• by John Gaffney , January 22, 2003

Warm Weather, Baseball, Cookouts And Jill Millionaire: Fox announced yesterday that it will start to launch shows in the summer more regularly. "One of the lessons that reality television has taught us is that summer is a really good time to launch big franchises," said Fox Television Entertainment Chairman Sandy Grushow. "It's a better time than all six networks launching within the same week or two in late September." This is very sound logic. It has a limited track record of success. If followed by other networks, the strategy has the potential to change the TV landscape in several ways. First, it will give programmers three seasons to kill weak shows and introduce new ones. Second, it will further weaken the upfront buying process. No reason to spend all your money upfront when a network could change horses in midstream. Third, I think it will make network TV a more vital and profitable entertainment business. The option of summer launches, or even a summer season, gives families more reasons to tune in, rather than tune out of re-runs. I’m not a fan of reality TV. I think we’re close to saturation. But innovation continues to come from Fox, and all props to them.

You Go, Billy: Trade shows, in my experience, are usually event where you go make nice-nice. The big schmooze. Bags of SWAG. Did I forget open bars? Anyway, you have to admire the guts of Louisiana Congressman Billy Tauzin who got in front of a NATPE crowd that would like nothing better than to see media ownership rules disappear, and stuck to his guns. "It still appalls me that we have a big agency that regulates speech in America," Tauzin told a session yesterday. Hardly schmoozing.

Roe V. Wade Anniversary: I’m not taking any sides here. But I do think it’s worth noting that the coverage I’ve seen has been fairly balanced and respectable in its depth. I don’t count cable talk shows as coverage.