Terrell Owens- pitchman
The satellite interview is a staple of most morning news shows. This is where we interview, from the studio, an athlete or celebrity who's at another location. You may not have known this, but even though you and I can see them, they can't see us.
(It's great. You can make all sorts of obscene gestures without them knowing).
You may also notice that every time we do one of these interviews, the athlete ends up pimping some product or service- Peyton Manning for Campbells Soup, Joe Theismann for enlarged prostates, etc.
They get paid to endorse something, a PR firm offers them up for interviews, and we agree to let them talk up whatever they're endorsing, so long as we get to ask questions about other stuff. Usually it's about 80% what we want to talk about, and 20% what they want.
Depending on how invested the athlete is.
For instance, when Terrell Owens appeared on today's show to pimp his new line of home fitness exercise bands, the percentage was 50-50 at best. But I wasn't mad. I was impressed. It was like watching Chuck Norris in one of those "Total Gym" infomercials.
He was a completely polished pitchman.