Where to be and what to watch…

A lot happens in a NATPE minute, goes the slogan of the National Association of Television Program Executives. So one can only imagine how much can happen in four whole days, as NATPE’s annual conference kicks off at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. The Brandon Tartikoff Legacy Awards, sponsored by B&C, Multichannel News and Variety, are handed out. Honorees are Stephen J. Cannell, who brought us The A-Team; Harry Friedman of Wheel of Fortune; USA and Sci Fi President Bonnie Hammer; and Anthony Zuiker, mastermind of CSI. Out Los Angeles way, PBS unveils its slate at the Television Critics Association confab at the Ritz-Carlton in Pasadena. And former In Living Color Fly Girl Jennifer Lopez returns to her roots with a reality show about dancers trying to make it in the business. Featuring cameos from J-Lo (she’s exec producer), DanceLife premieres on MTV at 10:30 p.m. ET.

Today’s NATPE highlights include a one-on-one with Law & Order creator Dick Wolf and New York Times TV scribe Bill Carter. And the B&C/Multichannel panel Content Is the Connection: The New Matrix—Increasing Content Value Across Multiple Platforms stars ad aces Stacey Lynn Koerner of Interpublic Media Initiative, John Garland of JWT NY and Larry Blasius of Magna Global. It’s moderated by B&C Editor in Chief Max Robins. Meanwhile, with the newspaper industry gasping for breath, Mediabistro offers Making the Move From Print to TV News at its headquarters in New York. Mary Peterson, a veteran of CNN and ABC News, conducts the class.

It’s the ANA Advertising Law and Business Affairs Conference at the Grand Hyatt in New York. Future Shock Here and Now is the theme, and FCC Chairman Kevin Martin speaks. Out at NATPE, syndication legend Dick Robertson gets roasted at Mandalay Bay (see p. 42). With Bob Saget as roast host, it should be good and ribald. Farther west, NBC presents its upcoming programs at TCA. And last but certainly not least, the Alfred I. duPont Awards, broadcast news’ super-prestigious honors, are given out at Columbia University’s Low Library in Manhattan.

The future is the theme of the day, as the Orwellian-sounding Future of Information Summit goes down at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York, with marketing executives from A&E, NASCAR and Facebook offering their takes on how we’ll seek out info in the days ahead. In Philadelphia, Media Tank is hosting a public forum on media ownership at Temple University. FCC honchos Michael J. Copps and Jonathan S. Adelstein weigh in on how much stuff media conglomerates should own. Also polishing up her crystal ball, Rachelle Zoffer, head of interactive TV at Verizon FiOS, talks about developments in interactive television at NATPE. Then, looking back a bit, punk icon Sid Vicious is the focus of a The Final 24 special on Biography at 10.

Out at TCA, CW President Dawn Ostroff steps to the podium to talk about newbie programs at the newbie network. Down in D.C., CNN anchor Betty Nguyen is honored in conjunction with the exhibit “Exit Saigon, Enter Little Saigon” at the Smithsonian. And if you’re still in the museum mood, the Family Guy exhibit at the Museum of Television & Radio in L.A. concludes this weekend. Artists offer their creative takes on characters from the Fox comedy. It’s art that even Peter Griffin would find wicked cool.