B&C Week
By Mark Lasswell -- Broadcasting & Cable, 2/13/2005 7:00:00 PM
Where to be and what to watch...
Monday, Feb. 14
That amour-ish feeling rises with the sun this Valentine's Day as Cartoon Network's classic-animation channel Boomerang launches a Pepé Le Pew 24-hour marathon starting at 6 (ET). Seventeen shorts featuring the relentless Looney Tunes lothario—who, being an animated character, is immune to sexual-harassment lawsuits—will unfold in chronological order. Meanwhile, the animals at Madison Square Garden in New York will be much better behaved for the 129th Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show. USA Network calls its coverage America's Dog Show(two nights, 8 p.m. ET). Your host: newsman Lester Holt. What is Lester's expertise with dog shows? He works at MSNBC.
Tuesday, Feb. 15
It's like seeing store clerks trundling out the Christmas decorations the moment Halloween is over: Too. Freakin'. Soon! Nevertheless, here comes another TV upfront “season,” which now lasts from midwinter until well into spring. First out of the box with presentations for advertisers is Comcast Networks. They're showcasing E!, G4, The Golf Channel and other Comcast holdings at Cipriani 42nd Street, a converted bank built when financial institutions were monuments to capital instead of being oversized ATMs. It is a great New York setting, and these early pitchathons can be fun. Then upfront fatigue sets in after a few weeks, lingering until May, when the broadcast networks swagger onto the scene with their gaudy affairs.
Wednesday, Feb. 16
Season premiere tonight: Yes, Dear (CBS, 9:30 p.m. ET), starring Jean Louisa Kelly and others. Yes, dear, you heard us right. The comedy that CBS couldn't be bothered to bring back for a fifth season last fall is being revived under the apparent assumption that a show about two couples with conflicting child-rearing habits couldn't be any worse than the show it's replacing, Center of the Universe, which was about, uh, 22 minutes too long.
Thursday, Feb. 17
At last, a confluence of Washington and the entertainment business that doesn't involve indecency complaints or politicians passing the hat in Hollywood. The Entertainment Industries Council presents a congressional briefing today on “The Art of Making a Difference.” House Entertainment Caucus Chair Diane Watson (D-Calif.) and Mark Foley (R-Fla.), chair of the Entertainment Industries Task Force, host the discussion of topics including copyright infringement and the industry's efforts to use content to address societal ills. Speakers include Alan Wurtzel, president of NBC Universal Research and Development. Yo, Alan: Don't get Foley started about his walk-on part in Body Heat.
Friday, Feb. 18
Attention, avaricious, self-absorbed, masochistic, good-looking executive wannabes: The month-long, 27-city Apprentice casting-call tour has reached the midway point. Today's stops: Philadelphia and Louisville. Auditions are for both the Donald Trump and Martha Stewart editions of the show. (How to tell Trump and Stewart apart: She's the one with the low-maintenance hair and the minimum-security home.) Weekend TiVo alert: the premiere of Cartoon Network's Robot Chicken (11:30 p.m. ET). The extremely promising opening vignette of this pop-culture trashing, stop-motion animation series features a Rachel Leigh Cook doll flipping out while doing an anti-drug PSA. Her rampage with a frying pan might have made even Pepé Le Pew cry, “Au revoir, mademoiselle!”
E-mail info for B&C Week to b&cweek@reedbusiness.com
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