‘In the Heat of the Night’ Sends a Message : ABC Sending In ‘Roseanne’ to Turn Down the ‘Heat’

“In the Heat of the Night’s” cops and integration formula has worked so well with the Nielsen families that ABC has at least temporarily yanked “Moonlighting” from its schedule and plans to send its first-year hit “Roseanne” head-to-head with Carroll O’Connor and Howard Rollins.

Jay Daniel, “Moonlighting’s” executive producer, said that the series will be off the air for about six weeks and then will return in April (although not necessarily to the same time slot) with eight consecutive new episodes in which Maddie (Cybill Shepherd) and David (Bruce Willis) will be forced to “really deal with their feelings about each other.”

“In the Heat of the Night” has consistently trounced “Moonlighting” on Tuesdays at 9 p.m. this season, frequently landing in Nielsen’s top 15. But Daniel said his show’s declining ratings were not the primary reason for its being benched.

“We were faced with a scheduling problem in March where we would only be able to air one new episode every two or three weeks--the same scenario that turned the fans off last season,” he explained Tuesday.

Last season, because of production delays and Shepherd’s pregnancy, “Moonlighting” was forced to air a series of reruns as well as a number of episodes in which Shepherd did not appear. Lacking the chemistry between Willis and Shepherd that had made the show a hit in the first place, its once vast audience started to shrink.

In the 1986-87 season, when the show was at the top of its game, “Moonlighting” was watched in an average of 19.5 million households each week. Last year, the audience fell to 16.2 million households a week. So far this season, “Moonlighting” is averaging 14 million homes a week.

“ ‘Heat of the Night’ ” has been terrific counter-programming to us,” Daniel said. “We are vulnerable now and we don’t want to increase that vulnerability by putting on second and third runs. . . . There is a danger that in going off the air, people will forget about us or we’ll lose our time slot, but this is the lesser of two evils. We’re taking the chance that absence will make the heart grow fonder.”

To counter NBC’s success and to try to develop some new hits, ABC will move “Roseanne,” this season’s No. 2-rated program behind “The Cosby Show,” to Tuesdays at 9 p.m. on Feb. 28. “The Wonder Years” will move from Wednesdays to “Roseanne’s” current Tuesday 8:30 p.m. spot--the time slot in which it debuted last spring.

With “Who’s the Boss?” continuing at 8 p.m. Tuesdays, ABC is hoping that the three comedies will help launch a new series at 9:30 p.m., “Anything But Love,” a romantic comedy starring Jamie Lee Curtis and Richard Lewis.

(CBS is standing pat for now with movies on Tuesdays at 9, despite the fact that it is running well behind its rivals there.)

Another new ABC sitcom, “Coach,” will move into the 9 p.m. Wednesday slot currently occupied by “The Wonder Years,” beginning March 1.