Commentary

It's Neil Patrick Harris' World, And We Just Live In It

The other day I came across a story that was high on Yahoo’s “trending” list, about how Neil Patrick Harris and his family celebrated Halloween. And I thought: When did the life of Neil Patrick Harris become so interesting that no day seems to go by without a story about him?

There were stories about him just this morning. This new round of “NPH” bulletins had to do with a new NBC variety show he’s going to host. NBC announced the show last week, on Oct. 27, which became another banner day for Neil Patrick Harris stories, even though this show has no title, premiere date or time slot. 

But it does have Neil Patrick Harris, who is quoted in today’s round of NPH stories vowing that this new variety show will never use non-union writers. The subject apparently arose because the production company that is partnering with NBC on the production of this unnamed show -- ITV Studios America – has reportedly been locked in some sort of continuing struggle with the Writers Guild.

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So Neil Patrick Harris tweeted his promise to use union writers only and voila! -- NPH stories were splashed all over the Internet, again. The stories about this tweet noted that Neil Patrick Harris has 11 million followers on Twitter. (To put that figure in perspective, it’s 10,999,843 more followers than I have. )

The day after his new variety show was announced, Harris turned up on “Charlie Rose,” where he revealed his “five-year plan” to become the new Ed Sullivan. The quote that all the stories focused on was this: “In a perfect world, in five years, I’m Ed Sullivan,” he is reported to have said

The quote indicates his ambition to evolve from actor-and-entertainer to master of ceremonies -- a role in which he would be positioned a rung above mere actors and entertainers as their overseer and wrangler.

Neil Patrick Harris is 41. And up until last spring, he was known primarily as an actor on a CBS sitcom, “How I Met Your Mother,” which ran for nine seasons. Along the way, he hosted the Emmy Awards and the Tony Awards, and his popularity grew. Now, he’s so well-regarded as an awards-show host that he has been named to host next year’s Oscars.

In case you weren’t on Yahoo a few days ago and didn’t see the Harris Halloween story, Harris and his family -- husband David Burtka and their two children -- dressed up as Batman characters. Harris was costumed as the Riddler.

Somehow (I’m being sarcastic here), a photo appeared of Harris and his family in costume and suddenly, “stories” appeared all over the place.  “See Neil Patrick Harris and Family Dressed Up As Batman Characters” read the headline on one such “story,” on Time.com. Yes, that’s the Web site of Time magazine, whose editors once upon a time would not have been caught dead even considering such a photo for publication.

Today, though, headlines that invite Web visitors to “see” a photo or “watch” a video or “read” a list of some sort are all the rage, which is easy to understand: Web features of this type draw a lot more traffic than any number of actual “stories” do on Web sites such as Time.com.

NBC’s announcement about Harris’ new show said 10 episodes would be produced in its initial phase.  That’s a far cry from “The Ed Sullivan Show,” which ran for 24 seasons and produced 1,068 episodes.

But everyone has to start somewhere.

5 comments about "It's Neil Patrick Harris' World, And We Just Live In It ".
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  1. Philip Moore from Philip Moore, November 5, 2014 at 1:18 p.m.

    Wow, an entire column about NPH without a single reference to the greatest medical drama of all time, Doogie Howser, MD

  2. Pamela Horovitz from Internet Video Archive, November 5, 2014 at 2:19 p.m.

    or Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog!

  3. Jonathan McEwan from MediaPost, November 5, 2014 at 6:05 p.m.

    Known primarily as an actor who played what? I still think it's amazing he broke out of the Doogie Howser typecasting. He's popular. Get over it.

  4. Paula Lynn from Who Else Unlimited, November 5, 2014 at 7:33 p.m.

    The Tonight Show already has been taken.

  5. Hansel Robinson from Video News Productions, November 6, 2014 at 1:44 p.m.

    This reads as though you have a grudge against the man but you never actually explain why. Are you looking to try subtract from his popularity? Are you jealous that he'll never know your own personal financial struggles? Maybe you were scorned when he declined an interview or maybe even a date? My point (and unlike you, I have one) is that before you rant, please consider your audience. This seems more like a Facebook rant. Good for you for keeping his name going on Google news though. That kind of backfired, didn't it?

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