History Series / EntertainmentTonight

* HollywoodHypeMachine: Pretty much its sole purpose is to "hype" the latest movies, music, and television, doing interviews with the stars, and general promotion. It worked hand-in-hand with the Hollywood studios to create new stars (it was a ''major'' proponent of Matthew [=McConaughey=] when he was supposed to be the "Next Big Thing", and constantly touted him as such) and make big hits. It was mutually beneficial, because after all, without hype, the movies might fail, and if the movies fail, ''ET'' wouldn't have as much to talk about. It wasn't always just hype, however, especially during the first two years, when Jim Bellows served as managing editor. Under Bellows' watch, in addition to general entertainment promotion, the show would frequently feature investigative reports about the entertainment industry's drug use and hiring practices.[[note]] Not really surprising since Bellows previously had a long and storied career in legitimate journalism, which in addition to working on ''ET'', also included serving as editor of the ''New York Herald Tribune'' (1961-1967), associate editor of the ''Los Angeles Times'' (1967-1974), editor of the ''Washington Star'' (1975-1978), and editor of the ''Los Angeles Herald Examiner'' (1978-1981). In fact, Bellows' investigative stories were so recognized in the industry, that after ''ET'''s second season ended in 1983, ABC News president Roone Arledge asked Bellows to serve as executive editor for the network's nightly newscast, ''World News Tonight with Peter Jennings''. Bellows accepted and served in that role until 1986.[[/note]]

* {{Fanservice}}: Movies featuring strippers or bikinis will get a ''lot'' more hype than you'd normally expect. When ''Film/{{Striptease}}'' was coming out, ''ET'' literally did ''weeks'' of hype, chatting up every single star of the movie, showing as many clips of Demi Moore's fit body doing strip-teases in bikinis, and nearly taking everything off. When the movie bombed, they simply dropped it and moved on to something else.

* LongRunner: Continuously in production since 1981.

A magazine-format journalistic television series, created in 1981 by Alfred Masini and originally produced and distributed by Creator/{{Paramount}}, featuring Mary Hart and a score of other hosts and reporters discussing the recent news in Hollywood. A major enabler of the HollywoodHypeMachine, as well as a tabloid journal, it's a mixture of hype, interviews, and sensationalism about the latest rumors and dating habits of the rich and famous. Airs daily in half-hour segments, and has done so for years. Country-specific spin-offs have popped up in the UK, Canada, Brazil, and others. The show is now produced and distributed by Creator/{{CBS}}, which replaced Paramount successor CBS Paramount Television after the CBS-Creator/{{Viacom}} breakup in 2005.

* {{Fanfare}}: Composed by Michael Mark. It became an unlistenable cacophony of guitars and swooshes over the last few years (and between 2012-2014, a terrible rap mix by will.i.am from Music/TheBlackEyedPeas promoted by the show as the best television theme ever). Thankfully as of September 2014 a simpler version of the theme has returned.

* ViewersAreMorons: Even if justified as giving an AudioDescription to blind viewers, the zeal of their voiceovers describe magazine and video imagery of celebrities, down to [[ProductPlacement fashion labels worn by them]] comes off as kind of insultingly primary as if we don't know what Calvin Klein is.

* WolverinePublicity: The show seems to think that ''TheBigChill'', a 1983 film about BabyBoomers is the greatest film of all time and has days of footage about it. Every time a year ending in "3" or "8" or a new home media release comes around, expect to be reminded of how this movie only thought of by most as filler on {{Creator/HBO}} or Creator/USANetwork is the best two hours ever put to celluloid by this program.

* WolverinePublicity: The show seems to think that ''TheBigChill'', a 1983 film about BabyBoomers is the greatest film of all time and has days of footage about it. Every time a year ending in "3" or "8" or a new home media release comes around, expect to be reminded of how this movie only thought of by most as filler on {{Creator/HBO}} or USANetwork is the best two hours ever put to celluloid by this program.

* WolverinePublicity: The show seems to think that ''TheBigChill'', a 1983 film about BabyBoomers is the greatest film of all time and has days of footage about it. Every time a year ending in "3" or "8" or a new home media release comes around, expect to be reminded of how this movie only thought of by most as filler on {{HBO}} or USANetwork is the best two hours ever put to celluloid by this program.

* {{Paparazzi}}: A lot of footage of celebrities came from them for many years; has been tamped down as new management came in and decided to finally stop out-TMZ'ing TMZ before they lost many celebrities from even contributing to the program.

