Trailers make a comeback as acting talent is absent
In recent years, TV network groups have overwhelmed advertisers with ever-growing portfolios of linear, digital, events, sports and more to advertise against. A seeming casualty has been trailers for the shows themselves, frequently noted as a missed element by industry sources.
NBCU filled that gap with 10 trailers for shows coming to NBC, Peacock and Telemundo, as well as sizzle reels for Universal films and NBCU’s sports rights. But the uptick in trailers made apparent another absence—on-screen talent.
The show included a montage of favorite “Saturday Night Live” moments, without any “SNL” talent present. This included the absence of late-night funnyman Seth Myers, who was not on hand to do his usual roasting of the entire upfront process. And a video of interviews with show creators including Amy Poehler, Rian Johnson and Dick Wolf featured a disclaimer that the interviews were conducted in April 2023, before the writers went on strike.
Also read: Advertisers brace for writers’ strike fallout
Instead, NBCU filled its 90-minute presentation with reality TV stars, including talent from “Vanderpump Rules” and the cast of Bravo’s reboot for “Real Housewives of New York.”
Telemundo actors Rafael Amaya and William Levy stood out as the sole scripted series actors to appear on stage.
Still, there were some star-studded moments, including performances from singers Grace Potter, McEntire and Jonas.
Overall, the NBCU upfront was slightly more subdued than shows past, hitting a highlight early on with the opening musical performance from animated toy Ted, who had the audience of advertisers shouting with laughter with ad-themed lyrics such as, “Twitter may seem like the place to begin, but Twitter just let all the crazies back in,” and “We all were just dreamers to think that the streamers were anything else besides fads—Netflix and chill became a slogan that stuck; so we tried one that we called Peacock and fuck.”
Ted, the titular character from the Seth Macfarlane movie series, is currently being adapted into a Peacock show.
