• by David Kaplan , May 4, 2005

The power of diversity - second only to the power of celebrity - was the over-arching theme at MTV Network's upfront sales pitch Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden in New York. Among its new programming initiatives, MTV Networks plans to expand its U.S. Spanish and Asian properties, as well as its gay and lesbian-centered channel, Logo. Even Comedy Central, that cynosure of irreverence, will partner with comedian Chris Rock to create an eight-week diversity program for minority student writers this summer.

"Finally, out of the exemplary tradition of groundbreaking writers such as James Baldwin, Toni Morrison, and Ralph Ellison, it is comforting to know that we'll be training kids capable of writing 'Dodgeball'," Rock quipped, after being introduced by Doug Herzog, president of Comedy Central. Rock then referenced Comedy Central star Dave Chappelle's Rick James impression, by perhaps hinting at additional collaborations with the network.

"Maybe I'll even get a show from Comedy Central like Dave Chappelle's Show: Hey! I'm Peabo Bryson, bitch!" said Rock.

Other new Comedy Central shows include:

* "Weekends at the DL," starring African-American comedian DL Hughley, who will take over the 11:00-11:30 slot "on the days of the week ["The Daily Show's"] Jon Stewart's not working" will air Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights.

* "The Colbert Report," which was described as a "no news, news show" about the personality, insight and overall rightness of "The Daily Show" correspondent Stephen Colbert. Or, what "The Daily Show" is to evening news, "The Colbert Report" is to O'Reilly/Scarborough/Hannity/Anderson Cooper, et al...except Colbert's show will be intentionally funny.

* "The Adam Carolla Show," featuring the man behind other Comedy Central shows such as "The Man Show" and "Crank Yankers." It's the basic late night TV talk show format, although Carolla insisted that it would be like "Larry King if he had any fluid in his body."

Switching from Comedy Central to Spike TV, Herzog himself was introduced by Oscar-winning actress Halle Berry - named by Spike as its "most irresistible woman" - who noted her two divorces, but that she had learned a lot about men from watching the channel, namely, the joys of "drinking beer and farting."

Still, the network does plan some serious fare and will present a show about Latin sports legends.

And in what appears to be one of its most diverse shows - one that combines Blaxploitation and Japanese anime - Spike unveiled "Afro Samurai," a series being produced by actor Samuel L. Jackson, who came out to plug the show with a brief clip.

"Other networks talk about diversity, but MTV does it," said Herb Scannell, vice chairman, MTV Networks. "Acculturation is what we're all about."

To further illustrate that point, he spoke live via satellite to Mets pitching star Pedro Martinez and the team's general manager Omar Minaya, who were both at Shea Stadium. By way of segue, Minaya, when presenting the next speaker, asked, "Larry Divney? Does he still have game?"

The MTV ad sales chief sought to establish that not only does he still have game, but so does the network.

"We're moving into various platforms - from broadband to portable technology, we're going to be everywhere our audience is," Divney said.

Divney could have been responding to the recent flops the network has endured in the form of Cameron Diaz's National Geographic meets the "Tonight Show" series "Trippin'" - which got another push on this night -and the successor to the departed "The Osbornes" and "Newlyweds" show starring the former drummer for pop-punk band Blink 182, drummer Travis Barker and his erstwhile Miss USA wife. The show, "Meet the Barkers," has not met expectations, media buyers have said.

Still, an MTV spokeswoman tried to put things in context for the readers of MDN, noting, "We closed our highest rated year ever in 2004, our highest rated first quarter for 12-34, which makes it our eighth consecutive occurrence of first quarter growth among [that demo], and number-one rated 24 hour basic cable network among people ages 12-34 for 32 consecutive quarters."

In terms of the power of celebrity, as usual, MTV pulled out all the stops, some of which were a bit bizarre. Goldie Hawn stumbled over her lines when talking about the network's initiative to get families to promote families watching TV Land together, or when the odd duet of Willie Nelson and Jessica Simpson, who attempted to generate excitement for their star turn in the cinematic remake of "The Dukes of Hazzard," as the original TV show will be running on MTV's CMT. Nelson strummed silently through his co-star's version of "These Boots Are Made for Walking," though he seemed to cringe when she attempted to accompany the country legend on his signature tune, "On The Road Again."

Other notable moments, Roseanne Barr chomping on girl scout cookies as she made fun of TV Land; Paul Reiser, when promoting his sitcom "Mad About You," forgetting where his office is; and the touch of class brought by - huh? - Mariah Carey, who offered a subtle, restrained performance of her comeback hit, "We Belong Together."