR categories.) All 10 Samuel Adams/Sam Adams Light ads tested by Ace featured Koch. Samuel Adams’ average score of 558 is 62 points above the average for the beer category, and more than 25 points above the average for the next-best-performing brand, Miller High Life (496). It also eclipses industry giants Budweiser (486) and Bud Light (463). Samuel Adams’ ads also show strong consistency in performance, compared to most competitors’. The ads for Sam Adams Light, with an average Ace Score close to 450, rank in the top 20 among all beer-brand ads tested. Losers: Sprint, Coldwell The five worst-performing ads featuring CEOs were:
The world’s richest man -- and major Mexican-based media executive -- Carlos Slim is financing a new Internet TV network called Ora.tv, which launches this year. His first hire is former CNN TV host Larry King, who will have an interview show. Ora.tv, a unit of Slim’s America Movil, will feature on-demand TV content, but will also produce "a wide range of programs that transcend traditional formats,” according to a network release. The company says this includes short-form segments lasting as little as three minutes. Ora, which means “now” in Italian, also hired former senior News Corp. digital executive Jon Housman to run the network as its CEO. Housman says: “With the exponential burst in video consumption via Internet-connected devices, this is an incredible moment to be launching a digital network and studio.” Slim is the main provider of pay-television in Latin America, where he offers cable and satellite services to around 13 million customers. His HH ZSValso also owns a stake in the New York Times Co. Recently, Forbes named Slim the world’s richest man, topping the list at $69 billion. Slim's America Movil is one of the world's biggest telecommunications firms. Ora.tv says it will create high-quality video programming for digital distribution via a variety of platforms: mobile, tablets, and connected TVs.
The Meow Mix Jingle is returning to the airwaves for the first time since 1996 to launch the brand’s Tender Centers cat food. In a recent survey conducted by Kelton Research, 50% of respondents recall most -- if not all -- of the lyrics to the catchy tune. In addition, 81% of respondents claimed to have heard the Meow Mix Jingle in the last 18 months -- when in reality, the classic version of the jingle stopped airing in 1996, 16 years ago. "The Meow Mix Jingle brings back a sense of nostalgia and is a classic advertising spot that many people can even recite by memory," said Sue Resnicoff, director of cat food marketing for Del Monte Foods, in a release. The new 30-second TV spot includes a split screen with two different felines (a long-haired orange cat and a gray tabby) singing the famous “Meow” lyric in different tones. The English “translation” of their singing is communicated via subtitles. According to the survey, the Meow Mix Jingle is the number two most memorable American jingle, second only to the Oscar Mayer song. The recognition isn't only coming from the human persuasion, either; 15% of respondents even said their feline can identify the jingle. (Note: This reporter’s dog started barking upon hearing it coming from the computer speakers.) The digital age also takes a backseat to the cats: the survey concluded that more than one in three (39%) respondents know the Meow Mix Jingle better than all of their online passwords, including Facebook, their email account and more. In addition, 32% of all respondents admitted that the Meow Mix Jingle was easier to recite than the Pledge of Allegiance, although not as patriotic. The Meow Mix survey was conducted by Kelton between Feb. 23 and March 1, using an email invitation and an online survey. Results of any sample are subject to sampling variation. In this particular study, the chances are 95 in 100 that a survey result does not vary, plus or minus, by more than 3 percentage points from the result that would be obtained if interviews had been conducted with all persons in the universe represented by the sample.
There’s no doubt that Americans love their cars. Pennzoil is the latest brand to celebrate the relationship people have with their personal transportation with a new campaign it's calling “Long Love Cars.” Through the effort, which involves heavy social media activation as well as the sponsorship of country music star Tim McGraw, the brand looks to highlight the passion people have for their cars. With these so-called “car stories” the brand explores the meaning people have with their cars, highlighting feelings of independence, status or particular memories. An anthemic television commercial shows a young boy and his father working on a car, while a voiceover explains how people connect with, talk about and bond over cars. “A car is more than just a car,” the voiceover explains. “They’re part of us.” “People love cars; they name them, take pictures with them and form deep personal connections with them, and we want people to know they can trust Pennzoil to make exceptional motor oils because we love cars, too,” said Bree Sandlin, Pennzoil Global Brand Manager, in a statement. “The Long Love Cars campaign is a celebration of drivers and their cars. Everything we are doing this year is geared to talking about that love in bigger ways than ever before.” A key element of this year’s campaign is enlisting McGraw as its “brand ambassador,” which will also include sponsorship of his Brothers of the Sun Tour this summer. As part of the partnership, Pennzoil will offer exclusive content from McGraw, including behind-the-scenes video from the tour as well as online promotions through the brand’s Facebook, Twitter and YouTube presences. In one video on the brand’s YouTube page, McGraw shares his own car story, recalling a youth spent driving a truck through a field to a bonfire to listen to music with his friends. “What a car meant for me growing up was freedom,” he says, “freedom to go with your friends or freedom to hit the road.” Pennzoil’s social media hubs (including Facebook and Twitter) will also serve as the center of the year’s “Long Love Cars” activation. The pages will include all of the McGraw content, as well as other content, including other people’s car stories. Pennzoil isn’t the first automotive-related brand to celebrate the relationship people have with their cars. Earlier this year, Subaru launched a campaign that encouraged people to tell the story of their first car, providing customized animation to go along with the story.
