NBC’s Dramatic Surge in Quality TV

TV or not TV. . . .

ENDORSEMENT: Six NBC dramas are among the top dozen series voted the best in prime time in a survey last month by the organization Viewers for Quality Television.

The shows, which are helping NBC regain its image as the quality network this season--despite ongoing rumors of a corporate breakup--are: “I’ll Fly Away,” “Law & Order,” “Reasonable Doubts,” “L.A. Law,” “Quantum Leap” and “Sisters.”

ABC, which canceled several favorites of the viewer group, including “thirtysomething” and “China Beach,” placed only two series--”Life Goes On” and the comedy “The Wonder Years”--in the top dozen.

While the networks are on a comedy binge, the 700 VQT members who participated in the survey chose nine dramas among their dozen favorite shows. They also named 13 dramas in their top 25 series, reflecting the hunger for good storytelling among many viewers who have deserted the networks.

The chosen VQT dramas also include the witty entry “Northern Exposure,” the syndicated “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” “The Young Riders,” “Homefront,” “In the Heat of the Night” and “Beverly Hills, 90210.” One VQT regular, “The Trials of Rosie O’Neill,” was not broadcast during the survey period.

Viewers for Quality Television, by the way, is not the same group as Concerned Viewers for Quality Television, which recently promoted a “Turn Off the TV Day” and was supported by such organizations as the Rev. Donald Wildmon’s American Family Assn.

CRITICS’ CHOICE: A poll of television columnists by the weekly publication Electronic Media also named “Northern Exposure,” “L.A. Law,” “I’ll Fly Away,” “Law & Order” and “Star Trek: The Next Generation” among its top 15 shows.

Other shows cited in the fall season included: “Murphy Brown,” “The Simpsons,” “Brooklyn Bridge,” “Cheers,” “Roseanne,” “The Wonder Years,” “Home Improvement,” “Seinfeld,” “Late Night With David Letterman” and “60 Minutes.”

“Northern Exposure,” which stars Rob Morrow, topped the critics’ poll, while “Brooklyn Bridge” (No. 5) was voted the season’s best new series. Both are CBS entries, and both are richly textured productions that illuminate the human comedy.

DILEMMA: “Brooklyn Bridge,” which also was named best new comedy in the VQT survey, is really, as we have said, a potentially wonderful one-hour series that could be even better than it is in its current 30-minute form.

Both the show’s creator, Gary David Goldberg, and CBS’ executive vice president of entertainment, Peter Tortorici, confirmed to us recently that the one-hour idea had been discussed. Two of the best episodes of “Brooklyn Bridge,” including its remarkable debut in September, have been an hour in length.

Goldberg, who previously created “Family Ties,” told us that two of his mentors, former NBC Chairman Grant Tinker and former NBC Entertainment chief Brandon Tartikoff, also felt that “Brooklyn Bridge” was a natural as an hour. He says he still seeks their counsel on his work.

For the moment, however, “Brooklyn Bridge,” struggling in the ratings but picked up by CBS for the entire season, appears to be remaining a half-hour. It’s a pity because the show seems to be bursting at the seams with depth that can only be hinted at in the short form.

CRIME STORY: Check out tonight’s episode of “Law & Order.” You won’t see many better hours in prime time this season than this tough, stylish tracing of a green-card scam following a fire that kills more than 50 people at a Latino social club in New York.

While the series has a notable regular cast headed by Michael Moriarty and Paul Sorvino, tonight’s show is enriched not only by a first-class script but also by the guest performances of some splendid Latino actors, including Jose Perez, Victor Campos and Luis Guzman.

PRYOR ENGAGEMENT: A lot of stars turned out for CBS’ Saturday tribute, “A Party for Richard Pryor,” but none had more emotional impact than the ailing comedian’s daughter, Rain, as she belted out a song with the confidence of an old pro. Network TV has never been Richard Pryor’s medium because of his ribald humor, but the brilliance came through anyway in clips of his past performances--bleeps and all.

PARLAY: Pretty smart of ABC to keep cozying up to Oprah Winfrey. Not only will her company produce all four of the “ABC Afterschool Specials” next season, but her syndicated talk program is shown on all of the network’s owned-and-operated stations, including KABC Channel 7, where it’s a killer lead-in to the local evening news.

THE BRADBURY CHRONICLES: “The Ray Bradbury Theater” returns to cable’s USA Network for its fifth season Jan. 7 with 23 new, half-hour, Friday night episodes based on stories from the master. The guest stars this season will include Richard Benjamin, Richard Kiley, Ben Cross, Sally Kirkland and David Birney.

CREDITS: Anybody can tell you that Peter Falk and “Columbo” will return to ABC on Dec. 15 with the show’s 20th anniversary telecast. But just for the record, when “Columbo” debuted in series form in late 1971--following two earlier TV movies--the writer was Steven Bochco and the director was Steven Spielberg.

Oh, one more thing: The two-hour Dec. 15 outing stars Rip Torn as a Beverly Hills jeweler who murders his nephew to collect on his $30-million lottery ticket.

BOTTOM LINE: NBC’s tight-fisted owner, General Electric, may never get involved with comedians again after the shots that it’s taken from Johnny Carson and David Letterman. Carson noted the other night that “We only have a hand-cranked phone now. GE took out all the touch-tones.”

ZAP: Why networks and sponsors sweat: 77% of the nation’s homes have remote-control TV devices.

BEING THERE: “Sometimes weird things happen.”--Ed Chigliak (Darren E. Burrows), the American Indian expert on pop culture in “Northern Exposure.”

Say good night, Gracie. . . .