‘Fly Away’ Flies Away : NBC Shelves Prize-Winning Series, but Says It May Be Back

The news was buried deep in an NBC list of midseason program changes released Monday. A one-sentence announcement said that “I’ll Fly Away,” one of television’s most-honored dramas, would disappear after its Feb. 5 show but remain a “contender” for next fall’s lineup.

No promises that it definitely would return in the fall--despite its 15 Emmy nominations last year, its Peabody Award and its Directors Guild Award among numerous other prizes.

Just a contender.

So what else does a superb TV series have to do to ensure its place in the public eye? For this is a show of unmistakable quality--starring Sam Waterston as a Southern attorney and Regina Taylor as his housekeeper during the emergence of the civil rights movement in the 1950s.

Since the troubled major networks are ever more concerned with the bottom line--simple survival--and since no network is more troubled than NBC, the decision-making process, perhaps more than ever before, comes down to the old answer of ratings.

In this case, NBC, partly because of considerable public and critical response, is giving “I’ll Fly Away” what the network claims is a chance to win a a berth as a contender later in the year.

The chance comes in the form of five final broadcasts this season--three of them recently ordered by NBC--starting Friday at 10 p.m. and ending Feb. 5.

Supporters of the second-year series have loudly made the point that the distinguished series not only was given a tough weekend time slot but also was moved around so that it did not have an opportunity to stay in one place to build an audience.

If more viewers tune in the five episodes and the series shows what the network considers enough audience buildup, says NBC, then “I’ll Fly Away” has a shot at next fall--maybe even late summer.

But if there’s no significant growth in tune-in, then you can probably kiss one of television’s best shows goodby.

Warren Littlefield, president of NBC Entertainment, maintains that the network is serious in giving “I’ll Fly Away” one last shot and insists that the fat lady hasn’t sung yet.

Joshua Brand, co-creator with John Falsey of the embattled series and “Northern Exposure,” says he had hoped for nine more episodes of “I’ll Fly Away” to finish out the season.

But he adds: “We’re taking them (NBC) at their word. We’re hopeful that they’ll remain true to their word and that we can do a little better.”

Waterston, on the phone from Atlanta near the series location, spoke of the show’s chances: “I’m not in the prediction business. I think it’s impossible to say. I haven’t got a clue. But why would they order three more shows? I think they’d like to have us have a shot at coming back next year. Why be a pessimist?

“There’s a much bigger question going on here, and we all have ourselves to blame for this. Television isn’t obliged to keep an eye on public service in order to keep its broadcast licenses. It’s only obliged to make money. With a setup like that, what’s a mother to do?”

With all the hopeful talk, the rationales, the logical explanations and the clear desire by all sides to tread lightly so as not to destroy even any remote possibilities of renewal, it still seems a rather demeaning process for a highly intelligent, valuable series to have to endure.

And many skeptics--surprised by the sudden dropping of the series right after the added episode order--may well be angered.

It is not a long jump to believe that the three new shows amounted to a bone thrown to the series and an attempt to gently ease “I’ll Fly Away” out of the way with a trace of courtesy.

“I don’t think it’s a bone at all,” says Littlefield. “Three-million-dollar bones are not insignificant. We have over $50 million invested in 37 episodes of the show. By no means have we given up. A decision hasn’t been made as to what the fate of the show is. But it is fair to say we need to see some improvement.”

As of this week, “I’ll Fly Away” ranked 91st among 115 network series broadcast this season, averaging 13% of the national audience. In an interview several weeks ago, Littlefield indicated strongly that NBC would stick with the show if it managed a 17% or 18% audience share, and probably would also look closely at 16%.

In a TV world where reality shows, sitcoms and lurid TV movies straight out of the headlines now rule the roost, the dilemma of a show like “I’ll Fly Away” becomes increasingly clear, particularly because weekly drama series are expensive.

Yet there are series that do either worse, or not much better, than “I’ll Fly Away” in audience share, but remain on the air, only adding to the humiliating of the NBC series as it tries to survive with civilized and meaningful content. Such dilemmas are not new in the half-century of American TV, but certainly seem heightened by the current climate at the networks.

Advocating the survival of such quality shows as “I’ll Fly Away,” Brand asks, “What’s the downside? You get two more share points for a show about a male detective and a female detective. Once (TV) becomes a rag, you’ll never be able to turn it around.

“They (networks) need to find 10% of their time for such shows (as ‘I’ll Fly Away’). It’s in their own self-interest. Nobody says that General Electric (owner of NBC) should lose money, but they have to look at the longterm viability of networks and free TV. They do have a stewardship. There are people on fixed incomes who can’t afford cable.”

There is, of course, no guarantee that “I’ll Fly Away” will return even if it comes up a bit in the ratings. Littlefield makes clear that it still has to compete with other NBC shows in development, but argues that “a close call still goes to the incumbent.”

Still, it’s nearly half a year before fall schedules are chosen, eight or nine months before “I’ll Fly Away” conceivably could return--plenty of time, in short, for people to forget.

They shouldn’t.

The thing to do, of course, is tune in the five remaining series, hoping that Nielsen viewers tune in too--and, if ratings and audience share rise, then watch closely to see if NBC keeps its word. But of course that word is still nothing more than contender.

An easy out. And Brand knows it, for all his diplomacy.

“I’m not stupid, but we’ve been assured by the network that we are not being thrown a bone,” he says. “Again, it’s nothing that stops them from saying, ‘We’ve changed our mind.’ But at this point, we don’t have a choice. Robert Wright (president of NBC) has said he can’t imagine the show being done any better.

“Do I think it’s better than the other shows on the air? Yeah, I do. I believe there is no finer drama on television than ‘I’ll Fly Away.’ I think there was a failure to promote the show properly. It’s a show you should think twice about before you cancel. We’ve been told (that the three added episodes) were not the kiss of death but the breath of life.”

A slim reed of hope for a show that deserves better.