(Subscriber Report) Ed Martin Live at TCA: NBC at TCA: It Was All About Leno

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Ed Martin Live at TCA: NBC at TCA: It Was All About Leno 

There is no bigger story on any network this fall – and thus no bigger story at the Summer 2009 Television Critics Association tour -- than NBC giving five hours of weekly primetime real estate to Jay Leno. As of yesterday morning, it appeared that everyone understood the size, the scope and the historical importance of The Jay Leno Show, except for NBC!

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The first press conference of the day was with Angela Bromstad, President of Primetime Entertainment, NBC and Universal Media Studios, and Paul Telegdy, Executive Vice President, Alternative Programming and Production, NBC and Universal Media Studios – the two executives who were anointed the new faces of NBC at the January TCA tour, rather than Marc Graboff and Ben Silverman, who were Co-Chairman of NBC Entertainment and Universal Media Studios at the time. It is a decades-long tradition that each broadcast network begins its segment of the TCA tour with an appearance by its top programming executive (or executives). So reporters turned out in droves yesterday morning to ask a couple of questions about the soon to depart Silverman, a few about the network's new fall shows and a whole bunch about Jay Leno and his Tonight Show replacement, Conan O'Brien (O'Brien being the biggest TV story of the summer and all).

Strangely, Bromstad and Telegdy (pictured) seemed utterly incapable of answering questions about Leno or O'Brien. But the press wanted answers and they were the only two bodies on stage. Bromstad and Telegdy could do little more than deflect questions about O'Brien and Leno, even though Leno now falls under the primetime umbrella. Wait for the press conference with Jay Leno at the end of the day they said, over and over again.

It went something like this:

Reminded by one reporter that earlier in the week one of her counterparts (that would be CBS Entertainment President Nina Tassler) said that it doesn't really matter what Leno's primetime ratings are because NBC will claim success regardless, Bromstad was asked if that's true.

"We have a session later on with Jay Leno, and I think that would be a better question for that session," she replied.

"Well, as long as we're in this session," the reporter interrupted, refusing to accept the dodge.

Bromstad resumed. "There are a lot of things that will mean success for this show," she said.

"And that would be what?" the critic demanded.

Telegdy interceded. "There will be benchmarks applied to it," he said. "It really is an area that specifically is going to be addressed at a later session today."

Another critic who did not understand that even though Bromstad was the mightiest executive NBC was offering up for its TCA day it wasn't her responsibility to field questions about Leno and O'Brien kept the lack of love alive.

"Angela, are you on that Jay Leno panel?" he asked.

"No, I'm not on the Jay Leno panel," she replied.

"I think it's important to hear from the network president what they consider a success," the reporter pressed. "You're not going to be addressing that later."

"I think what is going to be a success for Leno is … the 52 [week] cumulative rating for the show," Bromstad replied, saying what she probably should have said at the start. "I think we will improve on our time slot and be very competitive in that time slot. It is a marathon. It's not going to be determined in the first five days of the show."

The Leno issue behind them, it was time to address O'Brien, still the late-night leader among viewers 18-49 even if his overall numbers continue to fall. Asked how they were feeling about his performance, Telegdy replied, "[The 18-49 demo] is the key measurement by which we're measured night by night and hour by hour because of our business. I think all but one night he's been on, which he tied, he has won in 18-49."

"You used to claim that Jay was No. 1 in late night for a very good reason – because he was No. 1 overall," another reporter asserted. "Now we see commercials that say Conan's the king of late night based on the 18-49 numbers. Do you guys see there's a bit of a difference there? Are you going to continue to parse the numbers to the point where you're going to keep saying Conan is the king of late night when he really isn't?"

"We do sell the 18-49 demo," Bromstad said. "That is the business that we're in."

"Right, but that's not the question," the reporter snarled. "You're basically saying the same thing you said about Leno based on different numbers. That's the question!"

"We're sorry we keep asking questions that apparently we're asking to the wrong people," the reporter added.

Throughout, Bromstad and Telegdy both repeatedly deferred to Rick Ludwin, the NBC executive in charge of late night programming who would be available at the Jay Leno session much later in the day, at 5 p.m. PT.

There was a lot of tension in the air in the hours that followed. NBC executives felt that TCA members had been too hard on Bromstad and Telegdy. TCA members were grumbling about what a waste of time the executive session had been.

But everything changed for the better at 5 p.m. PT, when the aforementioned Ludwin, a long-time NBC executive with whom many reporters in the room were unfamiliar (especially the dot-com kids), took the stage to answer questions about Leno and O'Brien. Ludwin was smart, articulate and masterful, fielding questions and providing thoughtful answers like a pro. It was a very good moment for him.

Acting like the very model of a modern network entertainment president, Ludwin boldly provided never before revealed details about Leno's primetime show. (The big news: The last segment of the show each night will be a comedy bit like Jaywalking or Headlines, after which Leno will say goodnight and tell viewers their late local news starts "Now." NBC's affiliates are being encouraged to not run commercials between Leno and their local news. Oh, and the musical segments on the show will often team performers who aren't otherwise seen together, like on this year's Grammy Awards telecast.) He candidly admitted that it was a mistake to rush out a press release at the end of O'Brien's first week on The Tonight Show declaring him the King of Late Night. ("It was premature," Ludwin said.) He firmly reminded the TCA that O'Brien is winning in all the demos advertisers pay a premium to reach.

After Ludwin had been taking questions for about 15 minutes, Leno comically snuck up behind him and took control of the session as scheduled. Leno seemed completely refreshed and revitalized and ready to tackle primetime. (He's running 4 miles a day and has lost about 12 pounds.) Clearly enjoying his time with the press, he revealed additional details about his show. (The highlight: NBC News anchor Brian Williams will be a recurring guest, offering a humorous spin on stories that weren't good enough for The NBC Nightly News. Also, a race track has been constructed next to Leno's studio as the setting for a segment titled The Green Car Challenge in which celebrities will race each other. It is inspired by one of Leno's favorite shows, BBC America's Top Gear.)

NBC would have had a much happier day had it opened with Ludwin and Leno – or with NBC Universal Television Entertainment Chairman Jeff Gaspin and/or NBC Entertainment and Universal Media Studios Chairman Marc Graboff, both of whom were perched in the front left corner of the room for the Ludwin and Leno session at day's end. Bromstad and Telegdy would then have been free to discuss whatever else they wanted to talk about at a later session.

NBC's day at TCA wasn't a complete wash-out between Bromstad/Telegdy and the Ludwin/Leno. The session for its single-camera, community college comedy Community, starring Chevy Chase, Joel McHale and a cast of very funny unknowns, made clear that it is a favorite among the critics and will receive much media support when it makes it debut. NBC's cable networks also fared well: TCA members loved the lunch event, during which two teams of Top Chef contestants competed in a live cooking challenge. Sessions for USA Network's upcoming crime drama White Collar and Syfy's bizarre new miniseries Alice (a twisted take on Alice in Wonderland) also were very successful.

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