My 2003 Upfront Diary …… David Flynn Huerta / Amistad Media Group..Part I

During this year’s upfront in New York, David Flynn Huerta took notes of his reactions and impressions during each of the television presentations. David is managing director of Amistad Media Group, the largest independent Hispanic media buying service in the US.
Monday, May 12th

Not a big day as far as Hispanic Upfronts are concerned. I have an invitation to NBC, which I am looking forward to. Mostly for comparison purposes. Last year I think both Univision and Telemundo outdid NBC in terms of flash, glamour, and excitement.

Before I call in to my voicemail, I indulge myself in a NY breakfast. I go to corner store, get in line and when my turn comes, I look the breakfast Nazi in the eye and order scrambled-egg-on-a-Kaiser roll-salt-and-pepper making sure to be quick and decisive. I throw in a little attitude. Like I could care less. Coffee black.

While I eat, I scribble down some spin predictions for this year’s Hispanic Upfront presentations. You’ll have to take my word that I am writing this prior to the Upfront. If you don’t believe me…. I could care less. Anyway, here’s what I wrote:

Univision – Hey, disregard our share numbers, look at what the Univision family of stations delivers en toto. Telefutura! Galavision! Univision.com! HBC (?). Look at our stars, aren’t they gorgeous?!

Telemundo – Hey, disregard our share numbers, and our ratings, and our audience numbers! Here come the Olympics! Watch and listen to our fabulous performers, aren’t they great?!
NBC
1115am. I make my way to the Met, scene of the NBC upfront. I decide to walk, it’s not such a bad day, and the air is cleaner and cooler than back home. It’s only about 10 blocks. I get there a little early and stop at Hadleighs across the street for espresso and a small water. I sit outside at a little table and watch a city crew tear up the street. It is loud, and dusty. Paris it ain’t, but the coffee is damned good.

12noon. I walk in through the front of the Metropolitan Opera House where Cher and Nicholas Cage had their one and only date in Moonstruck. I do the name tag and tickets thing and I notice there is less security than last year, post 9-11. I sit in the orchestra section towards the back. There are 2600 people in attendance, and you can feel the buzz of the crowd. Not like before a performance of La Boheme, certainly, but a buzz nonetheless.

Shortly after 1pm: The show starts. Keith Turner, NBC bigwig in Sales, comes out to introduce the show. He tells us that what we are going to see is, among other things, upscale. He tells us that NBC has a “diverse and effective arsenal” which I think is a handy choice of words.

What follows is a bizarre and funny send up of “Tommy” by the cast of Will and Grace. They make fun of NBCs shows, executives, and the competition. Followed by an ABBA spoof with the predictable reference to “Dancing Queens”. Lots of self deprecating humor. A little Hair and Phantom thrown in. Harry Conick, JR. does a little number in the same vein with a shot at reality TV. All this to introduce Jeffrey Zucker.

Zucker is the programming guru and he is much more at ease than I remember him last year.

Zucker takes a shot at reality TV (I check my programming grid again to see if Fear Factor is on NBC, it is), Michael Jackson specials and then launches into some pretty astonishing statistics re NBC and their number one hold on everything. Then a little differentiation between their number one shows (scripted) and the competition’s (non-scripted reality). He mentions upscale three times and gets so excited that he is foaming at the mouth (though it’s very subtle, and probably no one would notice EXCEPT HE’S UP THERE ON THE JUMBOTRON).

Quickly, he gives kudos to Fear Factor, NBCs only reality show, telling us that it is nearing its 100th episode (can that be true? That is like two years straight!)
New shows on NBC:

Las Vegas with Josh Duhamel, James Caan, and Cheryl Ladd. Looks great. Lots of action that I could actually follow, good Las Vegas scenes. Plus, James Caan! Sonny Corleone for God’s sake. How could that miss?

Whoopi with Whoopi Goldberg wherein she runs a boutique hotel with an Iranian concierge. She’s irascible and opinionated. Kind of like a cross cultural Faulty Towers comes to the West Side. Good and funny and not politically correct. Whoopi herself makes an appearance on stage, throws around a lot of self deprecating wisecracks. The audience seems to like it.

I should mention that the audience is applauding in the right spots, but not overdoing it. There will be no standing ovation at the Opera this afternoon.

Happy Family with John Larroquette. Another dysfunctional family comedy. So-so funny, but I never really got John Larroquette anyway.

