For N.C.A.A., AT&T Calls on Pro Basketball Stars

A popular series of television commercials is getting stretched out, literally and figuratively.

To take advantage of its sponsorship of the 2013 N.C.A.A. men’s basketball tournament, AT&T and its advertising agency, BBDO Atlanta, are creating special commercials with basketball themes that are inspired by the series of well-received commercials for AT&T, also by BBDO Atlanta, that carry the theme “It’s not complicated.”

In the “It’s not complicated” commercials, which began appearing in November, children - a mix of child actors and nonprofessionals - are prompted by an earnest young man, played by a comedian named Beck Bennett, to discuss concepts like fast versus slow and bigger versus smaller. The resulting dialogue, in a vein reminiscent of “Kids Say the Darnedest Things” hosted by Art Linkletter or Bill Cosby, has captured the public’s fancy as evidenced by metrics that include YouTube views and the volume of positive comments in social media.

The campaign “has really struck gold,” said David Christopher, chief marketing officer at the AT&T Mobility unit of AT&T in Atlanta. Such popularity is hard to come by in a crowded, competitive category like telecommunications, which is flooded with lookalike ads.

In the basketball-themed commercials, which are to begin running on Saturday, Mr. Bennett continues as the interlocutor. Instead of the children, he interacts with four famous former professional players: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson and Bill Russell.

In a sight gag that also serves to link the two series of commercials, the new ones, like the original ones, take place in a classroom - with the players getting much larger chairs that befit their size.

For the N.C.A.A. tournament, “we thought, wouldn’t it be fun to do a riff” on the commercials with the children, Mr. Christopher said, and, “in a fun way to give a nod to basketball fans,” cast famous former stars in the new spots.

(The commercials could not use college players who appear in the tournament, under N.C.A.A. rules, and current pro basketball players are too busy playing the rest of the 2012-13 season, Mr. Christopher said.)

Stephen McMennamy, a creative director at BBDO Atlanta - part of the BBDO Worldwide division of the Omnicom Group - said: “We knew we have a very likeable campaign. People have taken to it.”

“We want to further it, keep the spark,” Mr. McMennamy said, but at the same time “we didn’t want to jump the shark” - i.e., reach a moment when, through exploitation, the commercials would begin to decline in quality and popularity.

The basketball commercials offer a “nice, delightful reward for people who know the campaign,” he added, and can also be enjoyed by people who are not familiar with the commercials with the children.

In one basketball spot, called “Up Top,” Mr. Bennett asks the players a question that echoes one he asks the children: “In basketball, is it better to be bigger or smaller”

After the players all respond, “Bigger,” he tries to high-five them, declaring, “Up top.” But the size differential between Mr. Bennett and the players proves awkward.

In the other basketball spot, called “Slow Break,” Mr. Bennett’s question is about faster versus slower. After he asks, “I mean, they don’t call it a slow break, do they,” Mr. Johnson jokes, “Well, in Larry’s case maybe they do.”

The laughter from Mr. Johnson, Mr. Russell and Mr. Abdul-Jabbar cause Mr. Bird to pout, saying, “It’s like I don’t have feelings.” Mr. Bennett then tries awkwardly to give the much-taller Mr. Bird a hug.

The two commercials will appear during the final games of the tournament, Mr. Christopher said, and alternate with the commercials featuring the children - or, as he put it, “The kids aren’t going away.”

The basketball commercials are scheduled to end with the N.C.A.A. national championship game on April 8, the theory being, Mr. McMennamy said, “Drop the microphone, leave the stage.”

However, “it’s not out of the realm of possibility” they may continue, he added, if the public likes them.

As for the chance of AT&T commercials with Mr. Bennett chatting with famous retired football players for the Super Bowl or famous retired movie stars for the Academy Awards, Mr. Christopher said, laughing, “We’ll see.”

In Ratings Race, ‘The Voice’ Gains on ‘Idol’

Time, and maybe the presence of “The Voice,” seem to be catching up with the great TV ratings titan of the last decade, “American Idol.”

It is still too early to crown “The Voice” as the new king of the singing competitions, because in its first outings this season Fox’s “Idol” scored notably better numbers than the first two episodes of NBC’s “The Voice” this week.

But in its first week this season sharing the singing stage with the “The Voice,” “Idol,” a perennial ratings giant now in its 12th season, fell to its lowest-rated performances two nights in a row.

