UPFRONTS | What was NBC in front of, really?

Yesterday was NBC’s much-ballyhooed InFront presentation, giving them a supposed two week head start on the traditional May upfront presentations of the networks’ fall schedules to advertisers. Except, NBC really only did half a presentation. They announced a bunch of renewals and six new series, complete with slickly produced NBC trailers (you know, the kind that could make I Love Toy Trains seem heartfelt and compelling). But they failed to include the fall schedule, which is the other half of these presentations.

They swear a schedule is forthcoming in two weeks at the regular upfronts, as soon as they advertisers help them decide what it will be. Granted, there’s not a whole lot of mystery here. Jay Leno is moving into primetime, taking up an hour from 10-11p/9-10c each weeknight. That doesn’t leave a whole lot of real estate to arrange, given that Saturday is for Dateline (remember when this was on five nights a week?) and reruns and Sunday is football night (I’m still amazed that NBC lost money on this year’s Super Bowl).

A few bubble series continue to hang in the balance (Chuck and Law & Order, for example). Their fates will also be finalized in two weeks, at the upfronts. So what was the point of this song and dance, other than to get a head start on the PR? The late Brandon Tartikoff, a legend among network execs, used to say that every show should be someone’s favorite show. With that in mind, I watched the preview clips NBC foisted upon us yesterday.

Community, the Joel McHale/Chevy Chase sitcom, should be a good fit with The Office and 30 Rock. The four-minute trailer of 100 Questions felt like half an hour, so I’ll likely be skipping that one. The best thing about Mercy that I can see is Guillermo Diaz (Weeds) as Angel. Parenthood, which I know is still shooting its pilot, seems soggy to me, though I clearly elude the target audience. I skipped over Trauma in much the same way I suspect viewers might in the fall.

I realize I’ve fallen into the “talk about us” trap that NBC set for the TV grist mill, but I doubt this tepid assessment is the kind of critical acclaim they’re hoping for. NBC is due for a comeback, eventually. TV is cyclical, and the Peacock has seen fallow periods before. But in the meantime, being known as a safe harbor for quality entertainment can’t be a bad thing. I might have been a little more selective and definitely would not ordered so many medical shows, but I’m no Brandon Tartikoff. Neither is Ben Silverman, I guess, but it never hurts to have heroes and aim high.

LATE NIGHT | Jay stays on as NBC shuffles the deck

The Peacock will announce tomorrow that Jay Leno is staying with the network, migrating to a prime time slot in fall 2009. With Conan O’Brien set to take over The Tonight Show next year, Leno stood to be displaced. Now, he’ll provide a reliable lead-in to late local news, save NBC a boatload on prime time programming, and not compete head-to-head with O’Brien on another network.

Jimmy Fallon, the heir to O’Brien’s Late Night slot, begins his online-only dry run tonight at 12:35a/11:35c.

RIP Tim Russert, 1950-2008

Via MSNBC

INSIDE THE BOX | MSNBC has wormed its way into my life

I used to loathe the also-ran cable news network. For a long time, I didn’t consider MSNBC a player in the cable wars.

For one thing, MSNBC had Imus in the morning, and — despite the brouhaha this year — I’m still not sure who watched him or why. (Maybe it’s the people who watch RFD and Imus’ll fit right in among the Big Joe Polka Show reruns.)

And they crammed weekends and late night full of reruns of assorted prison documentaries or whatever interspersed with paid programming. The one thing I used to watch on the network was the original Dan Abrams show, in which he spent an evening hour discussing the day’s legal issues.

A few years and an off-air stint as top dog later, Abrams is back in a self-titled show Monday through Thursday at 9p/8c. Live with Dan Abrams had a broader focus and includes segments such as Beat the Press, in which Abrams takes errant members of the media to task (discounting various technical issues; if you saw Wednesday’s show, you know what I’m talking about).

And that’s not all I’ve been watching at the cable network that originally seemed poised to capitalize on emerging technologies in a mid-nineties partnership between NBC News and Microsoft. The venture stood to capitalize on America’s insatiable passion for screen-delivered content: NBC had the TV chops and Bill Gates’ empire had the tech savvy. But MSNBC was initially unsuccessful because of its inability to integrate the two mediums with one another in a way that engaged and consistently delivered viewers.

