Upfronts 2013: Kanye Rants, "Psych" Dances, Robin Williams Quips and Much, Much More

Every year the TV networks fly to New York and present their new fare wares to the nation's media buyers. It's called the upfronts, and although everyone grumbles that it's an outdated and expensive practice, there are still reasons to do it (as Joe Adalian explains here). This year the networks announced nearly 60 new shows -- and by Friday, it's hard to remember everyone and everything we've seen. But it will be hard to forget some of the other highlights of the week -- including Adult Swim's upfront party. Kanye West was the featured performer, and he definitely brought the crazy, in the form of a mid-concert tirade about... well, I'm still not sure. The media? The world? Celebrity culture? Whatever it was, it was fun. (Not so fun: Kanye's painful new track "Awesome," about you-know-who.) Kanye performed his entire show inside a mesh-covered pyramid (the Kanyeramid -- trademark pending), but briefly ran out to say hi to the crowd -- which is when I snapped this blurry pic. Meanwhile, other highlights included Passion Pit performing a few hits at the USA Network upfront; Icona Pop performing "I Love It" at the CW upfront; and attending the "Saturday Night Live" dress rehearsal featuring guest host Kristin Wiig. Some pics from my week in NYC:


Kanye performs inside his Kanyeramid (trademark pending).


Icona Pop at CW upfront.


Passion Pit at the USA upfront.


More of Passion Pit at the USA upfront.


Cousins Robbie and Stephen Amell, now stars of their own respective CW series. The CW breeding program is a success!


The pretty people of the CW.


The cast of "Psych" performs "Psych: The Musical" at the USA Network upfront.


"New Girl's" Max Greenfield cracks wise and shows off his guns on the Fox upfront stage (at the Beacon Theatre).


Rising star Rebel Wilson gives a deadpan speech on stage at the ABC upfront (at Lincoln Center).


The cast of hot ABC drama "Scandal" on stage at the network's upfronts.


"Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." on the ABC stage.


Robin Williams at the CBS upfront.


Congrats to Paul Hewitt for getting this "#dropthemic" reference all the way through and on screen at the CBS upfront (at Carnegie Hall). Sadly, Leslie Moonves is not really on Twitter.


When David Letterman walked on stage for his first upfront in several years, we all started to brace for a potential retirement announcement. He hugged Moonves and started talking fondly about CBS. "This could be it," I thought to myself. And then it wasn't. Thank goodness. That would have turned our afternoon upside down.

Did "Political Animals" Name Its President After Eric Garcetti?

In USA Network's new Washingto-set drama "Political Animals," Adrian Pasdar plays the President of the United States, while Sigourney Weaver, whose character initially ran against him (shades of Hillary Clinton), is now his Secretary of State.

Pasdar's name on the show? "President Paul Garcetti."

Wait, "Garcetti"? As in city councilman Eric Garcetti, currently running for mayor of Los Angeles? I asked executive producer Laurence Mark if the character was indeed named after our Garcetti (or even his equally famous dad Gil) -- but Mark says it's a complete coincidence: "Oh gosh, seriously, literally it never crossed our mind," Mark told me. "But now that you say something, it should have." Mark says it's not meant to be either pro- or anti- our Garcetti. "We're not fans and we're not not fans," he says.

"Political Animals" premieres Sunday, July 15 at 10 p.m. on USA Network. Meanwhile, what's the deal with all of these Washington, D.C.-set shows suddenly showing up on television? Besides "Political Animals," there's HBO's "Veep," NBC's upcoming "1600 Penn," Showtime's "Homeland," and more. I talk about the trend in this week's TV Guide Magazine; read about it here.

Mike in New York: Upfront Roundup

And so ends another crazy, non-stop week in New York, as ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox and The CW (plus TBS/TNT, USA, Univision, ESPN and more) pimped their new shows to advertisers. I wrote about some of the presentations last week; here are a few more moments from later in the week. Above, "2 Broke Girls" stars Beth Behrs and Kat Dennings, in their diner costumes, opened the CBS upfront.



And then, "NCIS: Los Angeles" star LL Cool J -- oh yeah, you might remember his late 80s hip-hop career -- rapped about CBS' dominance ("CBS is a phenomenon... something like a phenomenon") along side an opera singer.



Possibly the best part of the CBS upfront: A look at what CBS boss Leslie Moonves' Pinterest page might look like. Notice the Julie Chen pics. And lots of cute puppies.



Billy Gardell and Melissa McCarthy appear on stage at the CBS upfront -- but in character, which is one of my big upfront pet peeves. It never works. Partly because they reference being on a show while acting like they're in character. Turner thankfully stopped doing that this year.



T.I. performs at the Adult Swim upfront.



The following day, Flo Rida hits the stage at the CW's morning upfront presentation.



The new stars of the CW join the stage with network boss Mark Pedowitz.



The CW's top execs, with the fall 2012 schedule above them.



Erykah Badu and Mark Ronson at the USA Network upfront.

More stories from upfront: ABC To Bring Back TGIF with Tim Allen and Reba McEntire

Network Q&A: TBS/TNT's Michael Wright On Why He Saved Cougar Town And Plans For Next Season

Network Q&A: CBS' Nina Tassler on Her Fall Schedule

New Showrunners to Replace Dan Harmon on Community

Press Release of the Day: Your Go-To Guy Whenever an Escaped Tiger Mauls a Zoo Patron

Where one man dies, another career blooms: Bay Area tiger trainer Chris Austria discovers that the media just can't get enough of killer tigers. From his release:

Chris Austria has found himself thrust into a national spotlight in the wake of an attack by an escaped Siberian Tiger at the San Francisco Zoo that left a young man dead and his two friends severely injured and under investigation for allegedly taunting the big cat into a hyper aggressive state.

Austria, a highly experienced former professional, now consulting, Tiger Trainer has found himself fielding and fulfilling offers for commentary from national news programs since the Christmas Day attack. In addition, Austria is also starting to receive television development and production consulting offers that will explore or draw from his 13-years of experience raising and training hawks, lions, tigers, pumas, Siegfried and Roy's White Lion cubs, and his other work with polar and spectacled bears, and coyotes.

The release then goes on to congratulate Austria's PR rep for finding him all of those post-tiger-attack gigs. But what will he do if another zoo-goer doesn't get mauled by an animal soon?