* AdoredByTheNetwork: If your show contains the initials ''{{Series/NCIS}}'' in it, it'll be promoted incessantly by ''ET'' over everything else.

* {{Fanfare}}: Composed by Michael Mark. It became an unlistenable cacophony of guitars and swooshes over the last few years (and now a terrible rap mix by will.i.am from Music/TheBlackEyedPeas promoted by the show as the best television theme ever).

* {{Paparazzi}}: A lot of footage of celebrities comes from them.

* TabloidMelodrama: Since 1999, when the staffers at sister show ''Hard Copy'' lost their jobs and needed a place to work elsewhere on the Paramount lot, the show has had a lot of this.

* HollywoodHypeMachine: Pretty much its sole purpose is to "hype" the latest movies, music, and television, doing interviews with the stars, and general promotion. It worked hand-in-hand with the Hollywood studios to create new stars (it was a ''major'' proponent of Matthew Maconaghey when he was supposed to be the "Next Big Thing", and constantly touted him as such) and make big hits. It was mutually-beneficial, because after all, without hype, the movies might fail, and if the movies fail, ''ET'' wouldn't have as much to talk about.
** It wasn't always just hype, however, especially during the first two years, when Jim Bellows served as managing editor. Under Bellows' watch, in addition to general entertainment promotion, the show would frequently feature investigative reports about the entertainment industry's drug use and hiring practices. Not really surprising since Bellows previously had a long and storied career in legitimate journalism, which in addition to working on ''ET'', also included serving as editor of the ''New York Herald Tribune'' (1961-1967), associate editor of the ''Los Angeles Times'' (1967-1974), editor of the ''Washington Star'' (1975-1978), and editor of the ''Los Angeles Herald Examiner'' (1978-1981). In fact, Bellows' investigative stories were so recognized in the industry, that after ''ET'''s second season ended in 1983, ABC News president Roone Arledge asked Bellows to serve as executive editor for the network's nightly newscast, ''World News Tonight with Peter Jennings''. Bellows accepted and served in that role until 1986.

* TabloidMelodrama: Since 1999 when the staffers at sister show ''Hard Copy'' lost their jobs and needed a place to work elsewhere on the Paramount lot, the show has had alot of this.

** It wasn't always just hype, however, especially during the first two years, when Jim Bellows served as managing editor. Under Bellows' watch, in addition to general entertainment promotion, the show would frequently feature investigative reports about the entertainment industry's drug use and hiring practices. Not really surprising since Bellows previously had a long and storied career in legitimate journalism, which in addition to working on ''ET'', also included serving as editor of the ''New York Herald Tribune'' (1961-1967), associate editor of the ''Los Angeles Times'' (1967-1974), and editor of the ''Washington Star'' (1975-1978). In fact, Bellows' investigative stories were so recognized in the industry, that after ''ET'''s second season ended in 1983, ABC News president Roone Arledge asked Bellows to serve as executive editor for the network's nightly newscast, ''World News Tonight with Peter Jennings''. Bellows accepted and served in that role until 1986.

* AdoredByTheNetwork: Not only did John Goldhammer, who was Paramount Television's vice president for programming and production, green light ''ET'', he also stepped in as the show's producer when the original producer, Andy Friendly, resigned.
* ExecutiveMeddling: A rare positive example done in support of the creator's original vision. Originally, executives at Taft Broadcasting and Cox Enterprises, two television station groups whom, along with [=TeleRep=], an advertising firm founded by Alfred Masini, originally co-produced ''ET'' alongside Paramount Television, had forced Masini into making the show more sensationalistic, as sort of a televised version of various tabloids. Thankfully, however, the Paramount executives countermeddled, and Masini's original vision of ''ET'' being a hip, fun, but serious news show ended up being used instead. Ironically, both media companies were both founded by politicians who presumably preferred legitimate journalism to sensationalistic journalism. Cox's founder, James M. Cox, had previously served as representative for Ohio's 3rd district in the House of Representatives from 1909 to 1913 and governor of Ohio from 1913-1915 and from 1917-1921; and also served as the Democratic presidential nominee in 1920, and while Taft's founder Charles Phelps Taft, only served in Congress relatively briefly, his half-brother, WilliamHowardTaft, previously had held two of the highest job positions in the nation: president of the United States from 1909-1913 and chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1921-1930, as well as previously holding lesser government positions such as U.S. solicitor general from 1890-1892, a judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit from 1892-1900, governor-general of the Philippines from 1901-1903, and U.S. secretary of war from 1904-1908.

* MissingEpisode: Going by the amount of "lost footage" ET has found over the years to hype in episodes, their archivist has no sense of how to organize the show's deep film library.

