Author: Lacey Rose, Marisa Guthrie

“Black-ish”

‎ABC executives trotted out a mix of confounding statistics and strong trailers to downplay a rocky past — and present an optimistic future during its upfront presentation Tuesday.

STORY: ABC Boss on ‘Trophy Wife’s’ Demise, ‘Grey’s Anatomy’s’ Future, More

The network’s chief, Paul Lee, seemed particularly focused on his new crop of shows, which include “big swings” (American Crime), “new voices” (Cristela) and ‎”extraordinary entertainment” (How to Get Away With Murder), when presenting to his Avery Fischer Hall audience of media buyers. To Lee’s credit, the clips played well, and arguably strong than rivals’, with the room only reminded of ABC’s disappointing fourth-place status when upfront roastmaster Jimmy Kimmel took the stage. (Read his best digs here.)

Here are the key takeaways:

PHOTOS: Broadcast TV’s New 2014-15 Shows

Never Nind ABC, We’re Disney!

If your money was on a Scandal clip to open this year’s ABC upfront, we’ll take your money now. Instead, the network kicked off the afternoon presentation with an unexpected clip reel featuring footage from the company’s other assets, including Snow White, Frozen and Star Wars — intercut with scenes from Modern Family, Once Upon a Time and The Middle, of course. ‎Anne Sweeney, on stage for her swan song, followed by pushing the “power of the Disney brand,” ‎touting Disney, LucasFilm, Marvel, Pixar and ESPN as strongly as she did ABC. 

‎Shall We Talk About Race?

With Kerry Washington starrer Scandal hitting big, Lee has decided to embrace diversity — with a vengeance. He rolled out at least four shows, including Cristela, Fresh Off the Boat, Black-ish and American Crime, with racial humor and/or politics at its core. The strategy was not subtle, with Lee hammering home his push for a broader, mutlicultural audience. It’s a potentially savvy play, with ABC recognizing the changing demographics and economic ‎realities of the ethnic audience in the U.S. 

STORY: ABC’s Upfront Presentation Recap

The Good News

ABC’s clips played better than many others this week, with strong receptions to Shonda Rhimes’ How to Get Away With Murder and John Ridley‘s American Crime. The latter had Lee most excited, with the exec saving its clip for last and characterizing it as a game changer.‎ (The other, musical fairytale comedy Galavant, which included a musical performance, didn’t play quite as well.)  Black-ish garnered a fair amount of laughs, and creepy entry The Whispers appeared to draw the Lincoln Center audience in.

‎Stressing Engagement Over TV Eyeballs

Buyers have more content and platform options than ever, but in the absence of a universally accepted currency (unlike Nielsen’s TV ratings), they are left to cobble together analytics from multiple sources. Enter the broadcast network ad sales chiefs with their promises of new and dazzling measurement schemes that ensuring that every eyeball on every platform will be counted. During her turn on stage, ABC ad sales chief Geri Wang promised buyers “better measurement” on “expanded platforms” and an aggressive push on “dynamic insertion” on VOD. The network’s TV ratings — the fourth-place network is down 5 percent in the advertiser-coveted 18-49 demographic — were barely mentioned, except when Lee accidentally said the network was “No. 1 for the last four years.” (He meant four weeks and corrected himself later, chalking the gaffe up to “wishful thinking.”) Rather, Wang and Lee touted nebulous stats including ABC’s “78 percent engagement,” its “140 million social connections” and the fact that “50 percent” of the nets “original viewers” come from apps.

VIDEO: Watch Trailers for ABC’s New Shows

No Sports, No Problem, No Really

With live ratings points increasingly elusive in an on-demand TV market, every network this week has made a point of stressing live events. Presentations from NBC and Fox included lengthy plugs for sports rights, especially the NFL. ABC has few in the way of live sports with the exception of college football Saturdays and the NBA Finals. But that didn’t stop Lee from claiming that ABC “own(s) more than half of all live events in television” before unspooling a clip of the network’s various awards shows including the AMAs, CMAs, the Ryan Seacrest-hosted Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve and the Oscars. The “selfie heard round the world” at the Academy Awards telecast last March was touted several times.

Paul Drinkwater/NBC

Bob Greenblatt

NBC execs trotted on stage at the Javits Center Monday with a singular message to share with media buyers: we’re No. 1.

