>”[General Electric] was our corporate parent. The show had an imaging unit there in the [ER set],” Warren Littlefield, who served as NBC’s entertainment president from 1991 to 1999, told the Television Academy in an oral history. “And Jack Welch, who was the then-chairman of GE, called up and goes, ‘The imaging unit is not a GE’ And I say, ‘We don’t own the show. We don’t produce. What do you want?'”
>Interestingly enough, the chairman had a solution. “He goes, ‘We’ll replace it. Just tell us where it needs to be. We will send one.’ And they did. Within, like, two days, there was a GE machine installed on the set,” Littlefield continued. “And it was not a fake one. No one said we had to feature the logo or anything on the show. All [Jack] said was, ‘Our employees love the show, and it’s painful for them to know it’s not their equipment.'”
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Gofunkiertti on
Most of the time on hospital shows they just use straight real equpment since it’s easier then making a prop that looks the same (excluding the real expensive stuff like CT scanners).
Honestly GE was probably right to insist on product placement. People in hospitals love watching hospital shows particularly the more realistic ones. The buyers of products want ones they are familiar with even if they don’t realise it’s cause they saw it on TV.
It’s a regular product demonstration for millions of people setting expectations of what it should look and sound like.
thenewjuniorexecutiv on
“You could write an episode where one of your characters purchases and is satisfied with one of G.E.’s direct-current drilling motors.”
I knew I remembered a GE MRI getting featured on ER, but GE, MRI, ER, TV were not useful search phrases to find the episode.
Bentonite_Magma on
Wild, and almost quaint, that GE used to own NBC.
jerog1 on
I only date guys who use the GEP2RS1 Full Body Scanner
braumbles on
I just watched an episode of DMV where a critical plot point is Subway Cookies.
6 Comments
>”[General Electric] was our corporate parent. The show had an imaging unit there in the [ER set],” Warren Littlefield, who served as NBC’s entertainment president from 1991 to 1999, told the Television Academy in an oral history. “And Jack Welch, who was the then-chairman of GE, called up and goes, ‘The imaging unit is not a GE’ And I say, ‘We don’t own the show. We don’t produce. What do you want?'”
>Interestingly enough, the chairman had a solution. “He goes, ‘We’ll replace it. Just tell us where it needs to be. We will send one.’ And they did. Within, like, two days, there was a GE machine installed on the set,” Littlefield continued. “And it was not a fake one. No one said we had to feature the logo or anything on the show. All [Jack] said was, ‘Our employees love the show, and it’s painful for them to know it’s not their equipment.'”
>
Most of the time on hospital shows they just use straight real equpment since it’s easier then making a prop that looks the same (excluding the real expensive stuff like CT scanners).
Honestly GE was probably right to insist on product placement. People in hospitals love watching hospital shows particularly the more realistic ones. The buyers of products want ones they are familiar with even if they don’t realise it’s cause they saw it on TV.
It’s a regular product demonstration for millions of people setting expectations of what it should look and sound like.
“You could write an episode where one of your characters purchases and is satisfied with one of G.E.’s direct-current drilling motors.”
I knew I remembered a GE MRI getting featured on ER, but GE, MRI, ER, TV were not useful search phrases to find the episode.
Wild, and almost quaint, that GE used to own NBC.
I only date guys who use the GEP2RS1 Full Body Scanner
I just watched an episode of DMV where a critical plot point is Subway Cookies.