An ice storm in New York City
wasn’t enough to keep TV One from hosting
its first-ever upfront presentation om
Feb. 2, which also was the first of the new
upfront season.
It almost blocked three of the African-
American-targeted network’s biggest celebrity
attractions from getting there,
though.
Event host and comedian Christopher
“Kid” Reid, actress Tatyana Ali and actor
Phil Lewis — stars of scripted series Love
That Girl! — were stranded in Los Angeles
after commercial flights into New
York airports were cancelled the day before
(Feb. 1).
TV One had to charter a private
flight for the stars, who
made it in time to join actress/
model LisaRaye, news personality
Roland Mart in, model
Toccara and musical acts Bell
Biv DeVoe and Mint Condition
on stage at Cipriani.
Executive vice president
and chief revenue officer Keith
Bowen said the seven-year
old TV One wanted to be the
first cable network out of the gate in the
packed and crowded upfront event season
— even if it did risk the wrath of a
Groundhog Day storm. (MTV’s upfront
in New York was later that day.)
“We felt like we were at a point in
our life cycle that it was time to create
a bridge to the ad community because
most of the people who are in the room
are not our viewers,” Bowen said. “We
wanted to get out there first.”
Mis-Guided Info
On Rep. Giffords
Prompts Regret
If there were one congressional bio that
Roll Call/Congressional Quarterly probably
didn’t want to get wrong in its “Congress
At Your Fingertips” guide to the 112th
Congress, it was Rep. Gabrielle Giffords
(D-Ariz.). Her attempted assassination
made her one of the highest-profile people
in the country, though someone most
people were not familiar with before the
incident. Journalists and others use the
guides as a quick reference for congressional
newsmakers.
Unfortunately that is what happened to
a version of the guide sent as a premium
for those renewing subscriptions to the
publications, according to a subscriber and
veteran journalist who noticed the error and
flagged The Wire.
(Our dog-eared copy of the C-SPAN
pocket guide from two Congresses ago has
the correct info for Giffords.)
The bulk of the entry is actually the bio
of her losing Republican opponent, Jesse
Kelly. There’s a reference to Kelly’s bio on
another page, because the guide was published
before the close race was called —
Giffords won by only a few thousand votes
and the race was not decided until several
days after the election.
“We regret the error and it has since
been corrected in an addendum page,” Roll
Call/CQ promotions director Rebecca Gale
told the Wire. “Our upcoming guide will
have the correct information.”
Fans Rally ‘Round
‘EastEnders’ After
Renewed Threat
Fans who watch East-
Enders, the longrunning
British TV soap, on
New York public television
station WLIW are
at it again, trying to
raise funds to keep the
show on the air.
Pledges earmarked
to the show fell
$18,000 short of
what’s needed for
the annual license fee
to the BBC, so the
station’s vice president of marketing and
communications, Laura Savini, put out a call
to fans for help. The deadline is Feb. 28.
There’s a precedent for this: six years
ago, after the station actually canceled the
show, fans raised $33,000 to keep it on
the air. Two years later, fans in the Washington,
D.C., area raised $52,000 to keep
the show in its U.S. form — several years
behind the U.K. episodes — on WETA.
As of Feb. 8, fan Deborah Gilbert, spearheading
the campaign, had tallied $8,535
in checks. She’s volunteered to hold onto
them and return them if the goal isn’t met.
Donations made separately to WLIW can’t
be returned, but will count toward the total.
“I think we’re going to do
it,” Gilbert said. “I’m not
going to panic.” To contact
her, and receive her free
newsletter e20Chronicles
(named for the fictional London
district where the show
is set), e-mail E20Launderette@gmail.com.
Savini also said she was
hopeful the show won’t
be canceled — as it was
recently by Colorado Public
Television Channel 12, after
25 years on the schedule.