* {{Fanfare}}: Composed by JohnWilliams, so of course it would be one, though it became an unlistenable cacophony of guitars and swooshes over the last few years (and now a terrible rap mix by will.i.am from Music/TheBlackEyedPeas promoted by the show as the best television theme ever).
** [[http://www.orchestralibrary.com/reftables/tvshows.html#C2F I'm sorry.]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Mark_%28musician%29 Did you say John Williams??]]

A magazine-format journalistic television series, created in 1981 by Alfred Masini and originally produced and distributed by Creator/{{Paramount}}, featuring Mary Hart and a score of other hosts and reporters discussing the recent news in Hollywood. A major enabler of the HollywoodHypeMachine, as well as a tabloid journal, it's a mixture of hype, interviews, and sensationalism about the latest rumors and dating habits of the rich and famous. Airs daily in half-hour segments, and has done so for years. Country-specific spin-offs have popped up in the UK, Canada, Brazil, and others. The show is now produced and distributed by Creator/{{CBS}}, which replaced Paramount successor CBS Paramount Television after the CBS-{{Viacom}} breakup in 2005.

* {{Fanfare}}: Composed by JohnWilliams, so of course it would be one, though it became an unlistenable cacophony of guitars and swooshes over the last few years (and now a terrible rap mix by will.i.am from TheBlackEyedPeas promoted by the show as the best television theme ever).

* TooGoodToLast: ''ET'' actually had dismal ratings in its first season and was only able to stay on the air because it was the first syndicated show to be offered via satellite, which meant that stations airing the program could air it in any time slot they wanted. Earlier syndicated programs, even those that were higher rated, did not enjoy such luxuries, and instead, their master tapes would get "bicycled" around from station to station, and thus they could not be aired as often as their network counterparts. It probably also helped, however, that Paramount Television president Richard Frank was a former protege of Alfred Masini.

* ExecutiveMeddling: A rare positive example done in support of the creator's original vision. Originally, executives at Taft Broadcasting and Cox Enterprises, two television station groups whom, along with [=TeleRep=], an advertising firm founded by Alfred Masini, originally co-produced ''ET'' alongside Paramount Television, had forced Masini into making the show more sensationalistic, as sort of a televised version of various tabloids. Thankfully, however, the Paramount executives countermeddled, and Masini's original vision of ''ET'' being a hip, fun, but serious news show ended up being used instead. Ironically, both media companies were both founded by politicians who presumably preferred legitimate journalism to sensationalistic journalism. Cox's founder, James M. Cox, had previously served as representative for Ohio's 3rd district in the House of Representatives from 1909 to 1913 and governor of Ohio from 1913-1915 and from 1917-1921, and while Taft's founder Charles Phelps Taft, only served in Congress relatively briefly, his half-brother, WilliamHowardTaft, previously had held two of the highest job positions in the nation: president of the United States from 1909-1913 and chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1921-1930, as well as previously holding lesser government positions such as U.S. solicitor general from 1890-1892, a judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit from 1892-1900, governor-general of the Philippines from 1901-1903, and U.S. secretary of war from 1904-1908.

* IAmNotShazam: George Clooney and Jennifer Aniston could be playing George and Martha Washington in a film, yet in the trailer descriptions, ''ET'' never describes the characters, just naming each actor over and over.

* ViewersAreIdiots: Even if justified as giving an AudioDescription to blind viewers, the zeal of their voiceovers describe magazine and video imagery of celebrities, down to [[ProductPlacement fashion labels worn by them]] comes off as kind of insultingly primary as if we don't know what Calvin Klein is.

* {{Fanfare}}: Composed by JohnWilliams, so of course it would be one, though it became an unlistenable cacophony of guitars and swooshes over the last few years.

* WolverinePublicity: The show seems to think that ''TheBigChill'', a 1983 film about BabyBoomers is the greatest film of all time and has days of footage about it. Every time a year ending in "3" or "8" or a new home media release comes around, expect to be reminded of how this movi,e only thought of by most as filler on {{HBO}} or USANetwork, is the best two hours ever put to celluloid by this program.

* {{Fanservice}}: Movies featuring strippers or bikinis will get a ''lot'' more hype than you'd normally expect. When ''{{Striptease}}'' was coming out, ''ET'' literally did ''weeks'' of hype, chatting up every single star of the movie, showing as many clips of Demi Moore's fit body doing strip-teases in bikinis, and nearly taking everything off. When the movie bombed, they simply dropped it and moved on to something else.