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Upfronts: Day One - NBC

by Helena Shelton

Rockefeller Center in NYC was the scene for NBC/Universal's launch of the upfronts last night. As you walked along the red carpet past the crowds looking for stars, you certainly felt like you were at some sort of Hollywood gala.

The event was a complete departure from previous years - no presentation, but lots of interactive booths with all NBC holdings represented. The set-up was geared to make you walk through many different areas before arriving at centre ice, the scene of the big party and bar. The Gladiators were there, and Iron Chef had a spot, as did Bravo, LXTV and most of the cast of Heroes.

NBC News had a live political poll going, and at 6:28 pm, Obama was winning with a full 50% of the attendees' votes, while McCain had 29% and Clinton 20%. There were bands, footballs and video screens talking about "innovative client-based solutions," "cross-platform opportunities" and, my favorite, "Let's tell a great story together." The mood seemed pretty good. As John Dobin of Mediacom NYC said, "This is cool, quick and easy, way better - a big cocktail party."

Chris Schembri, VP media services at AT&T, said the new format was "interesting," but there seemed to be a disconnect with content. Certainly the HD room, showing upcoming Universal releases, was interesting. But it made Chris feel the network was weak on completed TV content because of the writers' strike.

The rink at Rockefeller Center was the end of the tour and the site of the main bar - a sea of black suits (me included), all looking pretty happy with cocktails in hand, eating some pretty good food. NBC maintained the event was not really an upfront, as it released its schedule weeks ago, already cut a deal with Canwest and has been having client negotiations for weeks. With all that done, one senior NYC TV ad exec said afterwards, "I'm still wondering what the point of that was."

Today it's ABC and CW, and word is these launches will be much more traditional than what NBC staged yesterday.

Helena Shelton is EVP/director of trading at Toronto-based MediaCom.

NBC's 52-week Schedule

Monday
8:00 pm Chuck
9:00 pm Heroes
10:00 pm MY OWN WORST ENEMY

Tuesday
8:00 pm The Biggest Loser: Families (90 minutes)
9:30 pm KATH & KIM
10:00 pm Law & Order: SVU

Wednesday
8:00 pm KNIGHT RIDER
9:00 pm Deal or No Deal
10:00 pm Lipstick Jungle (new day)

Thursday
8:00 pm My Name is Earl
8:30 pm 30 Rock
9:00 pm The Office
9:30 pm The Office/SNL THURSDAY NIGHT LIVE (special editions of Saturday Night airing for three weeks leading up to the US presidential race)
10:00 pm ER (final season - 19 consecutive episodes)

Friday
8:00 pm CRUSOE
9:00 pm Deal or No Deal (new day and time)
10:00 pm Life (new day)

Saturday
8:00 pm Dateline
9:00 pm Knight Rider (repeat)
10:00 pm Law & Order: SVU (repeat)

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