High-Profile Programs vs. Olympics

Television: CBS figures to continue its winning ways with the Games, but ABC, NBC and Fox have a few--less expensive--ideas of their own.

CBS won big with the Super Bowl, won big with the World Series and figures to win big with the Winter Olympics that begin next week.

It is the No. 1 network in prime-time ratings. It has probably the best series on TV, “Northern Exposure,� and the best new one, “Brooklyn Bridge.�

And yet, in a curious way, CBS is the Rodney Dangerfield of the networks. No matter what it does, it doesn’t get much respect--in great part because of the foolishly high prices it paid for its big sports events at a time when TV has finally concluded that ratings aren’t so important if you can’t declare a profit.

When the Nielsen February ratings sweeps begin next Thursday, CBS undoubtedly will be on its way to yet another victory because of the Olympics. But ABC, NBC and Fox are taking aim at CBS with their own special programming to make that victory as hollow as possible.

In a strong sense, CBS is getting a bum rap because, playing--alas--by the old rules in which ratings were everything, it has performed wonders in climbing from last place to first in a single season. And in hard cash terms, a victory with the Olympics will mean plenty to CBS affiliates, because ratings during the annual sweeps periods help set the ad prices for local stations.

The sweeps run from Thursday through March 4. CBS’ Olympics coverage from Albertville, France, will begin Thursday with a two-hour preview, and then get under way officially with the opening ceremonies next Saturday. For the two weeks after that--until the closing ceremonies on Feb. 23--all of CBS’ prime time will be devoted to the Olympics, except for “60 Minutes.�

CBS also hopes to be propelled during the sweeps by two other events that generally deliver large audiences--the Miss USA Pageant on Friday and the Grammy Awards Feb. 25.

In counterattacking, ABC and NBC are clearly playing the new, close-to-the-vest program game that the recession and rising costs have dictated--but there is some competitive viewing nonetheless, spiced by motion pictures with high profiles.

One of these films, “Rain Man,� with Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise, has been scheduled by ABC against the closing ceremonies of the Olympics.

And the same night, NBC has its own counter-programming ace, Valerie Bertinelli--current queen of the sweeps--in a new TV-movie, “What She Doesn’t Know,� playing a district attorney who discovers her father is on the take from the mob.

Fox, meanwhile, is up to its old tricks in trying to upstage the Olympics--offering very little that is really new but marketing it beautifully with a sleight-of-hand that should win an award for chutzpah .

As you recall, Fox just last Sunday stuck it to CBS during the Super Bowl by counter-programming at halftime with a live production of its series “In Living Color,� which ended just in time to get back to the game.

And now, with another in-your-face move, the young network has brazenly scheduled something called “The Fox Summer Games� for Feb. 17-23, against the second week of the Olympics.

What are the “Summer Games?� Except for a few specials, they are mainly regular series--such as “Beverly Hills, 90210,� “Roc� and “In Living Color�--but with summer themes.

Fox sees it all as “fun in the sun� to counter the cold-weather Olympics--as if we watched TV outdoors or something.

Now back to the real world.

An ABC miniseries, “The Burden of Proof,� will take on the Olympics Feb. 9 and 10, with Hector Elizondo, Brian Dennehy, Mel Harris, Stefanie Powers and Victoria Principal in a tale of a prominent lawyer whose wife commits suicide for no apparent reason.

On Feb. 11, ABC offers “Class Clowns,� with Bill Cosby, Roseanne and Tom Arnold and Burt Reynolds in a reality show in which they visit high schools and encourage youngsters to finish their education.

ABC will also offer a burst of films against the remainder of the Olympics--�Beverly Hills Cop� (Feb. 15), “Ghostbusters II� (Feb. 16), Clint Eastwood’s “Pale Rider� (Feb. 17) and “Rambo III� (Feb. 19).

Not exactly Oscar time, but surely cost-efficient. And, adds an ABC spokesman:

“Where the events are something like figure-skating, which tends to have more female and older female appeal, that’s where we bring in a ‘Beverly Hills Cop’ or a ‘Rambo,’ which are obviously male-appeal movies.

“I don’t think anybody goes in thinking you can beat the Olympics but you try to make a dent where you can.�

After the Olympics, ABC weighs in with more sweeps specials, including the film “When Harry Met Sally. . . .� (Feb. 26); the much-anticipated debut of the George Lucas series “The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles� (March 1); a tribute to Muhammad Ali marking his 50th birthday (March 2); and what could turn out to be another whopper--a “Happy Days� reunion special, celebrating the great old TV series on March 3.

NBC, meanwhile, will roar into the sweeps Thursday with two episodes of “The Cosby Show,� followed by “Cheers� and David Letterman’s prime-time, 10th anniversary special. NBC will also offer two showings of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s “Kindergarten Cop� on Feb. 9 and 14--emulating its cable-style, multiple broadcasts of “Back to the Future III� in November.

In other key Olympics counter-programming, NBC will present a two-hour, 100th-episode outing of the ratings powerhouse “Unsolved Mysteries� on Feb. 19. (Another reality series, Fox’s “Cops,� marks its 100th episode with a two-hour blowout Feb. 15).

“ ‘Unsolved Mysteries’ is like a workhorse for us,� says Preston Beckman, NBC vice president for programming and scheduling. “It’s a very important show to the network.�

Sizing up the real importance of the sweeps in the business, Beckman adds: “It’s bragging rights for the networks but business for the stations.�

In post-Olympics sweeps programming, NBC on Feb. 28 will introduce the series “Nightmare Cafe,� about a joint where “patrons get a second chance at changing their pasts.�

And the network will also offer an all-star cast in the Feb. 24-25 miniseries “Grass Roots,� a tale of “political intrigue and murder in the New South,� with Corbin Bernsen, Mel Harris, Raymond Burr, Katherine Helmond and John Glover.

Welcome to the sweeps. Welcome to the Olympics. And welcome to the annual Rodney Award--as in Dangerfield.