It was an unfamiliar one for the network, which heads into the 2014-15 season at the top of the ratings for the first time in a decade. Opening the upfront, Late Night host Seth Meyers, whose snarky introduction rivaled ABC upfront veteran Jimmy Kimmel, admitted that he was “at a loss” for material since NBC is no longer the punching bag it once was.

A comedian’s NBC upfront intro historically has meant coming “on stage and make fun of how badly he network has done,” noted Meyers, who added that unlike previous years NBC has bested not only its broadcast competition but also a slew of other networks, including “Univision, MTV tres, Lifetime, second Lifetime, and the Holiday Inn checkout information channel.” (The host took jabs at the Javits locale instead, quipping at one point that the convention center was at the “heart of New York’s historic stabbing district.”)

STORY: NBC Fall Schedule: Thursday Comedy Block Disappears, ‘Blacklist’ Moves, Final Seasons Confirmed

Over the course of the nearly two hours that followed, NBC entertainment chairman Bob Greenblatt and NBC’s president of ad sales Linda Yaccarino used the platform to tout it growth and plans to stay atop care of events, sports and reality hit The Voice.

Here are the key takeaways:

1. We’re No. 1, and we Plan to Stay There

“We’re No. 1,” said Greenblatt, shortly after taking the podium, adding of the network’s status: “Get ready, you’re going to hear it a lot more.” He wasn’t kidding, and you can hardly blame him. After nearly a decade languishing in fourth place, NBC is No. 1 in the key 18-49 demo, up 17 percent in C3, thanks to such shows as Sunday Night Football, Voice and drama breakout The Blacklist. 

Greenblatt was careful to note that his net would be No. 1 even without the February Olympics boost, up a “healthy” eight percent. The other nets? All even or down for the season. “You do the math,” he said with self-satisfaction. He also stressed that his network planned to stay atop the Nielsen rankings going forward care of his bosses Steve Burke and Comcast chief Brian Roberts’  “investment in programming” – to say nothing of an “incredible Olympics deal” that keeps the ratings bonanza at NBC through 2032. 

2. The Blacklist has Staying Power

‎While Voice remains a juggernaut for which NBC is thrilled (hence what Meyers joked was a five-times-a-year airing pattern), The Blacklist garnered more plugs during the NBC presentation than any other show. In addition to a well-received pre-taped bit from enigmatic star James Spader, Greenblatt and Yaccarino talked often about its ratings (the Spader vehicle is the no. 1 new show) and it’s potential to rebuild NBC’s storied-but-ailing Thursday night lineup when it moves there in February.

No surprise, the drama will get the plum post Super Bowl slot, and Greenblatt revealed that the special episode will serve as a two parter, with the second part airing four days later in Blacklist‘s new Thursday night time slot. (It’s worth noting that Sony is having a particularly strong run at NBC. The studio is behind Blacklist, which has benefited from the Voice cover on Monday, and newcomer Marry Me, which will get Voice‘s Tuesday lead-in in the fall.)

3. Late Night Dominance, Now and Going Forward

There was no mention of CBS’ forthcoming late night shakeup, but Greenblatt did use the upfront platform to ‎plug his own shows — and the impressively smooth transition to get them there. With a one-two punch of Jimmy Fallon and Meyers, both of whom took the stage to crack jokes Monday, Greenblatt was able to highlight both shows’ youth appeal and increased reach. With Fallon, in particular, he said the host’s YouTube clips have already garnered more than 350 million views since his Tonight Show launched, and that the show has aged down eight years.

4. Everything is an Event

Greenblatt acknowledged that his network and others have become “obsessed” with event-izing, something he notes he’s guilty of doing with everything from live musicals to special episodes of scripted dramas — and in a crowded landscape where “noisy” is key to stand out, he has no plans to slow down. In fact, he announced from stage that he’d be following up on his Sound of Music live musical – which he joked people “rolled their eyes at up until the morning of Dec. 6 when the ratings came out” and NBC logged a massive 19 million tune-in – and forthcoming Peter Pan with a 2015 live rendition of The Music Man. He promoted forthcoming projects, including Emerald City, Oddysey and Mark Burnett‘s A.D., as “events” as well.

