The New York Yankees and Cleveland Guardians opened a five-game ALDS matchup on Tuesday evening. Cleveland struck first on a Steven Kwan home run against Gerrit Cole before New York countered with four runs in the middle innings to take control of the proceedings at Yankee Stadium. However, perhaps the wildest moment of the game did not include in-game action, but rather one of the most bizarre cross-promotional attempts in history.
TBS’s Lauren Shehadi was tasked with an on-camera report involving well-known HBO series House of the Dragon and the attempt was met was befuddlement.
The cross promotion will continue until morale improves pic.twitter.com/I0TEweXZh6
— CJ Fogler account may or may not be notable (@cjzero) October 12, 2022
Shehadi’s report included a reference to officials being “hopeful that the dragon won’t breathe fire during game play” before a pivot to a direct promo of House of the Dragon’s streaming placement on HBO Max. It should be noted that this is not Shehadi’s fault, and it is exceptionally unlikely that she had this idea on her own.
Of course, it is worth remembering that TBS and HBO Max are under the same umbrella through WarnerMedia, explaining the background on this particular sales attempt. Still, it was an instance in which a CGI dragon did not exactly feel authentic in the moment, and it will be fascinating to see if there are more embeds to come.
