Dateline MSNBC is really taking this whole “Green” thing to a new level. It had a major story yesterday about them helping people find missing money. It’s a great feel good story in tough economic times. They even had shot like this one showing the unexpected glee on shocked people’s faces as they were told about this new found money.

Great action shot. I’m sure the woman in the upper right is thrilled to be immortalized in this photo. Enjoy your 15 minutes. No one said they wouldn’t be taken up with you featured in a picture looking like you just got punched in the kidney.

I’d actually like to call your attention to the boy towards the bottom of this photo. He’s happy, sure, but he also knows something’s not right. He’s thinking, “Great. Maybe I get a new bike out of the deal, but I know I’ve seen this before, but where?” Well, maybe he’s not saying this, but it works as a literary device for me, so leave it alone.

You might recall that this same story was in Google Trends yesterday:

So, people are checking again today to see if there was any change from yesterday, I suppose. “Damn! Nothing found for me on the site. I’ll just check again tomorrow. Surely, they’ll be something then.” Predictably, like everyone else, I did check yesterday, and MissingMoney.com was down from all the traffic. This was somehow familiar to me and I remembered a past Google Trends (yep, it’s what I do).

Check this out:

This list is from April 4 and MissingMoney.com is there again. They must have great PR people. I remember checking the site back then to see if I was rich, but I couldn’t access the site then as well. I made a comment to a number of people that day that if you know you’re going to be featured on a major news program with millions of visitors and you know your site is going to have a massive influx of traffic, you might consider finding a better host for your site or upgrading your $4.95 a month hosting plan if even just for a day. A lesson learned for MissingMoney.com.

Except they didn’t learn, MissingMoney.com was featured prominently on Google Trends Lighting Rod, The Today Show, on April 4 and that’s why the found themselves on Google Trends and with traffic they couldn’t handle. This is where Dateline goes “Green,” as they decide to simply recycle effectively the same story that their pretty sister did just 3 months ago. “I know!,” a producer exclaims at a creative meeting for Dateline, “Let’s do a show about helping people find lost money.” “BRILLIANT!,” they all say. “Sounds familiar, but brilliant.”

Two things about this piss me off. First, Dateline has no creativity or inventiveness. This shouldn’t come as a shock as they love to go back to the well when something appears to be working. “I’m Chris Hansen. Tonight, we’re going to catch a predator and you’ll never guess the excuse we’re told tonight on To Catch a Predator Part 98.” Of course, we will guess the excuse because we’ve seen the same show a million times now, but stick with it. It’ll be different this time.

So, in keeping with their creative brief for the show, which must be “Imitation is the most sincere form of flattery,” let’s just rip off something that our network already did a few months ago and make like its new.

The second thing that pisses me off is, of course, MissingMoney.com. So, let me get this straight, you blow the first time you’re on Today because you’re site is down and just annoys people to no end. You miraculously get another chance to be featured on national TV. What do you do? Nothing! Their site was down again yesterday after the show. Nice work. Can someone give them a call and explain how this whole Internet thing works? When they get on Oprah in 3 months, I don’t want them to screw it up again.

“I’m Chris Hansen. Tonight on To Catch Your Lost Money, we’ll go to the deep, dark corners of the Internet and track down your money hiding in the seedy databases of tiny regional banks and fringe insurance companies. You’ll never guess what excuse your money has.”

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Posted on July 15th, 2008 by Jonathan - Everyone But You
Filed under: News, Television