5. Sports will be even Bigger on NBC Next Season

Sports was a hot topic throughout the presentation, from the success of the Winter Olympics in Sochi to No. 1 Sunday Night Football — and upcoming Super Bowl XLIX in February, which will be supported by a full week of programming across NBCU platforms. With American Idol having fallen precipitously, NBC executives also noted that Sunday Night Football was among the few remaining destinations that boasts a big, broad family audience.

What’s more, NBC Sports group chairman Mark Lazarus stressed the network’s flex schedule, which allows it to select the best match-ups for its SNF franchise, an important distinction as CBS rolls out eight games of Thursday Night Football, which historically have not offered the kind of marquee weekly contests that  Sunday has. Driving home the emphasis on live sports in an increasingly time-shifted environment, Lazarus  talked up the network’s addition of a divisional playoff game and the Thanksgiving day match up — a replay of the Super Bowl with champs Seattle Seahawks facing the San Francisco 49ers.

6. Olympics will Drive Multiplatform Technology

If the significance of the Olympics was not already clear, Yaccarino walked out on  stage to the tune of NBC’s Olympics theme music. And her presentation to advertisers was heavy on rhetoric about the network’s signature sports platform. The company has partnered with Nielsen for a deep dive study on how viewers consumed the Sochi Winter Olympics, and those findings will inform future streaming and mobile technology at NBC — of tantamount importance because the $7.75 billion six-game Olympics deal includes rights to all digital and streaming options, even those that have yet to be conceived.

“For the past three seasons NBC has bucked the trend,” she said of primetime viewership, stressing that NBC has made “critical investments in analytics and technology” that promises advertisers addressability and better return on investment – a welcome declaration for buyers faced with a dizzying array of content options and often dubious measurement tools. Yaccarino will be back on stage at least one more time this week, when she makes the collective cable portfolio pitch at the NBCU cable upfront Thursday.

NBC

Bob Greenblatt, Jennifer Salke and Paul Telegdy

NBC’s Bob Greenblatt is feeling “bullish.”

The network’s Entertainment Chairman took the stage at the Television Critics Association’s semiannual press tour Sunday morning with the kind of confidence that comes from having had a strong fall – and the promise of a solid spring. Greenblatt’s once-ailing network rounded out the first half of the season at No. 1 for the second consecutive year, thanks to juggernaut The Voice and the ratings power of Sunday Night Football. And unlike last year, he has the winter Olympics coming in February to provide a ratings boost to his springtime offerings.

“It’s been a very good year for us,” he noted from stage, ticking off a string of impressive statistics, including NBC’s 10 percent uptick in total viewers and the distinction of being the only broadcast network to post gains in the all-important 18-49 demo, before adding: “Of course, there are some disappointments and the usual number of miscalculations.”

Among the latter: NBC’s many comedy misfires, which has him questioning the future of the network’s age-old Thursday night comedy block. In particular, Greenblatt noted that big swings The Michael J. Fox Show, which recently garnered a dismal 0.6 rating in the key 18-49 demo, and Sean Hayes’ Sean Saves the World, were among his biggest disappointments this fall. “We think they’re good shows,” he said of both vehicles, praising the talent of the series’ stars before acknowledging the commercial challenges: “We’re really unhappy that we can’t find an audience for them in those time periods.” (Though renewals are unlikely, Greenblatt said he wouldn’t be making any decisions until May.)

PHOTOS: 2014’s New Broadcast and Cable TV Shows

Still, Greenblatt insisted he will remain committed to making comedy work on his network, suggesting to the delight of many in the room that he was “bullish” on the future of two of NBC’s long-running critical darlings: Community and Parks and Recreation. He ventured a step further on Parks, for which star Amy Poehler just earned a Golden Globe, telling reporters that he would “go out on a limb” and predict “Parks and Recreation is going to have a seventh season.” (He has inked a three-year overall deal with Poehler, too, and ordered a pilot that she’ll produce.)

Greenblatt, who was joined by entertainment president Jennifer Salke and alternative and late night chief Paul Telegdy, used the remainder of his time before the TCA to discuss the merits of pilot season, the future of Thursday night football and the real difference between miniseries and limited series. 

