Ah, the sweet scent of the upfront season.

Well, the upfront network media buying season is coming to a close. What a racket.

The broadcast networks all pitching their wares. The senior media buyers gobbling down meals at Per Se. The junior media planners scarfing down crudite at yet another hot party.

So what was the big news this year? Well, ABC, the also-ran of recent years, sold out. Sold it all and closed the books, my friends! So desperate are media people for anything that people might actually pay attention to that they're willing to bet on a show that has Geena Davis as the next president. Yes, that Geena Davis, the one who rivals Jason Alexander in her inability to carry a show.

Maybe ABC will deliver a ton of impressions next year. But how much of an impression will all those impressions make?

I realize that right now, there's still nothing that delivers an audience quite like TV. Some brands just have to be there. But the prices and the gambles don't reflect reality.

One day in the not-too-distant future, I think some people will look back at what they spent on 30 seconds of ad time, remember how little it delivered and feel like, I don't know, puking.