• by John Gaffney , May 15, 2003

Reality Bites: I hate myself for using the cute phrase, but that does seem to be what advertisers told TV networks about reality TV. And it does seem to be what TV networks figures out about reality TV. The show's over for now. I think the most striking development of the upfront, and the only real surprise so far, is that no new reality TV shows have been developed for the fall. One month ago that would have seemed highly unlikely to say the least. Now, this doesn't mean that come November the cable and broadcast networks won't start popping inane concepts for failed shows like bread from a bakery. But this is significant. I think advertisers made it clear that reality TV was not a sustainable concept. I think the networks figured out that a reliance on reality TV was undermining their strong suit, which is scripted shows and news. So count reality TV over until its called back for an encore when the networks need it. There will be a brief encore for the end of the year. There will be a longer one next summer.

Trouble In Paradise: It was a bastion of publishing management as well as journalistic integrity until the Jayson Blair incident. Now The New York Times is fair game for everyone that wants to take a shot, and it certainly has taken some good shots at itself. My take? The Times needs to contain this fire within its own building. It's no time to start questioning every reporter that ever took notes. They have to be confident that they've hired the best people in the business, and that this was an isolated incident. I started my career at a NYT property in Maine. When you walk in the door it is made plain that you're expected to play at a very high level. I'm assuming that's still the case in Times Square.

At The Buzzer: Got a lot of email about the story we ran earlier this week from Arbitron. It said - basically - that people are ready, willing and able to look at ads while they wait for movies. This is incredulous, say most of our emailers. But the Aribtron survey says that people wait an average of 18 minutes before a movie. I say 18 minutes is fair game for advertisers.