The broadcast TV networks finished pitching their lineups for next season Thursday, ending a week that’s usually about bold new concepts and hot new stars.
You might think that would be especially true at a time when pundits keep telling us that our media landscape is being radically overhauled almost hourly.
So who was the star and what was the buzz of “upfront week” this year?
An old concept and an older star: Jay Leno, a gray-haired comic often maligned as too middle of the road to matter to anyone outside the flyover states.
Leno held the spotlight because of NBC’s decision to move him into the 10 p.m. slot this fall, five nights a week.
NBC executives talked about why it’s so good having him there, how it will provide a steady, reliable, year-round anchor in prime time. But ABC and CBS executives almost salivated as they talked about the opening they think this leaves for them.
No one spoke like that about any other show.
“I understand why our opponents are critical,” NBC president Jeff Zucker said. “What about the chance it might work?”
And that’s the point.
Up against new competition next fall at 10, CBS and ABC have worked hard to place what initially look to be good new dramas and returning shows in the 10 o’clock slot. They explain that with only two networks now competing for the drama audience, a big new slice of the pie suddenly became available.
But should everyone expect NBC’s current viewers to not watch Leno? And is there anything to suggest at least some portion of Leno’s late-night audience won’t migrate to the earlier time, when it’s even more convenient to watch?
ABC and CBS’ real competition may be less about Leno and more about viewers – and viewing habits.
Back in the Stone Age, – oh, say, 1999 – ABC launched “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” in the summer, and it drew huge numbers against other networks’ reruns. Then it moved into the regular season and did well there, too.
What rivals argued then was that “Millionaire” wasn’t appointment programming, but rather a default choice – what people turned to when nothing else was on. In TV jargon, viewers were “grazing.” But when they sampled host Regis Philbin and his simple game, they stayed.
That could happen with Leno, too, and work to his advantage. Certainly his fresh, live shows will be appealing when the rival networks’ dramas are in reruns, but it could also happen sooner than that.
When “The Mentalist” hits its first commercial break, viewers might hit the remote and check out Leno. If he’s talking with Cameron Diaz or Donald Trump, maybe they’ll stick around.
Leno could also be helped by the fact that everyone assumes his ratings will be low. Indeed, he’s always welcomed playing the underdog. NBC’s poor prime-time performance in recent years may help, too, since the bar has been set very, very low for him to improve the time slot.
NBC is spending so much less on Leno’s new show than the dramas he’s replacing that he could finish last and the network could still improve its financial position.
Not that anyone wants to be last. But the key to success in television is often getting people talking about a show, a star, whatever. On that front, just moving Leno to prime time has got the buzz machine working already.
As it turns out, so far the hottest new prime-time star of the coming fall might just be the least likely of all.
By NY DAILY NEWS
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