The Best and Worst Of Upfront Week

What hit and what tanked onstage in New York

Ben Grossman -- Broadcasting & Cable, 5/24/2010 12:01:00 AM

THE BEST
Rapping David Poltrack: With apologies to every single preview of a new show, the best clip of the week went to CBS, which put together a hysterical piece featuring a rapping research chief David Poltrack calling “bullshit” on some faulty numbers. Making it even more special (besides the fact Poltrack himself found out about it only two days before the show) is that it was put together by the late Ron Scalera.

Reilly Plays It Straight: Upfront presentations are known for spin and fluff, but Fox entertainment chief Kevin Reilly went the opposite direction onstage when talking about American Idol. Instead, he came right out and said the show was down in the ratings and maybe showing its age. The result: instant credibility for everything Reilly said the rest of the day. Amazing what just telling the truth does.

Jane Lynch: Unfortunately for Reilly, he wasn’t the only one being brutally honest onstage that day. In full Sue Sylvester character and to thunderous laughter, the Glee star unloaded on Reilly’s physical attributes. The best line: “He has been coasting on those shiny weatherman looks for too long.”

NBC’s Upfront: NBC is back. Well, its upfront is anyway. NBC’s presentation made it feel like a network again, with a slate of clips that at least look like they have a shot. NBC execs say quietly they want at least one drama and one comedy to hit, but if they get just one or the other, they’ll be back on the right track. And they’d better be; they are spending about 40% more in development than last year. If this is entertainment president Angela Bromstad’s one shot, so far so good.

Turner’s Party: After its upfront, Turner hosted a fancy luncheon just for its talent, executives and the media at an upscale restaurant. Giving the media that much access in a non-rushed (except for Conan, who had to fly back to Chicago for a show that night) and casual environment showed confidence and savvy as Turner looks to cement its acquisition-happy buzz.

THE WORST
No Breakout Star: Last year, everyone left New York knowing that Modern Family was going to be a smash hit. ABC went with the gutsy move of playing the entire pilot, it absolutely killed at Lincoln Center, and everyone was buzzing. But this year, while there were plenty of solid-looking prospects, there definitely is not one show that swept people collectively off their feet.

Late-Night Hosts: Usually the network late-night hosts bring some much-needed yuks, but not this year. Jimmy Fallon took a guitar onstage and promptly challenged Jay Leno’s White House Correspondents’ dinner appearance as the biggest bomb by a latenight host this year. And at ABC, Jimmy Kimmel fell far below his regular slaying. He did get big laughs for a great Glee joke (saying by putting it on after the Super Bowl, Fox is trying to set a new record for most drunk guys saying “What the f**k is this?” all at once). But other than that, he mostly fell flat while lazily going after low-hanging fruit like NBC and Paula Abdul.

ESPN’s Upfront: ESPN’s surprisingly low-energy presentation missed the mark and wasn’t up to the impressive sheer power of its über-brand. After setting a high bar for itself in recent upfronts, this year’s show just had too many people in suits painfully reading off a TelePrompTer. Co-host Colin Cowherd was flat and lifeless, but the bright spot was co-host Michelle Beadle, who looks like a rising star.

My Generation: ABC’s new drama had gotten great buzz coming into the upfronts, and the network even tried to add to the anticipation by holding back its clip until later in the show. But it wasn’t worth the wait, as the clip was largely panned afterward. The good news for ABC, however, is that a drama not clipping well isn’t the death sentence a bad comedy clip is (because if you can’t find 30 seconds of funny, how will 22 minutes look?). Plus, No Ordinary Family with Michael Chiklis looks like a big keeper.