A&E: Inside the Chicago Upfront Presentation

 

When I worked in agencies in St. Louis more than 10 years ago, going to an upfront presentation meant a visit from my rep, a tape and some pizzas in the conference room over lunch hour. We watched the shows, sometimes played a game to predict how they’d do or how long the shows would last, ate our pies and went back to work.

 

In 1997 I moved to Chicago and began working at larger agencies on larger clients with larger TV budgets. The upfronts grew larger, too. Because there are many agencies here with many big clients, Chicago’s upfronts had more of a party atmosphere, if not quite the New York feel. The presentations were preceded or followed by a cocktail party (or lunch or dinner) and big network executives stood up in big hotel banquet rooms and hosted a big show. While we never got the “Parade of Stars” that the NY parties had, sometimes we would even get a celebrity or two.

 

The A&E upfront was always one of my favorites. It was usually a dinner at a nice hotel downtown. Bill Kurtis, now host of American Justice and Cold Case Files on A&E, was a local anchor for the CBS affiliate in Chicago when I was growing up. He lives in Chicago now and was at the upfront each year. He was constantly being mobbed for autographs and pictures which, I was told, didn’t happen at any other A&E upfronts across the country that he might attend. After dinner and the presentation, there was usually a big name musical act. One year, it was Ray Charles, and I’ll never forget having gotten the chance to see him live and in a venue as small as a hotel ballroom.

 

We all know that the big upfront dog and pony shows are becoming a thing of the past. I can’t say I disagree with that trend. In recent years, every media department is running lean and mean. Everyone is too busy, especially during the upfront season, to hang out at the upfront party and schmooze. We buyers and planners count ourselves lucky if we can get away long enough to watch the presentation itself, and those who do are often glued to their Blackberrys the entire time. The longer we stay at an event like that, the longer we’ll have to be at the office that night. 

 

Still, I love this time of year. It’s the dream of any TV junkie to get to go to these presentations, to be “in the know” before the rest of the world, to get glimpses of shows before they get on the schedule and to start to decide if they will be hits or dogs. 

 

Upfront season began for me this past Friday, when I got to attend the A&E upfront at my office. More like my St. Louis presentations of old, this was a luncheon show in a conference room in my agency. But a really good show it was. A&E has a lot to crow about and a lot of really neat shows to introduce. We learned about A&E, Bio TV, and History on this Friday afternoon and there was much to get to know.

 

Every upfront presentation starts with numbers and charts, and A&E had some positive growth numbers to show. In the past four years, they’ve made great strides in total viewers and have moved to No. 5 (ad-supported network) in A18-49 and No. 4 in A25-54. Every upfront these days also touts the “out of the box” vehicles available – mobile, digital, media options that work with your TV schedule and reach out to the target from additional touch points, expanding reach and helping to battle viewer fragmentation and message avoidance. A&E has seen growth here too. AETV.com has grown 18 percent vs. a year ago, and has 250,000 registered “insiders” to whom they can send opt-in e-mails (and advertiser messages).

 

Of course, the highlights of the “show” are the new shows. A&E’s opening montage offered their theme for this year’s upfront: “Discover Who We Are.” Having built their network on original non-fiction like Biography, and branching later into off-network dramas, this season will see the continuation of both of those genres, as well as a commitment to presenting original dramas.

 

Key original dramas in the A&E schedule coming up are The Andromeda Strain, which will premiere this spring and star Benjamin Bratt, Rick Schroeder and Eric McCormack; and The Cleaner, which will also star Benjamin Bratt. The Cleaner premieres this summer and is inspired by the true story of real-life “extreme inventionist” William Banks.

 

Once The Cleaner “cycles out” of new episodes, a new show starring Patrick Swayze titled The Beast is set to premiere. We all hope that Patrick will recover from his recent cancer diagnosis and the show will move forward with him in it. The Beast shot its pilot in Chicago (in my neighborhood). Swayze plays an unorthodox FBI veteran training a rookie partner and working with (or perhaps around) a secret internal affairs team. 

 

Summer 2008 will also see the premiere on Bio Channel of a new talk show hosted by William Shatner called Shatner’s Raw Nerve. Bill will take talk into a new and perhaps uncomfortable direction when he probes guests to reveal things about themselves that others don’t dare to ask, hoping to expose their “raw nerve.” This could be funny or just make viewers and guests downright squeamish. I’m interested to see which.

 

Also in A&E development is Hanson, a reality show tracking the Hanson brothers, who are now all grown up with families, but “want to put the band back together.” Keyshawn – Design and Conquer follows football star Keyshawn Johnson as he redecorates someone’s house. As Keyshawn himself says in the clip, “I know how to make a place look goooooooooood. “ (Oh, boy….)  

 

I must admit some genuine fear of The Real Bradys, which will reunite the full Brady cast in a recreation of the Brady House re-built in a Harrah’s hotel penthouse. Haven’t we had enough of this fictional family yet? Hammer Time turns M.C.Hammer, his wife of 23 years and his six kids into the next “Osbournes.” Billy the Exterminator follows a family in, yes, the extermination business. Smashing! 

 

Upcoming A&E specials include Kissteria – a Kiss Concert Special, A&E Rocks, which will feature another major rock act (it was Bon Jovi last year). Dave Matthews Band is one band being mentioned as the possible featured act. A&E Indie Films will present a movie about Anna Wintour entitled Vogue – Inside an Empire…aka “The Real Devil wears Prada” story. 

 

History Channel has launched a new logo to enter this season, removing the “box” around the History and the word “Channel” to communicate that their content can live beyond the “box” – online, in mobile, or anywhere. History also is making a commitment to increased original programming and is focusing on several different programming platforms upon which their shows will be themed.

 

Natural History will include shows like Battles BC, which presents the biggest battles in history brought to life using CGI a la The 300.

 

Science/Tech will include shows like The Universe, Modern Marvels and The Works, a new show like Modern Marvels but hosted by a young host with a robotics background, and Extreme Trains, hosted by a 30-something ex-conductor with a true passion for all things trains.

 

Pop Culture will feature shows like How Bruce Lee Changed the World, which will explore how Bruce Lee’s introduction to the Western world acted as a catalyst in the movie and TV industry, for the martial arts industry in the US, and even has had an impact video game development today.

 

American Originals takes shows like Ice Road Truckers and expands it to other “tough-man” industries like logging (Ax-Men) and tunnel-digging (Sand Hogs).

 

Specials on History in 2008-’09 will include features on Lincoln, Einstein, What Really Killed the Dinosaurs, and The Moon Shot.

 

A&E will continue touring the Chicago agencies with this show over the next few weeks. Their New York upfront will take place in the evening sometime around the first week of May. The upfronts have only just begun and I’ll bring recaps to you of as many of them as I can get to. Have fun planning, buying and watching!