Duh-pfront

Yay, May.

That's the time of the year when the networks (and the CW [ha!!]) have their upfront presentations.

The little Netlet that could had it's today, and it's tradition for me to talk about it, so here we go.

The musical guest for this year's presentation was Katie Perry, the woman that sings that horrid "I Kissed a Girl" diddy. She performed two songs, neither of which I had ever heard, and probably would not recognize if I heard them again now. The 2nd one, we were told, is going to be the theme for the CW Summer advertising campaign, so, um, I'm sure I will hear it again.

WHile my respect for Katie Perry is more or less nonexistent, I did get a chuckle out of her attempt to get a rise from the crowd. During the first performance, she said, "Is it too early for you to stand up have some fucking fun?" Hee. I do love it when the f bombs get thrown around. (Sadly, there were no crowd reactions from her rhetorical question, but I'm sure that there was some bigwig somewhere who was rather unhappy about it.)

Anyway. After she finished doing her songs, she introduced the executive vice president of network advertising sales, Rob Tuck. He's the type of individual who simply can not display human emotion without sounding like he's being paid to do it. You know what I mean. He tried to make jokes (dude. Don't quit your day job) and light banter about Katie Perry, but it just wasn't working. So, he handed the presentation off to Dawn Ostroff, the president of entertainment for the CW, who was welcomed with a stunning lack of applause.

Dawn talked about how the CW is fantasticly in touch with the youth of today, what with being online and twitter friendly and app this and facebook that, and several times the phrase "Generation D" was used.

Sigh.

The "D" stands, of course, for "Digital", and ...I just can't muster up enough emotion to be angry about this. It's irritating and stupid and gross and just ...gaaaah. No wonder young people hate us.

If I were feeling more witty, I'd make some jokes about degeneration (get it? D-generation?) or how it's Generation Duh, but they were made during the upfront (by us watching it) so they just feel tired and pointless now.

Anyway.

Only 2 new programs premiering this fall: Hellcats, a drama about cheerleading at a college that loves football. Basically Bring It On: The Series. I'll pass. It does have Sharpay from the High School Musical movies in it. So, good for her for finding work, I guess. Also, the executive producer is Tom Welling (Clark Kent from Smallville). Which is just...kinda weird, actually.

The other new show is Nikita, a remaking of the La Femme Nikita series from back in the 90s. Basically, Nikita is an ex-CIA assassin who goes rogue after developing a conscious regarding who she's killing. And so she's being hunted, while also wanting to take down the people who trained her. It could be semi-entertaining in a mindless popcorn type of way. Of course, it's on Thursday nights, so expect it to be slaughtered in the numbers.

There are 2 new reality shows for later in the year, both sound horrid. Plain Jane - a makeover reality show for the summer, where a "life coach" takes young women who have crushes, gives them makeovers, then lets them go on dates with their would be suitors. Blah. Looks like a rejected show from TLC or something.

And "Shedding for the Wedding", basically Biggest Loser for folks planning on getting married soon. Bor-ing!!

So that was basically it. The new lineup, for what it's worth:

Monday
8p- 90210
9p - Gossip Girl
Tuesday
8p - One Tree Hill (still??? Seriously. This was supposed to be the last season!!)
9p - Life Unexpected
Wednesday
8p - America's Next Top Model
9p - Hellcats
Thursday
8p - Vampire Diaries
9p - Nikita
Friday
8p - Smallville
9p - Supernatural