Hollywood is officially coming to town.
And it's bringing a posse with it.
Next weekend, officials from CBS will usher in camera crews, a helicopter, a television star and even Gov. Kathleen Sebelius to help unveil massive crop art crafted to promote the upcoming fall drama "Jericho," the network announced Wednesday.
"It will receive a mountain of publicity when it's unveiled," said George Schweitzer, president of the CBS Marketing Group. "Hopefully, it will make the show successful."
The show is based in the fictional, post-apocalyptic Kansas town of Jericho, and Schweitzer said the promotional effort in North Lawrence would be the cornerstone for the show's marketing campaign.
The event Sept. 9 will unveil local artist Stan Herd's 20-acre earth artwork based loosely on the show's running logo - a boy watching a mushroom cloud rise in the distance - and Sebelius is expected to proclaim that North Lawrence will change its name to Jericho for the day of Sept. 20, when the show premieres.
This sketch by lawrence artist Stan Herd shows the design for a 20-acre earth artwork he is creating for the new CBS series "Jericho."
Afterward, Sebelius and "Jericho" star Skeet Ulrich will attend a sneak preview of the show at the Lawrence Visitors Center, 402 North Second St.
Herd was commissioned by CBS and has been working on the artwork, on a 45-acre field at Bismarck Gardens, 1616 North 1700 Road, for most of the summer.
Herd crafted the scene using pumpkin squash and corn that the farm sells as squirrel feed, he said. And as with all such advertising, the artwork will prominently feature the show's name, time slot and network: Wednesdays on CBS.
"We gave him the artwork for the show, and he translated it into the beautiful land art," Schweitzer said.
The artwork won't actually appear during the show, but will instead be featured on the station's Web site and during extensive television coverage, including spots on "Entertainment Tonight" and other national shows, Schweitzer said.
Herd and other promoters have also filmed a minidocumentary of the making of the crop art, which CBS will likely promote along with the art on the station's Web site.
Schweitzer said the station wanted to find new ways to promote and advertise its shows and figured using crop art would get people's attention in a crowded advertising marketplace.
Herd said the original idea gained momentum from there.
"Then they started to build on the initial idea, which was pretty simple," he said.
'Jericho'
Events set for Sept. 9:
¢ 3:30 p.m.: Stan Herd's "Jericho" crop art unveiling. Gov. Kathleen Sebelius to proclaim the renaming of North Lawrence as Jericho for a day.
The event will be at Bismarck Gardens, 1616 North 1700 Road.
¢ 7:30 p.m.: A screening of "Jericho" pilot episode at the Lawrence Visitor Center, 402 North Second St. Sebelius and Jericho star Skeet Ulrich are scheduled to attend.
The screening will be followed by a performance by musician Kelly Hunt.
Soon, Herd was discussing changing the name of North Lawrence for a day, a week, even a month. He met with North Lawrence Improvement Assn. President Ted Boyle, Johnny's owner Rick Renfro and others to pitch the idea.
"We wanted to make sure everyone was cool with the name change," Herd said.
Boyle said that the neighborhood was OK with the change, provided the impact on North Lawrence was positive.
Since then, Boyle said, he's been assured that neighborhood businesses would cater the events, ensuring that some out-of-town money is spent in the area.
Now, Boyle said, the neighborhood may even change its name for the whole 11 days between the publicity event and the premiere of the show Sept. 20. He spoke with the city about the idea Wednesday.
"It's going to be real positive for the neighborhood," he said.
Regardless, CBS officials expected Lawrence to find itself in the limelight, if only for a day. Or, as Schweitzer put it, "Lawrence will be the center of the country."
Comments
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Sigmund (anonymous) says…
This headline should read "CBS bringing 'mountain of publicity' to CBS."
oscarfactor (anonymous) says…
Since when can you see mountains looking west from extreme western Kansas? Hello? Geography class? A good portion of eastern Colorado is as flat as Kansas.
oldgoof (anonymous) says…
Maybe I don't get it. Is there any filming going on here? Or is this just due the serendipity of being close to Bismark Gardens?
The_Original_Bob (anonymous) says…
Mountains. Not in a single place in KS can you see Mountains. You have to drive at least an hour inside of Colorado to get a glimpse of Pike's Peak. Oh well. It's just TV.
cutny (anonymous) says…
Yeah...um...so what exactly is being publicized in North Lawrence? More to the point, what exactly is there to publicize in North Lawrence? Stan Herd seems to have suceeded well enough on his own, and this series looks to have the shelf-life of a quart of milk. Hope the town gets some money out of this, because this show isn't going to make it past the 4th episode. Yeah, that's right...I can see the future.
oscarfactor (anonymous) says…
I say six episodes tops, and we never hear from Skeet Ulrich again.
OR, how about this: odds are 3-1 that the crop design lasts longer than the series.
leavemealone (anonymous) says…
Publiicity? Oh-uh. Publicity means more people...more people, more sprawl...HELP!!! Just Kidding.
acg (anonymous) says…
You guys be nice. I love Skeet Ulrich.
The_Original_Bob (anonymous) says…
He's so dreaaaaammmmyyyyyyy.
whistlestop75 (anonymous) says…
Those are NOT mountains..they are hills and Kansas has plenty...In eastern Kansas, there are the Flint Hills and an hour or so south of Lawerence, there is the start of the Chatuaqua hills...come on...be a little positive...!
oscarfactor (anonymous) says…
Go to the CBS website and look at the "Jericho" promo pic. That's a mushroom cloud, in the mountains, supposedly viewable from western Kansas.
