Time for Shuffling TV Habits

By BRIAN LOWRY

Feb. 25, 1997 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

The February rating sweeps conclude Wednesday, signaling not just the end of TV’s latest exercise in hype and hysteria but also the start of another kind of high-stakes chess game.

In a seemingly chaotic array of moves that could frustrate viewers, the networks will make wholesale lineup changes right after sweeps. A dozen series will premiere over the next few weeks, several more will shift to new time periods and some of prime time’s most-watched shows--including “ER,” “NYPD Blue” and a fading “Murphy Brown”--will take sabbaticals almost until the next audience survey period begins in late April.

Network executives insist there is method to this apparent case of March madness, as they seek to introduce programs in time periods where they’ll have a better chance of getting sampled by viewers, at the same time resting shows that would otherwise be in repeats.

The risk, however, could be alienating segments of the audience, such as those die-hard “ER” fans who have already lit up the Internet wondering what they’ll do with their Thursday nights for the five weeks the show is off the air.

“I look forward to ‘ER’ each week and would rather watch reruns than nothing,” one fan griped on the show’s Web site. Others have gone so far as to suggest boycotting replacement programs, fearing their success could endanger “ER’s” speedy return.

While boycotts seem unlikely, viewers, faced with so many changes, might just ignore new offerings, which for networks and producers would be just as bad.

The crop of hopefuls premiering by mid-March includes sitcoms starring Arsenio Hall, Pauly Shore, Laura San Giacomo and Debi Mazar; “Crisis Center,” an ensemble drama with Kellie Martin; “Law & Order” producer Dick Wolf’s “Feds,” about federal prosecutors; and the legal series “The Practice,” from “Chicago Hope” creator David E. Kelley.

“There’s no question it is in certain instances going to increase our viewer confusion,” CBS Entertainment President Leslie Moonves acknowledged Monday.

Networks have always trotted out new programs in January and March as a second wave to the new season that begins in September, but seldom in such a concentrated fashion. Insiders attribute the crush to various factors, from economic considerations to the changing nature of TV viewing patterns.

Programmers don’t want to introduce shows during sweeps--which fall in November, February and May--because of pressure to garner big ratings during those periods, which affiliates rely on to negotiate advertising rates.

“Unfortunately, the networks all play by the same rules,” said Jeff Bader, ABC’s vice president of program planning and scheduling. “You don’t launch new shows and you don’t make scheduling changes during the sweep because there is risk of confusing viewers. In a perfect world, you’d stagger these changes through January, February and March.”

Instead, lineup revisions will be bunched together in March and April, which once offered a steady diet of repeats while networks held back new episodes until May.

Last spring, for example, fans groused about an arid stretch of “ER” reruns, as NBC sought to spread 22 episodes (the standard number for most one-hour series) over the 35-week TV season.

Similarly, in the eight weeks that “NYPD Blue” will be off the air, Bader noted, six telecasts would have been repeats. By giving up its beat to “The Practice,” the police drama will now finish the season with six consecutive new episodes when it returns in April.

New series thus provide original programming at a time when networks no longer have the luxury of counting on big tune-in for reruns due to the explosion of options available to most viewers via cable, home video and other alternatives.

That competitive landscape also explains why networks are willing to gamble by benching popular shows: Simply put, programmers feel they must use their best time slots to establish new series, since few programs have become hits in recent years without the benefit of such a showcase.

Small wonder, then, that NBC has placed two series this season (“Suddenly Susan” and “The Naked Truth”) in the “hammock” between “Seinfeld” and “ER.” A third comedy--”Fired Up,” starring “NYPD Blue’s” Sharon Lawrence--will get a shot there beginning April 10.

“If there’s an audience flow, if there’s a protected time period, then the product has an opportunity to score based on its merits,” said NBC Entertainment President Warren Littlefield.

The same thinking inspired ABC to temporarily move “Ellen” to Tuesdays in order to give “Arsenio” a test run following one of the network’s hottest programs, “The Drew Carey Show.” NBC will use “ER’s” slot to preview “Prince Street,” a drama about undercover cops, then move the show to Wednesdays while airing a three-part “Law & Order” on Thursday night.

With “Murphy Brown” on hiatus, CBS will see how well “Cybill” fares in that key 9 p.m. Monday position. “Everybody Loves Raymond”--a critical favorite that is struggling on Fridays--also gets an opportunity to try to live up to its name on Mondays at 8:30 p.m., following “Cosby.”

In addition to “Raymond,” “Relativity,” “Dangerous Minds” and several other border-line series--whose renewal prospects may hinge on their performance this spring--will get tryouts in different time periods. With a lack of breakout hits creating few clear-cut choices, programmers are looking for patterns and any signs of ratings potential before May, when they set their schedules for next season.

The networks find themselves with this logjam in part because they left new series on longer this year, as opposed to the quick hook often exercised in the past. Most back-up shows were ordered last summer and have waited months for a trial run.

“People were much more patient with fall shows,” Moonves noted. “There was a lot less juggling this year than normal, so there was a lot of [leftover] inventory that no one counted on.”

Before the audience absorbs all the shaking and moving of March, in fact, the ground will shift again. April will bring a half-dozen more new series, including Aaron Spelling’s exploration of another Southern California ZIP Code, “Pacific Palisades,” on Fox, and a “Home Improvement” spinoff on ABC titled “Father’s Day.”

Notably, prime-time leader NBC will tinker with its schedule just as much as needier competitors. The network doesn’t want to fall victim to standing pat too long with a winning hand--an approach that ultimately led to its slide from first to third place in the early 1990s, before “ER” and “Friends” led its comeback. NBC must also consider the big shoes it must fill after next season, presumed to be the last for “Seinfeld.”

“I will also be experiencing ‘ER’ withdrawal,” Littlefield said. “You can’t please everybody all the time. We are taking a risk, but it’s a risk we have to take in our position. We remember what happened [after] the ‘80s.”

Littlefield also offered a Terminator-esque reassurance to “ER” fans lamenting its coming absence: “The important thing is to say, ‘We’ll be back.’ ”

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Hang on to Your TV Listings

Networks are juggling their lineups in March to launch new series, in the process benching such popular shows as “ER” and “NYPD Blue.” NBC is temporarily moving “Law & Order” into “ER’s” Thursday night time slot and putting a new drama “Prince Street,” in the former’s place Wednesday. ABC, meanwhile, is shifting “Ellen” to Tuesdays to give Arsenio Hall’s new comedy a trial run on Wednesday night.

NEW

“Arsenio” ABC

“Buffy, the Vampire Slayer,” WB

“Crisis Center,” NBC

“Feds,” CBS

“Just Shoot Me,” NBC

“Pauly,” Fox

“The Practice,” ABC

“Prince Street,” NBC

“Spy Game,” ABC

“Temporarily Yours,” CBS

“Vital Signs,” ABC