‘AN EARLY FROST’ LEAPS AHEAD IN RATINGS; VIEWERS RESPOND

Television proved once again its power to shape social awareness Monday night as “An Early Frost,” a story about a young man with AIDS, moved viewers across the nation to pick up their phones and express fears and concerns over a disease once spoken of in whispers.

About a third of Monday night’s viewing audience tuned in to the two-hour NBC made-for-TV movie focusing on acquired immune deficiency syndrome, and thousands of callers lit up switchboards across America in response to toll-free numbers provided on-screen in many cities before and after the show.

Tuesday morning, representatives of AIDS Project Los Angeles gathered to proclaim the show “a very realistic representation of what we know is true in America today.”

That sentiment was the thrust of advance promotion and viewers responded enthusiastically. They overwhelmingly selected “An Early Frost” over competition from an abortion-themed episode of “Cagney & Lacey” titled “The Clinic.” “An Early Frost” drew an estimated 14% more viewers--about 8 million more homes--than its CBS female cop-show competitor.

Running interference between the two was ABC’s “Monday Night Football,” featuring the Denver Broncos vs. the San Francisco 49ers, which pulled in 28% of the viewing audience.

Ratings figures available on Tuesday are based on overnight tabulation in 12 major cities, including Los Angeles, and do not consistently reflect the nationwide viewing figures that will be released today.

The heavy call-in response to “An Early Frost,” however, bore out initial reports of its large viewership.

In Houston and San Francisco, as many as 1,000 callers took advantage of the hot-line service. “All 17 lines have been busy since 9 a.m.,” Jackson Peyton, educational director of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation said Tuesday morning. Most of those calls were from heterosexual women expressing concern about their children and the possibility of their contracting the disease, Peyton added.

Ken Smith, coordinator of the AIDS Action Community Hot Line in Boston, said that his office received about 200 calls by lunchtime Tuesday, many from heterosexuals concerned about their risk of contracting AIDS from prostitutes.

“Some people who had fear or guilt about the situation freaked out,” Smith told The Times.

“Cagney & Lacey,” meanwhile, drew relatively minor call-in response despite the controversy sparked by advance screenings of Monday’s episode, in which New York Police Detective Mary Beth Lacey (Tyne Daly) revealed that she had an abortion at age 19, before she was married. Though the show included some anti-abortion arguments, it ultimately tilted toward a pro-choice statement.

Only Los Angeles reported heavy switchboard activity over “Cagney & Lacey,” with 3,348 negative calls to CBS Television City in Los Angeles and 226 favorable calls. In Boston, which has a large Catholic population, 150 calls were placed to CBS affiliate WNEV-TV, but most of those were made during the week prior to the broadcast. The calls ran 4-to-1 against the episode, a spokeswoman said.

New York’s CBS-owned WCBS-TV received 200 calls, running “2-to-1 in favor of the show,” according to network spokesman George Schweitzer. CBS stations in Chicago and San Francisco received fewer than 60 calls each, and most of those favored “Cagney & Lacey.”

Ironically, the “Cagney & Lacey” controversy, which began to resemble intentional “stunting” on CBS’ part--injection of elements to draw viewers during the “sweeps” ratings periods--continues to rage from the viewpoint of anti-abortion groups.

On Tuesday morning, a coalition of 120 state pro-life organizations, including California Pro-Life Council and Women Exploited by Abortion, announced a boycott of CBS and of 14 sponsors, plus a “total boycott of ‘Cagney & Lacey,’ ” a press release stated.

The show was “the most biased piece of propaganda that’s been aired in a long time,” said pro-life spokeswoman Susan Carpenter McMillan, speaking before about 15 reporters at the Los Angeles Press Club. “This is not what we call a balanced show.”

Dan Donehey, director of public relations for National Right to Life in Washington, said Tuesday that his organization’s biggest concern was that CBS affiliates had not responded to the call for equal time to balance “The Clinic.” Only two CBS stations--in Omaha and Cleveland--agreed to air “A Matter of Choice,” a half-hour pro-life film showing an actual abortion.

Only minutes before the Los Angeles pro-life conference, AIDS Project Los Angeles held a press conference in the same room to praise NBC and to announce plans.

The disparity in response to the two programs illustrates that TV viewers now much more readily accept previously taboo topics, such as homosexuality, but also how controversial the issue of abortion remains.

“I made a decision not to run it,” said Joe Macione, general manager of WXVT-TV in Greenville, Miss., the lone CBS affiliate to pull the “Cagney & Lacey” episode. “It appeared to me to be a presentation from one side,” he added. In its place, WXVT ran two episodes of “Alice.”

CBS spokesman Schweitzer said that the network was not concerned about the boycott threat. “We’ve been through various types of organized boycotts in the past, as have NBC and ABC, and we don’t tend to see that reflected in the ratings. People make their choice every night with what they want to watch and what they don’t want to watch.”

Pro-life spokesman Carpenter noted that she doubts CBS chairman Thomas Wyman “is quaking in his boots right now.”

Also contributing to this article were staff writer David Crook and Calendar intern Jane Greenstein.