A Dark Week at Black Rock : Television: CBS' new schedule all but disintegrated against the competition, but the network president says poor showing wasn't a total surprise and changes are in the works.

By GREG BRAXTON

Sept. 28, 1995 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

Things are not as bleak as they seem, CBS Entertainment President Leslie Moonves said Wednesday.

Despite the tremendous beating CBS took in the prime-time ratings during premiere week last week--its worst fall debut ever--Moonves said the poor showing was somewhat expected and expressed confidence that the network would eventually get back on track.

“Yes, we had a rough first week,” Moonves said in a phone interview. “There were a couple of nights where we definitely expected to do better. Things on those nights are not as good as we expected, but overall, what happened wasn’t totally unexpected.”

He said he was particularly disappointed in the ratings for “Cybill,” which was clobbered in its Sunday showdown with NBC’s “Mad About You,” and for “Central Park West,” a serial that he hoped would attract young audiences on Wednesdays, but which has run fourth in its time period for the initial two outings.

Moonves, who was president of Warner Bros. Television before taking over the CBS helm and inheriting the fall schedule from former CBS Entertainment President Peter Tortorici, said he knew when he took the job that there wouldn’t be an instant turnaround.

“I’ve been in this job two months,” he said. “When I took it, I said it would be a slow rebuilding process. We’re trying to do a lot, changing our demographics, putting on 11 new shows. With change sometimes comes initially tough results.

“We’re the team in the cellar. We’re putting in a lot of new players. We’re not going to have a winning record. But we’re also not going to throw in the towel. And the ball game should not be called after one week.”

While Moonves said he was contemplating making some changes in the CBS lineup, he insisted that no immediate drastic changes or cancellations would be forthcoming.

“By and large, I’m pleased with the creative situation on all the shows,” Moonves said. “We’re looking at certain things, to be sure. But I promised everyone I would not have an itchy trigger finger.”

The industry, however, is abuzz about CBS’ numerous stumbles out of the starting blocks. The network, which ended last season in third place, finished 14% below what had been its previous low mark for an opening week last year. More importantly, it came in last among the four networks in grabbing the coveted 18-to-49-year-old demographic that is valued by advertisers, finishing 10% below its own premiere week average for last year.

“It’s a bad time for CBS right now,” said Paul Schulman, president of Paul Schulman Co., which buys commercial time for advertisers. “The main problem is that their new shows have not been sampled. The sampling is not what we would have hoped for.”

Most of CBS’ new shows, particularly “Central Park West,” “The Bonnie Hunt Show” and “Courthouse,” finished poorly or below expectations. The one encouraging note among the new entries has been the comedy “Can’t Hurry Love,” which, nestled between “The Nanny” and “Murphy Brown” on Mondays, has won its time period the past two weeks.

CBS’ controversial move of the popular “Murder, She Wrote” from Sunday to Thursday, and the placing of “Cybill” in the 8 p.m. “Murder, She Wrote” time slot, seemed to be disastrous for both series. “Murder, She Wrote” finished 55th against the juggernaut of NBC’s “Friends” and the premiere of “The Single Guy,” while the Cybill Shepherd comedy, which was moved from Mondays in hopes of attracting a younger audience, was trounced by NBC’s “Mad About You” and ABC’s “Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman.”

Moonves expressed concern about “Cybill,” suggesting that the comedy might be moved if it does not perform better on Sundays.

“There are a lot of different possibilities we’re looking at if ‘Cybill’ doesn’t improve,” he said. “It’s still an extremely well done show, and it’s not the show’s fault that it’s not performing well. It’s up against an extremely strong show, and people forget that ‘Cybill’ is just a baby show. It’s only been on for 13 weeks last season.”

Schulman said “Cybill” would definitely have to be moved if it does badly against “Mad About You” this Sunday: “They cannot live with a 15-share audience there. Knowing what we know now, it was not a mistake to move ‘Cybill’ into that time slot. But it became a mistake when NBC moved ‘Mad About You’ against it.”

One of the many possibilities being looked at is returning “Murder, She Wrote” to Sundays. But Moonves said he was happy with the drama’s showing last Thursday: “It finished a strong second, which is just what we wanted it to do.”

As for “Central Park West,” Moonves attributed the lack of viewership to the scheduling of special two-hour episodes by Fox of “Beverly Hills, 90210” and “Melrose Place.” He said the drama would probably fare better against Fox’s regularly scheduled “Party of Five,” which had its season premiere Wednesday night.

The network has already taken some unusual steps in an attempt to turn the bad fortune around. Plans to air “The Godfather, Part III” on Oct. 8 and Oct. 10 have been postponed to show additional episodes of four new dramas--”Central Park West,” “New York News,” “Courthouse” and “American Gothic.” A CBS spokesperson said the move was being made so that viewers would “sample our new shows.”

Moonves denied reports that CBS may be forced to stick with struggling shows because of a lack of backup series. He said the Montel Williams drama, “Matt Waters,” which was pulled from the fall schedule, was currently in production, and that CBS also has episodes of “Diagnosis: Murder” and “Rescue 911” ready to call on. The network also has three or four comedies on the fast track, he said.

Moonves expressed confidence that CBS would soon be competitive again: “There’s just a whole lot that has to be fixed, and we’re doing that right now.”