The first thing that hooked me was the Doc Block, which rose to prominence under Abrams’ tenure. It allowed MSNBC to repurpose material from Dateline (To Catch A Predator reruns are a staple of the Doc Block) and keep primetime relatively fresh with a regular rotation of documentaries.

But the real quietly understated success in the shakeup following the Imus ouster is the lucky recipient of his early-morning timeslot. Joe Scarborough, former Florida senator and host of Scarborough Country (of which I was not a fan), has been working mornings since shortly after Imus’s much-ballyhooed departure. Scarborough’s no-nonsense attitude works well in the morning, and I find myself tuning in as I get ready for the day.

I’ve done my time watching Today. Mostly I watched it in middle school when I thought it was cool. The older I get (and the more bloated the sprawling four-hour Today gets), the more its ultimate purpose as a corporate tool grates. I made the jump to Good Morning America shortly after Charles Gibson and Diane Sawyer came to save the day. That lasted for the brunt of my high school years.

Then I fell out of that habit, and as a college student, I haven’t made any of the morning news shows a priority, mostly because I didn’t tend to be up early enough to catch them (unless I caught a few minutes before going to bed). Anderson Cooper got his CNN show the fall I came to college, and the original cable newser was my go-to for several years. But the constant tinkering with American Morning, the ubiquity of Wolf Blitzer, and the constant back-and-forth with competitor Fox News Channel have driven me into the arms of a channel I never thought I’d be watching, especially on a regular basis.

These days, my morning routine starts around 7 a.m./CT, which allows me to catch most of the last hour of Morning Joe (live weekdays, 6-9 a.m./ET). Flanked by Willie Geist and newsreader Mika Brzezinski, Joe has a laid-back style that I find disarming. The show deals with topical issues, but tends to cut through the fluff a lot better than its major-network corporate cousins (you may recall Brzezinski’s viral video star turn after refusing to read a Paris Hilton story this summer).

This week, Scarborough even managed to make an interview with Rush Limbaugh good (and not off-putting) television. With MSNBC poised to make a dent in the competition’s ratings as part of its recent integration with NBC News operations, Abrams and Scarborough are leading the charge. And I never thought I’d be a convert.

FALL ‘07 WHIP | Nets cautiously commit to frosh series

• The CW’s Gossip Girl is the first new series to get a full-season pickup so far this fall.
• CBS has ordered four more scripts for its Tuesday night drama Cane…
• …And NBC is asking for three additional scripts from each of its freshman dramas: Bionic Woman, Chuck, Life and Journeyman.

THE WHIP | The MSNBC shuffle; Tom Green’s return; Hogan to Gladiators

• Last week, MSNBC made two summer programming experiments a permanent part of its schedule. Joe Scarborough’s Morning Joe airs 6-9a/5-8c weekdays. Dan Abrams steps down as GM at the news net to anchor the 9p/8c program Live with Dan Abrams, Monday-Thursday. These changes went into effect on a trial basis this summer following the scandalized ouster of former morning personality Don Imus.
• Also, MSNBC has poached The Tim Russert Show, the ten-year-old weekend interview hour hosted by the Meet the Press moderator, from CNBC. Effective this weekend, new episodes of Russert premiere Saturdays at 12p/11c. Repeats will run Saturdays at 6p/5c, overnight at 2a/1c, and again Sundays at 12p/11c.
• Former MTV personality Tom Green is bringing his act back to TV. Green is syndicating his nightly Internet talk show through Lionsgate subsidiary Debmar-Mercury for a test run beginning in January. If the experiment is successful, the show could see national distribution next fall.
• Wrestler and Hogan Knows Best topliner Hulk Hogan has signed up to host NBC’s revival of American Gladiators, due at midseason.

CABLE | At USA, corporate synergy thrives

Tomorrow night, television history will be made when original episodes of Law & Order: Criminal Intent move from NBC to its corporate sibling, USA Network. This is the first time ever that a show in production has transitioned seamlessly from a broadcast network to a cable cousin.

