10078: The Pitch Hypes Mediocre Agencies.

Admittedly haven’t watched AMC series The Pitch since its sneak preview—but how many times must one sniff excrement to realize it’s shit?

The show appears to be evolving into a self-hype vehicle for advertising agencies, as evidenced by the FKM banner ad above. Meanwhile, McKinney Executive VP-GCD Liz Paradise followed her embarrassing performance with an Advertising Age interview that confirmed all the negative qualities The Pitch revealed about her.

For anyone keeping score, here are the top reasons why The Pitch will fail:

The overall concept is not new. Programs like The Apprentice have already depicted contestants competing to create campaigns. Seeing real adpeople at work will never be more interesting than celebrities and Donald Trump concocting big ideas for brands.

The premise is not authentic. Apparently, featured agencies have about two weeks to deliver, with no guarantee that the winning idea will get produced. No self-respecting agency would ever submit to such conditions. In fact, self-respecting agencies rejected the invitation to participate.

The agencies are not great. As mentioned above, self-respecting agencies took a pass on the opportunity. Watching lower-tier shops duke it out is the equivalent of viewing a reality TV series on local softball leagues. Maybe even more boring.

The business is not that interesting. Successful series with advertising themes—Mad Men, thirtysomething, Bewitched—had plots and dramas bigger than the making of advertisements. The face-offs on The Pitch seem inconsequential and unimportant—because they are.

Lower-tier adpeople are not attractive. Sorry, Jon Hamm look-alikes don’t take jobs at small-market agencies. This is not something you can blame on editing.

The reality TV series is not based on reality. The biggest accounts and top agencies are no longer involved in formal pitches. AOR shifts are now ignited by holding companies, buddy systems and Corporate Cultural Collusion.