A few weeks ago, we questioned the judgement of NBC when they announced that they would forgo the tradition of the Upfronts. Today, we’ve received a bit of confirmation on that.

In lieu of the upfront ceremony, NBC will unveil a prime-time programming slate that will cover the entire 52-week season. The head honchos of the peacock network will meet with ad executives and buyers in New York for three days in April to discuss the strategy for the new year. Following that, NBCU’s execs will arange meetings in New York, LA and Chicago to talk about buying space on all of the conglomerate’s networks. Then, on May 12, there will be an event that “will showcase the full scale of the NBC U offerings in a unique, multi-media, interactive environment.” I’m imagining that the interactive environment will be centered largely on NBC Universal’s own Hulu service…probably featuring each newly chosen program.

This new 52-week is HUGE, I think. There is no reason that the summer season is virtually devoid of decent programming. Creating a year-round schedule is a tremendous step.

It doesn’t do anything to change the fact that doing away with pilots is the stupidest move in the history of television…and I’m including Cavemen in that list.