TELEVISION : It’s Not a Dream : They guffawed when Jeff Sagansky said CBS would be No. 1 in prime time. Now that it’s a reality, some question the value

At the time, it seemed a rather brash statement. In May of last year, a mere 17 months after becoming president of CBS Entertainment, Jeff Sagansky predicted that his cellar-dwelling network would win the prime-time ratings race in the 1991-92 season.

It is now less than a year later, and perhaps CBS’ new theme song should be “The Impossible Dream.” When the 30-week, so-called official ratings season ends next Sunday, CBS will be the winner by a wide margin--with its programs averaging about 1.4 million more homes than runner-up NBC and 1.7 million more than third-ranked ABC--as it becomes the only network ever to go from last place to first in one year.

Powered by “Murphy Brown,” “Northern Exposure,” the amazing “60 Minutes”--once again prime time’s No. 1 program--a potent collection of TV films and specials plus the World Series, Super Bowl and Winter Olympics, CBS has scored an undeniably impressive triumph, even as detractors argue that younger audiences and the profits they bring are more important than total ratings.

Whatever its future on the shaky landscape of network TV, CBS has achieved more than a statistical victory this season. In its remarkable turnaround, the network, particularly its entertainment division, has done just about everything that anybody could ask to dispel the image of a worn-out, uncreative organization ripe for collapse.

This was a company that had earned the scorn of Hollywood’s creative community since the mid-1980s because of its arrogance; that had last seen glory in the days of “Dallas” and “Magnum, P.I.”; that for half a decade had no major new hits except for “Murder, She Wrote”; that was getting an increasingly negative reputation because of the budget and staff cuts in its proud news division.

In addition, CBS finished $85.8 million in the red last year because of the recession, new TV competition and--in great part--because it vastly overpaid for sports events, particularly major league baseball, a giant miscalculation that cost the network $1.06 billion for a contract covering 1990 to 1993.

CBS was, in short, the laughing stock of the network television world.

In the volatile and ever-changing TV battleground, CBS may yet find itself up for grabs despite--or perhaps because of--its success this season. But most important, what has developed at the network is a program philosophy that now sets it unequivocably apart from ABC and NBC.

It is a philosophy that may well be a form of self-defense--because CBS’ programming, while gradually attracting a younger audience than before, is traditionally watched by older, more conservative viewers who are regarded as less valuable by advertisers. Nonetheless, as ABC, NBC and the youth-oriented Fox Broadcasting Co. are increasingly dominated by the Madison Avenue view of things, Sagansky, 40, the architect of his network’s turnaround in the last two years, says flatly:

“I really think there is room for at least one network in the grand style of the networks that we all grew up with. And we’re still trying to be that. And if anything, I think that this year has told us loud and clear that it’s still possible to do that.”

Sitting in his office at CBS Television City with his top aide, Peter Tortorici, executive vice president of the entertainment division, Sagansky, a low-key TV and film executive who was avidly sought by the network for his current job, adds:

“Fox, you know, is really a niche service (for the young). But the other networks are talking the same way--that they’re not going after the biggest audience possible, that they’re just going to target a piece of that audience. And I think that on nights like our Sunday (’60 Minutes,’ ‘Murder, She Wrote’ and winning movies) and Monday (‘Evening Shade,’ ‘Major Dad,’ ‘Murphy Brown,’ ‘Designing Women’ and ‘Northern Exposure’), you can get both. And as long as we have those kinds of nights, you feel that it’s do-able on other nights as well.

“I guess that’s the question: Is there going to be any traditional-style broadcaster left in our network business? I don’t know if it’s a viable option for all the networks, but it’s a viable option for this network.

“It takes time for the advertising community to catch up to a network’s performance because they buy one year in advance. And I think that in this upfront (buying season in June), we’re going to be rewarded for what happened this past year. And I think we’re going to be profitable.”

A top CBS executive concedes that business with TV advertisers “continues to be negotiated” on the basis of viewers under 50 years old. But all CBS management echoes Sagansky’s view that “in the 18-to-49 (age) category, every (network) is delivering pretty much the same audience. And with over-49 viewers, we’re delivering a huge audience which advertisers are basically getting for free. We can reach everybody in the country, and to go after a narrow audience segment is, I think in the long run, going to be a very foolish choice” for a network, especially with the aging of America.

