Upfront Update: Stepping Up To Style and BET - Simon Applebaum

Style and BET divided up the upfront action in New York last Wednesday Here39s your combo recap and review of both presentationsStyleVenue Great choice to give attendees of this breakfast event somewhere that matches the channel39s stylish aspirationsDiane Von Furstenberg39s showroom on Wes 14th Street near the popular High Line aboveground walkway connecting Tribeca with midtown Clothes to oogle over by the dozen and purple flowers greeted the guests mostly press who were let into a side room with posters of the network39s current series Personalities from Tia MowryHardrict and Tamara MowryHousley to Bill Rancic sat with the crowd and everyone feasted on a breakfast highlighted by spicy potato slices and chicken sausage Grade 45 JacksPresentation Mostly on point about two pointsStyle is in makeover mode and from here on the network will premiere original series that in president Salaam Coleman Smith39s words showcase quota celebration of women39s collective beautyquot The makeover includes a new onair look and logo plus quotwork it live itquot as the tag line starting this summer Smith let the original series and stateofchannel clips do most of the talking as did original programming senior vice president Sarah Weidman Grade 4 JacksNews Five series will launch before the end of 2012 and as many as six more series now under development may join them Of the five newbies the biggest crowd buzz went for Chicagolicious a Jerseylicious offshoot catching the action at noted stylist AJ Johnson39s salon in the Windy City and Empire Girls a reality hour pairing Cheetah Girls costar Adrienne Bailon and former 106 ampamp Park personality Julissa Bermudez out to land further showbiz fame in New York Top fashion designer Betsey Johnson and daughter Lulu will be featured in another new series coming from the Magical Elves assembly line behind Project Runway and Top Chef So You Think You Can Dance host Cat Deeley and Kimora Lee Simmons have separate series in development You also might bet on Built where male models in Manhattan do home remodeling and Pop Style a weekly roundup of fashion and culture trends showing up at some point Grade 45 JacksHost Smith kept the presentation lively and easy to follow Grade 45 JacksOverall Grade 45 Jacks All elements of this event worked and you came away with clarity about where Style wants to take its content in the coming year Be fun to see how highprofile this member of NBC Universal39s family of nets ends up next springBETVenue Hard to believe we39re more than two months into this cycle and just now we have the flexible Best Buy earlier Nokia Theater near the corner of West 44th Street and Broadway as a host site Come to think of it why no events so far at stately Gotham Hall down Broadway Had 23 by this time last year Oxygen among them Plenty of seating room every seat good to see a stage with graphics detailing BET39s stature as 1 among its AfricanAmerican target audience and a flush of green all over Thumbs down for being skimpy on the prepresentation food Grade 35 JacksPresentation Remember Univision39s opening video from last year using words and graphics to detail the scope and buying power of Latinos across the nation Made such an impact on the audience Univision went on to play the video on YouTube and get thousands of views there BET should consider the same course for its quotIt39s not your imaginationquot tape equally as eyecatching and powerful That was the first of numerous memorable moments running throughout this showcase for BET and sister network Centric Among them CEO Debra Lee39s offthecuff tribute to Dick Clark only a few hours after the news of his death broke acknowledging him for what American Bandstand did to showcase AfricanAmerican performers on TV Cedric The Entertainer speaking up in the same manner for Soul Train creatorhostproducer Don Cornelius a knockout solo song from Luke James Tony Rock Chris39 brother39s quick shoutout for his new Centric series Apollo LivequotLooking forward to the talent on this show Looking forward to the lack of talent on this showquotand the closing number from singerrapper BOB Grade 5 JacksSpecial Mention When it comes to advocacy for a channel39s ad sales few do it consistently at an upfront show with panache guts and feistiness as BET ad sales president Louis Carr His quotTwilight Zonequot combo satirethrow down of ad industry attitudes toward networks reaching people of color was an instant classic several years ago Dapper and daring as ever Carr outdid himself with an extended pitch for deep ad commitments In the process he called out networks that are doing or have