• by Wayne Friedman , January 15, 2009

 

UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif.--Fourth-place network NBC's corporate session at the Television Critics Association tour was a little bit of a crucible for its new programming executives.

Angela Bromstad, the new president of prime-time entertainment for NBC and Universal Media Studios, and Paul Telegdy, the new executive vice president of alternative programming for NBC and Universal Media Studios, fielded testy questioning, including future program development related to NBC losing five hours of prime-time programming as a result of Jay Leno coming on at 10 p.m., the absence of senior corporate executives available for session questions, and what's to blame for the network's low standing among viewers compared to other networks.

One TV writer wanted to know what has been causing problems with the schedule.

"You have to have a long-term strategy," responded Bromstad. "There has been miscommunication, and it's largely our fault in not communicating it well. I'm new in the job. But I'm not new to NBC. We are constantly being challenged by the people that we work for to come up with different ways of doing things, different business models. But the programmers know it's about the quality of the show."

Despite the fact that talk-show host Leno will take over at 10 p.m. five days a week, Bromstad insisted that the network will probably do the same number of pilots it shot two years ago, which then consisted of six dramas and four comedies.

For this spring, NBC will start up a new crime drama set in Los Angeles from TV producer John Wells--"Southland," on April 9 at 10 p.m., in the longtime "ER" time slot. Wells is also the producer of "ER." New drama "Kings," which was originally scheduled for the "ER" time slot, will move to Sundays at 8 p.m.

Also for the spring, Telegdy, the new head of reality programming, said there will be another "Celebrity Apprentice," starting March 1--as well as a reality cooking show "Chopping Block," which begins March 11.

Bromstad said that two shows--"The Office" and "30 Rock"--were a go for next season--but "Heroes," both "Law & Order" shows and others have yet to get the go-ahead. She noted that "Lipstick Jungle" is not canceled, and may return next season in some form.

One writer asked why the two co-chairmen of NBC Entertainment and Universal Media Studios, Ben Silverman and Marc Graboff, were not on the stage to answer pressing questions concerning the network. Telegdy said he and Bromstad were there to talk specifically about TV shows--but not about big corporate issues. He did add that Silverman and Graboff were available for questions throughout the day.