Channels That Viewers Watch the Most--and the Least

TV or not TV . . .

FACTS OF LIFE: In the new vast array of TV channels, what do viewers watch most--and least? Well, the ratings folks have a little list.

The old networks, of course, lead the way in prime time with 65% of TV homes in the season that started last September--NBC, 24%; ABC, 21%, and CBS, 20%.

But then. . . .

Independent stations, cable, pay TV, superstations, the new Fox network and PBS now are drawing 44% of the households.

Yes, we know, 65% plus 44% adds up to more than 100% of TV homes. How come?

“Multiple-set households are factored in,” says a network spokesman.

PBS supporters should be most concerned because that most civilized of TV networks is on the low end of the numbers.

Which is why Bill Kobin, president of KCET Channel 28, has been warning that cable networks such as the Discovery channel and Arts & Entertainment are wooing away PBS viewers with similar shows--and that public TV desperately needs new, innovative programs to stay in business.

Here in Los Angeles, KCET has to go increasingly local and reflect both the city and Southern California to separate itself from cable and develop a distinct image. Or else . . . well, let’s not even think about it.

SILVER LINING: What an irony that youth-crazy NBC’s three most successful 8 p.m. series--the shows that presumably attract viewers for the night--are held together by Robert Stack, 71 (“Unsolved Mysteries”), Andy Griffith, 63 (“Matlock”), and Bill Cosby, 52 (“The Cosby Show”).

SHOWCASE: Glenda Jackson guest-stars Saturday on Carol Burnett’s “Carol & Company,” playing a pop psychology radio host who doesn’t give a hoot about her audience and who is more interested in plugging her new book. Burnett’s successful new NBC comedy anthology recently offered a show with Robert Guillaume, L.A.’s new “Phantom of the Opera.”

FOX TROT: If imitation is the sincerest form of television, then CBS’ “48 Hours” should send a thank-you note to Fox’s “Cops.” Not long ago, “48 Hours” scheduled a piece about the public and private lives of Florida police--the original basis of the “Cops” series. Now, this Thursday, “48 Hours” goes to Moscow to follow Soviet police as they go about their work. “Cops” has already been there and done the same thing.

HURRICANE WILLARD: Weatherman Willard Scott of the troubled “Today” show addresses the Hollywood Radio and Television Society on June 6. Scott, as you recall, was an object of anchor Bryant Gumbel’s criticism in a memo that leaked out last year. That was the start of an ongoing “Today” furor that now has seen the ratings nose-dive. I like silly old Willard because he plays straight to the heartland--no excuses.

OVERKILL: How many times is the American Movie Classics channel going to play “Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing” (William Holden, Jennifer Jones)? It’s been absurd. And, oh yes, those long, repetitive coming attractions on AMC--and those press-release-type mini-bios of Hollywood stars like John Wayne and Jimmy Stewart--aren’t going to help the channel’s credibility. Just put the films on--they speak for themselves.

OUT OF THE BLUE: I wouldn’t mind, though, if AMC ran “A Tree Grows in Brooklyn” again. Never realized what a really wonderful film it is--James Dunn as the alcoholic but loving father, Dorothy McGuire as the strong-willed but not-quite-understanding mother, Peggy Ann Garner simply spectacular as the child determined to better herself. Caught it right after the “Twin Peaks” finale. A night to remember.

CHERRY PIE: Say, what about rerunning “Twin Peaks” starting in August and then climaxing things with a big two-hour season opener, directed by David Lynch, that solves Laura’s murder and frees the series for new directions?

COMEUPPANCE: Oh how smart we thought we were last week. “Anybody want to buy a network?” we asked. “Anybody want to buy the Brooklyn Bridge?” Well, we have been nailed. An ABC employee called to remind us that when Capital Cities bought the network in 1985, a new combined share of stock was worth about $220. Cap Cities closed Friday at nearly $600 a share.

REMEMBRANCE: KSCI Channel 18, which specializes in programming for Asian Americans, marks China’s student revolt of a year ago with a one-hour Monday documentary, “The Ceaseless Fire,” which airs at 10:30 p.m. It’ll be followed by the two-hour “Concert for Democracy in China,” which features performing artists and was taped in San Francisco.

ON TAP: Sharon Gless’ planned new CBS series, “The Trials of Rosie O’Neill,” stars the former “Cagney & Lacey” headliner as a recently divorced public defender. Producer Barney Rosenzweig, who set up shop in a warehouse near downtown to shoot “Cagney & Lacey,” is doing the same for the new show in a building that’s a short hop from City Hall.

BIRTHDAY: Cable News Network’s 10th anniversary Friday will also be the publication date of the book “CNN: The Inside Story” by Hank Whittemore. CNN founder Ted Turner recalls that the network was such a shoestring operation when it started that “our L.A. bureau didn’t get hooked up, I don’t think, until about five minutes before we were on the air.”

ROOTS: There’ll be a Steven Spielberg Exhibition Gallery in the new Museum of Broadcasting building in New York. Spielberg, who began in TV directing such shows as “Columbo,” “Duel” and “Night Gallery,” pledged $1 million to the museum.

BEING THERE: “I like a wine that fights back,” observed Jonathan Steed (Patrick Macnee) in “The Avengers.”

Say good night, Gracie. . . .