All next week I will be reporting often from New York City. It's upfronts time.
To accompany my preview (see below) of the 2006 network upfront presentations -- which start Monday with NBC at Radio City Music Hall -- I chatted with Bill Carter. He's the New York Times TV writer whose new book, Desperate Networks, tells the surprisingly turbulent backstories of a half-dozen monster hit shows and how they somehow, against all odds, made it onto the prime time schedule.
The reason I talked with Bill is that, (a) I loved his book, and (b) he opened both Desperate Networks and his previous book, The Late Shift, at a network upfront.
Here's an edited podcast of our chat: Bill_Carter.mp3
Nikki Finke has the latest pilot rundown (except of course for CBS, whose battening-down of leaks would make Donald Rumsfeld proud):
Link - Deadline Hollywood Daily.
Most surprising news from there? I suppose it would be the renewal of "What About Brian?" Also I'm a little surprised to see Tina Fey in the running, though perhaps the show she is pitching has less to do with "Studio 60," the Aaron Sorkin number NBC has already picked up, than we'd been led to believe.
My leader piece from today's Star is on the jump.