A Dry, Trite Season Threatens Networks

The good news is that Vincent is back. When CBS announced Thursday that the noble man-creature would return Dec. 12 in “Beauty and the Beast,” thousands of viewers who wrote the network protesting the dropping of the show from the fall schedule must have felt a satisfying surge of power.

Any network that offers Candice Bergen in “Murphy Brown” and Ron Perlman as the literate, romantic “beast” named Vincent can’t be all bad.

But then there is the bad news. The Mad Hatter seems to be taking part in program decisions at CBS, and maybe all of the Big Three networks should seek out a quiet weekend retreat where their executives can contemplate the nature of the universe, the meaning of it all and whether they’d like to stay in business. It’s not certain anymore, you know, in the new world of TV alternatives, especially after disasters like this fall’s network season.

Back to CBS. There was no surprise in Thursday’s cancellation of “Peaceable Kingdom,” which stars Lindsay Wagner as a zoo director. It was stillborn and disappears Dec. 6. Nor was it shocking that another lemon, “Island Son,” in which Richard Chamberlain plays a doctor, was yanked so that CBS could reschedule it. But now hear this:

Just days ago, CBS gave “Wolf,” a detective show with Jack Scalia, a full-season pickup. Yet suddenly, the network has put the show “on hiatus”--it finished 79th in this week’s ratings and drew only 9% of the national viewing audience.

All right, anybody can make a mistake. But as this month’s key ratings sweeps head for the finish line Nov. 29, the new TV season is adding up to one big mistake--a succession of flops that seems to have long-range implications about the ability of the Big Three to hold their fast-declining audiences.

Who would think, for instance, that top-ranked NBC, the 800-pound gorilla of network TV, would be running scared? Well, it certainly seems to be. NBC went 0-for-5 in the ratings with its new series this fall, including the sitcoms “Sister Kate” and “The Nutt House.” It’s the worst start for new NBC series since 1983, when the network’s freshman shows went 0-for-9.

But the difference is that NBC was gambling back then, driving for the top. Consider how a flop like the Steven Bochco drama “Bay City Blues” now seems way ahead of its time with its baseball setting that’s been turned to great success in motion pictures such as “Field of Dreams” and “Bull Durham.”

By contrast, NBC played it safe this fall with its new series, which also included the cop shows “Hardball” and “Mancuso FBI” and the lifeguard tale “Baywatch.” But why should the powerful No. 1 network run scared? Could it be because it knows its owner, General Electric, doesn’t have the same tolerance for failure as its former parent company, RCA, and wouldn’t hesitate to sell off the network if it slipped to the bottom of the ratings?

But playing it safe is dangerous strategy for NBC. Some of the hits that have carried the network through the decade--such as “Cheers” and “The Cosby Show”--are aging, if still powerful. They won’t be around forever, and the network has to develop other blockbusters to compete in the new era of TV.

Winning against just CBS and ABC isn’t where it’s at anymore. The enemy now is VCRs, cable and independent stations, and in that sense NBC’s all-powerful status may be more precarious than imagined.

CBS is surely no threat to NBC or anybody, except itself. Once the proud king of the airwaves--home of “All in the Family,” “MASH,” “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” and “I Love Lucy”--CBS has a hard time doing things right these days. “Murphy Brown” has very nearly saved the network’s reputation as a creative entity, and there are a few continuing hits such as “60 Minutes” and “Murder, She Wrote.” But that’s just about all she wrote.

No new CBS series this season has really worked out as hoped. The network’s big experiment--six consecutive sitcoms on Monday, backed by enormous promotion--has yielded disappointing ratings. The critical lead-off show, “Major Dad,” could do no better than 36th place in the latest national rankings. Another touted new Monday sitcom, “The Famous Teddy Z,” has failed to excite the nation. Even “Murphy Brown,” the centerpiece of the six-sitcom lineup, has a struggle on its hands--it came in 35th last week.

Add to this the aging of CBS’ one-time backbone--soaps such as “Dallas” (40th last week) and “Falcon Crest” (54th). And add to that the fact that CBS traditionally has the grass-roots audience, but 45% of television’s viewers now are concentrated in the 23 major urban markets as measured by the Nielsen ratings--with Tampa, Fla., and Cincinnati joining the list a week ago.

ABC, meanwhile, is an interesting case. Although second in the ratings, it seems more secure than first-place NBC--possibly because it is the only network still owned by a broadcaster, Capital Cities Communications, and also because billionaire Warren Buffett has pledged his voting stock to the company, even if he should die.

The sense of security may well be a subtle factor in ABC’s notably unique series during the last few seasons--by far the most original new shows on any network: “The Wonder Years,” “thirtysomething,” “China Beach,” “Moonlighting,” “Roseanne” and “Life Goes On.”

This season, ABC is within striking distance of NBC in the ratings. And if ABC’s two planned prime-time series starring Oprah Winfrey and Dr. Ruth catch on, the network could make a real run for the top spot within several years.

NBC, meanwhile, has series with Alan Alda and Carol Burnett in the works, and it definitely needs another breakout hit like “L.A. Law” or “The Golden Girls” to regenerate itself creatively.

It’s later than the networks think. A few more barren new seasons like the current one and the images that CBS, NBC and ABC built in TV’s first 50 years will fade away and become irrelevant. That was then and this is now.