NBC Universal is using using virtually all of its platforms to promote NBC’s first Super Bowl telecast in eleven years.
USA Network, Telemundo and Bravo, each under the NBC Universal umbrella, will air Super Bowl themed editions of programs on their respective networks.
USA Network will air football-related episodes of three of its shows this week. The plot of this Thursday’s Burn Notice centers on “a thug who is threatening a local high school football star,” and will feature former Dallas Cowboy Michael Irvin as the local football coach. On Friday, Monk features the title character “[scoring] tickets to the biggest football game of the year,” with NBC NFL host Bob Costas making a cameo. Finally, on Psych, the main characters “sign up for training camp after the foot of a professional football kicker is discovered.”
On Bravo, Wednesday’s edition of Top Chef will have “contestants … whipping up Super Bowl-themed recipes.” NBC’s The Biggest Loser had a similar stunt on Tuesday, as Arizona Cardinals QB Kurt Warner guest starred “along with a chef who gave the contestants healthy Super Bowl recipes.”
Telemundo will also air two “Super Bowl-themed specials Saturday,” while personalities from NBCU’s latest acquisition, The Weather Channel, will appear during NBC’s Super Bowl Pre-Game show.
The Super Bowl will in turn be used to promote NBCU programs. NBC’s pre-game show will feature cameos from “stars of various NBC Universal shows, including” the football-centric Friday Night Lights. A 60-second promo for USA Network programming will air on NBC following the game. And most notably, NBC will use a pair of 3D commercials for Dreamworks’ Monsters and Aliens and SoBe Life Water to promote a special 3D episode of Chuck that will air the following night.
