NBC: In Search of More ‘Cheers’ : Third-Place Network Relies on Bertinelli, Spielberg and Brokaw for Its New Lineup

Third-place NBC on Friday announced a new fall schedule that calls on such names as Valerie Bertinelli, Steven Spielberg, John Larroquette, Kenny Rogers, Larry Hagman, Tom Brokaw and Katie Couric to get the network back on track in prime time.

Following a season of turmoil in which it lost David Letterman to CBS and was embroiled in a scandal when “Dateline NBC” aired a phony truck crash, the struggling network made its moves with key new management executives recently installed--Don Ohlmeyer as head of entertainment and Andrew Lack as boss of the news department.

NBC, which will also lose its only Top 10 show of this season, “Cheers,” following Thursday’s finale, will add 11 new series this fall, including the sitcom “Getting By,” which was picked up after a brief run on ABC and deals with two social workers (Cindy Williams and Telma Hopkins) who move in together with their children.

“Cheers” regular Kelsey Grammer, who played the stuffy psychiatrist Dr. Frasier Crane, will have his own comedy, “Frasier,” in which he moves from Boston and a broken marriage to Seattle to give advice on a local radio station. He then learns that his gruff father will become “his roommate and responsibility.”

Another longtime NBC comedy star, John Larroquette, who won four Emmy Awards on “Night Court,” will also have his own series. Titled “The John Larroquette Show,” the sitcom offers the performer as a recovering alcoholic who works the graveyard shift as night manager of a bus station in St. Louis. Larroquette will go head-to-head with ABC’s “Roseanne,” TV’s No. 1 entertainment show.

The new NBC shows include seven comedies, three dramas and the tentatively titled “NBC News Magazine,” which will be co-hosted by Brokaw, the network’s chief anchor, and Couric, co-anchor of the “Today” series.

Gone from the fall lineup, in addition to “Cheers,” will be the much-honored “I’ll Fly Away,” despite a write-in campaign from viewers.

Other shows from this season that won’t be returning are “Homicide: Life on the Street,” “Reasonable Doubts,” “Quantum Leap,” “A Different World,” “Crime & Punishment,” “The Powers That Be,” “Almost Home,” “Secret Service,” “Rhythm & Blues,” “Out All Night,” “The Round Table,” “Here and Now,” “Final Appeal: From the Files of ‘Unsolved Mysteries’ ” and “What Happened?”

An NBC spokeswoman said consideration is being given to bringing back “Homicide” as a backup show, but she denied reports that “I’ll Fly Away” and “Reasonable Doubts” might also return.

Bertinelli, who first came to fame in the sitcom “One Day at a Time” and is a major star of television movies and miniseries, will have a new comedy, “Cafe Americain,” playing a divorced woman who moves to Paris and gets an assistant’s job in a legendary restaurant.

Spielberg, meanwhile, will be executive producer of an hourlong drama, “SeaQuest DSV,” starring Roy Scheider as the maverick captain of a huge, Nautilus-like submarine that explores the oceanic frontier 25 years in the future. An 8 p.m. Sunday entry, the series is going after the time slot long dominated by CBS’ “Murder, She Wrote” and will also face ABC’s recently announced series “Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman.”

Hagman, who played the villainous J. R. Ewing on “Dallas,” and singer Rogers will have separate shows that are part of the new, two-hour “NBC Friday Night Mystery” series. Reviving the concept of its “NBC Mystery Movie” of the 1970s, which alternated such programs as “Columbo,” “McCloud” and “McMillan and Wife,” the network plans on four rotating series:

Hagman, in “Staying Afloat,” will play an ex-millionaire who maintains his lifestyle by working for the government to solve crimes among the elite. Rogers, in “McShane,” portrays a gambler who works undercover for a Las Vegas casino to prevent scams. A third element of the series will be a revival of “Hart to Hart,” with Robert Wagner and Stefanie Powers reprising their roles as lighthearted crime-solvers. The fourth element will be the continuing “Perry Mason” movies.

Other new NBC series are:

* “The Second Half,” a sitcom with stand-up comedian John Mendoza as a recently divorced Chicago sports columnist “who tries to adapt to his new status as weekday bachelor and weekend father.”

* “Against the Grain,” a drama with John Terry as the coach of a high school football team in a small town near Dallas.

* “Mommies,” a sitcom with the comedy duo of Marilyn Kentz and Caryl Kristensen as homemakers and friends who offer advice “about the realities of life, love and neighborhood.”

* “Saved by the Bell: The College Years,” a comedy from the producers of the Saturday morning hit series “Saved by the Bell.” The stars, from the original show, have graduated from high school and enter college, where they share a dormitory suite with three young women.

Like ABC, which announced its fall schedule earlier this week, NBC has continued the network trend of reducing the number of drama series while adding less expensive news magazines. It did, however, keep the dramas “Law & Order,” “L.A. Law” and “Sisters.”

NBC is clearly working to restore its strength on what used to be its two top nights--Thursdays, where “The Cosby Show” and “Cheers” held the fort, and Saturdays, where “The Golden Girls” once reigned. On Thursdays, the network this fall will lead off with “Mad About You” and “Wings,” leading into “Seinfeld,” “Frasier” and “L.A. Law.”

On Saturdays, “Mommies” and “Cafe Americain” lead into the sagging “Empty Nest” and “Nurses” and the durable “Sisters.”

“Seinfeld,” NBC’s great hope for the future, will inherit the “Cheers” time slot.

NBC’s night-by-night rundown:

Sunday: “I Witness Video,” “SeaQuest DSV,” “Sunday Night Movie.”

Monday: “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” “Blossom,” “Monday Night at the Movies.”

Tuesday: “Saved by the Bell: The College Years,” “Getting By,” “The John Larroquette Show,” “The Second Half,” “Dateline NBC.”

Wednesday: “Unsolved Mysteries,” “NBC Newsmagazine,” “Law & Order.”

Thursday: “Mad About You,” “Wings,” “Seinfeld,” “Frasier,” “L.A. Law.”

Friday: “Against the Grain,” “Friday Night Mystery.”

Saturday: “Mommies,” “Cafe Americain,” “Empty Nest,” “Nurses,” “Sisters.”