• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, April 1, 2008

This season NBC seems to be promising advertisers something new: in addition to ratings and engagement guarantees, it's making genre/time programming guarantees.

Marc Graboff, co-chairman of NBC Entertainment, told Daily Variety if, say, an action hour isn't working, NBC would replace it with another similar action hour -- not a reality show, not a comedy, not a cartoon.

This would be something new and welcome to media buyers. They have long complained the show they buy in May -- say, that spunky new comedy -- is not what ends up being delivered. When a new show fails -- which happens most of the time -- the network ends up running a completely different show -- say, a scandalously revealing reality program.

NBC will try not to do this, says Graboff, because marketers don't like to change plans. Different national TV advertisers can have different requirements when it comes to types of shows and when they run.

NBC will also try not to repeat as much programming as in the past -- since viewers increasingly tend to shy away from those efforts. And advertisers follow those viewers.

Still, running fresh programming all the time will be tougher. He cautions NBC only has so much money to go around. Read that as you like - as perhaps a hint of more reality shows to come.

Maybe this isn't exactly what marketers want to hear. But at least NBC is trying to make good some of its promises concerning the future of the upfront and TV programming. Then again, NBC says it reserves the right to change its mind anyway.

This Wednesday, NBC will unveil its programming plans for 52 weeks during its New York upfront presentation to journalists. This should include seven to 10 new shows, including a new reality series. All this is an attempt to get the word out to advertisers, giving them a bit of an early start - about a month earlier than usual.

What's in store? There'll be lots of fantasy and action on NBC -- which has been NBC Entertainment co-chairman's Ben Silverman not-so-secret desire. He wants to get away from the urban, serious relationships shows, and into more fun.

In this regard, he has already been successful in bringing on "American Gladiators" and the old NBC show "Knight Rider." now turned into a TV movie and soon to be turned into a series,

If it all works, advertisers won't mind the injection of fantasy and escapism against the realities of their real marketing worlds.

Clarification:

In yesterday's TV Watch, "Nielsen Stumbles Over Network Metrics: Bad Omen For New Digital Measures?," there was reference to coverage area ratings of some 20 cable networks that were improperly inflated. While that is correct, Nielsen says the actual number of viewers of those networks was not inflated.