NBC continues to revel in rebelling.
On Monday, the fourth-ranked broadcast network announced to reporters and advertisers most of the programs that will be in its lineup next season. By doing so, for the second year in a row, NBC tried to get a head start on its competitors before their upfront presentations, which take place in Manhattan during the week of May 18.
But NBC will wait to unveil its actual schedule until that week, when the industry gathers to hype new shows and land billions of dollars worth of advertising commitments in advance. Because the network will abandon dramas in the 10 p.m. hour to air a nightly Jay Leno comedy show, leaving five fewer hours to program, elements of the schedule -- as well as the fate of some of its bubble shows, such as "Chuck" -- are still a mystery.
NBC has had another rough season. All of the new shows it launched in the fall failed, and three top executives were ousted as a result. The future of Ben Silverman, co-chairman of NBC Entertainment and Universal Media Studios, who was hired two years ago, has been in question as well: Neither Silverman nor NBC has said whether they have extended his contract beyond its expiration in mid-June. (Sources close to the situation, however, believe that Silverman plans to stay on for one more year).
But on Monday, as he laid out NBC's plans for the next TV season, Silverman was exuberant, as he touted "The Jay Leno Show," the Winter Olympics and what he described as "intimate gatherings" NBC will have with advertisers over the next two weeks.
As competitors screen pilots and conduct focus groups, putting the finishing touches on their fall schedules, NBC executives will meet privately with advertisers in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles to show them the network's six new series [see sidebar] and get feedback on possible schedule placement. NBC will then announce its lineup May 19 in an invitation-only comedy showcase event in Manhattan that will feature some of NBC's top comedic talent: Jay Leno, Conan O'Brien and Tina Fey.
"We're not interested in just screaming out to 5,000 people and then walking off to some VIP corridor. We're here to talk to you and speak to you and connect with our client base and allow them to ask questions in small settings," Silverman said in a phone interview Monday. "It's going to give us, obviously, maximum flexibility."
