I get what JackLucas is saying though. It's been a sad reality in Hollywood for years now. Ever since movie studios were bought up by mega-corporations which also owned TV station, magazines and what have you.
A few years ago I was a subscriber to Entertainment Weekly (I know, I know, I've since atoned) and I noticed that when Scooby-Doo came out there was no review of it. Every place else I looked I saw 'Scooby-Doo sucks,' or 'Prinze Jr. is a dick in a kerchief,' etc. But not in EW. Opening weekend passes, new issue arrives. Scooby-Doo #1 at box office, EW reviews it at a C+. Hmm...so I checks it out, and sure enough EW is owned by Time-Warner and Scobby-Doo is distributed by Warner. So I cancelled my subscription. I always knew that companies cross-promoted and played this game, but I never really payed attention to it until then. It was disgusting to thnk that the average moviegoer maybe wouldn't have plunked down their hard earned money to see that steaming pile of shit had they seen the review. But they couldn't as it was printed after opening weekend and it made back it's budget. It's definately a possibility.
Now, I never thought this would spread to Star Wars. I knew that Star Wars was all about Chewie bath mats and Jar-Jar underwear (turn 'em inside out!) but to see Lucas squirming on the OC (which I am a fan of, but certainly not that episode) was laughable and saddening as a Star Wars fan. Yeah, the trailer was cool, but fuck! Did they really need to do that? Star Wars has built in box office, what the shit was Fox thinking?
Now this Apprentice crap is happening to tie-in with 'Sith' on DVD. C'mon! Do they really think that the average fans of the OC and the Aprentice are going to rush out to buy into the Star Wars machine? I accuse Fox and LFL of not knowing their market and demographic. We're a fickle bunch, Star Wars fans. They know they have their hands in our pockets and it's a gold mine for them - it's time we put a stop to it. No more 'Lava Vaders' (seriously, WTF?) no more bubble-bath, no more M&M's, no more at all!
Give me movies and maybe Star Wars beer and I'm good to go.