Upfront Update: AMC's Multi-Room Showcase; BBC America Goes Bar & Bordello - Simon Applebaum

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After avoiding the parade of NY Upfront events for years, AMC finally plunged in last week. After giving one of the most gaudy, bawdy spectacles in Upfront history a year ago, BBC America was on the spot to give another unforgettable event last week. How did each channel do?

AMC

Venue : No small, safe space for AMC here. The extremely spacious Lexington Ave. Armory, one whole block long between E. 25th and 26th St. (site of the first-ever NY Tech Day last April and a disastrous Upfront for Fox a few years back) served as home base. Adopting a multi-room approach separated by black curtains, visitors stepped from a gallery of show posters intoAMCappropriate settings highlighting individual shows (a zombie-infested forest for The Walking Dead, Breaking Bad's meth lab, freak displays touting Freakshow). The passageways led into a big center room with food stations all around, bar in the middle and big stage to one side. One station with Chinese dumplings had crowds all night long. Grade: 5 Jacks

Presentation : Short and sweet under 10 minutes, promise delivered by AMC president Charlie Collier. "We just have two goals in mind--celebrate (our) brand and thanking you with a feel AMC experience," he said. A pair of compilation clips highlighted current and future programs (one scripted/one unscripted), followed by a brief introduction of stars or personalities in attendance. Mad Men star Jon Hamm and three-time Breaking BadEmmy-winner Bryan Cranston couldn't make it (production commitments), but each contributed a short congratulations clip. Collier also introduced scenes from Low Winter Sun, his channel's next new scripted series (debuts Aug. 11). "This is not a cop drama," he explained. "This is a drama about second chances for the characters and for the city where this happens--Detroit." Grade: 4.5 Jacks

News : Showville (coming May 13) may be a genre-busting program, blending the variety and reality show together. The program's crew visits a small town in each episode, and using local talent out to be discovered for stardom, organizes a variety show in four days. For the final set of Breaking Bad episodes this August and September, AMC will present a live companion Talking Bad half-hour Sunday nights at 11. Seven more hour-long dramas are on the development slate, includingBallistic City(from Oblivion director Joseph Kosinski), White City (set in Afghanistan) andKing(developed by Morning Joe co-hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski). Still in play: Turn and Halt & Catch Fire (production underway in Atlanta). Boardwalk Empirewriter Robin Jones has a deal to executive produce and/or write other AMC programs. Unscripted possibilities include Cancelled, All-Star Celebrity Bowlingand Majority Rules. Grade: 5 Jacks

Host : Collier is one easygoing, likeable executive master of ceremonies. Grade: 4.5 Jacks

Overall Grade: 4.5 Jacks Inventive and engaging environment, supplemented by engaging AMC on-air talent all over the place. Nominee for best upfront event debut of 2014.

5 Jacks - Excellent
4 Jacks - Very Good
3 Jacks - Good
2 Jacks - Fair
1 Jack - Poor
0 Jacks -Worse than bad

BBC America

Venue : The network had a tough act to follow, a year after offering the incredible event it did last spring. Who could forget the decadent atmosphere (women upside down on the trapeze, or holding snakes and a large python around the room), the incredible food displays, or that petite ballet dancer prancing from corner to corner? To BBC America's credit, they didn't play the game of can you top the same setting. Instead, they recreated Eva's Paradise, the NY combo bar andBBC Americabordello created for Copper. Attendees found a new set of memorable images to savor--a wall of hands holding beer and wine glasses, a salesman peddling homegrown medicines, two men engaged in a semi-aerial brawl (well-staged), and The Fighting Jansens rocking the house with Irish tune after tune, joined by a group of dancing women. Great food for all, including pulled pork sliders, roasted potatoes and shredded Caesar's salad. Unfortunately, all this happened inside a place way too small to take all this and the crowd in. Liberty Theater on W. 42nd St. (next door to the AMC Empire 25 multiplex) soon became a very tough place for both the crowd to enjoy the sights, and the food/drink handlers to do their jobs. Grade: 2.5 Jacks (Special note: if a larger venue was used, the grade would improve to 4.5 Jacks).

Presentation : That semi-aerial brawl was followed by brief remarks from The Nerdistcreator/host Chris Hardwick (his second upfront event appearance last week, after checking AMC on behalf of Talking Dead). Hardwick, on a floor above the performance area, thanked the crowd for coming, invited them to keep watching the network and introduced cast members from Copper, Orphan Black, Doctor Who and the channel's nonfiction series. Grade: 3.5 Jacks

News: BBC America executives are up front in disclosing their upfront events are not news breakers. Well and good. However, the crowd did get an announcement that Twitter has agreed to provide "in-tweet branded video synched to entertainment TV series." Wait...what? For both Twitter and BBC America, may we suggest A) giving this news in understandable language and B) offering a press release immediately after the announcement which explains how this agreement works Grade: 1.5 Jacks

Host : Hardwick comes to the table with energy, directness and off-the-cuff wit. You can tell he's having a ball. Love to see him do more upfront duty. (He's moderating a Tribeca Film Festival lunch event this week.) Grade: 4.5 Jacks

Overall Grade: 3.5 Jacks Wonderful setting, music and food, done in by small surroundings. A facility Lexington Ave. Armory size or close would have done the trick. Oh, and bring back The Fighting Jansens!

5 Jacks - Excellent
4 Jacks - Very Good
3 Jacks - Good
2 Jacks - Fair
1 Jack - Poor
0 Jacks -Worse than bad

Until the next time, stay well and stay tuned!

Simon Applebaum is producer/host of Tomorrow Will Be Televised, the radio program all about TV. Tomorrow runs live Mondays and Fridays at 3 p.m. Eastern time, noon Pacific Time onwww.blogtalkradio.com, with replays available atwww.blogtalkradio.com/simonapple04. A weekly TV series edition will soon premiere on the new UBC-TV network.

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