Station Managers Are Upbeat on CBS Pilots

A team of CBS executives, led by chief executive Laurence Tisch as pitcher, lost a softball game against a team of CBS station managers Thursday night at Dodger Stadium. Other than that, there was surprisingly little competition between the network and the stations that carry its programming at CBS’ annual convention here this week.

“People were screaming and yelling several years ago when CBS first dropped into third place in the ratings,� said Lee Wagner, general manager of KMVT-TV in Twin Falls, Ida. “But this time everybody came here more upbeat.�

Station managers said that they liked the pilots for CBS’ upcoming prime-time schedule and were encouraged about CBS’ prospect for improvement in the ratings under Jeff Sagansky, the new entertainment chief at the network.

“I don’t see anything that looks like a breakaway hit, but this schedule is definitely commercial this time,� Wagner said.

“This is the best group of pilots I’ve seen in several years,� said Marshall Noeker, president of Lamco Communications, which owns several CBS stations around the country.

Another reason the affiliates were upbeat, Noeker suggested, was that the network’s performance during the May sweeps, when it finished second ahead of ABC, had benefited the stations’ local news.

Several affiliates cited “Lenny,� a sitcom with a blue-collar hero, and “WIOU,� a drama about a down-and-out TV station, as shows with potential. (The gallows humor in the “WIOU� pilot--showing the news of overnight Nielsens upstaging a funeral for an anchorman--was well received when the pilot was screened for the TV managers.)

On Friday, CBS trotted out the anchors of its news programs, from Dan Rather to the casts of “60 Minutes� and “CBS This Morning,� which has been showing gains in the ratings against NBC’s “Today.�

During a closed-door session between affiliates and network executives, a question was raised about whether CBS might consider a co-anchor such as Connie Chung for “CBS Evening News.� But CBS News President David Burke noted that audience research did not favor co-anchors in general and that such a concept was not being considered.