Endangered Freedoms

The Fourth of July is all about a revolution that gave rise to independence. This stands in stark contrast to the entertainment industry, which is in the midst of a revolution that, more often than not, seems to be eradicating independents.

Zero score and seven years ago, in fact, the Federal Communications Commission brought forth a new TV business, one dedicated to the pursuit of bigness and consolidation at any price.

Swayed in part by a xenophobic fear of U.S. movie studios being gobbled up by foreign media giants--most notably Sony and Matsushita, which bought Columbia Pictures and MCA, respectively--the government unfettered the major networks, hoping domestic studio-network alliances would stop the Japanese from marketing not only TV sets and cameras but also what comes out of them.

This deregulation fostered a dizzying series of mergers and acquisitions that placed ABC in Disney’s gloved paws and saw CBS change hands twice.

The result, as a cursory glance of next season’s prime-time lineup will tell you, has been the extinction of many independent production companies, as networks scurry to put on shows from their sister studios. Entities like New World, Orion and MTM no longer exist, their assets swallowed up by larger players.

Most independent producers have been forced to align themselves with studios. Even Aaron Spelling, who furnished a sprawling Holmby Hills estate with his solo productions, now operates as a tentacle of the Viacom-Paramount-CBS monster.

Indeed, of more than 100 prime-time series scheduled to open the coming TV season on the six broadcast networks, more than 30 (including CBS’ newsmagazines) fall under the shadow of Viacom’s umbrella. Two dozen more belong to divisions of News Corp., the parent of Fox.

With such companies responsible for so much programming, independence seems to be in danger of becoming as passe as independents. It’s generally accepted now that some TV series are scheduled to please corporate bosses, with politics trumping merit on a regular basis.

Even arenas where independence should be sacrosanct are placed in at best awkward situations. KABC-TV’s news doesn’t look terribly independent when it sends dorky weather guy Garth Kemp to do live feeds from Disneyland, with Kemp reminding us over and over that Mickey Mouse (a.k.a. Disney) is “the boss� as his colleagues chuckle approvingly.

Nor has CBS News made any pretense of independence by shilling for “Survivor,� the entertainment division’s prime-time hit, or assigning a reporter to anchor a quasi-interview show about another summer tryout, “Big Brother.�

The one saving grace in this inexorable march toward a handful of companies that control most of what spills out of the tube hinges on the fact there is, indeed, a revolution going on, one that increasingly allows people access to information and entertainment and permits them to connect with one another in ways almost unthinkable even a few years back.

This revolution is being played out on stages large and small. Recently, for example, about 30 fans of “Prey�--a science-fiction series that ABC ran for a mere eight weeks two years ago--assembled in Burbank to celebrate the show.

Almost entirely composed of women, the group initially came together to lobby for the show’s renewal (reruns are being shown on the Sci-Fi Channel) and have kept in touch long after its demise, forming an online community.

“They never thought the show would appeal to middle-aged women--affluent middle-aged women, I might add,� said Diane Smith, one of those who traveled cross-country (in her case from Alexandria, Va.) to attend the event.

Addressing these “Prey� backers--who later toured sites where the program was filmed--series creator William Schmidt got to experience briefly what it’s like to be Ricky Martin or ‘N Sync, albeit with much older idolaters.

It’s become commonplace for “Save our show� campaigns to sprout each year, with CBS’ “Now and Again� the latest victim to be so memorialized. Using the Internet as their adhesive, people scrape together enough money to place an ad in one of the Hollywood trades, send out e-mail pleas and bad-mouth network executives, who have learned to turn a deaf ear.

Such zealotry is certainly easy to dismiss, with “Get a life� as the unspoken refrain. A few hundred or even thousand rabid fans are no substitute for the millions of eyeballs prime-time programs still require to be economically viable. And what are these people lacking in their lives, one can wonder, that would cause them to forge bonds with others who live hundreds or thousands of miles away--about something as trivial as a TV show, no less.

Nevertheless, there was something remarkable about this assembly--providing evidence not only of the passionate way some people consume entertainment but also of how technology has changed such interaction, introducing an immediacy that makes clunky letter-writing campaigns of the past feel like remnants of the Stone Age.

“I actually felt kind of ennobled by the whole thing, because you do get used to thinking you’re writing for network and studio executives and not flesh-and-blood people,� Schmidt said of the “Prey� assembly. “But all of us--I know I did--got into this to write for the people who matter out there.�

Keeping what interests the people who matter ahead of the corporations who master is an issue the TV industry must confront if “independence� is to have any real meaning, and based on recent trends, the outlook is not encouraging. Always incestuous, the TV world seems to grow ever smaller and more narrow-minded with so few executives in control.

The technology revolution offers promise, but at this point it is simply a tool, not a panacea for bringing down the swelling of corporate gigantism. Moreover, it will be quite a while before a few thousand boosters, however ardent, are sufficient to keep programs afloat, meaning that the ability to generate mass appeal remains paramount, a challenge that invariably favors those big enough to lavishly produce and market their product.

Several of those at the “Prey� gathering wore T-shirts printed at the campaign’s height that read “Prey for Us.� Those who still honor the concept of independence in media might be advised to pray for all of us.

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Brian Lowry’s column appears on Tuesdays. He can be reached by e-mail at [email protected].