Upfront Update: Lots of Strikes, Not Much News at FX - Simon Applebaum

Venue Back to the lanesLucky Strike Lanes on the corner of West 42nd Street and the West Side Highwayfor FX39s upfront presentation last week There are very few bowling alleys around Manhattan much less NYC39s five boroughs and Lucky Strike is in a class by itself The lanes are pristine great overhead monitors to monitor scores plenty of room to watch celebrities bowl and aboveaverage food for such a place including miniturkey and veggie burgers Grade 45 JacksPresentation With quotwe39ve nailed itquot as the main theme FX executives hammered the view that ratings are up to the point where quotthe landscape and the guard has officially changedquot Attribute the latter quote to ad sales chief Michael Brockstein who gave the lion39s share of the presentation In every featured genremovies original comedy and original dramaFX now does better than USA TBS TNT and the like with 1849ers Not included the network39s recent moves into sports via Pac10 college football last fall and The Ultimate Fighter series coming over from Spike TV under parent Fox39s overall pact with Ultimate Fighting Championship Surprising omittance from the main pitch Another glitch no audio on a key highlights tape Grade 3 JacksNews All of FX39s original series coming back for new seasons was the big and only headline from FX president John Landgraf and his colleagues Details of Anger Management starring Charlie Sheen joining the primetime lineup and latenight newbie The Bell Curve produced by Chris Rock were released earlier in the week Landgraf and colleagues were tightlipped about firstrun primetime development perhaps mindful of laying out the landscape last spring Three pilots were noted thenAmerican Horror Story Outlaw Country and Powersof which only Horror Story made the cut Of course Horror Story became FX39s mostwatched reviewed and buzzed new drama ever last fall According to sources four to six new series may hit FX in 2013 with as many as four drama pilots up for deals The Americans a KGB spy living in 1980s US drama from Justified executive producer Graham Yost starring Keri Russell from Felicity fame goes into preproduction this weekGrade 2 JacksHost Brockstein delivered his pitch in a solid manner all you could ask for Grade 3 JacksOverall Grade 35 Jacks Marvelous venue for a presentation that was light on news heavy on talking points and missing an important point or two in between5 Jacks Excellent4 Jacks Very Good3 Jacks Good2 Jacks Fair1 Jack Poor0 Jacks 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: Lots of Strikes, Not Much News at FX - Simon Applebaum

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Upfront Update: Lots of Strikes, Not Much News at FX - Simon Applebaum

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