Upfront Update: Oxygen's Glee Time and Ovation Thinks it Can Dance - Simon Applebaum

Before checking in with our latest Upfront reviews, a few follow-up thoughts on the Bravo half of last week's column.

First, kudos to MediaBizBloggers colleague/reviewer Ed Martin for getting into Bravo's Upfront presentation and his commentary on it. In case any reader of this site was confused by the sight and tone of two columns on the same event, be clear that Ed and I filed our pieces separately and didn't confer beforehand. Obviously, I would have graded Bravo differently in the presentation category (something other than incomplete) if I saw with my own eyes what Ed witnessed.

At the end of my column, three questions were raised about Bravo's programming strategy going forward. We can now answer one of them: Bravo remains a scripted series player. A week after the event, the network announced development of Face Down, a Lionsgate-created drama about a make-up artist with a dysfunctional lifestyle. Sounds like the network's answer to Mad Men, and given Lionsgate's track record with that series, Face Down may be the first original non-reality Bravo series to reach our eyeballs. I'm now left with another question: Why couldn't this be showcased at the Upfront? Oh well.

Let's move to last week's activity, starting with Oxygen...

Venue: Second time in a month for Gotham Hall, the bank edifice turned all-purpose rotunda near Herald Square. Yellow was the color in vogue for Oxygen's presentation, keeping with the network's "Live Out Loud" attitude, placed all over the walls and all over the stage. The audience sat on clear plastic chairs with clear tables in front. Grade: A-minus

Presentation: Glee to the right, left and in front of you. That's the way Oxygen wanted it, showcasing both off-Fox carriage of the series and the June 12 debut of new reality miniseries The Glee Project, where the winner among a group of high-school performing arts students gets a seven-episode guest role next season. A group of Glee-like (in both diversity and spirit) singer/dancers opened things up with a performance of Small Town Girl, and series co-star Darren Criss closed out with a three-song set (one on solo keyboards, another on guitar) that rocked the house. In between, the loudness lived via Paris Hilton and other personalities introducing clips from their near-future programs on the network. Grade: A-minus

News Value: The huge focus on The Glee Project almost overshadowed everything else in Oxygen's pipeline. For example, news about a program just as promising in appeal in My Post-Grad Life, following a group of recent college graduates in Boston and Philadelphia faced with key choices about their lives and careers. Another pair of notable benchmarks: 75 new advertisers last year and 26 percent more first-run content in the year ahead, including originals on Sunday nights. Grade: B-plus

Host: It's one thing to live out loud, another to express out loud...very loud. Oxygen president Jason Klarman and programming chief Amy Introcaso-Davisaddressed the audience in voices that often came off way too hyper and unnatural. I've seen both executives get their enthusiasm through without resorting to sound levels unknown to the human ear. Calm down! Grade: B-minus

Overall Grade: B The performers and the focus on Glee Project gave this event a cohesive theme (and Glee Project looks like a summer keeper), and if more attention was given to other Oxygen programs, showcased at a lower decibel, this event would be in A-territory.

We turn now to Ovation:

Venue: The executive dining room of Core Club, located in midtown-Manhattan, served breakfast for Ovation's first-ever public Upfront event (reporters only). Simple room design with brown woodcut walls and a big table. Core Club (whose street canopy has the wrong address on it) did good with the food, egg-white ham omelet in this person's instance. Grade: A

Presentation: With "Your Passion, Your Inspiration and Your Dream" as the channel's current tag line, Ovation executives scored best with videotape illustrating the variety of arts content available year-round, including theme weeks. Give programming senior vice-president Kris Slava points for breaking the content down to three categories: insiders who are outsiders/innovators in their profession; big artists before they were big; communities working and pulling together for the common good. Ad sales counterpart Liz Janneman contributed good stat info. Where things went awry: little detail and clips on individual series (with one exception below). Grade: B-plus

News Value: So You Think You Can Dance reruns from the last two years will play on the network this summer, timed with the current set of Fox episodes. Ovation will startDance in August as Friday-to-Monday blocks of two/three episodes, contextualized with inserts on how contestants have done since. The network's Web site will introduce a Dance portion featuring development of different dance styles, tip and blogger columns. Separately, We'll Take Manhattan, Ovation's first original made-for-TV feature, will premiere soon, co-produced with the BBC. More scripted TV to come, at least movies? Maybe, Slava says.Grade: A-minus

Host:Slava, Janneman and chief executive Charles Segars touched the important bases in a relaxed manner. Gave extensive time for Q&A, and answered all questions. Grade: A-minus.

Overall Grade: A-minus The network is making the transition from modest independent to solid indie player. The combination of Dance and an attention-getting original program can take Ovation to the next stage.

Up ahead with April Upfronts: Tru TV, Scripps Networks, Discovery Communications and BET. Count on a lot of news from this quartet of players.

Until the next time, stay well and stay tuned!

Simon Applebaum is host/producer ofTomorrow Will Be Televised, the Internet radio/podcast-distributed program about the TV scene. The program runs live Mondays and Fridays at 3 p.m. Eastern time, noon Pacific time, over www.blogtalkradio.com, with replays available 24/7 at www.blogtalkradio.com/simonapple04. Podcast editions run via ITunes.com and 17 other Web sites arranged by Sonibyte (www.sonibyte.com). Have a question or reaction? E-mail it to simonapple04@yahoo.com.

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