What should Comic-Con bring for TV marketers? Buzz, crazy fans, and, yes, geeks. Can one roll that up into a better math/TV research equation? Not yet.

The reality show that was Michael Jackson's death continued to occupy the airwaves heading into the weekend. On Thursday late afternoon/early evening cable news coverage lifted virtually all cable news networks over their viewing averages. Broadcast news shows in prime time also posted better numbers.

TV news channels rushed into high gear over the news of Michael Jackson's death on Thursday -- dramatically shifting schedules, and eliminating much advertising.

With the movie academy's decision to expand the number of titles in the best picture category for an Oscar next year, could there be more movie advertising on TV? The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences hopes that will be the case, adding to its big change of a year ago that allowed films to be advertised for the first time in the Oscars broadcast on ABC -- albeit with a host of restrictions.

It doesn't hurt to be reminded television can fool with reality on reality shows. Does anyone get hurt here? We are reminded of this as word comes that Jon and Kate Gosselin of TLC's reality family show, "Jon & Kate Plus 8," have actually have been living apart for at least two years.

NBC Universal looked to cover all the bases when it made a highly controversial name change of its cable network, Sci-Fi Channel, to something sounding like an old relative in my family: Sy (as in Seymour) Fy. As part of its marketing campaign, NBC Universal bought up the name SyFySucks.com -- which got us thinking about all those other would-be negative Web sites of high-profile TV brands.

President Obama showed off his quick hands during a recent television interview where he swatted and disabled a fly. (Alright, killed it.)

TV shows that come -- and stay -- with "energy" usually succeed. But an early sprint is usually hard to maintain. Take the case of HBO's new "Joe Buck Live," which had the highly energized, foul-mouthed Howard Stern cohort and comedian, Artie Lange, among its roundtable of guests for its debut.

It looks like the upfront will happen mostly after Independence Day, according to TV business executives. Note the metaphor here. For many marketers, that date isn't just a symbol, but a real hope of independence that goes beyond the traditional reliance on the upfront buying and selling dance.

Real journalism seems to be looking for a foundation to build on for the future. Local TV executives should take note. Steven Brill's efforts with Journalism Online to get people to pay for real journalism seems like an unusual plan -- especially in light of all this free Internet stuff. Long-term, though, it seems to make sense -- especially in a world full of opinion and decreasingly less real news.