CBS Fighting to Stay Ahead of ABC

TV or not TV. . . .

TITLE MATCH: Going into the second half of the TV season, the home-stretch ratings drive is shaping up.

Defending champ CBS, led by “60 Minutes,” is trying to ward off persistent ABC, powered by “Roseanne.”

Despite early impetus from the World Series and the “Murphy Brown”-Dan Quayle flap, CBS got whacked in the November ratings sweeps by ABC, whose winners included “The Jacksons: An American Dream.”

CBS, however, may have the big gun in the February sweeps--a six-hour miniseries based on a story from the late Alex Haley, author of “Roots,” about his paternal grandmother. It’s called “Queen,” the executive producers are David Wolper (“Roots”) and Bernard Sofronski, and the cast includes Halle Berry, Ann-Margret, Tim Daly, Danny Glover, Jasmine Guy, Ossie Davis, Madge Sinclair, Martin Sheen and Paul Winfield.

The traditional ratings season ends in mid-April.

While CBS has the firepower to win its second consecutive crown, ABC, despite the mid-season loss of a big winner--”Monday Night Football”--has a potent sitcom lineup that includes “Roseanne,” “Home Improvement” and “Coach.”

A key to ABC’s chances may well be how Tom Arnold’s new sitcom, “The Jackie Thomas Show,” holds up in its pivotal slot following “Roseanne,” his wife’s series.

Meanwhile, the networks keep maneuvering in their bids to finish strong. ABC, for instance, later this month is moving “Civil Wars,” starring Mariel Hemingway and Peter Onorati, into the Tuesday time period after “Roseanne” and “The Jackie Thomas Show,” hoping to give the legal drama a boost.

“Civil Wars,” well done but a ratings disappointment, will displace the current Tuesday series “Going to Extremes,” which switches to Wednesdays on Jan. 13 for what may be its final three episodes.

“Going to Extremes,” a ratings straggler about a Caribbean medical school, is one of a number of softer-style series to feel network impatience and bouncing around in an increasingly hard-hitting prime-time era. Others include CBS’ “Brooklyn Bridge,” NBC’s “I’ll Fly Away” and ABC’s “Homefront.”

ABC, it should be noted, keeps making the point that it really doesn’t care about winning the overall viewer ratings--just the 18-to-49-year-old audience that advertisers want. Still, when the network won the overall November sweeps, it boasted about its victory with a flood of facts and figures.

Everybody likes to win, regardless of the official corporate stance. It’s good for prestige and morale. And ABC, the only network to show a profit last season, now is also a fairly serious contender to pick up all the marbles if CBS should stumble.

SILVER LINING: First, the newly revived “Today” show gave hard-pressed NBC something to smile about. And now another news entry, “Dateline NBC,” with Jane Pauley, is at least showing potential.

True, its recent, eye-opening, seventh-place finish--earning 26% of the audience--came during Christmas week, which is unrepresentative in the ratings. But NBC News series have failed for so long in prime time that the Pauley show should get a major push by the network.

ONE MORE TIME: Now here’s a real Elvis sighting.

In 1990, ABC aired an affectionate and generally well-received half-hour series, “Elvis,” about the early career of Elvis Presley, with Michael St. Gerard playing the title role.

But to the surprise of many who thought the show couldn’t miss and would draw huge audiences, it died quickly in the ratings--possibly because it was too low-keyed and gentle for viewers who expected something different about the king of rock ‘n’ roll.

This week, however, TNT cable, marking the 58th anniversary of Presley’s birth, is bringing the entire show back as a two-part, seven-hour miniseries that will be broadcast Wednesday from 5 to 8 p.m. and Thursday from 5 to 9 p.m. It also has a new title: “Elvis--The Early Years.”

In addition, TNT will rerun the entire seven hours on Friday, starting at 8 a.m., and on Sunday, beginning at 9 a.m.

THE SON ALSO RISES: Ron Reagan--the young one--hosts and produces a documentary about “censorship battles that have made recent headlines” in an hour outing on the E! cable network Jan. 24. It’s called “In Censors We Trust,” and it deals with conflicts in such areas as television, films, pop music and funding by the National Endowment for the Arts.

SECOND WIND: OK, so here’s Walter Cronkite at 76. He just signed a three-year contract with the Discovery and Learning channels, he hosted a Kennedy Center special for CBS during the holidays, he emceed and conducted at a Vienna New Year’s musical program for PBS and he’s been approached to appear on “Murphy Brown.”

The only place he hasn’t appeared enough in recent years is on CBS News--a king-sized boner by the broadcast organization. A Dan Rather newscast, with a few commentaries a week by elder statesman Cronkite, would have been irresistible. So would a series of CBS Cronkite specials. Hugh Downs of ABC’s “20/20” is 71 and still going strong.

FRONTIER DAZE: Jane Seymour’s new CBS series, “Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman,” is really bad. But it gets better after a few shots of Jack Daniel’s.

TWO FOR THE ROAD: The best scenes on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” were the exchanges between Moore and Ed Asner. And the amazing thing in watching the reruns is how both of them alternate instinctively in delivering the punch lines and playing straight for each other.

IVORY TOWER: If you can spring for $165, UCLA Extension is offering a six-program course on situation comedy starting Jan. 25 and featuring producers from “Murphy Brown,” “Seinfeld,” “The Golden Palace,” “Wings,” “Doogie Howser, M.D.” and “Family Matters.” Information: (310) 825-9415.

BEING THERE: According to David Letterman, one of the Top 10 words used least in the Bible is: “perky.”

Say good night, Gracie. . . .