This Is Going To End Terribly

It's pretty clear that Canadian networks don't really understand the whole media conglomeration thing. Bell, Rogers, Shaw-Canwest-Global-whatever love the idea of reminding everyone what other properties they own. And I'm sure they love the thought that they're shepherding their audiences from one outlet to another. But in practice, this leads to things like sports announcers awkwardly shifting from commentary into a promo for Orphan Black.

But the awkwardness of media crossovers will reach new heights this weekend when Will Ferrell, as his Ron Burgundy alter ego, make an appearance at the Canadian Olympic curling trials. Who thought that was a good idea? Look, I've mentioned my problems with Ferrell in the past, but I'm wondering how many of his fans will turn out for curling. Is there that much of an intersection between curling fans and the potential audience for Anchorman 2? Sure, curling's older-skewing audience does many people who can remember the golden age of local news that the movie satirises, but that's also unlikely to be the people who go to movies.

So why would Farrell spend so much of his precious pre-release promotion time on such an unproductive publicity stunt? It could be that he just loves playing the character. It could be that he no longer has a personality of his own and is slowly turning into Ron Burgundy. But I really hope it's not this: that it's all about producing indirect marketing. Imagine: he yuks it up on the curling telecast; hardly anyone sees it, but TV stations and networks all over America pick up highlights of this goofy footage of the semi-fictional buffoon commenting on this oddball sport that no one understands. I wonder if curling/Winnipeg/TSN know they may be about to become patsies in someone's guerilla marketing campaign.