Critics Condemn Bid To Save Show

By John Consoli --
For two years, journalists on the TV beat have been reporting and commenting that the networks are overloaded in prime time with news magazines. Over time, everyone agreed, the networks' philosophy had become: If a drama series or pair of sitcoms failed, stick in an hour-long news magazine, a genre ready to perform relatively well in the ratings.

Also, however, advertisers began to realize that the TV magazines, which draw older audiences, were aging the demographics of prime-time TV, and that a portion of the audiences involved the same viewers.

What's wrong with the network execs? critics droned. Why can't they develop successful dramas and sitcoms? Why abdicate time periods by sticking in ever more news magazines? And why not give sitcoms and dramas more time to develop? the critics asked, citing shows like Seinfeld, Hills Street Blues, JAG, Everybody Loves Raymond, and Party of Five, which all took several years and schedule changes before catching on with audiences.

At a press conference a few months back, I detected an outbreak of hypocrisy among my colleagues covering TV. ABC Entertainment Co-chairmen Stu Bloomberg and Lloyd Braun had scheduled a press conference for 11:30 a.m. in the same hotel as the WB was holding its upfront presentation. Since the WB ran long, I was about 10 minutes late for the ABC conference, held in a smallish room in the basement, and was shocked to find the room filled to capacity -- not a seat available, and people standing around three walls. Accompanied by Bloomberg and Braun on the dais, Alex Wallau, ABC TV Network president was being peppered with questions.

What was up? Had one of the three resigned? Had Diane Sawyer quit Good Morning America? Why else such seriousness among the ABC public relations people? Finally, I figured it out. ABC's brass had made a decision and was going to announce it to media buyers later in the day at its own upfront presentation: ABC was moving its critically-acclaimed, but ratings-deficient drama, Once & Again -- produced by Marshall Herskovitz and Ed Zwick, who created a hit with the drama thirtysomething on ABC several years ago -- to Friday at 10 p.m., the slot where the news magazine 20/20 was entrenched. 20/20 would move to Wednesday at 10 p.m. as ABC tried to save a show, from proven TV producers, that it believed was worth saving, by switching it with a news magazine.

Okay, 20/20, anchored by Barbara Walters, had become a comfortable staple on Friday night, but it was still a news magazine -- which, all the networks had proven, could draw ratings on almost any night because their audiences follow. Wasn't this what the chorus of critics had been calling for all along? Show faith in a critically-acclaimed drama and help it succeed through smart scheduling?

And the strategy seemed sound. With NBC's successful female-skewing Providence at 8 p.m, female viewers could move to CBS's That's Life at 9 p.m. and then to Once & Again on ABC at 10 p.m.

Not only was ABC keeping 20/20 on the air, but if Once & Again failed to find a following on Friday, chances are it would be scrapped and 20/20 could return to the timeslot in the fourth quarter.

Now, people who had condemned the networks for airing too many news magazines and for abandoning quality shows too soon had ABC's president against the ropes with questions like: Was it was in ABC's best interests to upset Barbara? What about rumors she would leave the network over it?

Wallau, who either didn't think of it under the questioning or declined to debate the reporters, never mentioned the previous media clamor to reduce network dependence on news magazines. As the thought dawned on me, the press conference ended and the horde of reporters rushed up to surround Wallau with more questions.

A few days later, New York Post columnist Cindy Adams, for one, asked, "Why are the barbarians bashing my buddy Babs?" "What's wrong with ABC that it will ice its MVP? Where's the respect? Where's the sanity? Barbara Walters is ABC's No. 1 name," Adams wrote.

What Adams and others seemed to forget is that prime time is entertainment time, and, as everyone seemed to agree before, the networks need to try harder to make sitcoms and dramas work.

So far, Walters has not quit ABC, and she really shouldn't. Wednesday has higher prime-time HUT (households using television) levels than Friday, so there will be a bigger viewer base to draw from, and I'm sure the ratings will be at least comparable. And ABC may just end up salvaging a worthwhile show.

In this instance, ABC should be commended for doing the right thing -- even if some in the media have short memories and like to play the hypocrisy game.__Mediaweek.com (July 6, 2001)