It's Christmas In April When NBC's 'Community' Goes Interactive With zeebox This Thursday

CULVER CITY, Calif., April 17, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- To celebrate Community's highly anticipated Christmas-themed "Intro to Knots" episode, NBC and Sony Pictures Television will partner with zeebox to offer viewers an interactive episode with a chance to win gifts when they watch Community live this Thursday, April 18, 2013 at 8 PM ET / 7 PM CT on NBC.

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Viewers will be able to play "Community zeetag Bingo" on their smartphones, tablets or laptop when watching Thursday's episode live.  After downloading the free zeebox application from zeebox.com, fans will be able to access a game board with nine expression-filled squares.  When one of the expressions is used by one of the Greendale gang, fans must click the corresponding box within 10 seconds to secure the winning square. To score a "Bingo" victory, you must have three squares in a row – horizontally, vertically or diagonally – by the time the show ends. To be eligible for win a gift, you must have a winning game board by the time the show ends, or be playing the game for the entire duration of the episode.

For the sweeps entry and chance to win Community's "Belated Christmas Gifts," all Bingo players must tweet out their bingo victory or loss using a pre-populated tweet with a unique hashtag. From the list of submitted entries, two winners will be selected to receive prize packs that will include a Sony 55" internet television, Sony Xperia Tablet and Sony X headphones.

In "Intro to Knots," Jeff (Joel McHale) organizes a holiday gathering at his apartment but Annie (Alison Brie) secretly invites Professor Cornwallis (recurring guest star Malcolm McDowell), to get in his good graces.  When it becomes apparent that Professor Cornwallis intends to give them a bad grade on their joint History paper, the party atmosphere quickly deteriorates and the group takes decisive action. 

The critically hailed Community is a half-hour comedy about a tight-knit study group at Greendale Community College.  At the center of the group is Jeff Winger (McHale, The Soup), a fast-talking lawyer whose degree has been revoked.  With some help from his fellow classmates, Winger forms a study group who eventually learn more about themselves than their course work.  The series was created by Dan Harmon (The Sarah Silverman Program) who serves as executive consultant.  Russ Krasnoff (The Soloist) is executive producer, along with Gary Foster (Sleepless in Seattle), Moses Port and David Guarascio (Happy Endings). Tristram Shapeero (Nurse Jackie) is executive producer/director.  The series is a Krasnoff Foster Entertainment production, in association with Universal Television and Sony Pictures Television. 

For embeddable clips and full episodes from NBC shows, please visit NBC.com's official show site: http://www.nbc.com/community/

For artwork and a complete press kit from the show please visit the NBC Universal Media village website at http://www.nbcumv.com/mediavillage/

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About Sony Pictures Television

Sony Pictures Television (http://www.sonypicturestelevision.com), a Sony Pictures Entertainment company, is one of the television industry's leading content providers. It produces and distributes programming in every genre, around the world and for a multitude of platforms.  In addition to one of the industry's largest libraries of award-winning feature films, television shows and formats, Sony Pictures Television (SPT) boasts a current program slate that includes top-rated daytime dramas and game shows, landmark off-network series, original animated series and critically acclaimed primetime dramas, comedies and telefilms. SPT has 18 wholly-owned or joint venture production companies in 15 countries outside the U.S. and also maintains offices in 32 countries. SPT's worldwide television networks portfolio includes 124 channel feeds available in 159 countries, reaching more than 800 million households worldwide.  SPT also creates original content for and manages SPE's premium video website, Crackle. Additionally, SPT owns production company Embassy Row and is a part owner of cable channel Game Show Network (GSN), 3D channel 3net, premier horror/thriller website and VOD service FEARnet and national U.S media sales company ITN Networks, Inc.  SPT advertiser sales is one of the premier national advertising sales companies and handles the commercial inventory in SPT's syndicated series as well as in U.S. digital businesses including FEARnet, DrOz.com and PlayStation. 

About zeebox

zeebox is the new, social, interactive and immersive way to watch TV. It turns your smartphone, tablet or laptop into an interactive companion that enables consumers to engage with friends around TV shows, to buy what they see on screen, to remote control their TV, and to get more information about whatever program they're watching including access to exclusive interactive content. By partnering with zeebox, networks and content owners can augment their TV shows on the second screen, engage interactively with fans, and monetize this new medium in synch with live TV through its proprietary SpotSynch ad product. The zeebox app is available for free on iPad, iPhone, Android smartphone and the web at zeebox.com.

SOURCE Sony Pictures Television