What’s the Difference, Anyway?

Limited series? Miniseries? Event series? Greenblatt acknowledged he doesn’t really know what a limited series is, but that didn’t stop him from taking a shot at CBS’ Under the Dome, which has been described as a miniseries, an event series and a limited series despite the fact that it will be returning this summer for a second season. “I don’t know when the dome is every going to be breached, but I’m wait for it,” he said  to guffaws from the room. Salke noted that the genre “gives you the flexibility to do whatever you want to do with it creatively.” On Sunday alone, NBC ordered ten episodes of Emerald City, based on the Frank L. Baum Wizard of Oz canon, which could continue for several seasons, and The Slap, which examines the fall-out after a family member slaps a child at a barbecue and will definitely end after eight episodes. Noting that the categorization gets “very dicey” during awards season, Greenblatt added that the high-concept nature of such series gives them a built-in promotional lift in such a crowded, noisy TV landscape. “I’m excited that we’re all back in this form again,” he continued, “because there are certain stories that are shorter or closed-ended that otherwise wouldn’t have been made a couple years ago.” 

No Laughing Matter

Greenblatt admitted that NBC’s comedy block has been “a real challenge” for the network and that it’s possible NBC could abandon its once vaunted Must See TV Thursday night comedy lineup. “Anything is open for discussion. We may shuffle the whole deck in terms of genres [on Thursday night],’ he said from stage, noting how tough the competition is between CBS’ comedies led by The Big Bang Theory and ABC’s dramas, including Grey’s Anatomy and Scandal. “It’s a very competitive night, so we’re going to look at all possibilities,” he said, with Salke quick to add that a genre “change up” on Thursday night “wouldn’t necessarily mean less comedy” on the network. She cited overall deals with Poehler as well as her Parks showrunner Mike Schur, a straight to series order for Tina Fey and Robert Carlock‘s Ellie Kemper comedy and a six-episode order for Office alum Craig Robinson‘s comedy Mr. Robinson.

Thursday Night Football?

Greenblatt declined to confirm whether NBC has submitted an offer for the Thursday-night, eight-game NFL package, but it is believed that all four broadcast networks, including ABC (the only broadcaster without the ratings dominant NFL), have bid on the games that have been airing on the NFL Network. “It’s something we’re talking about. We have a great relationship with the NFL,” Greenblatt told reporters. “We’d love to have more NFL games and Thursday night games might be really interesting to us.” The one-year deal begins this September with an option for additional seasons. There’s no question football would help pull NBC out of its Thursday ratings doldrums, and Greenblatt made it clear they aren’t wedded to the Thursday night comedy block. (The games would continue to air on The NFL Network and be simulcast on a broadcast network. The cable network’s 13 Thursday night games averaged 8 million viewers last year.) It’s worth noting that NBC’s Sunday night games, for which it pays close to $1 billion, have been the top-rated primetime program on TV for two years running and last season pulled in more than 21 million viewers. 

Pilot Mania

Greenblatt took a swing at Kevin Reilly’s grand proclamation about pilots and pilot season Sunday morning, noting that the Fox chief declared he was done with it all on Monday, only to announce that he was picking up a pilot prototype a few days later. While he finds the pilot season timeline maddening, particularly from the casting standpoint, he said he “actually love pilots.” To hear him tell it, The Blacklist would never have made it to air had it not been for the pilot process. In that case, the James Spader vehicle was created by a relatively young, inexperienced writer, and Greenblatt acknowledged that he wouldn’t have been ready to make a series bet off of the pilot script. There are other cases, including new order Emerald City and the Fey/Kemper comedy, where straight-to-series makes sense, and he said he’ll continue to explore those, too. 

Future of Leno 

Though it’s highly unlikely Jay Leno will remain at NBC following his final Tonight Show Feb. 6th, Greenblatt used the TCA soapbox to not only praise the late night leader and his team but also make yet another public plea to keep him at NBC in some capacity. Though Leno has opted not to engage in any conversations about his future until he wraps Tonight, Greenblatt suggested that he’d “love” to have him do specials with the network or host other kinds of shows at NBC. “He’s truly one of the nicest and most decent people,” Greenblatt said, thanking the whole Tonight Show team for “making TV history and for doing it with class.”