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Darling Paris: ABC's Dirty Sexy Savvy Publicity Stunt
Last Friday, as Paris Hilton took another spin through the detention facility turnstile and TV-news crews swarmed, a lone plane flitted across the sky above, toting a banner:
"We Love Paris — the Darling Family"
Meaningless and/or misinterpreted to many, it was a joke appreciated by the (growing) few familiar with Dirty Sexy Money, ABC's new family sudser starring Peter Krause as the de facto consigliore for the Darlings, an ironically named brood populated by the headline-making likes of Paris herself. Donald Sutherland is the Trump-like patriarch, Jill Clayburgh his well-preserved wife, there is a flighty actress daughter, a hard-partying son.... It's storytelling by way of Access Hollywood.
And that's precisely why the plane banner (and the similar full-page ads appearing in a handful of major dailies) was a perfect fit. Paris, not despite but because of her flaws, would feel terrifically at home bearing the Darling name.
Would ABC risk the association, the whiff of capitalizing on a fallen celeb's misfortune, if we were actually "in season"? Maybe not. But give them props, huge props, for acting fast to seize the moment and take advantage of a massive media op in a way that nary another, let alone an established and "safe," series could. Like it or not, many eyes were on the Paris story last week, with the media dissecting every adjacent and peripheral aspect of it. The circus was in town, and ABC stole a second in the center ring.
"Who are these Darling people?" the about-to-be-initiated may have asked, and now, perhaps, they know. And come the fall, when that pilot starts getting around, they will want to party with 'em. To quote a certain blonde, they're hot.
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Jun 11, 2007 9:43 PM
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Now I want to see this show. It worked!!
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Jun 11, 2007 11:48 PM
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My local news actually showed that banner during that big ordeal. I figured, who would waste their money just to do that. But great publicity stunt though.
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Jun 12, 2007 2:26 AM
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I'm actually on the other side of this. I would have checked the show out but because of this I'll go out of my way not to.
I don't like Paris, I actually enjoyed the melee and I fully realize that, by necessity, news agencies are going to have a field day with this. But to use this woman's down fall to pimp your new fall show is in pretty poor taste in my opinion.
It’s just about taking it that step too far for me.
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Jun 12, 2007 11:27 AM
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Looks like CSI: NY just added Thomas as a viewer.
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Jun 12, 2007 11:40 AM
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Looks like CSI: NY just added Thomas as a viewer.
Matt - You are on a roll today!
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Jun 12, 2007 11:48 AM
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I agree with Thomas, I don't like the heifer either, but that is soooo wrong.
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Jun 12, 2007 11:50 AM
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Isn’t that “cop wrongly accused of a crime” show on NBC? That premise has only been used about 8,000 times so I’m sure there’s still some life in it.
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Jun 12, 2007 11:56 AM
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I loved the ads. Thought they were clever and timely. If Paris is trying to focus people on more important issues, and then calling Barbara Walters, it is open season. Please do not feel too much sympathy for Paris, surely she is wallowing in enough self-pity for all of us.
Matt, did you see the letter to the editor in The Post? The sender criticized the ad and then commented that if "the Darling family likes it [Paris] so much, why don't they move there - and take their little friend with them." You can't buy that type of publicity. Oh wait, they just did!
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Jun 12, 2007 1:23 PM
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Saw that, yeah. I don't think that Post letter-writer realized the Darlings are fictional! 
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Jun 12, 2007 2:42 PM
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Matt, you just devastated someone's world..... The Darlings are fictional?
Seriously, I have to check this out just because of Donald Sutherland and Jill Clayburgh!
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Jun 12, 2007 3:14 PM
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Does anyone else remember the Darling family that was on Andy Griffith?
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Jun 13, 2007 10:03 AM
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> Does anyone else remember the Darling family that was on Andy Griffith?
Don't forget about the Darling family from Peter Pan ...
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Jun 13, 2007 5:57 PM
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Bwaaahahaha!!! I hadn't heard of this show till just now, but I'm in! Yes, capitalizing on another's misfortune is in bad taste, but between the hours-long live coverage, pleas from her fans (apparently they really exist) for Paris to be allowed to return to enriching their self-described "mundane" lives, the judge vs. sheriff p|ssing contest, and the "victim" and family themselves cashing in by calling Barbara Walters and taking bids for hosting the Paris Unleashed party, exactly whose dignity are we worrying about? If it were Nightline or Meet the Press trying to grab the spotlight or the unfortunate recipient weren't a publicity whore, then yes, that would be innapropriate. This show sounds like a satirical commentary on show biz/celebrity culture, so it's emminently appropriate. And anyone aware that it even happened loses the right to be offended, since we all either watched the coverage, read the newspaper stories, or clicked on this link. If you're upset about being a target, don't put yourself in the cross hairs! Goes for Paris as well as the audience reached by the ads.
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Jun 14, 2007 1:48 AM
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Does anyone else remember the Darling family that was on Andy Griffith?
Leah, I remember them well and still watch them on TV Land. For the uninitiated, they were a hillbilly family who occasionally came into town from the hills to wreak havoc on Mayberry. But they played great bluegrass music.
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Jun 15, 2007 5:04 PM
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