• by John Gaffney , March 11, 2003

Rational Exuberance: Jessica Reif-Cohen positioned herself as the Alan Greenspan of the great TV ad comeback last week. You gotta love that. The influential Merrill Lynch analyst told a New York City seminar that the positive vibe around this year’s upfront was too dependent on automotive ads and some other categories. “It can’t go on forever. At what point do they turn off?” she asked. Thank you, Jessica. You have put network TV in the same pantheon as the Internet economy, which needed a cold glass of water from Greenspan a few years ago. I’ve felt for the past six months that network TV was not operating in the same “tough economy” as the rest of the media business. Ad spots are in high demand. Rates are holding steady. Programming has some serious issues, but people sure are watching. Maybe we’re even reaching something on the order of the “Internet bubble.” If we are, I’ll take it. Network TV has too solid a foundation and too many sources of revenue to be concerned about a good stretch going on “forever,” as Reif-Cohen said. The network TV economy is very strong right now. A “tough media economy” is not a broad brush stroke anymore.

Life During Wartime: Talked to a lot of people yesterday that were surprised at Mullen’s decision to go public with advice it gave clients about impending war. I thought it was smart. It allowed Mullen to project a personality that was tough, client-centered and informed.

Parting Shot: Like everyone else, I never read The Drudge Report either, but what’s up with the current obsession about bizarre house cat stories?