A little gab about Frasier from Jeffrey. Frasier is, what’s the word, upscale. Oh, and Lilith returns this season.

Good Morning Miami is back. Why? I ask. It’s much improved, he promises.

Law and Order SVU. He calls it “the most underappreciated drama on television.”
Where we supposed to send thank you notes?

Wednesday, we are promised, is the highest quality TV with three upscale mentions. West Wing, it seems, is the most upscale of all with a $75M median income viewer. Quality, quality, quality is the theme here (quality is another way to say upscale, I gather).

On to Thursday, where NBC has a figure four leglock on the competition. Claims by Jeffrey to be number one on Thursday 10 years in a row. Thursday got one upscale mention. The biggest news here is that Friends will end with a two hour finale next May. Scrubs is back, Will and Grace in the 6th season.

The new Thursday night comedy is from England. I’m thinking this is a cop out, but the show convinces me otherwise. It’s called Coupling. Looks good, funny, and clever. He didn’t say if it was upscale.

Friday they are bringing Alicia Silverstone in Miss Match about a lawyer who turns into a match maker. Her father is Ryan O’Neill, who looks better than he did ten years ago. I’ll go out on a limb here and say this show should be upscale, because it’s about lawyers and Alicia wears some great Clueless-type outfits.

Some discussion about Dateline (one upscale) and a nice little thank you by Jeffrey to Jane Pauley who I guess is leaving NBC. She’s in the audience, and shows up on the jumbotron. She looks fantastic. Cries a bit. It seems genuine though.

Boomtown is next. I’ve never seen this show, but they showed some highlights. Boy is it violent! Anyway, Vanessa Williams is in the cast next season. She’s in the audience too. She looks good, but not as good as Jane. I think the lighting is not kind.

Saturday is all about movies, and SNL. Then a late night montage with Leno, O’Brien, and SNL. Conan O’Brien is going on 10 years. Go figure that one out. Leno is introduced. Apparently he has been the number one show for 160 weeks out of a total 162. He comes out and throws around a lot of funny (judging by the audience) inside NBC-General Market-TV-type jokes. Being the interloper, I don’t really get it, but it is fun to watch Leno work. Jay is upscale, by the way.

Specials. About 20 seconds of montage, the only one that caught my eye is Saving Jessica Lynch. That looks good.

Another new show is The Lyons Den with Rob Lowe. This has a complex plot which I couldn’t follow (maybe I’m not upscale enough), but looks very well acted. Besides, Jeffrey tells us, “TV needs a great new legal drama.”

Wait, here’s another reality show. The Apprentice. With Donald Trump. He gives business assignments to these apprentice wannabes, the last one standing gets to work for Trump and $250,000. Can this be for real? I can’t see myself ever wanting to work for The Donald. Go figure.

Lastly, there are the 2004 Olympics in Greece with a mention of the first Spanish-language Olympic broadcast ever. (I think to myself, in what language do they broadcast the Olympics in Mexico? Serbian?). Anyway, not a lot of fanfare about the Olympics.

Last words were “NBC is the Quality Network.” Some mention of stability, consistency, trust. I could see that. Yet, I’m still looking for the diverse arsenal I was promised. Not one single Hispanic character, principal or otherwise, in this diverse arsenal.

Too bad I am going to miss out on CBS and ABC and FOX. What could they possible counter with?

Swag from NBC: Nada.

330 pm I walk back to my hotel and a conference call. Hungry, I stop for a chicken kebab which, if you’ve never eaten street food in NY and think it is ptomaine-on-a-stick, you don’t know what you’re talking about.

Tuesday May 13

Azteca America…………………………………….

745am. Early start today. Azteca America kicks off around 830am. So I do the usual egg-in-a-roll-juice-coffee-Daily News jig and head downtown.

815 am. I find the Metropolitan Pavilion okay, jockey for my name tag, and walk in to the foyer and I’m welcomed by a dozen docents standing around in black pants, T-Shirts and with what I guess are Aztec masks painted around their eyes. Nice touch. It’s later that I discover these are not docents but dancers and the theme is played out throughout the video presentation.

Back in my element, the Hispanic media world, I see literally dozens of faces at once that I know, have known, recognize, or recognize me. Except my memory fails me. A lot. The upfront week is a week to catch up on who is where, the media world being musical chairs sometimes. It has replaced Calle Ocho as the venue for seeing old friends in the business.

continued in Part II