And the synergy continues this weekend with the NBC on USA marathon. Sunday Saturday afternoon, October 7 6, USA will air encore episodes of NBC series. The six-hour block kicks off at 1p/12c with Friday Night Lights, followed by Chuck, two episodes of Life, and the pilots of Journeyman and Bionic Woman.

Then, at 7p/6c, USA kicks off a two-day Criminal Intent season six marathon.

Last Sunday afternoon, Bravo ran a mini-marathon of NBC’s Emmy Award-winning sitcom, 30 Rock. Like it or not, this kind of “show sharing” is starting to become common practice.

Tomorrow night, October 4, is the season premiere of Law & Order: Criminal Intent at 10p/9c on USA.

CHARACTERS WELCOME | USA’s website rolls out the welcome wagon for CI

DVD | ‘30 Rock’ is a comedy gift that keeps giving

It’s a crazy time of year, and with the fall season starting, the deluge of TV-on-DVD releases has hit critical mass. I’ve managed to make a little time to examine the freshman outings of two acclaimed series that return with new episodes this week.

30 Rock, which won this year’s Emmy for outstanding comedy, is certainly deserving of the honor. Tina Fey mined the years she spent in the SNL writers’ room and turned them into comedy gold.

Fey is at her best here as a modern-day Mary Tyler Moore, a single career woman in television just trying to keep it all together. Jane Krakowski is great as Jenna, the ditsy blonde. Tracy Morgan is hilarious as embattled, unpredictable actor Tracy Jordan. And Alec Baldwin is hilarious and surprisingly likable in the role he was born to play.

But 30 Rock is not content to merely scratch the surface. It’s the minor details, supporting characters, and long-running jokes that really seal the deal. Jack McBrayer steals the show with his portrayal of Kenneth, the eager NBC page who genuinely loves his job as a servant to the people who make TV. And various SNL alumni, including Rachel Dratch in a variety of bizarre bit parts, are familiar faces who seem so organic to this world. Plus, there’s Tracy’s entourage, not to be trifled with.

I cannot remember when I laughed out loud this hard and this long at a television sitcom, for the reasons it was intended to be laughed at. And you have to appreciate the fourth-place network letting its own successful shows take shots at it constantly.

The first season is out now; the second premieres this Thursday at 8:30p/7:30c on NBC. And there’s a mini-marathon starting on Bravo at 1p/12c today…that’s just minutes from now.

PASSIONS | Online streaming returns tomorrow…but it’ll cost you

You spoke up, disgruntled Passions fans, and DirecTV listened. Many fans of the nine-year-old soap can’t or won’t make the switch to DirecTV, the exclusive home of new episodes. Beginning tomorrow, you have another option: an online streaming subscription for $19.95/month.

Episodes will be streamed and archived at www.nbc.com/passions. Episodes will be posted daily after airing on The 101 and archived for eight weeks, ample time to keep up with the glacial pace of the action in Harmony.

It’s likely small comfort to many who can’t afford to shell out $20 a month for quasi-reliable online streaming for a soap they used to get on regular TV for free. Also, $20 is a little less than 1/3 of what I pay DirecTV for 200 or so channels a month, The 101 and new episodes of Passions included. But it’s better than nothing for those fans who can’t or won’t make the switch.

In other Passions news, the entertaining weekly live call-in show, Passions Live, which airs Thursday nights on The 101, has been extended for four more episodes. Host Eric Martsolf (Passions‘ Ethan) gets to keep his shirt on for at least 30 minutes a week, fielding calls and corralling his crazy castmates. This week, it was Sheridan and Gwen, McKenzie Westmore and Liza Huber (episodes are streamed online and archived at the NBC site).

PASSIONS CROSSES THE BORDER | New episodes find a new home in Canada

PRIVATE PRACTICE | 101: “In Which We Meet Addison, a Nice Girl from Somewhere Else”

I saw the Private Practice premiere. It’s no Grey’s, to be sure, but I liked it and I’m interested to see more. (Also, Grey’s was no Grey’s out of the box, something I think we’d all do well to remember while the cast and crew find their groove.)