TV Press Tour slouches towards its merciful conclusion with a sad, resigned sigh from NBC

In the past, networks showing off their wares at TV Press Tour have treated the hard-working journalists covering the event to sumptuous buffets of food like this:

But with this sorry economic downturn, this Press Tour - which the Washington Post's Lisa de Moraes has taken to calling the "I Think I'll Just Take Some of These Dinner Rolls to Feed My Hungry Children Winter TV Press Tour 2009" - the spreads have looked more like this:

NBC's even trimming costs by not bothering scheduling an entire day of press conferences and avoiding having their big guns, co-chairmen Ben Silverman and Marc Graboff, give a press conference. Instead, they've trotted out primetime entertainment executive Angela Bromstad and reality guy Paul Telegdy, who can dodge the tougher questions about NBC's woes; as Telegdy puts it, "We're here to talk about TV shows rather than corporate changes."

It kind of feels like a cheap overseas knockoff of a Press Tour session. With, probably, unhealthy levels of lead paint.

So here's the news: Bromstad thinks, "We still have some amazing quality shows on the air" and "Knight Rider" and "Kath & Kim" are "fair tries." They're "thrilled" to have Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien on the network. The network has still not officially cancelled "Lipstick Jungle." And they've added three more episodes of the final season of "ER," because, you know, why not. Bromstad kind of dances around what kind of programming she likes, pretty much settling on whatever's good. "You have to have a strategy," she explains. "We have to have quality and we have to have the ratings."

Pretty revolutionary notions, I'm sure you'll agree. As press conferences go, it's a fair try.