The Morning Fix: ABC goes outside, DreamWorks caught up in King family drama, commercials look like content and Google doesn’t need to buy Twitter

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

After the coffee. Before the therapist.

Is that a commercial or deja vu? More advertisers and networks are working together to tie commercial content to programming, says The New York Times. In other words, if a scene of a show ends with a character using a cell phone, it won’t be a coincidence that the first ad you see is from a cell phone company.

When networks and studios started merging, the idea was that all content would be in-house. ABC’s fall schedule is bucking that trend with most of its shows coming from outside suppliers. The Los Angeles Times explains why this lack of synergy might be good financial strategy.

Google wants to Twitter, but not to buy Twitter. Google CEO Eric Schmidt said at the company’s ‘Zeitgeist’ conference (no, we didn’t make that up, the conference is called Google Zeitgeist), that the search giant is interested in partnering with Twitter, the 140-character social networking site. “We do not have to buy everyone to work with them,’ Schmidt said. The Telegraph

Has ‘American Idol’ peaked? Heading into its finale tonight, Fox’s ‘American Idol,’ has averaged about 25 million viewers this season. While that’s still a huge number, it’s 8% off from last season and has USA Today wondering if the franchise is showing its age.

DreamWorks is getting caught up in the feud between the children of Dr. Martin Luther King. The studio wants to make a film about the slain civil rights leader but family squabbles could slow the effort, reports Variety.

Microsoft and Netflix are teaming up to offer content from Netflix on Microsoft’s Windows Media Center. Paid Content explains why this is significant for the software giant.

In today’s Los Angeles Times: Leadership at the Screen Actors Guild remains divided over a new TV contract. James Rainey looks at the odds for success for Newsweek’s redesign. Patrick Goldstein reflects on Lee Solters, the powerful publicist who died at age 89 earlier this week. All you need to know about what shows are history and what shows live on for another season can be found in Show Tracker.

--Joe Flint