Upfront Update: The World Presented By Discovery - Simon Applebaum

Year in and out you know when Discovery Communications stages an upfront event in the springtime it39s going to be a spectacle Cannot help but be when 13 channels are involved to some degreeVenue The one thing we always say in this column about an event originating from Jazz at Lincoln Center39s Rose Theater everything from technical production to afterparty food is topnotch The rare thing we don39t the show starts late In Discovery39s case an unheardof 40 minutes late at least For Rose Theater and all involved a super error Grade 4 JacksPresentation Down to a science by nowexecutives from various Discovery channels introducing what39s ahead in rapidfire fashion helped by arguably the bestedited preview clips of any ceremony and quick intros from channel personalities Discovery learned a few years back not to make a long event longer via guest miniinterviews by their top brass The opening video showcasing every Discovery net remains a model for how you showcase a company in less than two minutes Plus for a change of pace TLC led off with the event39s firstever dance performance highlighting young Irish stepdancers who naturally will be the subject of a series on that net next year They and the inventive routine they did in colorful costumes brought the house down Nice touch by Discovery CEO David Zaslav to mention in passing The Hub which had its upfront early last month and Discovery39s Latino channels having their own turn next month Meantime 3net the 3D joint venture with Sony and IMAX flashed their logo and received no mention from Zaslav or anyone else True 3net did a special River Monsters screening with Animal Planet a week earlier in New York But when will 3net highlight its offering in full for the NY crowd Unplanned fun moment Susan Lucci39s offsynch slap of Investigation Discovery chief Henry Schleiff And yes Oprah Winfrey showed up promising all attending that her network is gathering mo after a rollercoaster 2011 quotI can see the summit but still in the climbquot she said quotWe39ll make the summit in 2014quot Grade 45 JacksNews Where do you start With Discovery Channel alone there39s a series teamup from Mark Burnett and James Cameron Robogeddon so latebreaking it didn39t make the official press release or postevent roundups in the trade press Robert Redford executive producing a documentary All The President39s Men Revisited a pair of series bound to be breathtaking North America and History of The World and competition via Top Engineer Breaking Amish looks a winner among TLC39s 55 newreturning series in 201213 Celebrated actor James Woods will come to Science Channel as hostexecutive producer of This Changes Everything checking out the longterm consequences of such prospects as synthetic biology to habitable planets while Ricky Gervais continues his association with the service started with two seasons of An Idiot Abroad Top Hooker off Animal Planet39s video promises to go where no fishing competition has dared go At OWN lend an eye to Six Little McGhees about the sextuplet family from Ohio If meeting the parents Mia and Rozanno at the afterparty is any indication plenty of people across the nation will fall in love with their foibles Just ahead of all that effective Memorial Day weekend is diginet Planet Green turning quotred white and bluequot in Zazlav39s words to Destination America Grade 5 JacksHost Just about every top Discovery network executive took a turn at some point none overstaying their welcome Grade 35 JacksOverall Grade 45 Jacks Even at 40 minutes late Discovery generates a memorable event and plenty of new programming to consider investing ad time on5 Jacks Excellent4 Jacks Very Good3 Jacks Good2 Jacks Fair1 Jack Poor0 Jacks Worse than badNow some observations from the Upfront passing parade and beyondBravo maintained its habit of limiting press for its upfront last week to a preceremony red or here blue carpet display where the carpet walkers and their PR can opt to meet you or not This time around though credit Bravo for listening to criticism from here and other places that its programming executives spoke extensively to the TV crews and avoided all others last yearExecutive vice president of programming Andy Cohen was fair to all and with me declaring his channel39s commitment to a scripted series debut in 2013 quotThis will be the year it happensquot he said Efforts over the last three years to develop an hourlong drama never reached pilot production because quotwe want to get it rightamp8230 we didn39t want to be in a rushquot The contenders this time 22 Birthdays from Universal Cable Productions and Blowing Sunshine from executive producer Jason NingABC Family39s March upfront luncheon ends up a blown opportunity to score valuable press Beforehand the network advised no press would be invited and only stars from returning and new series would be on hand Then after the fact you learn that the creatorproducers of ABC Family39s best work such as Brenda Hampton from Secret Life Of The American Teenager and Libby Weiss with Switched At Birth did a panel discussion that a few trade press reporters were on hand to highlight If you39re going to have that panel which I heard was welldone how about having the widest press audience exposed to it and the participants A case of crossed signals that cost ABC Family valuable coverage where it counts mostthe press viewers read and watchAnother after the fact matter we didn39t know was CMT owned by Viacom having an upfront last week at the Museum of Art ampamp Design with The Band Perry doing three tunes for the crowd Big highlight the channel will try animated series for the first time with Bounty Hunters coming early 2013 from Jeff Foxworthy Bill Engvall and Larry The Cable GuyImagine Park promises to be a top attraction at The Cable Show in Boston next month The exhibit an expansion of the wellreceived The Park project last year will include The App Pond a showcase for new interactive TV applications workable for tablets and smartphones and StartUp Alley displaying new Bostonbased companies with TV and broadband ambitions Even better in association with the Applications Developer Alliance teams of students around the country will be invited to create new services in 48 hours at the show in an Imagine App Challenge similar to the popular hackathons happening at various Webmobile startup festivals However the students will be invited to create mobile or tablet applications Given this is The Cable Show the focus is TV and you want to empower more interest and development of interactive TV services among students why is the end game of this worthy project mobiletablet apps NCTA and ADA there39s time to reroute the process in a TV direction Do itWhile on Applications Developer Alliance39s radar screen kudos to them in advance of their involvement with Appnation an event during Internet Week New York next month showcasing interactive TV apps along with mobiletablet services Once more exposure to ITV possibilities can motivate ADA39s community to go for them Once more wish Internet Week NY was not conflicting with the parade of broadcastcablemulticultural channel upfronts that weekCongrats to all the TV winners of The Peabody Awards media39s equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize From Game Of Thrones to Jeopardy CNN and Al Jazeera English39s Arab Spring coverage to Homeland and Treme to Parks ampamp Recreation and American Masters there39s no unworthy winner in this groupDue to a spelling error my Cartoon Network upfront column misidentified Stuart Snyder presidentCOO of Turner Broadcasting39s animation unit Apologies to him his unit and youMike Wallace one of the most unique people ever to face the nation via TV passed away last weekend at age 93 From The Mike Wallace Interview to Biography to CBS Morning News and special assignments globe wide for CBS News in the 1960s to 40 years as 60 Minutes correspondent and investigative journalistinterviewer for the ages he leaves behind an incredible body of journalism that will flourish for and enlighten generations aheadUntil 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: The World Presented By Discovery - Simon Applebaum

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