In recent weeks, CBS’ parting from the pack and from the conventional wisdom of youth-oriented programming was emphasized when it renewed “Knots Landing” for a 14th season and picked up two former NBC series with older demographics--”In the Heat of the Night,” with Carroll O’Connor, and a new version of “The Golden Girls” called “Golden Palace,” which will be set in a Miami hotel and star Betty White, Rue McClanahan and Estelle Getty.

CBS had also counted on two other veteran headliners who died during the last year--Redd Foxx, whose new fall series, “The Royal Family,” was attracting audiences when he was stricken, and Michael Landon, a victim of cancer in the summer of 1991 while planning his unrealized series “Us.”

Says Tortorici, 42, a high-powered advocate who once was a trial attorney:

“At CBS, what we want to say to the viewers is that everybody’s welcome. We’re not only interested in your children. We’re not only interested in 18-year-old viewers. We’re not only interested in 54-year-old viewers. Our goal is to get everybody to watch, and hopefully to watch together. If we do a good job while we have this incredible opportunity, then we can succeed and provide something of value to this society. I don’t think that’s too lofty a goal for us to have.”

“Beautifully said,” nods Sagansky.

As CBS goes its own way, while continuing to whittle down the age level of its viewers, there are those who are less optimistic about its strategy and position. They speak of different images: Tilting at windmills, whistling through the graveyard.

Yet even those who are skeptical about CBS’ chances credit Sagansky and the new team at the network for an undeniably uplifting performance.

Despite criticism that CBS rode its big sports events to its victorious season, the fact is that by also combining clever, event-style specials such as Ed Sullivan and “MASH” retrospectives with its hit series and movies, the network has won an overwhelming 21 of the 28 weeks thus far in the ratings season.

The triumph breaks NBC’s six-year ratings domination that had been propelled by “The Cosby Show” and gives CBS its first prime-time victory since the 1984-85 season. While CBS has put itself in a financial hole by overpaying for rights to baseball, the investment in the Olympics was well worth it, as indicated by a powerful showing in the February sweeps, one of four months annually in which networks’ ratings help set the prices for the commercials on their affiliate stations.

Tipping his hat to his opponent, ABC Entertainment President Robert Iger, who has firmly emphasized profits over ratings--through young demographics--says that CBS’ victory is “an achievement because going from third to first is not insignificant.

“Clearly big-event programming, the World Series and Olympics have helped. But they’ve improved themselves in other areas as well. On Mondays, for instance. And the performance of their Sunday movies (highlighted during the last two seasons by such offerings as Glenn Close in ‘Sarah, Plain and Tall’ and Jessica Lange in ‘O Pioneers!’) is significant. They’re very strong there. That’s a good, honest victory.”

Also citing such CBS news and reality series as “48 Hours,” “Top Cops,” “Rescue 911” and “Street Stories,” Iger adds: “The victory shouldn’t be isolated just to the World Series and Olympics.

“But I have been outspoken that we’re not selling (total) household numbers. I recently spoke to about 50 advertisers for next season, and I didn’t meet one that spoke of household numbers. They spoke of specific demographics. I asked them, ‘What do you want?’ And they all said, ‘Young.’ ”

The belief in advertising circles is that younger viewers are less fixed in their buying habits and more likely to purchase goods on impulse than the older audience, 50 and over.

“That’s what the belief is,” Sagansky acknowledges. “Who believes that? I’ll be damned if I know. I mean, we don’t believe that. We think that advertising for an older audience can be just as effective as advertising for a younger audience. Does the (advertiser) believe that? Well, when you ask them, they’ll say, ‘Oh no. Our agency tells us that.’ So it’s sort of hard to pin down the blame as to why that older audience is being ignored.

“The studies done in the last couple of years show that the older audience, which is to some degree leaving network television because they’re not being programmed for, are watching basic (non-pay TV) cable. And the cable increase is pretty much with the older demographic. And that sort of belies what is commonly felt--that, gee, cable is the young, hip kind of medium.

