KNBC, KCBS Ride War Wave With Early Newscasts

TV or not TV. . . .

TIMING: It’s not exactly a coincidence that KNBC Channel 4 and KCBS Channel 2 are suddenly launching daily 3 p.m. news broadcasts.

The Gulf War is drawing viewers, the February ratings sweeps start this week and news is local TV’s main commodity.

KNBC found out with such events as the 1988 Seoul Summer Olympics that local news can plug into the ongoing ratings impetus of major happenings.

And KCBS suddenly found itself with an open hour anyway when it yanked Joan Rivers’ ratings-troubled talk show, which will move to a noon slot on KTLA Channel 5 starting March 11.

KCBS had announced that “Quincy” reruns would replace Rivers, but the war fueled the new Tritia Toyota-Michael Tuck newscast.

February is one of four sweeps months each year in which ratings help determine advertising prices for stations.

With the sweeps unfolding, the 3-4 p.m. ratings leader in Los Angeles is still the Oprah Winfrey show on KABC Channel 7, and war news is the competitive response from KCBS and KNBC.

It’s always possible that the added early news programs could continue if ratings show an untapped market. But the best bet is that they’ll be around only while war news is dominant--if that long.

DOWNERS: Some of TV’s top problem-oriented drama series took a ratings nose-dive last week as news from the gulf gave viewers enough worries.

“L.A. Law” drew only 19% of viewers, “thirtysomething” 17%, “In the Heat of the Night” 19%, “Equal Justice” 14% and “Gabriel’s Fire” 11%.

On the other hand, “Cheers” pulled in 31% of the audience--near its usual level.

FACES: Most impressive war-briefing officials from a TV standpoint: Gen. Colin C. Powell, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Pete Williams, spokesman for the Pentagon.

OVER THERE: CNN broke away from Thursday’s Pentagon briefing and cut to Tel Aviv because air raid sirens had been heard. Said reporter Richard Blystone, in Tel Aviv: “You’re just in time for the all-clear.” ABC, also carrying the briefing, stayed with it and looked less itchy-fingered.

HEAVYWEIGHT: With each added appearance by Bill Moyers on CNN during the gulf crisis, his incalculable worth to the network’s war coverage became more and more pronounced.

OUTFOXED: Fox TV says it’s been sending its affiliates brief war updates. And its owned stations, such as KTTV Channel 11, are trying to pull their weight. But the aspiring network’s delay in developing a significant national news operation has made it a virtual nonentity in the coverage at a crucial period when it should be building its credibility.

HOT SEAT: Sure, some network and big-city anchors draw seven-figure salaries, but their counterparts in the 63 smallest markets are just working stiffs--averaging $19,500 a year, according to the magazine Television Quarterly.

HE AND SHE: Current events permitting, Jamie Lee Curtis and Richard Lewis return Feb. 6 in ABC’s revamped “Anything but Love,” eventually doing, uh, what comes naturally.

THE NAME IS BOND: Superstation TBS is calling it “007 Days of 007.” And what it is, says the channel, is a dozen James Bond movies in one week, from March 4-10, with the greatest Bond of them all, Sean Connery, starring in six of the films.

SIGNED AND SEALED: A renegotiated deal now gives the American Movie Classics channel 229 films from 20th Century Fox, including the Elizabeth Taylor-Richard Burton version of “Cleopatra” and Joanne Woodward’s Oscar-winning performance in “Three Faces of Eve.”

DRAWING BOARD: “Cop Rock” flopped, but producer Steven Bochco’s company is plunging ahead with a new drama series called “Civil Wars.” It’s about divorce lawyers.

THE GAP: On the heels of a ratings report that said black households are the heaviest users of TV, what a sad irony that one of the few network dramas about black families, NBC’s “Generations,” was dropped last week. True, it was a soap opera, but at least it was something. Aside from a black family headed by Howard Rollins in “In the Heat of the Night,” there isn’t much in prime time, either.

THE OTHER SIDE: With Iraqi President Saddam Hussein intentionally polluting Middle East waters with millions of gallons of oil, Ted Turner’s conservation-minded TV programming tells a happier story on TBS Feb. 24--”Hope for the Tropics.” It’s about the enlightened conservation policies of Costa Rica to save tropical forests. Lauren Bacall narrates.

SPREADING OUT: CNN and TNT--both Ted Turner channels--intensify their penetration of Latin America and the Caribbean starting this week. TNT’s entertainment service is being launched in 14 nations, with optional reception in Spanish, Portuguese and English. And CNN International replaces the CNN domestic signal with “extended international programming that caters to the Latin American audience.”

FREE-SWINGERS: NBC’s “Sunday Best,” scheduled to debut this weekend with a look at the past week in TV, not only has Carl Reiner as host but also such contributors as Linda Ellerbee, Harry Shearer and Merrill Markoe--one of the prime creative forces in the early days of “Late Night With David Letterman.”

DATE BOOK: The Arts & Entertainment channel celebrates President’s Day Feb. 18 with a shrewd marathon--consecutive programs about nine chief executives: Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Herbert Hoover, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon and Lyndon B. Johnson.

BEING THERE: “A look into the future never gave anyone peace of mind.”--Cowboy, in “Gunsmoke.”

Say good night, Gracie. . . .