Corporate synergy is a necessary evil but some forms of corporate synergy are better than others. And this was not one of them.
During Game 1 of the Cleveland Guardians–New York Yankees ALDS series, the TBS crew of Bob Costas, Ron Darling, and Lauren Shehadi did an in-game promo for the HBO series House of the Dragon as both networks are under the Warner Bros. Discovery corporate umbrella. Technically, Darling didn’t have anything to do with the promo but Costas and Shehadi went into a faux-news report about a CGI dragon showing up at the game and reporting that officials were “hopeful that the dragon won’t breathe fire during gameplay.”
It’s very cringeworthy.
I could be wrong but it felt like nobody involved was thrilled that they had to do this. Costas tried to find some humor in it, referencing Orson Welles and his War of the Worlds radio broadcast that caused people to believe H.G. Wells’ story of a martian invasion was real, but it still felt a bit uncomfortable for them and for us watching.
It’s not a surprise that this got trashed by many people. Suddenly, the Harry Caray hologram is no longer the creepiest thing we’ve seen at a baseball game in 2022.
https://t.co/JHUYh3oUQ1 pic.twitter.com/cnIzBKA0iu
— Jennifer
(@JenKasper81) October 12, 2022
https://twitter.com/gabstamas/status/1580034250471981056?s=20&t=nKvCiHwDr0T-ikLojpEgpA