“In fact, on Lifetime and some of the other cable services that are programming network reruns and that kind of thing, they’re getting the older audience that we’re not doing a good-enough job programming for.”

Like Iger, NBC Entertainment President Warren Littlefield congratulated CBS and Sagansky on their victory but emphasized the decreasing importance of total household ratings.

“A win does mean something,” he says. “We play on a tough field and it’s very competitive. (But) financially, in today’s reality, a household win doesn’t mean a thing. I think advertisers are very interested in CBS’ Monday lineup, but they also see that a lot of their success is built on sports and stunts and special events.”

Replies Sagansky: “Specials are something we have pursued right from the beginning. I’m not embarrassed they’ve done well. And I’ll tell you something: Maybe the fact that TV got so monotonous was that everything was just half-hour comedies and hour drama series. I think that’s what’s been partially responsible for the downturn in network viewing.”

With ABC, once the leader in great miniseries--from “Roots” to “The Winds of War”--turning ultra-cautious in its programming, CBS is trying to establish itself in long-form “event” shows as well.

In the works as major CBS miniseries are “Sinatra,” a biography of Frank Sinatra; “Return to Lonesome Dove,” a sequel to the huge Western hit “Lonesome Dove”; “Queen,” from the late Alex Haley, author of “Roots”; “Scarlett,” based on the critically blasted but hot bestseller that continues the story of “Gone With the Wind,” and “The Bible,” from Dino De Laurentis.

What everyone in the cynical business of television wants to know, of course, is whether CBS is for real--especially after a season victory in which not one of its new, fall series caught on with the public.

“Brooklyn Bridge,” at least, earned enormous critical praise for its sensitive depiction of a Jewish family in the 1950s. But such other entries as “Princesses,” “P.S.I. Luv U,” “Palace Guard,” “The Carol Burnett Show” and “Teech” are all gone.

Is CBS doing it with mirrors, with spit and glue, with rubber bands? Or are Sagansky, Tortorici & Co. simply great at improvising--no small gift in a turbulent business like TV, in which showmanship is often just as important as the programs?

“Bragging rights are always valuable, if nothing else to lead off your pitch on Madison Avenue,” says Larry Gerbrandt of Kagan Associates, a Carmel-based firm of communications analysts. “But the industry has seen millions of viewers fade away. What’s good enough for first place today was not good enough for third place before, so it means a lot less.

“Being No. 1 is not nearly as much fun as it used to be. Today you can be No. 1 and still lose money.”

Nonetheless, Gerbrandt, while refusing to dismiss the possibility that CBS still could be bought, also thinks the network deserves some credit for its showing: “I’m not sure that the money they spent on sports got them to be No. 1. What got them there was good old-fashioned programming, winning Monday night, having a strong comedy lineup.”

And in today’s turbulent TV times, he adds, “I think everybody’s doing it with a certain amount of mirrors.”

Joel Segal, of the McCann-Erickson ad agency, is another skeptic, but he thinks that some of CBS’ comedy hits, such as “Major Dad” and “Designing Women,” could be switched around to help build other nights. The network is dead on Fridays, for instance, and comatose on Saturdays.

Segal also believes CBS is thinking imaginatively in its program development for next season, in which such performers as Bob Newhart and Shelley Long are candidates for new comedies, and such producers as Diane English (“Murphy Brown”), Linda Bloodworth-Thomason (“Designing Women”) and David E. Kelley (“L.A. Law”) are among the creators of contending series.

“I wouldn’t say this season’s (CBS) victory was massive,” Segal says. “But we see them turning around now and expect better things from them. And yes, I certainly expect it to affect buying.”

There’s a lot of talk these days at CBS, long a company of conflicting small empires, about the new teamwork. Sagansky says “the one greatest achievement” of Howard Stringer, president of the CBS Broadcast Group, “is that he’s made everybody talk. It is so long overdue, particularly in this company, where everybody was at odds.

“Nobody used to talk to one another. Everybody was fighting. The entertainment division didn’t want any news shows on--for what reason I’ve never been able to figure out, particularly now with the appetite for reality and news programming.

