With 409 shows on the air, it’s hard to stumble upon something new.

On the surface, TBS’ Angie Tribeca, a police procedural parody from executive producers Steve and Nancy Carell that stars Rashida Jones, isn’t exactly revolutionizing TV.

But TBS’ crazy ambitious launch and tongue-in-cheek attitude about the show and its marketing may do just that.

Needless to say, Angie Tribeca’s forthcoming premiere and marathon, blessed with the following mouthful of a title, Binge-A-Thon: 25 Hours of Commercial-Free Angie Tribeca Episodes Plus Comedy with the Cast and Friends in Studio LIVE!, is a different kind of show launch.

The all-day-and-then-some party hosted by star Deon Cole kicks off Sunday, January 17 at 9 p.m. ET/PT. The event features interviews and appearances by Jones, the Carells, Conan O’Brien, Samantha Bee and other stars from TBS’ stable, with deleted scenes and surprises aplenty that will air in between episodes.

The unique idea came about from discussions with Turner Entertainment’s Chief Creative Officer Kevin Reilly. The network wanted the show’s marketing campaign to mirror its cop-procedural spoof concept.

“The way we market and introduce the show to the audience should spoof the way people binge new things now and the behavior of the audience,” said Melissa Chambless, VP of marketing, TBS. “We thought it was a fun, unique way to break through the clutter and do something different.”

It was a choice made possible by the show itself.

“It didn’t feel like the kind of show you put on once a week in a very traditional way,” Chambless said. “As much as the show spoofs cop shows, we’ve tried to spoof the way shows are released, the way people market shows and have fun with it as part of our new brand.”

Under Reilly, TBS’ new mandate is for buzzy, gritty and high-profile projects, and to dare to be different.

“[Tribeca] fits with our band just because it’s about doing things differently,” said Chambless. “The definition of insanity is doing things the same way and expecting a different result. We want to experiment and have fun with the audience, and bring new people in.”

While clearly fun, the season-long binge is a calculated maneuver to make a mark.

“Sometimes you need a season of a show out there to build a second season and get that positive word of mouth,” said Chambless. “I think the old way of marketing was to sort of go out there with a big campaign and say it, say it, say it. Now with viewers, you have to show it.”

In addition to the 25 hours on-air, TBS is blitzing social media. The network is targeting specific audiences, with creative spoofing shows from their own network (or sister network TNT) to Scream Queens or True Detective.

During the telecast, TBS will be on Facebook Live, another venue to showcase talent, all of whom will be live-tweeting throughout the festivities. For each episode, they will be releasing 30 minutes in 30-second recaps. Social media influencers will be onsite, and the network will be showing viewer’s tweets on air, promising a lot of elements that will allow viewers to interactive with the telecast, including the ability to call in to the show.

Part of TBS’ strategy was starting the campaign early, ratcheting up exposure and content from September onward, leading up to this weekend’s launch.

“The day and age of starting a campaign six weeks out [is over]. You won’t be able to ramp up in time,” said Chambless.

Given that it’s basically a 25-hour live show, much of the creative for the Binge-A-Thon is still ongoing.

“It’s a living, breathing thing,” Chambless said.

That presents many challenges, namely in the planning stages.

“You never know what thing will happen that sort of takes off. It’s planning for that content and being able to push it out and get it out there quickly,” said Chambless.

All ten Tribeca episodes will be available on-demand immediately after airing, closer to the Netflix or Amazon model than traditional broadcast.

For now, this is more of an Angie Tribeca-centric strategy than a trend for the network.

“I think this is specific for the show,” said Chambless. “This was a great show to do something like this with because of the nature of the show. They’re really meant to be seen 2 or 3 at a time.”

Of course, if the gambit proves to be a massive success, who knows what the future holds for risk-taking TBS.

“A lot of this is being done not so much for ratings, but for buzz, and for social traction, so I think we need to see the results of that,” she said. “The hope is that through all of the talent and all of the content that we’ll be pushing out, that you draw people in.”

The good news is they have 25 hours to do so.

Binge-A-Thon: 25 Hours of Commercial-Free Angie Tribeca Episodes Plus Comedy with the Cast and Friends in Studio LIVE! launches January 17 at 9 PM ET/PT.

TBS starts re-airing season 1 on a weekly basis January 25. The network has already renewed Angie Tribeca for 10 more seasons, consisting of one episode each. The new seasons are slated for late 2016.

[All images courtesy of TBS]

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