For your amusement...my note to Viacom

[Biggus Piggus]

Good day.  I'm an analyst at (my employer's name), where we can own stocks like Viacom in our midcap funds.  In general, I'm worried about anything dependent on the old media ad economy, as the relationship between actual viewership / ad response and actual ad budgets is going to get more realistic every year.  Viacom has never done much in anticipation of trouble, and consequently the stock has been taking out support levels for quite a while now.

Nevertheless, I'm always looking for the great misunderstood opportunity.  Viacom seems to have strong creative assets with enduring value.  One thing, though, bugs me to the level I cannot ignore.  Maybe this does not reflect corporate decisionmaking ability, and if that may be true, please let me know.

Back in 2006, Paramount and Nickelodeon put out this film called Barnyard.  I see that the writer/director was born in Los Angeles, where more concrete grows than grass.  Among the list of exec and associate producers are names such as Egiziano, Contis, Parry and Pistor.  I bet they never saw a rodeo in their lives.

Stay with me.  Now, my family and I had a hard enough time watching Barnyard, because of its singular glaring flaw.  Let's just say every 5 seconds or so, we whispered to one another, "The bulls!  They have udders!  Can you believe it?"

OK.  In time we managed to not bring this up to friends and family every time we talked with them.  See, we're originally from Arkansas.  We know cows and bulls.  We really thought someone could be from Upper Volta and know cows and bulls, or even from Upper Harlem, because, see, there are aspects of the educational process that really don't take much effort.

Look at cow, look at bull, notice...differences...make mental notes, never forget them the rest of your life.

Simple.

OK.  Stay with me.  Moving on...to 2007, and Nick puts together a cartoon series based on the Barnyard film.  When my family and I learned of the new series, we immediately wanted to watch episode one to see if the makers of this here concept ever figured out, uh, what a bull is.

And the spectacular answer was no.  We were crying with laughter at your cartoon but not for reasons you intended.

Please answer for me so I may move on to the more mundane part of the analytical process, the forecasting and stuff.

How on earth can Viacom greenlight a film, then a TV series, that portrays mutant cattle?

If someone, anyone inside the great corporate shell noticed that bulls do not have udders, did he/she try to do anything about it?  Or was the decision to remain consistent with the original style and act as though no one would notice?

How does Barnyard: The Udderly Preposterous Series get advertisers?

Might try some meat processors.  I'm sure they are amused too.  Whenever I meet with Sanderson Farms and Tyson Foods, we have another chuckle at your expense.

To conclude, I really do want a serious answer to my question.  I have a hard time recommending the stock without understanding how this whole thing flowed through the chain of command.  If the answer is simply, "Hey, we screwed up twice," sounds good to me.

Best regards (and please excuse my bemusement),

(my sig)

[Ash]

Hah! You know me and my family noticed that to. My wife refuses to let our son watch the series because she doesn't want him to think bulls have udders to.

[ConwayHog]

Could you publish or at least give the cliff notes version of the response if you happen to get one?

[rdtate]

Yeah, I would like to see the response also.

[HognotinMemphis]

Simple answer here: the bulls they happened to use in the movie were hermaphroditic!

[Rocky&Boarwinkle]

I thought I was the only one that this bothered.

[Biggus Piggus]

Yeah, I would like to see the response also.

So far...no response.  Kinda surprising.  Usually, IR people get right back.  Maybe they thought I was kidding.

[HognotinMemphis]

So far...no response.  Kinda surprising.  Usually, IR people get right back.  Maybe they thought I was kidding.

Either that or they are stunned and searching for an explanation to give you.

[Masshog]

Udderly ridiculous!!!