Jimmy Kimmel Skewers Upfronts Because That's What He Does
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While the tradition may not be as entrenched as the WME Peter Luger dinner, the lox at the CBS breakfast or the inevitable horseplay in Central Park following the Fox party, Jimmy Kimmel’s lacerating set at the ABC upfront presentation has become an indispensible ritual for ad buyers, sellers and network suits.
Tuesday afternoon marked the thirteenth time the “Jimmy Kimmel Live” host took the stage at Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall, and while his jabs at ABC’s rivals were no less stinging, the comic eased up on the speaking-truth-to-power shtick. There would be no reprise of his bit from 2012, when he groused, “How many times do I have to tell you this is bullshit? This is bullshit.”
The annual reminder that buying TV means investing in shows that will fail 9 times out of 10 was absent from this year’s set; nor did Mr. Kimmel make cracks about creeping senescence in broadcast viewers or the inherent gullibility of buyers. Whether that was a function of Mr. Kimmel not wanting to pour cold water all over ABC sales chief Geri Wang’s data-intensive pitch or just a tacit acknowledgment that it’s bad business to celebrate TV’s seemingly inexorable decline to a room full of people who have other places to spend their clients’ money, is anyone’s guess.
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