On Thursday, among the audience group that Fox sells to advertisers, viewers between the ages of 18 and 49, “Idol” dropped below a 3 rating for just the second time its history (the previous Thursday was the first time), hitting a low of 2.7 (or about 3.4 million viewers).

That was for one of the “Idol” elimination shows, which are traditionally lower-rated than the performance shows. But that number came one day after Wednesday’s “Idol” recorded the lowest-ever rating for a performance show, a 3.2 rating (about 4 million viewers).

Both numbers were down sharply from the prior week, from a 3.6 for the performance show and a 2.9 for the elimination show. While “Idol” generally trends lower in the middle of its season, one notable change took place on the network schedules between those weeks: “The Voice” returned on NBC.

That singing show was up from its performance in the fall. On Monday, “The Voice” scored a 4.7 rating in that 18-49 group; on Tuesday it managed a 3.9 rating (about 6 million and 5.1 million viewers, respectively). This follows up a fall in which “The Voice” convincingly topped Fox’s other singing show, “The X Factor.”

Does this make “The Voice” the undisputed champ of the would-be singing stars That would not be a fair assessment - yet. But if “Idol” continues to sink, and “The Voice” sustains its numbers, that may be the inescapable conclusion by the end of this season.

The Breakfast Meeting: Awkwardness at NBC, and Barbara Walters’ Retirement

Networks never seem to absorb lessons of lineup changes gone bad, NBC most of all, Alessandra Stanley writes. Matt Lauer, the host of NBC’s “Today” show, who may be on the way out, was admirably suave onscreen despite reports that NBC may be seeking a new host. Mr. Lauer’s problems began with his succession last year, when many viewers blamed him when his co-anchor Ann Curry was clumsily cast aside. The drama is not new.  More than 20 years ago, NBC replaced Jane Pauley with the younger Deborah Norville; that “Today” show shakeupbecame a founding fiasco of morning television, and Ms. Norville’s career never recovered.

Barbara Walters, the host of the ABC daytime program “The View,” whose television career has lasted more than 50 years, will retire in 2014, Bill Carter reports. An executive familiar with Ms. Walters’s plans said she would announce her decision this May and that the following year would include a number of retrospectives and specials about her career. Ms. Walters’s health became a national story this year after she suffered a concussion in Washington and developed an infection that turned out to be chicken pox.

Jeffrey Zucker, the new head of CNN, announced Thursday that he would pair Christopher Cuomo, a former ABC anchor he hired in May, with a young Washington correspondent named Kate Bolduan to host a new morning show, Brian Stelter writes. The show will premier in late spring and will replace “Starting Point,” which is hosted by Soledad O’Brien and has done poorly in the ratings.

FX Networks announced that it would add a third channel to its lineup and step up its commitment to original scripted series at an upfront presentation on Thursday, Stuart Elliott writes. The new cable channel, FXX, will be aimed at viewers ages 18 to 34 and will coincide with FX’s introduction of TV everywhere, industry shorthand for technology that lets paying viewers stream content on devices at any time.

Amazon.com, the dominant online bookseller, said on Thursday that it would buy Goodreads, the most visited social media site based around sharing books, Leslie Kaufman reports. Internet sites have become critical places for telling readers about interesting books as bookstores close. The companies did not disclose a purchase price or conditions of the sale, which will close in the next quarter.

Madison Avenue and the automotive industry are fretting over ways to attract millennials to cars and car culture, Stuart Elliott reports. Younger people are buying fewer cars, whether because of shaky finances or lack of interest. Manufacturers like Toyota, which is adding content like music to a new Web site for its Scion brand and beginning to advertise in Teen Vogue, are trying appeal to them.

The third season of “Game of Thrones,” the HBO adaptation of George R. R. Martin’s “Song of Ice and Fire” novels, begins with a satisfying slaughter but then falls into a familiar pattern of bursts of action interspersed with lengthening periods of dialogue, Mike Hale writes. Though the intricate fantasy is certainly enjoyable, claims that it is the best show on television may be overblown.

Bob Teague, who joined WNBC-TV in 1963 as one of the city’s first black journalists and worked in various roles in TV news for more than three decades, died on Thursday in New Brunswick, N.J., at 83, Douglas Martin reports.