Here's where the buys are

The optimists at thinly attended trade shows this year have been able to exclaim, "Well, at least the people who are here are people who have business to do." True enough. NATPE 2002 may have fewer exhibitors and fewer attendees. But it will also have fewer people strolling down aisles looking for nifty free key chains.

The charts on this page tell who's selling what in the off-net and new–first-run categories, and some of those are so freshly minted we haven't even seen clips.

Of this we're sure: Buyers will be there. Of this we're not: Some station chiefs may leave Las Vegas with the program that's going to become a runaway hit. But we like to believe that, even when times are bad, good things can happen.