Corn, Crop Circle Highlight Omaha 'Idol' Episode
Reaction to Omaha's appearance on "American Idol" Tuesday night was mixed.
Some were happy to see the city get its moment in the spotlight, while others were dismayed at the stereotypical images of corn that are more often associated with the state itself.
Swanson Russell Associates Public Relations Manager Jennifer Windrum told listeners of KFAB's "Good Morning Show" Wednesday that Swanson Russell worked closely with the show's producers to showcase the entire city - in addition to the "American Idol" crop circle Swanson Russell helped create.
"In a sense, we added to the corn," Windrum said. "But we tried to mix (agriculture) with the modern. But we knew they couldn't come here and not show corn."
Windrum said the AI production crew wanted shots of things viewers would recognize - Mutual of Omaha, the Henry Doorly Zoo, etc. - but that not everything made the show.
"We made an itinerary for them and we had four hours with them," Windrum said. "But the rain really hampered things. The day they were shooting it was rainy, so we had to change plans."
One of the original goals of the project - to get show host Ryan Seacrest on a Claas LEXIONClaas LEXION Combine - didn't happen, Windrum said.
"We got them out to the Claas facility but it was raining and they wanted a combine in action," she said.
The crop circle came off much better, despite the rain and a short timetable to get it made.
"Once we mentioned that to the producers, we had two weeks to do it," Windrums aid. "We hired a company from Utah called The MAIZE and they mapped it out with a GPS. The 'Welcome to Omaha' part was hand-carved with machetes.
Swanson Russell's website features a "making of" video of the crop circle. Windrum and SRA Public Relations Associate (and former KETV reporter) Laura Liggett (pictured above) are shown helping cut the crop circle.
Voorhees Wants Your Opinion
KFAB (1110 AM) morning talk show host Scott Voorhees is inviting listeners to cast their vote for the impression left by Tuesday's American Idol episode.
The choices are: "Too much corn, but that's ok," "Too much corn, and that's ignorant," Who cares about the corn? We were featured on the #1 show!," and "I didn't watch it."
27 comments:
Laura looks like she might murder me with that machete. I am scared.
Option E: Not enough Perrault.
This was pathetic. They showed nothing of the real Omaha. We do have tall buildings, a world class zoo and one of the richest people in America (heck, the world) lives right here. NOPE. It is all about CORN.
As a sidenote, our football team is so bad, that didn't even get mentioned.
Who really cares...?
Who cares?
It is one of the most watched television shows in America (why I don't know) and when that portrays your city as hicksville you've got image and potential business problems.
Who cares?
How you think this makes wrestling in Nebraska look? They didn't show any wrestling, and that's what makes this state and blog go, baby. That question is the one we should be discussing.
My new Pete Rose haircut looks great. I look like a Lego character, Lego Wrestling Guy.
Formerly from Omaha, I'm not the biggest fan of the city, but I still feel that Idol missed the mark when showing the city. Although they briefly mentioned the arts and culture scene, 90% of what they talked about was corn. Also not having one person shown with a golden ticket from Omaha (or Nebraska for that matter) was pretty sad as well. Though I don't live in Omaha anymore and don't think it's a perfect city, it deserved better. Much better.
Matt Perrault is Gay
Have him call me.
Gave him your number
Sadly, I missed that edition of American Idol. But I hate to tell you, that the rest of the world already thinks that the only thing Nebraska has to offer is corn. American Idol wasn't going to seal the deal one way or the other.
Thanks, hope he likes me.
Well, if they only had footage of corn, that's what they had to go with. It sounds like they wanted to mention the zoo and the art scene, but you can't talk about that stuff and show pictures of corn.
Sure it's sloppy, but that's television.
What's with the picture of the crazy chick with the corn knife. She looks like she should be auditioning for "Children of the Corn 10" not American Idol.
Why would the Idol producers want to show the zoo anyway? Every city has a zoo (yes, this zoo is a little better but it's still a zoo) and no, Omaha doesn't have tall buildings. Omaha is great and all but really, what were they going to show? The only thing I could think of was Rosenblatt.
Wasn't that Matt Perrault who was the first contestant on last night? Maybe Matt has found his career as a red carpet interviewer!!!!!
Naaahhhh.......it couldn't have been Matty.....that guy was way too talented to be Perrault.
I believe Laura Liggett was an intern not a reporter.
The Laura person is very scary. I wonder who at Swanson Russell thought putting that photo out was a good idea!
Well, at least "Idol"s view of Nebraska wasn't as big a slap in the face as was "Family Guy"s earlier this week.
Maybe by showing how gay Omaha is, they made us look more "big city!!"
what happened on Family Guy?
Who cares...? This city will always be a small city with a big city hangup. C'mon people...accept what you are and what you aren't. Omaha is the sticks.
Dr. Feel
Picture looks like that chick from the Go-Go's.Four finger forehead too.
It was the worst Idol audition show this year. Omaha came off as "hicksville" full of nuts. No one from Omaha was shown going to Hollywood. Corn, corn, corn. Why not perpetuate the sterotype. But as long as SRA got a client's combine mentioned - I guess it was worth it.
To answer the "Family Guy" question, Stewie was reminiscing about his one-time visit to Nebraska, and the scene switched to the exterior of a dumpy diner surrounded by dirt roads and cornfields. Inside, Stewie asked a few locals (dressed in farm-type attire with flap-caps or straw hats on their heads) what they thought of a couple of events generally bandied about by sophisticated highbrows, and they had no clue what to think or say. Then he mentioned "corn" and they all perked up and crosstalked enthusiastically.
Anonymous 7:56:
Did the combine get mentioned? I didn't even see one. So don't score one for the client if it wasn't on there.
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