Day two at the Upfronts gave us a peek into the mind of Steve MacPhearson at ABC. Prior to the presentation, The Bee Gees’ Staying Alive boomed through the room – some curious lyrical symbolism perhaps, but a splendid bass line. Once underway, they started to attack rivals NBC, with late night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel referring to NBC’s Upfront as an “Infront” – as they are just in front of CW in the ratings (CW is one of the smaller US networks). ABC also hit out at NBC’s decision to abandon pilots, claiming that the system worked and consistently injected fresh creative ideas into broadcasting.
However… there was only one new drama in the fall schedule: the remake of Life on Mars. The summer schedule included I Survived a Japanese Game Show and Wipeout… both looking like the cult classic Takeshi’s Castle. Pain and abject humiliation – the twin pillars of quality television.
Next was CW. They declared that, demographically, they’re chasing 18- to 34-year-old women. In any other context that kind of disclosure would necessitate a call to the local law enforcement agency. The presentation began with Maroon 5 playing to an audience greedily feasting on shrimp and white wine. It made it difficult to hear head honcho Dawn Ostroff so I craftily skimmed her autocue instead. (”Good afternoon everybody… move stage left… I’m Dawn Ostroff… move stage right”).
CW had some big high profile announcements in 90210 (”You want to live in the Zip, you got to be part of the code” is the tagline – with a worrying duality of meaning). They also unveiled Surviving the Filthy Rich (now called Privileged), which I felt I was very much in the process of doing.
As the seafood and Chablis continued to be gulped down by gluttonous advertisers, I made my excuses and left, picking up an absinthe lollipop that CW kindly provided as a leaving gift.
