Upfront Update: IFC Hails "Upfront-Landia"; GSN's Game Plays - Simon Applebaum

Upfront Update IFC Hails quotUpfrontLandiaquot GSN39s Game Plays Simon ApplebaumA year ago IFC entered the Manhattan Upfront event scene with a press lunch anchored by the Onion News Network gang Meantime GSN maintained its absence from the event cycle Let39s see what a difference a year makesIFCVenue Graduating from pressonly lunch to evening function for all comers IFC came to New World Stages the underground multitheater complex on W 50th St that usually plays home to movies or offBroadway theater and earlier was home base to the annual New York Television Festival In keeping with the channel39s offkilter bent with original comedy series the stage had a grunge Saturday Night Live look with musical instruments all over and doors on either end reminding you of 1950s apartment buildings in Bronx Queens or Brooklyn However the venue was not ready to get IFC39s presentation off on time more than a halfhour late and that takes the grade down a peg Grade 4 JacksPresentation Subtitled quotUpfrontLandiaquot in honor of the hit satire Portlandia IFC cut its showcase down the middle 30 minutes for speeches program clips and pitches 30 minutes for comedy featuring current and future show talent quotIt39s a network upfront combined with the only show you39ve ever heard from themquot mock warned Scott Aukerman hostcreatorproducer of upcoming IFC series Comedy Bang Bang which was a winning New York TV Festival pilot two years ago IFC president Evan Shapiro nixed the idea of he or his executive colleagues not playing their side of the hour straight quotThis was the original home of Avenue Q and a bunch of foulmouthed puppetsquot he reminded the audience quotI thought about doing an Avenue Q song but that would be career deathquot Shapiro general manager Jennifer Caserta and crew held up their end of the bargain while Aukerman and his guests supplied the yuks Highlights an hysterical Portlandia film bit on watching Battlestar Galactic DVDs in the living room followed by Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein the show39s costars exchanging text messages and warbling Do You Wanna Dance Ramonesstyle playing quotFix This Animalquot with comedian contestants from new game parody Bunk How do you fix a snake quotSpeech therapyquot responded in classic deadpan by one contestant Grade 5 JacksNews Let39s make the Portlandia crowd happy first You won39t have to wait until next January for a third IFC season There will be a onehour summer special and a Christmas halfhour Now the unhappy news for Onion News Network fanatics You won39t get a third season unless it39s on another channel In between look ahead to Out There a new animated comedy from South Park producer Ryan Quincy a Marc Maron production based on his popular WTF podcasts and new episodes of Whisker Wars and Trapped In The Closet Grade 45 StarsHost Aukerman came off unflappable charming and ready to zing the situation when needed Do we have a rising talent here We39ll see when Comedy Bang Bang debuts this summer teamed with Bunk Grade 4 StarsOverall Grade 45 Stars Emphasis on the funny IFC39s new strength as a commercial network was the strong way to go Nice result for a firsttimer to upfront evening effortsGSNVenue GSN39s first event in years was a natural to be quartered at the swank Sony Club along Madison Avenue given that Sony is the channel39s coowner with DirecTV Posh room with bright bold colors decorated with GSN39s logo and posters from series soon to premiere or in development The breakfast served was good but in small portions Grade 4 JacksPresentation GSN39s big problem in recent years has been crystallizing its public profile beyond offering game show replays Is it original game shows Is it reality Is it poker The big accomplishment here Houston we39ve got clarity elaborated by CEO David Goldhill and new programming executive vice president Amy IntrocasoDavis The transformation quotfrom a museum of game shows to a contemporary TV networkis still a work in progressquot Goldhill acknowledged Still under IntrocasoDavis previously at Bravo and Oxygen that transformation involves three types of series classic instudio games reinvented quoticonicquot nature game shows and reality series about quotchoice risk and reward the joy of winningquot at life she said From here on every GSN original will be in one of those categories Grade 45 JacksNews There39s a lot on GSN39s plate The issue is the plate is largely development which although promising infers shows may or may not happen The only sure new thing now is Beat The Chefs a cooking competition where amateur and pro alike bring family recipes to life premiere date to be announced later On the instudio game portion of the plate is American Bible Challenge an OldNew Testament quiz with Jeff Foxworthy as host and contestants playing for faithbased organizations The first reinvented game icon in play is The 100000 Pyramid With original Millionaire executive producer Michael Davies on board this remake should be far better than the Donny Osmondhosted version last decade Osmond great winning a Daytime Emmy nominationthe show itself a botch Reality series are emphasized this development goround including Pure Gold The Family Trade and Crowning Glory offbeat pageants Grade 3 JacksHost IntrocasoDavis did most of the speaking keeping things lively and on point Grade 4 JacksOverall Grade 35 Jacks We39ve got focus about what GSN wants to consistently offer Too bad only one original series in this bunch is a go Next time let39s see more programs certain to see daylightNext up Cartoon Network5 Jacks amp8211 Excellent4 Jacks amp8211 Very Good3 Jacks amp8211 Good2 Jacks amp8211 Fair1 Jack amp8211 Poor0 Jacks amp8211 Worse than badUntil the next time stay well and stay tunedSimon Applebaum is producerhost of Tomorrow Will Be Televised the weekly Internetdistributed radio program covering the TV scene Simon cal be reached at simonapple04yahoocomRead all Simonamp8217s MediaBizBloggers commentaries at Tomorrow Will Be TelevisedCheck us out on Facebook at MediaBizBloggerscomFollow our Twitter updates MediaBizBloggerThe opinions and points of view expressed in this commentary are exclusively the views of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaBizBloggerscom management or associated bloggers MediaBizBloggers is an open thought leadership platform and readers may share their comments and opinions in response to all commentaries

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Upfront Update: IFC Hails "Upfront-Landia"; GSN's Game Plays - Simon Applebaum

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Upfront Update: IFC Hails "Upfront-Landia"; GSN's Game Plays - Simon Applebaum

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