NBC CHIEF PREDICTS STRONG FALL SEASON

NBC, third-ranked network for nine seasons, will be in “tremendous shape” when the fall season begins and probably will remain a strong No. 2 to CBS in the prime-time ratings this season, NBC Entertainment President Brandon Tartikoff said Tuesday.

Although he declined to gloat at ABC’s unexpected slide this season to third in the national Nielsens, he told about 80 out-of-town TV critics and writers here for the networks’ mid-season press conferences that the spirit at NBC nowadays is “incredible.”

“I think people in every facet of the company are charged up now since they’ve had a taste of success,” he said. “They really feel there’s an opportunity for subsequent successes to be easier to come by than in years past because we now have a stronger schedule in which to bring the new shows.”

During his one-hour press conference at the Century Plaza, Tartikoff also announced that two mid-season series are ready to replace series that falter in coming weeks, and that NBC’s high-rated TV movie about a battered wife, “The Burning Bed,” would be rebroadcast on March 10, during a ratings “sweeps” period of great importance to network affiliates.

“The Burning Bed,” starring Farrah Fawcett, was originally aired on NBC last October and was seen by an estimated 52% share of national viewing audience in its time period.

The two new series in the wings are “Michael Nesmith in Television Parts,” a half-hour music-and-comedy series created by the former Monkee who produced the pioneering music video “Elephant Parts,” and a one-hour “light-hearted” action-adventure series, “Code Name: Foxfire.”

Scheduled for a two-hour premiere showing on Jan. 27, “Foxfire,” whose regular run won’t start until February, doubtless will be likened to a variation of ABC’s former hit, “Charlie’s Angels.” The new series stars Joanna Cassidy, late of NBC’s canceled “Buffalo Bill.”

She plays a former CIA agent who, even though imprisoned for four years on trumped-charges, agrees to return to government service after her release from prison. She’ll be working with two other women, Sheryl Lee Ralph and Robin Johnson.

(According to NBC, “their missions often launch them into the world of high-stakes fashion among the champagne and caviar set.”)

Tartikoff gave no indication which series will be replaced by the two new shows. Last month, his network axed “Partners in Crime,” a detective series with Loni Anderson and Lynda Carter, and “Hot Pursuit,” and said it was taking a new sitcom, “It’s Your Move,” off the air for revamping.

Early in his news conference, Tartikoff was playfully handcuffed by two regulars from NBC’s hit “Hill Street Blues,” Ed Marinaro and Betty Thomas. They said they were making a “citizen’s arrest” because he’d told critics last June he’d submit to that if “Partners in Crime” didn’t prove a hit.

The NBC executive, released from the handcuffs after a few minutes, later said the demise of “Partners” was a particular disappointment to NBC, given the two star names teamed up in the show. But he discounted reports of feuding on the set and various other production crises as the reason for the show’s failure.

The problem, he said, was that “Partners” suffered from “script material that was very ordinary.”

Over the weekend, Lewis Erlicht, Tartikoff’s counterpart at ABC, although frankly conceding ABC’s reverses in the ratings, nonetheless said he was unwilling to concede that ABC might end up in third place in the Nielsens when this season ends.

“I think we will be in pretty good shape to maintain our (No. 2) position,” Tartikoff said when asked how he thinks NBC will fare when the season ends. He was asked if NBC’s success is due to his programming skill or because ABC, as one critic put it, “shot itself in the foot.”

“Well, that’s a nice question,” he said, grinning. However, he added, in order for any network to improve its ratings, two things have to happen: “You have to have the goods, and they (rival networks) have to falter.”