Thursday Night Fights by the Networks

The cat-and-mouse game of mid-season changes at the TV networks took some surprising turns late this week in new attempts to weaken “The Cosby Show” and “Cheers.”

In a flurry of moves to fine-tune their schedules in the new year, CBS disclosed plans for a one-hour news series, “Street Stories,” and ABC said it will present two-hour “Columbo” reruns--with both of the mid-season challengers taking on NBC’s Bill Cosby-led Thursday lineup.

Fox’s “The Simpsons” and “Beverly Hills, 90210” already have made their presence felt against NBC’s cornerstone Thursday schedule. But the NBC lineup--which also includes “A Different World,” “Wings” and “L.A. Law”--is still a potent ratings force.

“Street Stories,” a spinoff of CBS News’ “48 Hours”--with Ed Bradley of “60 Minutes” as host--will debut Jan. 9, said a top CBS executive, Peter Tortorici. As a two-hour season premiere of “48 Hours” on Sept. 11, “Street Stories” was a ratings hit with its collection of urban vignettes.

ABC’s “Columbo” repeats will also begin to run weekly on Jan. 9. The Peter Falk police show continues to turn out occasional new episodes--with its season premiere scheduled for Sunday--and the venerable series has been a solid ratings-getter since its revival in 1989.

“Street Stories,” which will go head-on against “Cheers” and “Wings,” is a tryout that--like other CBS series--will give way to the network’s coverage of the Winter Olympics from Albertville, France, during the February ratings sweeps.

But while “Street Stories” may seem like a stopgap measure to help tide CBS over until the Olympics start, it could have a future if it fares well. “We thought it was a terrific show on ’48 Hours,’ ” said Tortorici, executive vice president of CBS Entertainment.

For CBS, the scheduling of “Street Stories” bumps the much-knocked-around series “The Trials of Rosie O’Neill” out of the lineup again--although the network promises it will return sometime after the Olympics.

“Rosie,” which stars Sharon Gless as a public defender, would have gone up against the second hour of “Columbo,” and Tortorici says, “We didn’t think that was good.”

At the moment, therefore, “The Trials of Rosie O’Neill” has one of the top casts in TV--with Gless, Ed Asner, Dorian Harewood, Ron Rifkin and new addition Robert Wagner--and no place to go.

“Columbo,” of course, is more likely to draw the older audience. It is replacing the James Earl Jones-Richard Crenna series “Pros & Cons”--which failed and will be run out later--and two new reality shows, “FBI: The Untold Stories” and “American Detective,” which move to Mondays on Jan. 6.

“FBI: The Untold Stories” and “American Detective” haven’t delivered much in the ratings, either, but, like “Street Stories,” they are cheaper to produce than entertainment series--an important factor for the financially pressed networks these days.

Even the successful but expensive “MacGyver” series--which reportedly costs about $1.5 million an episode--is calling it a day. It will leave ABC after its Dec. 30 outing and then return for its finale on Feb. 3.

With rumors steadily flying that potential buyers--possibly film studios--may make a move on NBC or CBS, or both, the pressure on programmers to squeeze every drop out of their mid-season moves is intense.

Despite the argument that a ratings victory is not as important as the profits earned by attracting desirable audiences, the truth is that everybody still wants to win. It does count for something: It enhances a network’s image--and thus its value--and it certainly gives a morale boost to the 9-to-5 troops.

With the approach of the halfway mark of the official ratings season that ends in April, the three networks are closely bunched. CBS, still riding the crest of its baseball ratings, remains No. 1 but by a diminished margin. What CBS is clearly trying to do is hold the fort until February and hope that another ratings boost from the Olympics propels it to victory for the season.

CBS’ nightmare is that it now must create excitement with new and special programming--both big risks--on both Fridays and Saturdays, where such series as “P.S.I. Luv U” and “The Carol Burnett Show” will be gone in a few weeks.

During January, CBS’ Saturday nights will be filled by motion pictures followed by reruns of “All in the Family.” It is, in short, a lineup that lacks a regular current series.

Further indications of how CBS is trying to maneuver until the Olympics will also come on Fridays in January when the network presents two or three special editions of “Rescue 911”--in addition to the show’s regular Tuesday outings.

CBS’ Friday lineup will be filled out by two new series: “Hearts Are Wild,” set in a Las Vegas hotel and debuting Jan. 10, and “Tequila & Bonetti,” which arrives Jan. 17 and deals with a crime-fighting team. The team, you should know, includes a dog that provides running commentary for viewers.

The Olympics come to the rescue with a preview on Feb. 6 and the start of the daily coverage on Feb. 8.

Twelve weeks into the season, the biggest network surprise is NBC, which, despite all the rumors about its possible fate, is carrying on with good grace at its entertainment department--a lively corpse if ever there was one, with a nice blend of drama and comedy. As runner-up to CBS, NBC has closed the margin to a single rating point since baseball ended.

Under its cheerful, fatalistic new entertainment president, Warren Littlefield, NBC won the ratings competition again last week.

And in a mid-season move, it renewed its new country music series, “Hot Country Nights,” for six more shows--making a total of at least 12--after the show got off to a respectable competitive start.

If, indeed, NBC is on the block, Littlefield & Co. are at least going in style.