Upfronts 2017: Most Memorable Moments

BIGGEST SPOILER

"You might find out how Jack dies next season," teased This Is Us' Milo Ventimiglia. (Side note: We're not getting our hopes up just yet.)

BEST EMERALD CITY JOKE

"How fun was that video of the This Is Us cast surprising fans? You know what else is fun? Imagine doing that with less popular shows. Someone from Emerald City sneaking up behind a stranger, tapping them on the shoulder, 'Who the hell are you?!' You just maced someone from Emerald City." — Seth Meyers

PERFORMANCE MOST LIKELY TO BRING DOWN THE DAMN HOUSE

Jennifer Hudson belting Dreamgirls' iconic "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going" was a hell of a way to kick off NBC's presentation — even if the song would have made more sense closing the event.

MOST RELATABLE ADMISSION

"I just learned what 'key demos' means!" — Superstore's America Ferrera

BEST (NON-FAMILY) REUNION

Among the many things NBC's Will & Grace revival will have to ignore about the original series: Grace actually can sing! 

BEST CHUCK SHOUTOUT

Hey, remember when Zachary Levi asked the audience at the NBC Upfront, "Any Chuck fans out there?" That was neat.

BIGGEST 'GET OFF THE STAGE!' MOMENT

While discussing his transition from pro baseball player to Fox Sports analyst, Alex Rodriguez — who's worth an estimated $300 million — quipped, "I wish they paid as well as the Yankees." (Dude, seriously?)

THE OFFICIAL 'WTF' MOMENT OF THE WEEK

This, my friends, is the face of a man who knows neither where he is nor what is happening. But, damn, does he look cool.

DARKEST LYRICS

We may have been surprised that Fox asked Seth MacFarlane to sing for its advertisers, but we weren't the least bit surprised that he was able to rhyme "kids" with "ISIS vids." (Yikes.)

BIGGEST DREAM COME TRUE

Bob's Burgers' Linda Belcher, on the big screen?! You just know she'll be talking Gayle's ear off about this for weeks.

HOTTEST LI'L NUMBER

Remember that time Empire's Jussie Smollett got an entire audience of advertisers pregnant with but a single hip shake? TVLine remembers.

BEST NON-CROSSOVER

Dear Fox, we'd watch the hell out of Cookie and the Queen. Just saying.

MOST INADVERTANTLY META PERFORMANCE

We get that Fox was trying to promote Rent: Live, but hearing the refrain "525,600 minutes" just reminded us how long we'd been sitting through its presentation.

MOST CASUALLY DRESSED PRESENTER

Nice sweater, Mr. President.

BIGGEST STAGE MOM

"My daughter Erica should be up there singing." — Beverly Goldberg, literally walking through the crowd to hand out cookies schmoopies during ABC's presentation.

BEST EXCUSE

A staple of ABC's annual presentation, Jimmy Kimmel was M.I.A. this year to be with his family — but that's not the reason ABC boss Ben Sherwood gave while reading a letter from Kimmel: "As many of you know, I'm boycotting the ABC Upfront this year to protest the cancellation of Dr. Ken."

BEST USE OF A JOHN MAYER SONG

We never thought we'd hear "Your Body Is a Wonderland" played over a flirty shot of Once Upon a Time's Evil Queen, but that's the Upfronts for ya. (Cooed the EQ, "I love John Mayer!")

MOST DESERVING FINAL BOW

Soak it in, Gladiators! This is the last time you'll be seeing the cast of Scandal at an Upfront together... until ABC decides to revive the series in a little over a year. #Idol

BEST FAMILY REUNION

It was really sweet of Dan to join the rest of the Conners — all the way from heaven*, no less! — for the announcement of the Roseanne revival on ABC.

(*Or hell, I don't know.)

LEAST MEMORABLE PERFORMANCE

We love us some Lea Michele, but if the Red Devil put a machete to our throats and made us tell him which song Michele sang at the Fox Upfront, it would be off with our heads.

BIGGEST SCENE STEALER

We're so used to seeing James Corden sing and dance for CBS, we forgot about the gorgeous vocal stylings of one Stephen Colbert.

BEST EFFORT

James Corden might have missed his shot at starring in CBS All Access' Star Trek: Discovery... but no one can say he didn't try!

BEST AMERICAN IDOL DIG

"That old idea of just one coveted demo is so dated. You know, like American Idol." — CBS president Les Moonves, who previously revealed that CBS chose not to bid on the revival, which ended up on ABC.

BEST MUSICAL PERFORMANCE BY AN EXECUTIVE

Play that funky music, CBS sales president Jo Ann Ross! (Extra points for her follow-up comment: "Don't throw beads. Just throw money.")

MOST IMPRESSIVE RHYME

Can't think of anything to rhyme with Dickerson? Charlie Rose sure did: "I've got a brand new ticker, son!" Bless that man.

JINKIEST REVEAL

Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles aren't the most animated guys in the world... except for when they're literally animated. Color us excited for this special episode.

CHEESIEST PITCH

Something tells us the Legends of Tomorrow won't be making room in the Waverider for CW ad sales chief Rob Tuck — or his super alter ego, Sales Man!

WEIRDEST SONG CHOICE

We're huge fans of The CW's Crazy Ex-Girlfriend... which is why we were surprised that the network asked the cast to perform one of the show's less-memorable songs ("We'll Never Have Problems Again") during the presentation.

(Side note: We still loved it.)

MOST INSPIRING SPEECH

No jokes here. We loved Gina Rodriguez's speech at The CW Upfront about how art — specifically TV — can "open our eyes to the beauty of our differences. ... We can learn a lot about what we're not through art, and that is where the healing begins."