announced reality series featuring AfricanAmericans with the screen behind him naming names including Bravo and TLC quotThey want to be wannabesthey want a piece of the AA audience but they don39t want to make a commitment except for scripted reality of shock and awequot Carr declared Shortly after he made a double point out of this statistic 81 percent of all AAs going to movies last year saw films with no black cast storyline or lead character The double point that audience made a huge contribution to the success of those movies in spite of the lack of diversity which Carr expressed outrage over quotYou all should be throwing money at this stagequot he said to applause quotWe are megaconsumers We are trendsetters producttalkers We make a difference on the bottom linequot No one repeat no one knows how to shock and awe the advertiser community whether prisoners get taken along the way or not like Carr He39s so ready for primetime as well so when will BET or someone give him airtime Grade 5plus JacksNews Scripted series will get more of BET39s evening schedule in the year ahead starting with two comedies that promise to split sides Second Generation Wayans an Entouragelike program featuring the next gen of Keenan Ivory Wayans39 family and House Husbands a sketch anthology from Kevin Hart based on the Real Housewives parody presented on last summer39s BET Awards special The bigger news is that BET will finally get an original hour drama on its lineup with Gabrielle Union starring in Being Mary Jane from The Game creator Mara Brock Akil The cast includes Richard Roundtree Margaret Avery and Lisa Vidal and will debut first as a twohour pilot inside a new Premiere Cinema mix of madefor originals film festival features and independent films Gun Hill a drama pilot from New York Undercover cocreator Reggie Rock Bythewood will get a Premiere Cinema tryout as well Other new series include latenight entry Don39t Sleep with former CNN anchor TJ Holmes and The Mathis Project bringing Judge Greg Mathis together with neighborhood volunteers and police to solve homicides Grade 5 JacksHost Lee shared the assignment with Carr and programming executives Loretha Jones and Stephen Hill All were smooth and entertaining Grade 4 JacksOverall Grade 45 Jacks Solid mix of pitch programming news and entertainment with Carr39s commentary adding extra spice5 Jacks Excellent4 Jacks Very Good3 Jacks Good2 Jacks Fair1 Jack Poor0 Jacks Worse than badObservation from the passing upfront paradeHulu opened the twoweek parade of NewFronts last Thursday drawing a capacity audience at The Times Center auditorium Considerably more advertising people and journalists including this one were turned away from attending beforehand demonstrating the interest level in Hulu and the other Websmart TV content providers doing NewFront events this week and next Three new series were introduced Richard Linklaterproduced travelogue Up To Speed coming this summer dramedy We Got Next pickup basketball players face life on and offcourt and animated superhero spoof The Awesomes created by Saturday Night Live39s Seth Meyers Development projects include Don39t Quit Your Daydream and Flow We39ll get to as many of these NewFront events as possible and share the proceedings in future columnsAbout 400 Android application developers entered the interactive TV world this past weekend via Google TV39s firstever hackathons in Silicon Valley and London Hackathons have flourished the last two years as gathering points for people to fire up their imaginations and create new Web sites mobile phone and tablet services Now we39ve got hackathons with a TV focus What will get created out of this weekend that you39ll find and use on your set Will Google TV do more of these events and invite the TV industry to participate and will others follow Google39s lead in running similar ventures All questions everyone involved in the next generation of TV should pay attention to and help generate answersNext up Ovation and BBC AmericaUntil 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

Click to Make Your 2025 Contribution to Support the MediaVillage Education Foundation

Upfront Update: Stepping Up To Style and BET - Simon Applebaum

Author

Publish date

Channel

Simon Applebaum

"About That with Carl Mayer:" Alaina Donnellon (Episode 6) - By Carl Mayer

More Videos:

Click to Make Your 2025 Contribution to Support the MediaVillage Education Foundation

Upfront Update: Stepping Up To Style and BET - Simon Applebaum

Enjoying This Commentary? There's More to Love

Simon Applebaum

"About That with Carl Mayer:" Alaina Donnellon (Episode 6) - By Carl Mayer

The payment was successful

Cookies