Screener Hell

It's that time of year kids. Hiatus means many things to many people in the television business. One of those things is screeners. Screeners are what companies send out academy members to remind them to vote for their show when the Emmys come along. Every hiatus boxes upon boxes start flooding our mailbox. Inside are attempts at packaging creativity. Apparently packaging has an influence over the quality of the show on the DVD. Some are pretty clever. For example, for the show "Everyone Hates Chris" the DVD was sent out in a box the shape of those milk cartons you got at school for a quarter. Some are simple standard DVD cases. Some are slick portfolio pieces that could pass for coffee table books. Some though cross the line and venture into the realm of absurd lavishness. This year's winner arrived today. In fact it might be the winner of the decade. It's for the Ten Commandments mini-series, and lucky for you I took pictures.Simple enough box with fake leather for that bible feel. Then you open it up.
Yes, those are plastic "Ten Commandments." Ooooh. And they're written in the original language! Ben I, could you please transcribe them? For all I know, they are actually the cast listing. But where are the DVD's? A lavish box and all I get is a couple toy commandments? Oh it says here on the insert: "Thou Shalt Lift Tablets for Emmy DVD Screener."What do ya know? The tablets are magnetic, so they stick to the box. I don't even want to know how much this cost, and how many of these were even sent out. Can't they do something better with the money spent on this crap? Do they think this actually has an impact on how people vote? "Hmmm. Who should I vote for in best Miniseries? Ten Commandments did give me toy tablets. I'll vote for them." On second thought I bet everyone will remember this crap, so maybe it does work on that level. Who really remembers what miniseries were aired in what year? I would like to thank Rescue Me for sending out the all the episodes of Season 2 in a simple DVD case. Actually, I should thank Ann who passed it on to me.