Most ABC Shows Won’t Debut Until November Due to Writers’ Strike

Due to delays caused by the writers’ strike, most of ABC’s new fall programming will not debut until November at the earliest, and at least two of the network’s new shows probably won’t be seen until January, network entertainment President Brandon Stoddard says.

In a news conference Monday evening, as the Writers Guild of America strike entered its 22nd week, Stoddard said a quick resolution would allow the network to get most of its new fall programming on the air in November, either “just before ‘War and Remembrance’ or just after.”

But at least two of the series on the prime-time slate--the “ABC Mystery Movie” anthology and “A Fine Romance,” an hour show about a divorced couple who find themselves reunited as hosts of a talk show, which the network plans to film on location in Europe--probably will not make it to the air until January. Stoddard said the network does not want to begin any new series in December to avoid competition with what he called the “frosty reindeer” holiday specials.

Although one of ABC’s new series, “Roseanne,” starring comedian Roseanne Barr, is in production under an interim guild agreement and could be ready to air as early as Oct. 15, Stoddard said that the network will not necessarily put it on the schedule then.

“We want to test the waters first, and see what NBC and CBS have planned,” he said.

Stoddard, the first of the three network entertainment chiefs to face reporters gathered for TV’s annual summer press tour here, said that if the strike ended soon, fall programs could be ready to launch before the Nov. 13 debut for the network’s World War II miniseries, or after its Nov. 23 conclusion.

With the late start of the 1988-89 season, viewers can expect to see more first-run series episodes than usual in April and May, he said, but the network does not plan to extend original programming into the summer months next year.

Stoddard said that the plans ABC announced last weekend for an interim schedule of comedy reruns, movies, specials, news programs and sporting events for September and October could still change depending on developments in the 21-week-old writers’ walkout.

“In a strike, boy, things can change,” Stoddard said. “You don’t want to commit to too much, then wake up the next morning and find out the strike is over.”

Asked for reaction to recent statements by Hollywood producers that they would use every method available to produce their shows during the strike--including offering legal and financial protection to guild members who cross the picket line--Stoddard said decisions on whether to air shows produced during the strike would be made on a case-by-case basis.

“We’re hoping first that the strike ends, obviously,” Stoddard said. “We’d like to get our shows on the air, of course, but one of the problems you’ve got is who’s going to write them. Obviously, we have to be concerned about the quality of those shows. There’s no point in putting a brand new show on the air if the writing is terrible.”

If the network decides to air prime-time shows written by non-union writers, Stoddard noted, it risks the same problems it has encountered in daytime TV, which has been employing non-union writers since the strike began. Stoddard said daytime viewership has dropped during the strike.

“Where we’re hurting is daytime,” he said. “Those (advertising) revenues are off, and it’s beginning to hurt.”

Stoddard said that, like the production companies, the network was considering all options for producing new material during the strike, including importing writers from other countries, producing shows outside the United States and reviving old scripts--which ABC is doing with remakes of “Mission: Impossible” and “Police Story.” (Those two shows, he said, will go on the air next season regardless of a strike settlement.)

“At this point, we’re looking at so many different things in so many different places, we’re really looking at things on a case-by-case basis,” Stoddard said. “There are ideas coming in from all over the world, ideas from England, Canada, Australia, everywhere. My first grade teacher has an idea for a game show she’d like to do. I don’t think there’s a situation we’re not looking into at this point.”

ABC continues to hold that, in support of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, it will not accept any shows during the strike from companies that signed interim agreements with the writers guild, he said.

“The reason that we (support the alliance), quite honestly, is that we believe the situation in network television right now is very difficult,” Stoddard said.

“Costs are rising, revenues are flat, (audience) shares are dropping and we are in the midst of a big change in network television. We support the producers in general because we believe in general they are attempting to hold production costs down, which is crucial to the future of network television.”

Stoddard said the network chose to dominate its interim fall schedule with comedy reruns of such programs as “Growing Pains” and “Who’s the Boss?” because comedy is more effective counter-programming to NBC’s Summer Olympics coverage than movies and miniseries. Viewers tend to switch channels when an Olympic event does not interest them and can get more quickly involved in a half-hour comedy than an intricate drama, he said.

He said that ABC chose “Mission: Impossible” and “Police Story” as their first revival efforts because the stories, rather than the characters, are what makes those shows work, so the scripts can survive recasting.