As he meets with the nation’s top media buyers this morning, NBC Entertainment prexy Kevin Reilly is in for a different reception than the one he got a year ago.
The buyers — in town this week for the annual flurry of network development presentations — were still questioning the possibility of an NBC ratings recovery last year, when Reilly gave them the first glimpse at shows such as “Heroes” and “Friday Night Lights.”
“The advertisers last year looked at us as really sucking wind,” Reilly said. “I think they went in with not much evidence that we knew what we were doing.”
But Reilly said the network was starting to feel a bit of “a perceptual turnaround.”
“I came out of the meeting with the first indication that they gave us credit for showing some life, that NBC was back in the game,” he said.
Jump ahead a year: “Heroes” turned into the year’s top-rated frosh scripted series, while “Friday Night Lights” and “30 Rock” earned some of the year’s highest critical praise. More recently, Reilly renewed his contract at the net, providing some stability in the top programming chair.
Frank Wilson is a retired teacher with over 30 years of combined experience in the education, small business technology, and real estate business. He now blogs as a hobby and spends most days tinkering with old computers. Wilson is passionate about tech, enjoys fishing, and loves drinking beer.
