This morning’s Upfront wasn’t a traditional broadcaster but cable station Turner and its three channels TNT, TBS and TruTV. They talked, in blazing pyrotechnic language, about selling airtime to their audiences with “contextual targeting” and by “connecting TV brands with advertiser brands”. Everybody seemed to understand and endorse these statements. I pretended to. And I’m prepared to speculate that Holly Hunter didn’t get it either, having heard her talk about Saving Grace, her returning show on TNT. (What ever she is on – I don’t want any.)
In the afternoon it was CBS at Carnegie Hall. Scot Craig Ferguson, who presents The Late Late Show for CBS, was our master of ceremonies. Showing a crude but commendable loyalty to the small screen, he suggested that radio is “TV for blind people who drive to work”. I suspect he also holds the world record for saying the word “awesome”. He says it a lot. That is definitely not awesome.
Show highlights included the remake of the BBC show The Worst Week of My Life and ITV’s Eleventh Hour (is there a pattern forming?). They also had The Mentalist, a new drama starring Simon Baker as a Derren Brown type who turns detective and can “read” people to solve crimes. And then there was The Greatest American Dog, about a beagle that becomes a neurosurgeon, redistributing his wealth to the poor and needy. It’s possible I’ve made the last one up.
