With Olympics Ended, Let the Real Games Begin : * Television: While CBS held center stage with coverage of the XVI Olympiad from France, the other networks stood pat in prime time. Now they’re ready to roll out new series.
With the Winter Olympics melting into memory, competing network executives are hoping that the lock CBS had on the prime-time viewing audience--it won 15 of the 16 Olympic programming nights--will begin to thaw.
In anticipation of a more favorable spring climate, NBC, ABC and Fox are pulling out a platter of new TV series from the freezer where they have been chilling until the Olympics ended. Three are scheduled Friday, another Saturday and two more next week, with more to follow.
“There was a strong desire on our part not to premiere new product against the Olympics, knowing that was going to be a very competitive environment to launch something new,†said Perry Simon, NBC’s executive vice president of prime-time programs.
NBC has the most new product to roll out before summer, with at least six new shows. Last Sunday saw the first of several installments of “I Witness Video,†an NBC News project being tested as a possible series; “Nightmare Cafe,†from horror-film director Wes Craven, gets under way Friday night.
ABC rolls the dice next Wednesday night with “The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles,†a pet project of filmmaker George Lucas, who alternates story lines between young Indy at ages 10 and 17. And Fox has two reality-based series planned for April: “Code Three†and “Sightings.â€
CBS, meanwhile, revamped most of its prime-time schedule prior to the Olympics, and then used the Olympics as a platform to heavily promote three new series. The wise-cracking “Scorch,†premiering Friday night, is a bite-size dragon who finds himself in the keep of a sitcom family. “Scorch†is followed by “Fish Police,†gamely described by the network as “fish noir,†serving up prime-time animation with adult undertones from Hanna-Barbera Productions. On Saturday night, Wilford Brimley and Richard Farnsworth star as senior-citizen sheriffs in “Boys of Twilight.â€
The arrival of spring generally marks a time when the networks launch new shows to give them an opportunity to find an audience prior to setting fall schedules in May. The networks also juggle time slots of existing series to shore up holes in the schedule. The action may be heavier than usual this year, however, partly because of the delay caused by the Olympics and partly because the ratings race has essentially ended: CBS has all but clinched the prime-time championship.
On NBC’s slate are “Powers That Be†(March 7), “All in the Family†producer Norman Lear’s sitcom about a presidential candidate played by John Forsythe; “Dateline NBC†(March 31), Jane Pauley’s new news magazine; and “Man and Machine†(April 5), a drama from “Law and Order†executive producer Dick Wolf, about a male cop and his female cyborg partner.
“We’re introducing everything from ‘Nightmare Cafe’ to ‘Man and Machine’--at the highest end of our production-budget realm--to lower-cost reality shows to see if we can strike a balance of new programming,†Simon said.
NBC, last year’s top-rated network, did not have any real fall hits emerge. Simon pointed to “Nurses†and “Reasonable Doubts†as steady performers that will likely come back next season, along with “I’ll Fly Away,†“Eerie, Indiana†and “The Torkelsons,†because the network believes in them creatively. However, NBC needs to find some stability in its schedule with “The Cosby Show†in its final season, and persisting reports that “Cheers,†“Golden Girls†and “Night Court†may not return.
“At NBC, our biggest goal this year was just to stop the ratings decline and establish a stable schedule to continue to rebuild, particularly given the impending departure of many of our older, established shows,†Simon said.
ABC is trying a slightly different tack. The No. 3 network has a number of projects in the works, including the comedy series “On the Air†from “Twin Peaks†producers David Lynch and Mark Frost. But only two new series have been scheduled so far: “Indiana Jones†and Linda Lavin’s new sitcom, “Room for Two,†to air Tuesdays beginning March 24 (“Coach†will go on hiatus).
“Our philosophy in the March-April period is to keep our schedule as stable as possible,†said Ted Harbert, ABC’s executive vice president of prime time. “In past years, we have had so many new shows premiere at this time that our prime-time schedule gets churned up. We want to avoid making too many changes, and really try to stick with that.â€
Before the Olympics, ABC premiered two series that are now struggling--â€Capitol Critters†and “Billyâ€--but it has vowed to give them a fighting chance. ABC also moved the ailing “Civil Wars†to Tuesdays, and the established “Homefront†to Wednesdays, hoping that “Civil Wars†will find an audience in the better time slot.
ABC has this season’s only true hit in comic Tim Allen’s “Home Improvement,†but the network is pleased with the performance of other new acts. Harbert pointed to “Step by Step,†“Homefront,†“FBI: The Untold Stories,†“The Commish†and “Civil Wars†as strong candidates for renewal next season.
“It’s a very odd position to be in third place but with the highest number of successful new shows,†Harbert said.
Fox was the only network to compete successfully with CBS during the Winter Olympics, maintaining or showing slight across-the-board gains thanks to aggressive fun-in-the-sun counterprogramming. Last Thursday, an episode of “The Simpsons†featuring several professional baseball players even won its time slot, beating the Olympics and a new episode of “The Cosby Show†on NBC.
Nonetheless, CBS is in the driver’s seat. The network is tops in both household ratings and regular series programming--although competing network executives point to CBS’ lock on Sundays--television’s most-watched night--with “60 Minutes†and “Murder, She Wrote,†as overinflating the network’s weekly average.
Many critics have put down CBS for paying too high a price for ratings; costly sports packages contributed to the network’s $85.8 million net income loss last year. But Peter Tortorici, senior vice president of programming for CBS, sees it differently.
“First of all, the Olympics has established once again that network television has tremendous value, and the tremendous value to reach people in a way that no other form of communication can,†he said. “I think it’s great when you can have 40 (million) or 50 million people all sharing a common experience at the same time.
“On a more parochial level, a lot of people tuned into our network and saw what we’re about. Sometimes the shows get there before the attention does. Last year, we had a lot of the same pieces that have made us successful this year, but not as many people knew about them. Having big events like the World Series, Super Bowl and Olympics has created a tremendous awareness of CBS and what we have to watch. If we continue doing the job of providing good programs, we can continue to hold the audience we have and expand on it.â€
NBC, which has broadcast rights to the Summer Olympics, is already making plans, based on lessons learned from CBS this winter.
“We’re in the process of trying to make some plans for post-NBC Olympics,†Simon said, “seeing if we can take advantage of the Olympics as a launching pad for some programming.†ABC, which has mostly avoided expensive sports contracts, defines success differently. The network boasts that it was the only one of the Big Three to post a profit last year, and may be the only one to repeat that feat in economic hard times this year.
“Our costs are in line at ABC, so we’re the only network in the position to be profitable this year,†Harbert said. “So, someone tell me--what’s your measure of No. 1?â€
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