Upfront Update: Questions of the Week: Second Pass - Simon Applebaum

Here we are end of the 2012 upfront event season Before we move forward to other things including the season of upfront advertising commitments let39s review the questions posed in this column before last week39s recordshattering number of events and learn how many of them were answered when the dust settledIs broadcast TV adapting the same model of running two or more primetime series in the same time slot over a season uninterrupted by specials or rerunsstandard practice in England and elsewhere Answer At least NBC will with several time periods this coming year such as Mondays at 10 There you39ll find Revolution in the fall with Smash39s second season starting next January or February The idea is to cut down on repeats midrun that often break a promising show39s momentum and frustrates viewers so much they don39t return when the new episodes returnWill any cancelled 201112 series find a second chance on cable Answer Cougar Town sewed up a new season on TBS before ABC could reach out and pull the plug and Unforgettable may get that shot via Lifetime or TNT Keep in mind that Unforgettable was one of three rookie series all CBS to land in the top 20 Nielsen ratings week after week and consistently won its time period Way outside shot ABC39s Pan Am due to overseas appealWill diversity show up and if so what degree Answer Yes compared to last year when not one new scripted CBS NBC Fox and The CW series had a lead actor of color and very few had supporting actors of color not to mention producerswritersdirectors of color ABC has Andre Braugher headlining Last Resort Anthony Anderson costars in NBC39s Guys With Kids with Meagan Good topping midseason drama Infamous Lucy Liu as Watson in CBS39 Sherlock Holmes reboot Elementary and Kristin Kreuk graduating from Smallville supporting player to costar of Beauty ampamp The Beast on The CW Plenty of supporting actors of color all over the placeand there39s more leaps in front of and behind the cameras to makeWill any of the Spanishlanguage TV networks step to the plate with original weekly series with USbased talent calling the shots Answer For scripted series looks like Telefutura and newcomer Mundo Fox may be the most open places with Vme MTV39s Tr3s and Galavision amenable in the near or long run Univision and Telemundo are sticking with weeknight telenovelas as their scripted forte In other genres everyone39s a playerWho gets a memorable quip from Jimmy Kimmel at ABC39s presentation Answer Take your pick from The CW quotThey go last presenting becausethey don39t really exist They39re an imaginary networkquot X Factor judge Paula Abdul quotShe39s the Rosa Parks of bipolar talent show judgesquot NBC39s primetime plans quotSpinning chairs and a monkey This truly is the golden age of TVquot or ABC Entertainment chief Paul Lee39s ambition to head the BBC quotABC has something that the BBC will never havedenialquotWill any of the combo broadcastcable multicast channels created in the last few years make a big push for upfront dollars Answer Bounce TV appears the most likely with their fast distribution growth since launching last September and getting an original pair of comedy series on the air next month Look for them and others to consider presentations in NY next springWhat39s in USA39s development pipeline Answer Enough to warrant three press releases postevent last Thursday afternoon one each for comedy reality and drama efforts What they didn39t divulge at that anticipated Lincoln Center event was a new series with a start dateWill NBC Universalowned Telemundo finally carry the Olympics in primetime this summer Answer No even though the network will produce a record 170 hoursplus of coverage from London with its own crew led by Jesse Losada the Bob Costas of Latino TV whose work continues to get minimal mainstream press attention Followup question When will NBCNBC Sports get straight in public over why this is going on and stop it so Telemundo and its viewers can enjoy the Olympics in full along with everyone elseWhere39s mNet the major AsianAmerican TV channel now in business for 18 months Answer Still asking Not only did they not do an upfront event they didn39t turn up at The Cable Show this week in Boston with a booth panel participation or a press release We39ve already had two promising AA nets go down in Imaginasian TV and AZN This community and a possible large crossover audience deserves a winnerWhy did Internet Week NY move its annual festival from a great early June spot to last week smack against upfronts Answer Insert your own idea here because IW organizers have their mouths zipped Hundreds of media and advertising people would have picked up plenty from many of the 200plus events held last week including Appnation39s first miniconference on interactive TV applications and LG39s Google TVsmart TV demo Also for the second straight year press coverage dropped because of incompetent behavior at PKPR IW39s public relations agency Journalist interest was high but once again PKPR denied credentials all over the place inviting reporters to pay a fee to attend Nevertheless congratulations to IW for attracting as many as 50000 people this year far above expectationsThat39s a wrap for 2012 If you suspect a bigger agenda of events next spring chances are your suspicions will come trueUntil 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 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Upfront Update: Questions of the Week: Second Pass - Simon Applebaum

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