Putting upfront week in perspective...

... is an online poll conducted by Bolt Media (I know, I hadn't heard of them, either) that found that 4 out of 5 teens between the ages of 16-18 could not name the big four broadcasters, and that one out of three people under the age of 34 could not even name one of the networks.

The poll goes on to say that young people spend more time online than watching TV. But then, so do I, and I'm a TV critic, so that hardly seems a remarkable stat.

Now, online polls are generally suspect, and, if you visit Bolt's site, you understand immediately that it's not exactly aimed at rocket scientists -- Forrest Gump would likely find it a little low-brow. But it does bespeak the networks' ongoing challenge in trying to reach young viewers, who didn't grow up in that three-network universe so never learned through osmosis that sort of brand loyalty.

During her upfront on Thursday, The CW's Dawn Ostroff offered advertisers a rather bemusing sociological profile of the network's average viewer, which included the sort of pointless observation that young people today are individualistic yet seek a sense of community. (And older people aren't?) "They know that fame and success are attainable, and they're going to go for it!" she enthused, before showing brief films of "typical" 18-to-34-year-olds that more or less reveled in their shallowness. Afterward, I was speaking to someone who worked for an ad agency who pointed out that none of the three profiled (a college student, a volunteer whose girlfriend buys most of his things for him, a stay-at-home mom) had their own personal income, and therefore wondered why The CW would try to sell these people as typical of the network's audience to advertisers. So even for ostensible experts, trying to figure out the youth movement is fraught with peril.