The Debate Over Quality--Again

Who’s killing prime-time television’s quality shows, the networks or the viewers?

The networks say it’s the viewers--bombarded with options, remote control at the ready and impatient for entertainment.

Viewers, especially those deeply attached to well-crafted programs that fall into the ratings margins, say it’s the networks that are impatient, catering to the whims of the lowest common denominator.

The shows in question this time: CBS’ “Brooklyn Bridge,” an all-but-canceled comedy-drama about an extended family living in ‘50s Brooklyn, and NBC’s “I’ll Fly Away,” a drama also set in the ‘50s but dealing with the more somber realities of civil rights in the South.

Low-rated but highly respected, “Brooklyn Bridge” and “I’ll Fly Away” have become the latest focal point in the debate about the future of network television.

It is not a new debate, and it is not the first time critics and viewers have lobbied the networks on behalf of their favorite series.

Dorothy Swanson, founder and president of the Virginia-based Viewers for Quality Television, has been spearheading such campaigns for eight years. But she said many of the group’s 2,000 members have become more and more frustrated with network decision making.

“They’re tired of beating their head against a brick wall, to have to fight so hard just to have good television,” she said.

“It’s always a challenge to do great work and also have it find a connection to a mass audience,” said Peter Tortorici, CBS Entertainment executive vice president. “But it can be done and frequently is done.”

CBS’s winning Monday night schedule, featuring “Northern Exposure” and “Murphy Brown,” is just one example, he said.

But given the competitive and economic pressures faced by the ever-shrinking networks--cable, video and a plethora of entertainment alternatives--the question is: Will quality shows be able to survive in an environment dominated by no-brainer sitcoms (ABC’s “Hangin’ With Mr. Cooper”) and low-cost, voyeuristic reality shows (NBC’s “I Witness Video”)?

The campaign to save “Brooklyn Bridge” and “I’ll Fly Away” has, as a result, become a litmus test of network and viewer attitudes and expectations.

And no one has been speaking as passionately or loudly on the subject as Gary David Goldberg, creator and executive producer of “Brooklyn Bridge.”

“I went into a business where, in a sense, I started writing for The Washington Post and now it’s become the National Enquirer,” said Goldberg, the man behind the ‘80s mega-hit “Family Ties.” “And the question is: Why do I want to continue writing for that group?”

One reason may be the 6,000-plus letters Swanson said her organization has so far received.

“It’s not that people aren’t willing to watch quality television,” said Swanson. “It’s that the networks aren’t giving it a chance.”

Things aren’t quite so bleak with “I’ll Fly Away,” which NBC is airing into February.

That show’s co-executive producer, John Falsey, who with partner Joshua Brand also produces “Northern Exposure” and ABC’s “Going to Extremes,” said: “I’m not at the point where I’m throwing my hands up and saying TV is not for me.”

Perry Simon, NBC executive vice president of prime-time programming, and Tortorici disagree that quality TV shows are having a harder time surviving.

“Networks, in general, are sticking with shows that they believe in, in spite of lower numbers,” said Simon. Tortorici says shows with ratings as low as those of “Brooklyn Bridge” would have merited “instant cancellation” in years when the Big Three had close to 90% of the viewing audience instead of today’s 60%.