▌VOCAB ▌Somewhere in Advance of Upfronts

I'm in a teachable mood...

both in the giving and receiving sense. (Rare when they align...)

Today, I want to explain a term you may see on the blog a bit in the coming weeks.

I've used it once in referring to BET's effort to resurrect 'The Game,' and now I feel like I want to talk about it more in depth. 

Time permitting, I'll keep my word when I say I'll do this more often. But if I don't, here's a handy reference to keep in mind when you see entertainment jargon spewed wildly about without interpretation: Variety's Slanguage Glossary.

I will use the Glossary now to give you a nutshell definition of the term under discussion in this post: upfront.

The upfront is commercial time sold in advance of the TV season. The Variety Slanguage Glossary offers these words in context, and if you follow the pretty green link, you'll see how you can expect to hear the term "upfront" when used by folks who know what they're talking about.

The purpose of an upfront presentation is all about securing advertising moolah for a network "up front," or in advance of a programming season.

If you're looking for a sign of just how old television's way of doing business is, the upfronts are a good one. All the original broadcast networks, (CBS, NBC, ABC), plus the newbies (FOX, then SUPA nube CW) present rather lavish previews of their fall programming in May. This year, the week of May 17th.

This is when they 'sice' [DMV vocab] they're programming--and demographic appeal--in order to sell off those ad spots. In any article about an upfront presentation, you're very likely to see at least these pieces of information: network viewers in a particular salary range,  age bracket, show genre and length, stars who are on board with a specific show.

You can take a gander at just how frou-frou-chic-chic past upfronts have gotten over at the New York Times Media Decoder blog, devoted to such a time as this.

(I hear Bravo's NJ Housewives are helping the net' do it up real big...)

Cable doesn't necessarily have a designated time period to shake a leg for ad dinero, but  you BESTA BUH-LEEEEE they get it in, too. (Check B&C.) Whether they have to hack their time or straight up take it.... TBS is best known for mischief started during upfronts, but I've said enough. 

Check back often with NYT and Variety, as well as Broadcasting & Cable (who are veerrrrry comprehensive in their cable upfront reporting) for new news where upfronts are concerned. It may get your gears turning, so that when your time comes to pitch your extremely amazing idea, you know where your listeners' heads are at.