Monday, Jan. 14
The 2008 Women in Cable Telecommunications (WICT) Chapter Leadership Conference kicks off at the Grand Hyatt in Atlanta's Buckhead 'hood. The Chapter Membership Meeting is at 4, then it's time for Happy Hour. ABC Family has the season-two premiere of Kyle XY, starring Matt Dallas as that freaky kid with no bellybutton. A Kyle marathon starts at 11 a.m. and the premiere rolls at 8. Elsewhere in premieres for the younger set, Nickelodeon “invites the brave knights of the preschool set to rock out with The Backyardigans” when the hour-long movie Tale of the Mighty Knights rolls at 7 p.m. ET. The funkiest bunch of small-screen scamps around embarks on a music-filled medieval adventure on Nick.
Tuesday, Jan. 15
The 2008 Emerging Technologies shindig, hosted by the Society of Telecommunications Engineers, is in full swing at the WestinBonaventure in Los Angeles. Today features a keynote from Futurist.com founder Glen Hiemstra, then the session “Advanced Advertising Technology: Driving the Next Growth Engine.” Across the country, New York Women in Film and Television offers Web Savvy 101, showing members how to use them Interwebs to promote their films. Elsewhere in Gotham, Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara share the stage, much as they have for the past half-century, at the 92nd Street Y, while Jeopardy! stud Ken Jennings reads from his Trivia Almanac at Barnes & Noble in Chelsea. And lest we forget—that American Idol program is back on Fox at 8, as Simon and the gang show some Philadelphia hopefuls what brotherly love is all about.
Wednesday, Jan. 16
It's the NBC Everywhere Digital Out-of-Home Presentation at Studio 8H in Manhattan's Rockefeller Plaza. The likes of NBC Universal Integrated Media President Beth Comstock, NBC Everywhere SVP/General Manager Mark French and NBC Local Media prez John Wallace do some number-crunching. The press gets a taste of the findings—and hopefully a taste of some free grub—at 12:30, with the full presentation at 2. Down in the Sunshine State, ROI 2008—the Broadcast Television New Business Conference is on at the South Seas Resort in Captiva Island, Fla. Craig Reumund of ESA & Co. dishes on “The Broadcast Challenge.” Just as that confab kicks off, the Emerging Technologies bash in L.A. winds down. TVPredictions.com guru Philip Swann—“Swanni” to his friends—does the lunch keynote.
Thursday, Jan. 17
The Radio & Television News Directors Foundation conducts “News and Terrorism: Communicating in a Crisis” at the Blake Hotel in Charlotte, N.C. The skull session “brings together journalists, news managers, public officials, public information officers, business leaders, scientists and technical experts to work through a tabletop terror scenario.” Former ABC newsman John McWethy moderates. Back at ROI 2008 in Florida, the sessions include “Competitive Media” as well as “Selling Through Political.”
Friday, Jan. 18
Talk about your jungle fever. Cartoon Network rolls out a “vine-swinging ride” with the undisputed King of the Jungle when the series George of the Jungle debuts at 7:30. Fully 41 years after Jay Ward's iconic George premiered on ABC, Cartoon introduces the youth of today to George and pals Ape, Ursula, Magnolia and Shep. You might take a moment to remind the kiddies that George is a trained professional, and swinging into trees is not recommended in your yard.