Looking to bridge the business of DVD movie ownership to digital movies, Walmart is starting up a disc-to-digital cloud service in a deal with the five major movie studios. Using its digital video platform Vudu, where consumers can currently buy or rent movies and TV shows, Wal-Mart has struck a deal with the five major movie studios' home entertainment divisions: Sony Pictures, 20th Century Fox, Warner Bros., Universal and Paramount. The essence of the service will allow consumers to bring their movies on DVDs into Wal-Mart stores and have them converted into a digital cloud service accessed by Vudu. In addition, standard-definition movies can be upgraded to HD films. Prices for a standard-definition or Blu-ray conversion of a disc into one's personal cloud service will be $2 for a single DVD, Converting one SD disc to access in a HD cloud service is $5, and converting one HD DVD movie into cloud HD service of that movie is $2. "This will give consumers confidence in buying physical DVDs," says John Aden, executive vice president of general merchandising for Walmart U.S, speaking at a press conference in Hollywood on Tuesday. "They can future proof their purchases." By some estimates, Walmart sells more movies to consumers than any other company in the world. Walmart would not elaborate about marketing support, but Ron Sanders, president of Warner Bros. Home Entertainment, says the advertising support would be akin to a "blockbuster movie launch." Estimates are that movie studios can spend $50 million to $100 million when it comes to marketing support of an individual big summer movie. Movie executives believe this alliance will help their suffering home entertainment business and stem the slide of DVD sales and rentals. It should also push one of their bigger efforts, Ultraviolet, where consumers can buy a DVD and have access to a digital version of that movie through other digital platforms -- which some analysts consider cumbersome. "This is big step for Ultraviolet," says Dennis McGuire, president of Paramount Worldwide Home Entertainment. "This makes it ready for a mass audience. It [has not been] a simple message to the consumers. With Walmart, this will help; this will be simple." The service will begin April 16 in some 3,500 U.S. Walmart stores.
Google's ad Project Re:Brief took four iconic television commercials from the 1960s and 1970s, contacted the original ad executives behind the ads, and brought them to New York to help them re-imagine them for the digital Web. The ads included Coca-Cola, Volvo, Alka-Seltzer and Avis. The television ads that made history appear to connect one person with another. They bring out the human part of the products. Harvey Gabor in 1971 helped create Hilltop, the Coca-Cola commercial that taught the world to sing about its product as the "real thing." He said the song "matched the personality with the brand." Through technology, the re-imagined ad allows the viewer to send a free Coca-Cola across the world and share a little happiness with someone never met. The interactive ad asks the viewer to choose a destination such as Hollywood or Google headquarters, add a message, and send the product. The user can record a video or text message to send with the Coke. The messages goes through an automated and manual moderation process, and serves up in a vending machine queue waiting for a customer to interact with it. The person at the vending machine interacts with the message and receives a dispensed Coke. The recipient can record a video or send a text reply. Amil Gargano created the Volvo ad -- Drive it like you hate it -- to create a personality for the car company. "If you can make yourself happy, there's a good chance you can make others happy," he said. "If you're cynical enough to believe that you're not convinced about what you're doing, but think you can convince someone else, you're dead." The re-imagined Volvo ad takes a road trip in a Volvo nearly 3 million miles. Irv Gordon bought a Volvo in 1966 at age 26. Gordon would rather drive than fly, so he takes along Google's cameras and crew to experience life. Google built a GPS data feed into Google Maps. While the movies that tell the story of his journey will end, viewers can still continue the trip in real-time and watch as his odometer puts on the miles.
The Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement, the industry initiative now trying to lead the way in developing a standard for cross-platform measurement, said Univision has joined as its 22nd member. CIMM made an appeal for new members last month at an event it co-hosted. It is looking to move ahead with a pilot program to develop a sort of UPC code to track video content as it plays on TV and other platforms, allowing advertisers to ensure spots were running as planned. Among CIMM’s membership is NBCUniversal, which operates Univision competitor Telemundo, and News Corp., which is developing a potential competitor to both. Other members are agencies, such as GroupM and marketers, such as Unilever. In 2009, CIMM dues were $100,000 a year for two years for a seat on the board of directors, with voting power to determine CIMM projects; non-voting members could join for $25,000 a year. Jane Clarke, CIMM managing director, stated that Univision joins in its commitment to “replace the multitude of ineffective, make-shift processes that many must rely on in an attempt to measure and monetize fragmented audiences.”
As Americans are filling out their NCAA tournament brackets, a new report says advertisers are filling out March Madness with healthy price bumps over a year ago. Wall Street analyst David Joyce says CBS and Turner are landing increases in the mid-single-digit percentage range, while spots in the title game are going for $1.5 million. For the second year in a row, CBS will carry the Final Four and championship game, while sharing earlier-round games with TNT, TBS and truTV. CBS has the four regional finals, where ads are going for $600,000-$700,000, Miller Tabak + Co.’s Joyce writes, citing industry sources. Overall, the tournament is about 95% sold out. The opening round games shared by the four networks are attracting prices of $90,000. Including online viewing, where there is a dual-revenue stream with a $3.99 subscription, Joyce estimates CBS and Turner will generate $760 million in revenue for the tournament. The online portion includes top-line sponsors AT&T, Buick, Capital One, Coke, Infiniti and LG. Under a 14-year deal, CBS and Turner are paying an average of about $771 million a year in rights fees. CBS and Turner (part of Time Warner) share evenly in advertising and sponsorship revenue, as well as production expenses. Under the deal, if rights fees and expenses are greater than advertising and sponsorship dollars in a year, Turner ensures CBS’ annual losses are limited to between $30 million and $90 million. CBS benefited from the “loss cap” provision last year, according to Time Warner’s annual report. On one level, the $1.5 million for a title-game spot could be considered exceedingly steep. Last year’s game drew about 20.1 million viewers. Last month’s Oscars drew almost double the number of viewers, yet ad prices were only about 13% more.
The game is changing among the big TV singing competition shows -- a little less than halfway through their respective seasons. Through six episodes, NBC’s “The Voice” has been averaging a Nielsen 7.0 rating among 18-49 viewers and some 18.4 million viewers. Fox’s “American Idol” two shows -- its Wednesday performance show and its Thursday results show -- are more than a rating point behind through eight episodes apiece. Wednesdays are at a 5.9 rating among 18-49 viewers, and Thursdays are at a 5.3 rating. Still, the “Idol” performance in terms of overall viewers has a slight edge over “The Voice” -- 18.7 million versus 18.4 million. A few days ago, NBC said it will get more into the “Idol” way of thinking and add a second night of the show per week. Fox’s fall “X-Factor” averaged a 3.8 rating among 18-49 viewers for its Wednesday performance show and 11.4 million viewers; Thursdays pulled in nearly the same results, with a 3.7 rating for 18-49 and 11.4 million viewers. But the highest-rated TV show this season continues to be NBC’s “Sunday Night Football.” With 15 episodes in the fall. It has averaged a Nielsen 8.0 rating among 18-49 viewers, pulling in 20.7 million viewers. Right behind football and singing reality stand the two CBS comedies. “Two and a Half Men” is at a 4.7 rating and 17.4 million viewers. “Big Bang Theory," now earning higher ratings than “Idol” on Thursday in recent episodes, has been averaging a 4.6 rating and 14.1 million viewers. So far this season, there are only 25 broadcast network shows averaging a 3.0 rating among 18-49 viewers. There are 21 shows averaging 10 million or more viewers.
