Can the Bochco- ABC Marriage Be Saved?

It seemed a logical question to ask Steven Bochco:

Now that the word is out that ABC has rejected his plan for what the network termed an R-rated series, wouldn’t he be more comfortable in the free-swinging world of cable than at a network?

Robert Iger, president of ABC Entertainment, where Bochco has a 10-series deal, surprisingly told a national TV audience on “Good Morning America” Thursday that the renowned producer “did pitch to us an R-rated prime-time drama.”

Added Iger, taking part in a discussion of TV: “We decided just this past week not to go forward on that basis. . . . I don’t think that’s really the answer for network television.”

“It scared them,” says Bochco, co-creator of “Hill Street Blues” and “L.A. Law.”

But, he says, he went ahead with his idea partly because “it is no longer good enough to be good” in the competitive new world of cable and other video alternatives. His “sad conclusion” is that “being good doesn’t mean anything anymore.”

His project, which he still hopes can be worked out in modified form--to which Iger seems open--is a one-hour, 10 p.m. police drama for fall that includes nudity and strong language.

Becoming more adult “is one of the ways you compete” against cable, says Bochco. “It’s certainly not an illegitimate tool. We’re competing with movies in a way we never did before.

“We (the networks) used to have a captive audience. Now, I don’t think people are necessarily spending less time in front of a television set, but they’re sure spending less time watching network television.”

Bochco currently has three series on ABC: “Doogie Howser, M.D.,” the animated “Capitol Critters” and “Civil Wars,” an hour drama centering around two divorce lawyers.

“If you can access ‘Kramer vs. Kramer,’ let us say--that’s an old movie now (1979)--side by side with ‘Civil Wars,’ they got some stuff going for them I can’t compete with,” says Bochco. “I can’t compete in terms of language. I can’t compete in terms of nudity. I can’t compete in terms of a truly adult treatment of a very adult subject.”

Bochco says he didn’t proceed with his R-rated police drama on a personal whim. He went ahead, he adds, “because they (ABC) said to go ahead. If I had proposed it and they said, ‘No, we don’t want to do that,’ I wouldn’t have gone forward with it.”

But it appears that ABC got cold feet.

“I told them (in September) exactly what I wanted to do and my reasons for wanting to do it. And I think we all acknowledged some degree of riskiness in attempting it. I think we all agreed that it was worth developing,” says Bochco.

“And, with their blessings, I went off and developed it. And I think that when they read our draft of it, they were troubled--I guess by actually seeing it in black and white.

“I made it real clear that somewhere between where they sit with their archaic broadcast standards and what we have put on the page, there was certainly a lot of room hopefully to negotiate some middle ground. . . . At that point they did not seem willing to have those conversations.

“But I’m not of a belief that the door is closed at this point, notwithstanding anything that Bob said on TV (Thursday). Their problems with this show, as scripted, are in the areas of language and sexuality.”

Well, then, we asked Bochco, what about jumping to the world of cable?

“I don’t know if the economics of cable would accommodate the production levels that we routinely can achieve on network television. On the other hand, if you’re asking me in terms of scripting, in terms of content, whether I would be more comfortable (in cable), it depends on the show.”

Does Bochco’s R-rated script have explicit sex?

“No. But we did have some nudity,” he says, offering the examples of bare breasts and naked behinds. There would be no “genital nudity.”

The attempted R-rated drama would be the fifth of Bochco’s 10 series under his ABC deal. “Doogie Howser” is a moderate hit. “Cop Rock” was exciting but flopped. “Capitol Critters” and “Civil Wars” are struggling for a foothold. None, in short, has thus far matched the phenomenal success and status of “Hill Street Blues” and “L.A. Law.”

In addition, preceding their differences over the R-rated series, ABC insisted that Bochco redo “Civil Wars” before putting it on the air, reportedly because it was too negative.

“They thought it was dark, yeah,” he says.

Is he, we asked him, having problems with ABC?

“I know what you’re getting at, but I think you’re talking about apples and pears here. The problems we had on ‘Civil Wars’ are the kind of problems that you’ll occasionally run into when you make a show that, for whatever their (ABC’s) reasons, they wish was better or they’re not crazy about or doesn’t test well. That’s pretty standard stuff. Everybody has those.

“Listen, I have a very good relationship with ABC. What you need to understand is that they don’t need me and I don’t need them. But I like them and I don’t have any reason to believe they don’t like me. When they made their deal with me, I have to assume they knew who they were making their deal with. I have to assume they didn’t expect that I was going to give them ‘Leave It to Beaver.’ ”

“Capitol Critters,” says Bochco, “has a lousy time slot.” The musical police drama “Cop Rock” was “a very risky venture that they (ABC) were incredibly supportive of.” “Civil Wars,” with Mariel Hemingway and Peter Onorati, is “a damn good show” and it has won an enviable new time slot at 10 p.m. on Tuesdays after the smash hits “Roseanne” and “Coach.”

As for his R-rated project, Bochco says he “can understand” why ABC is frightened of it: “I’m very disappointed that I can’t make the exact script we wrote and put it on the air. But I’m not naive. I didn’t actually expect that we would be able to do that.”

So the show may still be on its way? “Maybe. Or maybe not.”

And if ABC says no way to the series, it still has to pay him a compensation fee.

“Yeah. There’s a penalty payment. And you go on to the next (series).”

Says Bochco: “You don’t jump ship. You keep trying. (Network television) is an extraordinary medium. I ain’t goin’ anywhere. If they (ABC) aren’t happy with me, they’ll have to file for divorce. I consider myself very much married to ABC. And like any marriage, you’re going to have your beefs. And there’s nothing wrong with that. That’s how you learn about your partner.”