“We were the ones who said after ’48 Hours’ did a ‘Street Stories’ special, ‘Look, you guys should think about this as a series.’ But they were the ones that hired the producers. They were the ones that put it together. We gave them an air date and they’ve done great for us.”

Adds Tortorici: “We’ve tried to bring the same kind of professional relationships with the news department that we would with any other supplier. The thing we always look for with suppliers is: Who are the best producers? Who are the people who can really deliver week in and week out? And we think that inside CBS News, we have some of the best producers, and we want to court and encourage them.”

In the past, network news departments were often regarded as sacrosanct territory, off-limits to entertainment divisions and management in general--and some purists may well look askance at the new co-dependency.

But, says Sagansky, “we don’t affect the content of the news programs.”

And Stringer, a former news producer and president of CBS News, says: “Obviously, editorial independence and integrity have to be preserved. But we’re fighting a lot of (forces)--the recession, fragmentation of the audience. The price we in news paid for independence was isolation. We only had ’60 Minutes’ on the air. But now news is a force. It’s dangerous when the entertainment department starts intruding, but that won’t happen. I’m there to protect the integrity of the news division.”

Stringer is clear-eyed about CBS’ ratings victory: “The entertainment department has made very few mistakes. They haven’t had all the ammunition, but they’ve scheduled very carefully. They’ve made relationships in Hollywood. We’re not considered arrogant anymore. Jeff has managed very well. And there is a relationship between being first and having momentum.”

Few members of the CBS team are regarded as highly as the low-profile John Matoian, who Stringer says “has worked miracles” as boss of the network’s critically important Sunday and Tuesday night TV movies. Among coming projects, Matoian says Glenn Close “is actively involved” in a sequel to “Sarah, Plain and Tall,” and Sally Field is on tap for a film.

“When Jeff came after me for this job,” says Matoian, “I had no experience in the long-form area. The thing he said to me was that he wanted someone who made people feel comfortable coming here first with the material.

“The other thing that’s important is that previous regimes were able to buy a lot more development and scripts than we’re able to do. So just from economics, the good news for the creative community is that when they sell an idea here, it’s more than likely going to be made. It’s no longer just a development deal.”

Sagansky’s emphasis on using summer to experiment with new TV ideas has produced two prime-time winners, “Northern Exposure” and “Top Cops.” And Steve Warner, CBS’ 33-year-old vice president of program planning who is a former aide to network chairman Laurence Tisch and oversees the summer and reality shows, is another key member of the Hollywood team.

“Northern Exposure,” a smash hit about a New York doctor who relocates to a small Alaska town, is a success, Warner believes, because “it takes you to a place you don’t get taken to on television. That’s why ‘Murphy Brown’ and ‘Cheers’ are such great shows: They take you some place where you want to go.”

Anyone who remembers the heyday of CBS--when it ruled the TV world with Cronkite, Murrow, Lucille Ball, Jackie Gleason, Mary Tyler Moore, “All in the Family” and “MASH”--can’t help rooting for the network’s gritty attempt to revive itself under the merciless new rules of the game.

“Our core, regular series performed much stronger than anticipated this season,” says David Poltrack, head of research and planning for CBS. “A year ago, many in the rank and file felt there might be an ownership change and were anxious because the network was not performing. But now there’s a great feeling of pride, that we’re the hot network.”

Says Sagansky: “I hope, for obvious reasons, that CBS isn’t sold because I think we’re just starting to get our second wind. I think the best from us is yet to come.”

For George Schweitzer, CBS’ boss of advertising and promotion, the season’s victory has special importance: “More people are watching our promos. When we were No. 3, we knew how difficult it was to get people to watch our shows.”

Whatever CBS’ fate, it has put on a grand comeback: Its Monday lineup now is TV’s strongest. “Northern Exposure” has developed into perhaps TV’s finest series. “Brooklyn Bridge,” though disappointing in the ratings, has been a brilliantly original and sensitive new show. The retrospectives of classic series were imaginative. And the gods smiled on the network with a great seven-game World Series between Minnesota and Atlanta.

For CBS, it will always be that championship season.