Shows Target Young, CBS Tells Advertisers

CBS told its advertisers and their agencies Wednesday that it was taking aim on the young crowd with prime shows in development for the 1990-91 season that were animated, musical and featured stand-up comics.

Jeff Sagansky, new president of CBS Entertainment, and Peter Tortorici, senior vice president of program planning, outlined the third-place network’s “game plan” for the coming season, describing 23 pilots under consideration.

There is no guarantee which of them will actually appear on the schedule when it is announced later this spring.

The CBS executive pointed to two series that will be different--”The Pink Panther,” a mixture of live-action and animation that proved successful in the film “Roger Rabbit,” and “Shangri La Plaza,” described as “a musical half-hour which is scored and sung from beginning to end.”

Speaking of the network’s effort to broaden its demographic base, Sagansky said:

“We have to program younger. The oldest baby boomers are still only 43, and if we’re not programming to them--which we do in shows like ‘Murphy Brown’ and ‘Designing Women’--then we ought to be programming for their kids and teen-agers.”

Among other shows under consideration for the 8 p.m. period are:

“Big,” based on the hit movie, starring Bruce Norris, Darin McGavin and Alison LaPlaca.

“Uncle Buck,” with comic Kevin Meany as an uncouth, ill-mannered and totally unprepared head of an unlikely household.

“Broken Badges,” a Cajun cop who works with a group of fellow police officers, all on psychiatric leave with various mental problems.

“Lenny,” developed around the stand-up comic Lenny Clarke, a blue-collar hero with a strong middle-American point of view.

Also “The Flash,” based on the DC Comics character; “NYPD Mounted,” about an odd-couple pair of New York cops on horseback and “The Rock,” starring comic Joy Behar.

Drama development for the 9 p.m. slot includes “Over My Dead Body,” starring Edward Woodward as a retired cop turned mystery writer; “Shore Patrol,” with Rick Schroder in an action series; “WIOU,” an ensemble show set in a Midwestern television station newsroom (from Grant Tinker’s new company), and “Sporting Chance,” about a one-time star athlete who, after being caught in a betting scandal, returns as a sports world private eye.

There are three shows with law environments--”Bar Girls” about two women attorneys; “The Antagonists,” about a defense lawyer and a prosecutor who compete in solving crimes, and “Hanging Judge,” in which a once-idealistic judge, after having been slightly disfigured, fights for justice with an array of high-tech weapons.

In comedy development for the new season is “Sunday Dinner,” a family comedy from Norman Lear.