Tartikoff Says Fox Panders to ‘Worst Aspects’ : Television: The NBC entertainment president calls one of the upstart network’s new shows ‘insulting to women.’

While applauding Fox Broadcasting for its growth as the fourth commercial TV network, NBC Entertainment President Brandon Tartikoff accuses his rival of pandering to the public’s worst aspects.

“It’s a substantial achievement, but how have they done it?” Tartikoff asked in an interview at the end of NBC’s annual convention of affiliated stations here. “Ironically, outside of ‘The Simpsons,’ there isn’t a whole lot now on Fox that I’d like to have on my schedule.

“They pander to the worst aspects of the American TV audience. They assume people don’t read--every reference is to other TV shows. They don’t ask the audience to aspire to anything. They don’t try to assume that the audience has a collective 90 IQ.”

He said that he enjoyed “The Simpsons,” which Fox has scheduled against NBC’s “The Cosby Show” in the fall. But he added that he had seen “Babes,” Fox’s upcoming comedy series about three overweight sisters, and found it “insulting to women.”

In response, Fox Broadcasting spokesman Brad Turell said Thursday: “Brandon Tartikoff was the first person to predict that Fox would fail miserably. We hope his current thoughts prove equally correct.”

The NBC programming chief made his comments about Fox during a discussion of NBC’s new fall schedule, which he said he hoped would return his top-rated network to the time when it first ascended to Nielsen preeminence five years ago with critically praised shows such as “Hill Street Blues” and “Cheers.”

“We strayed a bit recently, putting on some shows like ‘Hardball’ and ‘Baywatch’ that none of us as programmers would probably rush home and see,” he said. “When a show dies in the ratings, it’s a very hollow feeling to say, ‘It tested well,’ or ‘I ran it as a movie and it got a 30 share.’ ”

Citing “Fresh Prince of Bel Air,” “American Dreamer,” “Law and Order” and the medical series “Signs of Life” as innovative shows in the NBC fall schedule, Tartikoff said, “We tried to go for breakout shows. We were offered a lot of takeoffs of ‘America’s Funniest Home Videos,’ along with seven or eight scripts that would out-gross-out (Fox’s) ‘Married . . . With Children.’ But I think what’s important is to play our own game.”

As “The Simpsons,” Fox’s animated underachievers, prepare to go head-to-head with NBC’s Huxtables this fall, “The Cosby Show” is making some changes, Tartikoff said.

“There will be a new character added to the Huxtable household,” he related. “She will be a kid from the ghetto, about 16 or 17 years old, who will be the goddaughter” to Bill Cosby’s character. As yet uncast, she “will set up chain-reactions and permutations” in the Huxtable household, he said.

“The Cosby Show” also has a new team of writers and a new producer, Bernie Kukoff.

These changes, Tartikoff said, were made to bring new energy to the series, which was No. 2 in the Nielsens this year but is entering its seventh season, and were initiated before the announcement of any of the networks’ fall schedules.

“Bill has always wanted to have a sense that the audience is still very positive about the show and that the show not become a lesser imitation of what it has been,” Tartikoff explained. “The changes have turned out to be fortuitous. At some point in the life of a show, you do expect that one of the other networks will try to take it on with direct programming as opposed to counter-programming. We’re much better equipped to do battle with ‘Simpsons’ with ‘Cosby’ than somewhere else.”

Meanwhile, NBC said that at a closed-door session with the affiliates Wednesday, Tartikoff announced that the network does not plan to rerun the controversial “Saturday Night Live” episode hosted by Andrew Dice Clay. His announcement came after what several affiliates at the meeting described as sharp criticism of the Clay show by Cliff Brown, a broadcaster in Hattiesburg, Miss.

“It’s too bad that show tarnished what was an otherwise good year” for the late-night comedy program, an NBC spokesman quoted Tartikoff as saying.