One thing you can bank on next week is that the TV networks won’t be showing off dazzling pilots of new shows at the upfronts, as we highlighted in a preview.

Executives have made no secret of the fact that pilots are costly, and, it seems, not all that useful. Already, NBC previewed their season with little more than a few very, very short clips. CBS, ABC and Fox aren’t expected to offer a whole lot more.

So what do advertising buyers think of this brave new world without pilots? Are they and their clients comfortable shelling out big bucks without seeing a full episode of a new comedy or drama.

Here’s what several had to say on the subject:

Aaron Cohen, Director of Broadcast at Horizon Media:

It worries me, but it’s similar to when replacements are made for programs that aren’t working.

It hasn’t been for a while that you’ve been able to lay down a schedule and say ‘This is what I’m buying and it’s going to be there for four quarters.’ You know you want to reach this particular demographic and you know they have an affinity to watch these forms of programming more than others. That’s what you’re looking for.

   
Stacey Shepatin, Senior Vice President, Director of National Broadcast at Hill Holliday:

It always makes you feel better when you can see the full pilot. The goal will be to be able to see a full episode to make sure that it is appropriate for our brands, there are no content issues and the storyline fits with what our consumers are looking for. So that will all come into play when we look at what shows to purchase.

You’re not going to just run blindly into something, you’re going to want to see what the production quality is, what the storylines are, all of that.

Donna Wolfe, Chief Negotiations Officer at Universal McCann:

The interesting thing is for years we were able to view new pilots. but the failure rate for new shows was extremely high. On average, 70 percent of the new shows fail. All the testing that the networks do, and all the pilots, it doesn’t necessarily spell success.

But I think we have to be comfortable that the content will be appropriate for our clients. It’s in their best interest and the network’s.

(Photo: Reuters) 

Hold on to your hats, it’s time for the upfronts!

Or maybe it’s “hold your horses” instead. We forgot for a moment that this year the annual advertising bonanza is supposed to be a bit more subdued.

Still, CBS chief executive Les Moonves sounded fairly pumped up about the presentation on May 14, telling analysts that he felt “truly excited about this year’s show because it clearly showcases the way we are refining our media assets and updating our programming to match the needs of today’s market.”

Advertising prices, he said during CBS’s earnings conference call, have been up in the double digits in the scatter market, leading him to forecast a “healthy upfront selling season.”

But before negotiations get into full swing, there is the issue of the upfront presentations themselves. What will they look like after the screenwriters’ strike cut short the development season and prompted the industry to rethink (sort of) how it does business?

Moonves said that many of the network’s new 2008-09 shows were made as presentations rather than pilots. Presentations, he said, could be shot in five or six days rather than 10 or 12 for pilots, cost 50 percent less, and contain only what would be the key scenes of the storyline.

“To say we’ve saved tens of millions of dollars in development costs would be an accurate statement,” he said.

It remains to be seen what impact the shortened development season will have on quality, although Moonves said a “compressed” season could pressure writers into doing better work.

By the sound of it, that’s an educated guess by Moonves, who said he’s seen just two of the new CBS shows, “One which I absolutely adore.”

So NBC rolled out its 2008-09 schedule — it covers all 52 weeks, comes six weeks earlier than normal, and, without any pilots or trailers to showcase the new programs, leaves quite a lot to the imagination.

Take the ”The Office” spin-off. NBC Entertainment Co-Chairman Ben Silverman sidestepped every question about the show, saying only that it would launch after the Super Bowl with Greg Daniels heading up the project. Other than that? Zip.

Mostly, NBC executives focused on broader themes of the programs and the season. This is how they basically want the scheduling to play: 8-9 p.m. is family hour; 9-10 p.m. is big hit, big show hour; 10-11 p.m is high end, adult dramas.

In its hour-long presentation, NBC sketched out the schedule through the summer of 2009. A lot of that likely isn’t set in stone. But here is what next fall will look like on NBC if everything goes ahead as planned. 

(Note that new shows are in all caps) 

Monday

• 8-9 p.m. “Chuck”
• 9-10 p.m. “Heroes”
• 10-11 p.m. “MY OWN WORST ENEMY”

Tuesday

• 8-9:30 p.m. “The Biggest Loser: Families”
• 9:30-10 p.m. “KATH & KIM”
• 10-11 p.m. “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit”

Wednesday

• 8-9 p.m. “KNIGHT RIDER”
• 9-10 p.m. “Deal or No Deal”
• 10-11 p.m. “Lipstick Jungle”

Thursday

• 8-8:30 “My Name is Earl”
• 8:30-9 p.m. “30 Rock”
• 9-9:30  p.m. “The Office”
• 9:30-10 p.m. “The Office” (second part of hour-long editions) or SNL THURSDAY NIGHT LIVE (election specials)
• 10-11 p.m. “ER”

Friday

• 8-9 p.m. “Crusoe”
• 9-10 p.m. “Deal or No Deal”
• 10-11 p.m. “Life”

Saturday

• 8-9 p.m. “Dateline NBC”
• 9-10 p.m. “KNIGHT RIDER” (encores)
• 10-11 p.m. “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” (encores)

Sunday

• 7-8:20 p.m. “Football Night in America”
• 8:20-11 p.m. “NBC Sunday Night Football”

(Photo: Reuters / Ben Silverman)