I'd be more positive if Hollywood didn't always depict Kansas as a nuclear wasteland - "Day After," "Mars Attacks" and now Jericho. Heck, even the "Wizard of Oz" showed a Kansas tornado, followed by flying monkeys in Oz - a nightmare I'm STILL trying to shake.
dozer (anonymous) says…
We have mountains in Kansas = Mount Sunflower in Western Kansas.
rednekbuddha (Kelly Powell) says…
so are they going tofilm here alot? Are there job opportunities? if not, whatever.
prospector (anonymous) says…
This is for all you "no moutains in Kansas" yahoos.
http://dim.com/~jbettin/air/ks000.htm
oscarfactor (anonymous) says…
Prospector: either you are a complete buffoon, having watched the likes of "Monty Python" and the skit they did on sidewalk climbing, or you are just plain D-U-M-B.
toxicvapor (anonymous) says…
The mushroom cloud in the storyline of the show is over Denver. Would one be able to even see that from Kansas? I'm not up on mushroom clouds, so I don't know.
The nation's cities such as Denver and Atlanta are being portrayed as the nuclear wasteland in the show. Kansas not so much this time. At least that's what I gathered from what I have seen of the show. Didn't look like a really bad show.
prospector (anonymous) says…
oscarfactor
If the enjoyment of parody is D-U-M-B, I am guilty.
If you can not understand it, does that make you S-M-A-R-T?
Tychoman (anonymous) says…
You might be able to an hour or so after it airburst. Anyway for those of you who are whining because you can't see mountains in Kansas (KU anyone?) it's symbolism. Pure and simple.
local_support (anonymous) says…
Screw you guys, I'm moving to Jericho.
Tychoman (anonymous) says…
Oh I finally get the stupid little pun they do with the headline. 'Mountain' of publicity...haha golly gee shucks there aren't any mountains in Kansas! Bahaha...*rolls eyes*.
So is this an actual full-length series, a miniseries, or a movie? If it's a full series, that'd be awesome, adding to "Supernatural" and "Smallville" with roots in Kansas--Supernatural and Lawrence, specifically.
KUweatherman (Curtis Lange) says…
Mt Sunflower isnt a mountain. It's more of a gently sloping large hill.
mommy3 (anonymous) says…
This is the funniest comment page I've every read. Thanks for starting my day off with a smile!!
sarah_hunter (anonymous) says…
Why did they even write an article about this? It makes me think of Requiem for a Dream where the mother goes crazy and keeps repeating "im gonna be on televison!" They are coming to Lawrence to film the unveiling of 'crop art'....woo hoo, sign me up! Sure Supernatural and Smallville are supposed to be in Kansas, filmed here, nope, and do they portal us as backwards.....pretty much. Anyways, the only shows we can think of that are based in Kansas are on the WB....guess we know what channel this show will air on.
crazyks (anonymous) says…
Tychoman, it's a new series on the CBS fall schedule.
I think it sounds interesting. I would think it was an interesting premise no matter where it was supposed to take place.
I don't know how they'll keep it going for more than one season, but what do I know. I didn't think "24" was going to make it, either...who had ever heard of a series before that took a whole season to portray just one day in some guy's life?
And look at "Lost". That's been really successful, too.
flowerlady112 (anonymous) says…
I am looking forward to this series. Skeet Ulrich has a lot of fans world wide.
He has already been in a lot of films such as Scream, As Good as It Gets, The Craft, Boys, The Newton Boys and Ride with the Devil. Miracles and The Magic of Ordinary Days are my personal favorites. In 2005 he was in the mini series Into the West which did very well.
How well this series does is yet to be seen. I hope it does well because I am a big Skeet fan!!
vader (anonymous) says…
i think any time hollywood comes to town, its exciting, and we should enjoy the fun. and did anyone ever watch gunsmoke , matt always road off to hays ks. toward the mts., who cares !
abbygene (anonymous) says…
In reply to the comments about a "mountainous" Western Kansas, no there are no mountains in Western Kansas like any that are depicted in the preview of the show. Those are the mountain ranges in California, where the pilot was shot. And no, you cannot see the mountains in Denver from even the most extreme part of Western Kansas. On a clear day from Coolidge if you have 20/15 vision, you may be able to render an image of the very top of Pike's Peak. One thing Kansas is famous for is being flat and that is what we are, other than some gently rolling hills, we are mainly flat. It is irresponsible of the creators to create a setting that is unrealistic especially when they are trying to promote the credibility of their show. Imagine if they were selling a drama about Los Angeles and showed it as flat farm country? Or if they tried to portray Atlanta as a desert? Would the viewers really be able to get into this show as a realistic dramatic show? No. And I think most Western Kansans are rolling their eyes right now at how ignorant Hollywood really is of anything outside their own realm.
crazyks (anonymous) says…
The only bad part about that is that there will be lots of people who have never been to Kansas, and know nothing about it, who will believe that you can see the mountains from western Kansas.
But then, I've never been to L.A. or N. Y. City, either, and I don't automatically believe everything they show about them on TV. TV is fantasy. Take it with a grain of salt.