LateNightWithJimmyFallon.com promises to be “a destination site for the funniest stuff on the web, [with] original comedy brought to you by both our bloggers and the show’s writers, and of course behind-the-scenes stuff that you can’t find anywhere else.”

So far, the blog has some YouTube videos, a blog post about the bacon explosion (ew), and of course, show-related tidbits.  I love how they ask for viewer/reader feedback, like they did here with the Lick It For Ten: Lick What? post.  It’s a great way of engaging the audience and actually making them feel a part of the community and show.  Plus – if you have a segment that’s lame (or awesome!) you’ll know if you should nix it (or do more!)  It’s like a cleverly-disguised focus group complete with glasses and a moustache.

A blog that encompasses the whole “TV show blog” concept very well is VH1’s Best Week Ever blog, which according to Compete.com gets an impressive 377,000 unique visitors per month.  The blog is regularly updated with snarky and witty commentary on pop culture.  I have to admit I’m a regular visitor to the site – but haven’t watched a full episode of the show in years.  So maybe this is a case of a blog overshadowing a show and being too awesome for its own good.  Who knows. But let’s face it – you gotta give credit to a blog that has found a way to make Blingee appealing to an audience other than MySpace-lovin’, glitter-aficionado 13-year-olds.

If done right, LateNightWithJimmyFallon.com will be an entertaining extension to its late night TV counterpart.  People will check it at work and when they have down time while on the bus or waiting in line at Starbucks.  Plus – if people go there as a result of a cool blog post totally unrelated to the show and see – oh hey, Tina Fey is on tomorrow – they may be encouraged to tune in or DVR it.  Or do neither: the blog showcases full episodes.  Thumbs up to NBC!

Only time will tell if the Jimmy Fallon blog is worth visiting, but I did some detective work and found that two of the bloggers – Sara Schaefer and Cory Cavin – are both Best Week Ever blog alums.  So, I can only hope that the BWE brilliance will transfer over to the new blog – it would be like the BWE blog had an awesome baby with Jimmy Fallon.  Something like that.

The best way to get people interested in your show is to simply give it away to them. For no cost at all. Showtime took this tactic to a whole new level for the launch of “Tara”. They researched where potential fans of the show spend their time and found out that there isn’t one particular website or channel that they are using or viewing. They soon realized that streaming the show for free on their website, or any single website, for a couple of days wasn’t going to do the trick. So Showtime came up with a very unique strategy: put the show everywhere that their audience might be. Their strategy put the first episode of the show on 100 multimedia platforms before its debut on Showtime. The platforms included online outlets such as popular blogs and social networks, as well as mobile video and on-demand cable outlets. Sites such as TV.com, EW.com, BestWeekEver.com and Gawker.com featured the debut episode. Mobile outlets such as Verizon’s VCast and Joost’s iPhone app offered the debut as well. Additionally, Showtime offered the show on its SHO.com site in HD. This strategy has paid off quite well – “Tara” has averaged 2.1 million viewers over its first few episodes, which is far better than “Weeds” or “Dexter” averaged in their first seasons. Showtime has already renewed it for a second season.

This is a great strategy for getting eyeballs focused on a new show when it launches. Rather than plaster every website (not to mention billboard, bus bench, etc.) with advertising for the show, give people something they might actually want. Give them something that might actually get them interested in watching more of the show and might get them to tell their friends about it. People appreciate getting a little piece of something for free, and if they like it, they are very likely to come back for more. “Tara,” with its award-winning writer and actors, should have no problem entertaining its fans. The trick is to get those fans there, and Showtime succeeded with their innovative and consumer-friendly marketing initiative.

In true Twitter fashion an account found me and started to follow me.

I clicked on it to see who they were, and although I saw a little bit of ‘Big Love’ branding, it wasn’t very prevalent. I was a bit confused about the profile since their bio said very little at the time. They have since spruced up the bio and the affiliation is now obvious.

Anyway, the profile is pretty neat and has become my version of getting my horrible gossip fix since I gave up all those celebrity blogs.

That Twitter account is associated with the HBO microsite Web Of Secrets which I’ve come to love!

The theme of the show is ‘Everyone has something to hide’ so you enter your secret, your alias, where you’re from and the secret type.

Your secret then populates the Twitter profile so every few minutes you get some random ‘secret’ like, “I am secretly in love with my boyfriend’s brother, and we’ve been sneaking around behind my boyfriends back for 6 months now…”

Sometimes you can even see some secrets from the characters themselves.

The site itself is pretty cool too; you start by clicking on one of the characters,

Example

Click on Bill Paxton and there is the word CHEATING next to him. His secret pops up and says, “I’m cheating on my wives.” You mouse over that word CHEATING because it is highlighted and random words pop up from the background to populate another secret that was left by one of those anonymous users. I just did it now and it shows ‘Ashley from Texas’ saying, “I’m almost paralyzed by the fear that my boyfriend is cheating on me with his ex-wife.” Mouse over and you can click on the other highlighted words, where others’ secrets pop up.

Erica and I spent a good half an hour clicking around and scoffing at some horrible dirt before the season premiere. And yes, I was ultimately adopted by her current surrogate family, and I got to watch the premiere. The secrets keep coming!

I was looking around the web to see what was said about this campaign. Didn’t really dive into it too much, but I found this article about how the creators could have teamed with PostSecret.com.

Why I love this account? Most show profiles are never updated, but this one is different from just a character on twitter, like Peggy Olson from ‘Mad Men’ — I actually get intrigued to see what people are sharing. I love the tie-in with the season theme ‘Everyone has something to hide’, and I love the ‘Big Love’ billboard ads — I know completely off topic but I love that they look old and modern at the same time with the portraits.

It got me pumped about the premiere, and I actually made the effort to haul a** to the valley to watch cable TV! Constantly seeing the twitter feed reminded me about the show and I got extra pumped.

I’ve always been one to get wrapped up in television shows, to the point of wishing I could be a part of the characters’ world.  Recently, I’ve noticed a new way this is possible…through Twitter.

The largest presence of a television show I’ve seen thus far on Twitter is for AMC’s “Mad Men”. As I sat on my couch enjoying the second season this summer, I decided to tweet about my love of the show. After doing this, I received numerous follower requests from the show’s characters.  I was suddenly emerged in their world. And it seems like all of the characters are involved, from the ad execs to the children!

The conversations that I have been a witness to through Twitter have significantly increased my enjoyment of the show. Right now, even in between seasons, these Twitter characters keep the world of “Mad Men” alive.

Have you run into any of your favorite television characters on Twitter?

Is this a form of engagement that you welcome?

And finally, can this build loyalty to a television show or will it just cater to the already loyal viewers?