MillerCoors is relaunching its 64-calorie beer -- previously called MGD 64 -- as Miller64. The beer’s formula hasn’t been altered, but the packaging and branding have received an overhaul. The relaunch includes a new bottle and look, as well as an ad campaign that includes TV, radio, digital and out-of-home. MillerCoors is the Chicago-based joint venture between Molson Coors and SABMiller. The campaign aims to demonstrate how Miller64 complements a balanced lifestyle for consumers who want to make good choices with their daily responsibilities and in their social lives. Miller64 will be available in cans and clear bottles featuring the brand's bold new logo and its smoky silver and red labels. "Whether it's the man who gets a little exercise playing recreational softball or the woman who takes the stairs instead of the elevator, we are confident consumers will appreciate that Miller64 won't undo all their efforts to maintain a balanced lifestyle," said Rita Patel, Miller64 marketing manager, in a release. The 30-second TV spot, called “Living the Dream,” shows both men and women engaged in moderate physical activity, with the payoff being they don’t have to feel guilty about enjoying a beer. The tagline is “Brewed for the better you.” The spot features an original jingle with an Irish-jig feel. Lyrics include: “We ran a mile before breakfast, sure I had a salad for lunch, but a Miller64 for dinner, oh yes because I have worked off my paunch. ‘Cause we live a life of balance, and no one can say that we’re wrong, so here’s to good Miller who cut out the filler and made a beer worthy of song.” The campaign includes a new Web site: www.Miller64.com and Facebook page: Facebook.com/Miller64Beer. The brand launched a lemonade version of MGD 64 last summer, but pulled it after only a few months on the shelves.
ABC’s stellar rookie show “Once Upon a Time” got knocked down a peg on Sunday, partly due to the change to daylight savings time on Sunday morning. But ABC still won the night. The show went south nearly 20% to a series-low Nielsen preliminary 2.8 rating/8 share among 18-49 viewers -- tying CBS’“Amazing Race” and Fox’s “Family Guy” for the highest-rated show of the night. Along with slightly improving numbers from ABC’s “GCB” at 10 p.m. -- now at a 2.3/6 -- the network won the night with an average 2.3/6. CBS was a bit behind at a 2.1/6. followed by Fox at a 2.0/6. NBC scored a 1.5/4 and Univison earned a 1.1/3. A week ago, ABC did better with 2.6/7 Sunday average numbers. CBS was virtually the same at a 2.1/5, as was Fox, at a 2.0/5. NBC improved slightly, rising to a 1.7/4, followed by Univision at 1.3/3. NBC’s “Celebrity Apprentice” showed some signs of wear and tear -- now at a 2.0/5 versus its 2.3/7 of a week ago. But earlier in the evening, NBC was still looking for answers with “Harry’s Law” now on Sundays, as its 1.1/3 numbers matched a series-low of mid-January. CBS’ big Sunday show “Amazing Race” was even with its results of a week ago at a 2.8/8. But later in the evening, at 9 p.m. “The Good Wife” drifted lower by 20% to a 1.7/4 -- down from a 1.9 rating a week ago. At 10 p.m., “CSI: Miami” was even with a 2.1/5.
Video viewing on tablets peaks in the evenings and also perks back up in the early mornings, while desktop viewing is strong during the day, suggesting that consumers are finding room in their lives to switch screens as they move about their day. The latest research from online video technology firm Ooyala has found that video plays on iPads, which slow down overnight, kick back up around 7 a.m. then trickle off after 9 a.m. Views rise high again in the evenings, the company said in its l atest analysis of iPad viewing, conducted across 100 million monthly unique viewers. Specifically, Ooyala found that one-third of video viewing on the iPad occurs between 7 p.m. and 11 p.m. It makes sense that consumers would use their tablets when they get home from the office. But the findings also reveal how we’re using them. “We can infer that these are personal devices, and attribute some of the spike to after-work downtime hours. But given that this window overlaps with prime-time programming, the numbers suggest a growing trend of people using tablets, as a social-media companion or for multi-tasking, while they're watching TV,” said Adam Sewall, Ooyala’s marketing manager. These findings also underscore some of the assumptions that have been made about tablets: they’re often more engaging than other screens. Ooyala’s analysis has shown that tablet viewers are 45% more likely to complete watching a video longer than 10 minutes than desktop viewers are. Sewall offered some takeaways for publishers. “Networks, online media companies and other content providers can use these kinds of insights to create more-engaging viewing experiences, with an end goal of growing audience share and earning more revenue per view. Brands, meanwhile, can use this information to target tablet messages for increased visibility based on time of day,” he said. “People watching iPad videos in the evenings are probably at home, and may be more receptive to messages about domestic needs, food and family. The findings also signal an opportunity for cross-platform marketers to leverage advertising across devices (e.g., TV & iPad) to increase brand awareness and elicit greater engagement and response to campaigns.”
