Networks to Offer Bigger Dose of 'Reality'

By Meg James

Dec. 30, 2002 12 AM PT

Times Staff Writer

Here’s the reality in television: The networks will start seeding their schedules next week with a bumper crop of unscripted shows -- as many as 20 in the months ahead -- hoping to grow midseason ratings on the cheap.

More than a few of the upcoming programs seem to have sprouted from quite fertile imaginations.

ABC has plans for at least six so-called reality shows to plug holes left by a string of failed prime-time dramas. Among them: “Family Trust,” in which relatives feud over the inheritance of a departed loved one.

New offerings by Fox Broadcasting include one in which the network flies 20 single women to Paris to pursue a man they believe is filthy rich. Turns out “Joe Millionaire” is a $19,000-a-year construction worker.

CBS is prospecting the hills of rural America for a modern-day Clampett family to star in an unscripted version of “The Beverly Hillbillies” -- complete with servants and cameras.

On the WB network, stay tuned for “The Surreal Life,” which chronicles the lives of seven off-the-radar celebrities, including MC Hammer and Corey Feldman, as they coexist under the same suburban roof. (WB is majority owned by AOL Time Warner Inc. Tribune Co., publisher of the Los Angeles Times, has a 22.5% stake in the network.)

Meanwhile, NBC will be standing pat with “Meet the Folks” and the weird food groups of “Fear Factor.”

In sum, TV has come a long way from the original unscripted show of the late 1940s, “Candid Camera” (which began on radio as “Candid Microphone”).

“There is absolutely going to come a point where there’s a glut of these things and it’s going to be hard to launch new ones,” said Susan Lyne, entertainment president of Walt Disney Co.’s ABC. “But that hasn’t happened yet.”

In fact, the prime-time ratings of Lyne’s network have been resuscitated by the unscripted show “The Bachelor,” prompting ABC to create “The Bachelorette,” which will debut in January.

“A few more reality shows can make a world of difference for us,” Lyne said. “Obviously, the network is in the process of a long-term rebuilding, and we needed some time to come up with some strong scripted shows.”

For the networks, reality shows typically require less time to ramp up than do sitcoms and dramas. Fewer writers are needed, and there are no big-salaried stars. A program can be ready to air three or four months after a network places an order.

Industry sources say unscripted, hourlong shows usually cost $700,000 to $850,000. In contrast, networks typically pay about $1.3 million for a one-hour drama.

Also unscripted shows tend to be safer bets as midseason replacements.

Analysts say dramas and comedies have higher failure rates because viewers have been conditioned to sample new shows in September, not during the winter. Thus, network executives are reluctant to roll out more than two or three new big-budget programs.

“This is a period when all networks are facing intense capital budgeting restraints -- more than they did during the go-go years” of the late 1990s, said Leland Westerfield, a broadcasting analyst for UBS Warburg. With unscripted shows, he said, “you can generate a profit in the first episode, rather than waiting for the back-end with syndication.”

Perhaps the biggest payoff for the networks is that unscripted shows attract the younger viewers prized by advertisers -- those aged 18-34 -- many of whom were weaned on MTV’s “The Real World.”

What’s more, some unscripted shows can turbocharge ad sales as the programs build to a crescendo, creating a buzz that attracts more viewers.

At the beginning of the fall season, for example, 30-second commercials on “The Bachelor” cost $136,000, slightly less than the network’s price for comedies. By November, when more than 20 million viewers were tuning in to see which of the nubile contestants would be chosen, that figure rocketed beyond $400,000.

The same happened with Fox’s summer blockbuster “American Idol,” in which TV viewers voted for their favorite would-be pop star.

Last-minute rates for commercials “went up significantly,” said Jon Nesvig, advertising chief for News Corp.-owned Fox. He wouldn’t disclose the amount, but advertisers say the price of 30-second spots for the second installment of “American Idol,” which will debut Jan. 21, have been selling for nearly $400,000.

Not that many marketers were eager initially to jump aboard what has become a gravy train. When the CBS show “Survivor” premiered in 2000, setting the stage for today’s swirl of knockoffs, some ad buyers were uneasy.

“People were eating rodents and stuff and we felt that wasn’t what we wanted for our clients,” said Roy Rothstein, vice president of national broadcast research for Zenith Media. The firm’s clients have included Toyota Motor Corp. and its Lexus brand, General Mills Inc. and GMRI Inc.-owned Olive Garden restaurants.

Today, “Survivor,” which ranks in the top 10, draws among the highest advertising rates in television -- more than $420,000 for a 30-second commercial.

Leslie Moonves, president of Viacom Inc.-owned CBS, noted that unscripted programs such as “Survivor” have now passed the point of being curiosities. They have become “like comedies, dramas, movies and news magazine shows,” Moonves said. “It’s just part of your schedule.”

Still, there can be the temptation to go with a winner once too often, as ABC did with its hit “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.” The network aired the show so many times each week that its novelty wore off.

“Everyone learned a little bit of a lesson with ‘Millionaire,’ ” Moonves said, “although I’m not knocking what ABC did because I might have done the same thing.”

Network executives also have begun questioning whether unscripted programs are really a cure for the bottom-line blues. Some point out that although unscripted shows are less expensive than other types of programming, the gap is narrowing.

“Successful reality shows are not the bargains that everyone thought that they were,” said NBC Entertainment President Jeff Zucker, who added that “most of them don’t repeat well.” NBC is owned by General Electric Co.

Gail Berman, president of Fox Broadcasting Entertainment, agrees. “There’s a lot of money that goes into these programs, said Berman, whose network established itself more than 15 years ago with the reality shows “Cops” and “America’s Most Wanted.”

“Shows and formats come and go,” she said. “What’s wildly popular right now eventually won’t be as predominant.”