There's a 'Screensaver' for Irate NHL Fans Who Hurl Their Remotes

No TV set or remote control is safe in R&R Partners’ amusingly angry campaign for regional network Bally Sports. The work suggests that hockey fans get murderously enraged—like they’d strangle all humanity!—when their fave teams don’t perform as expected during the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs.

That leads, of course, to hurling clickers full force at innocent screens. Sometimes, these remotes get stuck there, embedded in the glass as the games roll on beneath.

Bally proposes a solution…

Alas, it’s not just growing the hell up and acting like a decent human already. Instead, the work intros a “Bally Sports TV Screen Saver.” The item doesn’t fit on the TV, but inflates to cushions remotes. The thing’s got its own website. 

But there’s a catch. Per Bally, “Our cautious lawyers are too cautious to let us give these away.”

So it’s all a tease? A merch-less come-on to plug NHL Playoff games on Bally!?

That makes me so mad! Grrrr… Where’s that damn remote!?

True to his name, actor Jeff Harms gives a nicely unhinged performance. The team loved his whiny “combination of salesmanship and pure, unadulterated sports rage,” R&R creative chief Guto Araki tells Muse. “We saw him early in the day of callbacks, and to be frank, nobody even came close to him for the next seven freaking hours.”

Seven hours of folks acting like maniacs, how fun.

As for the inspiration, “We’ve all seen the viral videos of sports fans breaking their TVs in frustration,” Araki says. “Hockey is always a stressful viewing experience, and the playoffs ratchet that up to 11.”

During the shoot, “We had a great day in video village laughing—and ducking the occasional errant remote,” he recalls. “Jeff, on the other hand, was the hardest working person in show business, repeatedly screaming at the top of his lungs and luckily avoiding any throwing injuries. However, there were certainly some on-set injuries: multiple TVs were destroyed over the course of our day.”

CREDITS

Bally Sports+
Michael Schneider, COO/GM
Allison Ross, VP of Marketing, Bally Sports+
Jess Musmanno, Director of Brand Marketing, Bally Sports+
Emma Weiss, Brand Coordinator, Bally Sports+

R&R Team (Agency)
Lacy Morrow, VP of Brand
Jacqueline Meason, Corporate Director of Brand
Amelia Holt, Sr. Project Manager
Lanetriah Smith, Brand Manager
Guto Araki, Chief Creative Officer
Eric Christy Manchester, Group Creative Director
Neal Desai, Group Creative Director
Judd Stricker, Executive Producer
Cindy Lewellen, Business Affairs Manager

Strike Anywhere (Production)
Pete Marquis, Director
Victoria Guenier, Executive Producer
Adam Lawson, Producer
Julia Swain, DP

Talent Signatory
Paula Webb, The Team
Mark Cross, Talent Solutions

Arcade Edit
Geoff Hounsell, Editor
Crissy DeSimone, Executive Producer
Alexa Atkin Berman, Senior Producer
Mitch Mitchell, Assistant Editor

Timber VFX 
Ryan Dahlman, HOP 
Wendy Umanzor, Producer 
Brian Shneider, Flame Lead Artist 
Aryel Melek-Shalom, CG/VFX Supervisor 
Adam Englander, Flame Assistant 
        
Trafic (Color)
Ricky Gausis, Colorist 
Meghan Lang Bice, Senior Executive Producer 
Phoebe Torsilieri, Producer 
Nate Seymour, Colorist 
      
Lime Studios (Mix)
Susie Boyajan, Executive Producer 
Matt Miller, Mix/Sound Designer 
Ian Connie, Assistant