The producer of CBS` ”The Trials of Rosie O`Neill” was not a happy man. He had already coughed up $50,000 of his own money to place newspaper ads begging viewers to tune in. He was furious with the network for changing the show`s time period not once, but five times-from Monday to Sunday to Thursday to Friday to Thursday. And he was now prepared to do battle with his own network-in public-to save the low-rated drama from extinction.
”They say the show isn`t generating any `buzz,”` said Barney Rosenzweig, using a network catch-phrase for attention from the television industry, the public or the media. ”If they want `buzz,` I`m gonna give them `buzz.` If it`s gonna go down, it`s not gonna go down without a fight.”
Rosenzweig, who was also the producer of the long-running, multiple award-winning ”Cagney & Lacey,” has good reason to circle the wagons. Just last summer, celebrated television producer Norman Lear, creator of the legendary ”All in the Family,” attempted a network comeback with a CBS Sunday night sitcom called ”Sunday Dinner.” It was given an extremely favorable time period following long-time ratings champ ”60 Minutes.” But after little more than a month-during which 20-year-old re-runs of ”All in the Family” walloped his new show in the ratings-Lear and company were politely excused.
Even more brutal is what happened on the same network this fall to a new dramatic series called ”Palace Guard.” After only three weeks-which was barely enough time for viewers to pull their fall sweaters out of mothballs-the show was pulled from the schedule. A CBS spokeswoman said the show is
”on hiatus”; in this case that means that it will disappear without a trace. But ”on hiatus” can also mean that the show has been taken in for a major retooling of its stars, producers and/or concept.
That is exactly what`s happening to ”Princesses,” the struggling CBS sitcom featuring Twiggy Lawson-the famous `60s toothpick of a model-in a starring role. The show was dealt a serious blow when one of its other lead actresses, Julie Hagerty, withdrew, reportedly because she was unhappy with her role. With the show`s status report also reading ”on hiatus,” it is still not clear whether ”Princesses” will return.
All of which is not to say that shufflings, revampings and outright cancellations are anything new-or exclusive-to CBS. ABC, NBC and Fox Broadcasting have all been known to show impatience with any show that doesn`t instantly smack of becoming a hit. But the atmosphere in which these changes are occurring is new, startling, and creating tremendous strain within the industry.
”The networks are under an inordinate amount of pressure,” said Rosenzweig, citing worrisome advertising cutbacks. ”The myth that TV is recession-proof is just that-a myth. It used to be that even if your network was in third place, you were still making a billion dollars. But these guys aren`t making money anymore. They`re struggling with the bottom line and they`re panic-stricken.”
”Why don`t you do a story on how nobody`s having any fun out here?”
suggested another CBS producer who requested anonymity. What was surprising about this statement was not his grousing; television producers are famous for that. Rather, it was the fact that he works for one of the network`s hit programs. ”It doesn`t matter,” he said. ”You can be here today and then-boom-you`re gone. They don`t give the audience a chance to find you.”
Which is particularly troubling when you consider that ”The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” ”Hill Street Blues,” ”Cheers” and ”Designing Women”-among many others-all had dismal first-year ratings. Now, shows are apparently judged for their potential staying power not on a seasonal basis, but on a weekly basis.
Consider ”The Carol Burnett Show.” Starring the onetime queen of variety television, the show, which on Nov. 1 was the last of the new fall network series to premiere, was her much-heralded return to CBS after 13 years. But after only three weeks on the air-and a precipitous ratings drop of 16 percent the second week and another 10 percent the third-there was a massive shakeup behind the scenes: Three executive producers and two on-air performers were given the boot. After the fourth week, the show was canceled. There is just no time for mistakes. Blame it on home videos. Blame it on cable. Blame it on political pressure: ABC`s new fall sitcom ”Good & Evil”- which lasted all of five weeks-got into trouble with advocates for the visually impaired who were outraged by a slapstick, bumbling blind character who made a colossal mess out of every room he entered. Despite the fact that the show was meant to be satire-and had almost no chance up against the baseball playoffs and the World Series-ABC canceled it.
Not surprisingly, with the networks losing their total audience share at an alarming rate-some estimate that only 50 percent of viewers will be watching the networks by the end of the decade-the Big Three are defending their increasingly hair-trigger responses as the reality of doing television business in the 1990s.
”It`s always a crap shoot,” said Preston Beckman, vice president of program planning and scheduling for NBC. ”But now we can see very quickly what`s not working. As the ratings come in, you have more information-you can tell who`s watching, how old they are and if they stick with you throughout the program.”
Beckman cited the critically acclaimed ”I`ll Fly Away” as the riskiest show on NBC`s fall lineup-not because of its subject matter (a white Southern lawyer raising three children with the help of a black housekeeper), but because of the drama`s early evening time period. ”We all lost a lot of sleep until ”the show” got ratings,” said Beckman.
If it hadn`t, the next logical step would`ve been to move the show to a different time period. However, time slot juggling has never been a guarantee of success. ”Sometimes it`s an act of desperation,” said Jim Brochu, an ABC public relations executive. ”Sometimes it`s an attempt to shore up or strengthen another night. And sometimes it`s a move to put the show where it will be more compatible with other shows.”
Or where it will be more convenient for potential viewers. CBS`
critically acclaimed ”Brooklyn Bridge”-a gentle comedy/drama about growing up Jewish in Brooklyn in the 1950`s-originally aired on Friday nights, a night when many Jewish viewers were in temple, celebrating the Sabbath.
”We got letters,” said Peter Tortorici, executive vice president of CBS Entertainment, ”asking us why we would put the show on a night when they wouldn`t be home.” The show was moved to Wednesdays.
Tortorici in particular has had his juggling work cut out for him this season with the deaths of two of the network`s biggest stars: Michael Landon
(who was scheduled to produce and star in a dramatic series called ”Us”)
and Red Foxx (who was starring in ”The Royal Family”). ”When those things happened,” said Tortorici, ”the shape of what we were trying to do with the schedule changed. Now we`re trying to make sense out of a lot of different variables.”