In any given week, there’s only a handful of first-run comedies I really want to watch: “The Office,” “Modern Family,” “Parks and Recreation,” “30 Rock,” and “New Girl.” Yet thanks to an unexpected source -- Netflix -- I find myself watching more TV comedy that ever before. Yes, Netflix -- the same service I was on the verge of cancelling last year because of its poor selection of movies -- is now the place to go for quality time-shifted television. The New York Timesreported two weeks ago that TV series now account for more than half of all Netflix streaming. Much of this streaming is undoubtedly for dramatic series like “Friday Night Lights,” “Rescue Me” and “Breaking Bad,” but for me, the real treasure is in comedy. At a time when so much of television comedy is aggressively offensive (I’m talking to you, “Two Broke Girls”) it’s a gift to be able to go back and mine the gems of the past. Not every Netflix offering is worth resurrecting; “Married with Children” is no funnier today than it was 20 years ago. But what is surprising -- and heartening -- is how much outstanding TV comedy has been made over the years. Clicking through the Netflix offerings is a reminder that television was never completely a vast wasteland. There are, for example, hundreds of hours of “Saturday Night Live” offerings. And you can revisit “The Wonder Years,” “Scrubs,” “Malcolm in the Middle,” “Arrested Development,” and other great series that were critically acclaimed when they aired but never became the huge hits they deserved to be. But for the sake of this column, I’d like to call out a few shows for special attention. These are the series that are in my current rotation and deserve to find new audiences. “The Larry Sanders Show.” This is hardly an unknown show, having received critical accolades when it first appeared in the early 1990s, but it seems to have faded from public consciousness, perhaps because it was only previously available to HBO subscribers. Too bad, because it’s easily one of the most hilarious series of all time. Gary Shandling plays a put-upon talk show host, sort of like Leno or Letterman would be if they were funny in real life. The show revolves around the neuroses, ambitions, petty concerns and mordant observations of the host and his crew, some of whom are dimwits, while others are sharp-witted. And since the series portrays a Clinton-era talk show, there is a steady stream of ‘90s cameos (Roseanne Barr, Brett Butler, a young Jon Stewart) to fill us with nostalgia. “Sports Night.” Created and written by Aaron Sorkin and produced by Ron Howard and Brian Grazer, “Sports Night” is a behind-the-scenes look at a lightly fictionalized version of ESPN’s “Sports Center.” Highly literate and verbal, this show rewards viewers who can concentrate and pay close attention. “Sports Night” is so good that you have to wonder what ABC was thinking when it green-lighted the series in 1998; it’s a miracle it lasted even two seasons. Although a comedy with actual laughs, this is a show where the characters bruise easily; hardly an episode goes by without someone opening a vein and letting pure emotion flow out. For 14 years, I have kept alive the memory of the series’ second episode (“The Apology”), when Josh Charles (now on “The Good Wife”) is forced to apologize for the loose comments he made about marijuana in a magazine profile; when I watched it again two weeks ago, it was as powerful and emotional as the first time around. Like “The Larry Sanders Show,” “Sports Night” is actually better now than it was when it premiered. “Louie.” Louie is one of those series that more people know about than actually watch. Running for two years now on FX, the series stars the comedian Louis C.K. as a comedian who bums around comedy clubs, gets into trouble for accidentally speaking his mind and generally suffers from the petty humiliations of modern life. The series is unsparing in exposing the irascible Louis’ all-too-human faults. The laugh-out-loud quotient is low, but the amount of humorous observation is high. “The Sarah Silverman Program.” Unlike the three previous shows, which were fictionalized versions of real shows or real people, “The Sarah Silverman Program” is (I hope) a highly exaggerated look at life. The series itself is, like its star, relentlessly politically incorrect. Sarah Silverman plays a remarkably self-absorbed and insensitive narcissist who lives off her sister, a nurse (played by her real-life sister Laura Silverman) and her brother-in-law, a cop. Most comedies thrive on the embarrassment of the main character, but Sarah is too clueless to know she should be embarrassed. The show is silly, exasperating, occasionally crude, and frequently hilarious -- but best in small doses. So, congratulations to Netflix for making reruns fun again. Maybe it’s time to change the name of the company to NetTV?