Friday, January 08, 2010

It's press tour time!

For a fourth-place network, NBC has a funny way of dominating the news as I get ready for the start of the Television Critics Association press tour. The day before the summer tour six months ago, Ben Silverman announced he was quitting. (Later, his successor Angela Bromstad inadvertently gave us a lot of laughs when she suggested "I think that this has always been Ben's plan" to leave with the network doing much worse than when he arrived.)

And, of course, as critics like me were getting ready to go home and pack for today's start of the winter tour, news broke that NBC might be moving Jay Leno back to late night. (The picture above is Leno in disguise as a reporter for NBC's exec session at the summer '08 tour.)

So I've been a little too preoccupied to pen an update to my traditional guide to press tour, which means if you don't know the drill by now, you'll have to go read the old version.

For practical purposes, I'll be doing a lot of blogging and/or tweeting (depending on time, mood, etc.) about the sessions that I'm attending. Sometimes, I'll be saving material for a story down the road, or otherwise occupied doing a one-on-one interview, or busy writing reviews of the many, many shows that are (as always) inconveniently debuting during the winter tour. So I can only write as much as I can write.

And, as always, my actual blogging about what's airing on TV is going to suffer while I'm in California. If I've seen a show in advance (like "Chuck" or "Friday Night Lights" or the "How I Met Your Mother" 100th episode), I'll be writing something about it to go up after the episode ends. But for a lot of shows, you may have to wait a while, or just accept that, say, the ABC Wednesday comedies are going to be skipped for a week. I'm limited by time, time zone, and by the speed of the hotel's internet connection. So as with most things press tour, we'll be playing things by ear.

I'll be flying for a good chunk of today, then attending visits to the sets of "FlashForward" and "Community," so don't expect a lot out of me until CBS' day at the hotel begins tomorrow.

See you on the wrong coast...

15 comments:

OldDarth said...

Have fun!

Joseph Thomson said...

I'm sure even your visit to the Flashforward set will feel dull and overly contrived.

Karen M said...

Joseph Thomson said...
I'm sure even your visit to the Flashforward set will feel dull and overly contrived.

Yes to this.

Have fun at TCA we look forward to your reports. Twitter is eerily quiet this morning :)

JT said...

If Conan has any self respect, he'll walk.

Alex said...

Hey Alan, you know what would be neat? For me, anyway? If you went back and reviewed Twin Peaks - the way you sometimes do with older shows. My wife and I are Netflixing it right now, and I suspect you have some of the same old love for it that I do. Some of its scenes are just amazing.

Hatfield said...

Us West Coasters object to that final line, Sepinwall. We'd think you'd appreciate the warmer weather.

Jerry Colvin said...

NBC forced Carson out early for Leno and upset Carson's preferred replacement, Letterman, in the process. Years later, NBC and Leno are apparently going to screw over O'Brien, who got Carson's blessing to take over the Tonight Show before he died. Leno has not been funny since the 1980s and he's caused too much turmoil already... go away, Jay.

dez said...

Just for that California comment, we're going to fold up our nice weather and have it rain on you for most of press tour, muahahhaha!

BTW, is this also a two-week jaunt, or one? I can't recall.

Lezlie said...

Are you going to attend CBS' NCIS event, "Drink with the DiNozzo'?" If so, I want DETAILS!!!!!

Robert Wagner as Tony's father is perfect.

Diana F. said...

I don't feel bad for Conan--he should have known he was playing with the Devil, unless he's one too.

Anonymous said...

Alan's paychecks are cashed on the east coast, so he's not a fool. :-)

San Diego and San Francisco are nice though.

Pamela Jaye said...

is in happy land with news of more Scott Bakula on Chuck

Little Miss Smoke and Mirrors said...

Find out why Nurse Jackie dumped Mo Mo!

Nicole said...

According to Conan, the new late night show will be called "Coco and the Chin"

WireFan said...

Alan,

I know HBO's panel is on the 14th. Can you say what time it's listed for?