Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2023 December 21

= December 21 =

All new
Is there a legal or commercial reason why American networks advertise shows as being all new, as opposed to just… new? Was there a problem of people being tricked into watching partially new shows? Lazar Taxon (talk) 03:28, 21 December 2023 (UTC)


 * The obvious meaning would be to tell us that the show isn't going to be a clip show. However, I don't pay attention to whether they said "all new" or not, by the time I've seen the show and learned that it is one. --142.112.220.136 (talk) 06:43, 21 December 2023 (UTC)
 * The packaging and ads for branded foods and other items often display a prominent notice NEW! when there has actually only been a relatively minor change in the formula. The networks may have felt the use of just new in their adverising no longer had the force it used to have. --Lambiam 06:55, 21 December 2023 (UTC)


 * I've mainly encountered it when the late local news signs off by saying that an "all new Dave" or "all new Colbert" is coming up next. It makes a little more sense in that context than announcing an "all new NCIS" or whatever... AnonMoos (talk) 09:43, 21 December 2023 (UTC)
 * It's just advertising hype. I think the fictional shows' ads also say that, while the TV guide within the cable box simply says "New". And unless they also changed the intro and presented new commercials, "all new" would not literally be true. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 12:48, 21 December 2023 (UTC)
 * This term is also used in the auto industry. A "new" model is an incremental change from the prevous year. An "all-new" model is a completely new design. 97.82.165.112 (talk) 13:23, 21 December 2023 (UTC)

Side question
Something described as "NEW" is a very common marketing device. Witness the queues to be among the first to buy the latest smart phone, game, or whatever. Also the plethora of NEW supermarket items that appear (and often disappear almost as quickly). And NEW streaming/TV programmes, and on and on. I've never really understood the attraction of newness per se, although obviously it works for many people. If something is new, then nobody knows with any certainty whether it's any good - until they buy it and discover for themselves. But that involves a risk, whereas buying a tried and tested thing does not. Maybe I'm a bit risk-averse, maybe I'm happy with my boring life in which I keep buying the same stuff I've been buying, and more than happy with, for decades. If it ain't broke, etc. What explains the attraction of newness to consumers in general? -- Jack of Oz   [pleasantries]  19:17, 21 December 2023 (UTC)


 * Everything you've experienced was new at some point: every movie, every book, every friend. They were all new once and if you decided early in life that newness was to be avoided, you'd have a pretty short list of pleasures, I think. If you try something new and don't like it, the cost is usually pretty small, so the risk/reward breakdown is actually pretty good. I also find myself attracted more and more familiar things as I age, but it seems more tied to lack of mental bandwidth to have to deal with some new set of TV characters or whatever than to aversion of newness per se. Matt Deres (talk) 20:07, 21 December 2023 (UTC)


 * I think it depends on how we happen to be wired. It ranges from Early adopter to Luddite. I once worked with a systems consultant who called himself a "change junkie". Definitely one to jump on new stuff. Those folks lead the way, and once something is "tried and true", the rest of us might buy into it. About the "aint' broke" expression, one of Red Green's sayings was, "If it ain't broke, you're not trying hard enough!" ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 20:25, 21 December 2023 (UTC)
 * I like that. -- Jack of Oz   [pleasantries]  09:36, 22 December 2023 (UTC)
 * Human behaviour tends to have a desire to feel special. Being the first person with the new thing makes some people feel special. Being the last person still getting use out of some old thing makes other people feel special. Exclaiming that there is no interest in the general topic all together makes others feel special. There is no true reason behind the decision. Humans tend to do it backwards. If they get the new thing, they say that having the new thing makes them special. If they don't get the new thing, they say that keeping the old thing makes them special. If they don't know about the thing, new or old, they claim that ignorance of the topic in general makes them special. Marketing knows this and doesn't sell products. Marketing sells the idea that you are special if you hand over your cash. It doesn't matter what you will get in return. That isn't the point. The point is that you were separated from your money for a temporary feeling. 97.82.165.112 (talk) 12:33, 22 December 2023 (UTC)


 * Technological improvement happens all the time, and, naturally enough, when a company incorporates it into a "new" product, it will tell its customers precisely what the benefits are. 2A02:C7B:103:7100:B94A:9354:1ADC:B013 (talk) 10:05, 23 December 2023 (UTC)


 * Oh, sure, I get that. But the hook they use is often just the word "new", as if that is all anyone would ever need to know in order to be convinced to buy the product. That's what I don't get. I put it in the same league as things that "go viral". There are so many things going viral, every day of the week, that no human could possibly keep up with them all. That means that no "viral" thing is anything special after all. When everything is "amaaazing", nothing is amazing. -- Jack of Oz   [pleasantries]  11:02, 23 December 2023 (UTC)
 * You are getting into advertising... the art of separating you from your money. Everything is new. Everything is amazing. Everything is the very first time, the biggest, the most, the largest, oh holy crap, if you don't tune into this and watch the advertizing, you will die a lonely pathetic soul! Why? To sell advertising. Why? To separate you from your money. Why? Because it works - people tune in, watch the advertising, and hand over their money every day. 97.82.165.112 (talk) 21:13, 23 December 2023 (UTC)