Parental Discretion Is Advised

After going it alone for three years in the world of viewer-discretion advisories, “NYPD Blue” is about to get some company.

During the next week, two series--Fox’s “Millennium” and CBS’ “EZ Streets”--will premiere bearing such labels on at least a periodic basis. A third new show expected to run with an advisory, CBS’ “Public Morals,” now won’t, although it hasn’t been ruled out on future episodes.

The issue is significant in light of efforts to devise and implement a TV ratings system. A UCLA study on television violence last year urged the networks to provide more advisories to help parents decide on appropriate programming for children.

A recently issued follow-up to that report found an increase in advisories on telecasts of feature films and suggested more liberal use of labeling on made-for-TV movies, as CBS will do next month with a two-part movie based on Truman Capote’s “In Cold Blood.”

The practice has remained extremely rare, however, in terms of series. Other than “NYPD Blue,” which was conceived with the idea of pushing such boundaries, no ongoing show has regularly borne an advisory and few ever carry them. The Oct. 11 episode of “The X-Files,” for example, carried one for the first time in that program’s history.

That will change when Fox introduces “Millennium” Friday--a new drama from “X-Files” creator Chris Carter--and CBS launches “EZ Streets” on Sunday, a crime show starring Ken Olin and Jason Gedrick.

“EZ Streets” will regularly be preceded by a general advisory that reads, “Due to adult content, parental discretion is advised.” “Millennium,” which deals with a former FBI agent tracking serial killers, will feature a parental-discretion advisory “due to graphic and mature adult content” on the first episode, with Fox evaluating subsequent telecasts on a week-to-week basis.

A key issue surrounding advisories stems from the economic incentive not to use them. Many advertisers still shy away from labeled programs, meaning broadcasters risk six- and seven-figure losses unless they can find new sponsors to fill the void.

As a result, networks frequently negotiate with producers to tone down content, in the same way movie studios excise material to mollify the Motion Picture Assn. of America’s ratings board, hoping to reduce an NC-17 rating to an R, or an R to PG-13.

“That’s what this job is. It’s a game of trade-offs and compromise,” said Roland McFarland, vice president of broadcast standards and practices at Fox, who acknowledged that “there are some advertisers, no matter what the issue, who will not broadcast in any series that has an advisory.”

Networks regularly lose money when they explore controversial topics, as was the case when NBC televised the movies “Roe vs. Wade” and “Serving in Silence: The Margarethe Cammermeyer Story,” which dealt with abortion and gays in the military, respectively.

To the extent the sponsorship situation has improved for series, most agree “NYPD Blue” has paved the way. After languishing in terms of advertising revenue relative to its ratings, ABC was gradually able to garner more advertiser and affiliate acceptance, partly due to the show’s critical acclaim and high ratings.

ABC spells out if language and/or partial nudity are responsible for the warning. In fact, “NYPD Blue” has aired without an advisory certain weeks and has been flagged for violence only twice in its three-year run, both times during its first season.

“There’s no doubt they’re the ones who broke the ground on this,” said “EZ Streets” executive producer Paul Haggis, who asked for an advisory when he pitched his show to CBS.

Broadcast standards executives say they interact with sales departments but aren’t pressured to withhold labels. “The sales guys are aware of the universe in which we live,” said Carol Altieri, CBS’ vice president of program practices. “If something deserves to have an advisory, I don’t think I’ve been questioned by anyone in the company.”

What merits an advisory, meanwhile, remains very much in the eye of the beholder. “It really is different with every show, and I submit that it has to be,” Altieri said.

In the case of “EZ Streets,” the label stems principally from its adult tone. With “Millennium,” the main concern is the grisly nature of the crimes involved.

Despite a perception that Fox is more lax, McFarland said the network is “absolutely exercising the same degree of caution” as the Big Three networks, calling efforts to reduce “graphic and gratuitous violence” his department’s top priority.

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He also sought to dispel the notion that producers are constantly out to expand the parameters of what’s permissible. “These are sensible people,” he said. “There’s been a marked decrease in violence on network television in the last 10 years.”

CBS’ Altieri also stressed that an advisory isn’t a license to go beyond existing limits. “We don’t want them to get the impression we’re not going to draw any boundaries,” she said. “To me it’s not a logical or constructive argument for a producer to say, ‘Just slap an advisory on it and let me do what I want,’ because these airwaves don’t belong to him.”

Haggis said he wasn’t trying to break new ground but simply felt “EZ Streets”--in chronicling a world of mobsters and undercover cops--wasn’t a show for kids. “If you’re going to treat these characters even approaching reality, you have to realize whatever trips off their tongues tends to be colorful,” he noted. “It’s a little silly for them to be saying, ‘Shucks, guys.’ ”

Both Steven Bochco, who produces “NYPD Blue,” and “The X-Files’ ” Carter don’t object to the use of advisories either. Bochco also agreed to certain changes in “Public Morals”--a comedy about New York’s vice squad that drew critical fire based on its themes and language--although he and other producers have expressed misgivings about the V-chip and perceived attempts to censor content, as opposed to informing parents.

Labeling “EZ Streets” offered relatively little risk for CBS, given that ratings expectations are modest for the show, which will regularly air at 10 p.m. Wednesdays against established hits “Law & Order” and “PrimeTime Live.” If “EZ Streets” succeeds, CBS hopes advertisers will come on board and rates will improve, as was the case with “NYPD Blue.”

The WB Network, meanwhile, has found a way to soften the stigma of labeling shows: Each night at 9, its animated mascot, Michigan J. Frog, pulls down a shade, signaling the transition to racier fare such as “Savannah,” “The Wayans Bros.” and “The Jamie Foxx Show.”

“Love those family shows, now send the little ones to bed,” the frog croons in one spot, “these next few shows are only for adults and teens instead.”