Sports Illustrated’s Peter King will be part of NBC’s return to the NFL this year, as such, he was required to attend NBC’s dog and pony show for advertisers at Radio City Music Hall this month. Here’s a snippet of how it went:
Then we were ushered into the biggest green room ever, the bottom floor of Radio City, to wait to be taken out, show by show, to the stage. Saw Josh Lyman from The West Wing; Bradley Whitford’s on a new show. Got a coffee next to the 40-Year-Old Virgin guy. Sat a row down from Regis Philbin and Donald Trump. Interesting world these guys live in. They sure do get cheered a lot.
The next day I was with Ebersol in an NBC seminar — actually talking to my old pal Michaels — when Ebersol got the news that floats boats in this arena. Grey’s Anatomy, the Sunday-night ABC doctors/sex show (I’m sure that’s not how it’s referred to by the Hollywood press, though), was being moved to Thursday night. “To me,” Ebersol said, “Grey’s Anatomy is the only current hit show on TV that has the opportunity to be an even bigger hit. This is very good for us.” Whatever you say, boss.
One other surprise: the emphasis on podcasts, the Internet, digital media. Seems like that’s half of what NBC’s doing, and I hear this network’s not alone. “This is the year every major advertiser wants to know what you’re going to do for them on the Internet,” Ebersol said.
Blog away, world.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member