New Fox Chief’s Switch From Cable to Network Gets Praise, Some Static

Doug Herzog’s rise from cable guy to chief programmer for the Fox television network is largely the result of a smash hit on the Comedy Central service that is so crass and off-color it would never fly on a broadcast network.

Some television executives say the appointment symbolizes how desperate the major networks are to find new hits and to re-engineer the prevailing economic model that has helped reduce the major networks to break-even status. Today, the most profitable television networks are cable services such as ESPN, USA Networks and Nickelodeon, which have eroded network viewership at a time when their programming costs have soared.

Herzog, 39, who was officially named president and chief executive of Fox Entertainment on Tuesday to replace outgoing head Peter Roth, becomes the first executive in that position hired directly from a cable network. Hollywood has long viewed cable as the stepsister of network television--a medium built on cheap reruns and lowbrow programming, such as wrestling, that could never match a network’s quality or broad appeal.

But as cable ratings have grown, the industry has had more money to spend on original programs, fueling such hits as Lifetime Television’s “Any Day Now” and “South Park,” the over-the-top Comedy Central cartoon about a pack of foul-mouthed school kids.

Herzog’s appointment set off a debate in the balkanized, inbred network community within Hollywood about the definition and traditions of network television, highlighting once again Fox’s willingness to break the mold.

“The best news here is that network television seems to finally recognize the need to inject real new blood into the business--and not only on the executive side,” said Christopher Dixon, an analyst at PaineWebber Inc. “Doug is not entrenched in the Hollywood way of doing things, where talent and shows are foisted upon the networks by studios and agents. This method of relying on agents to package television shows is bankrupt and is one reason why the major networks will barely break even this year.”

“It’s smart for Fox to go to people who haven’t had $1 million an episode to spend on programming--who have had to look for new sources of creativity and bring them in at a fraction of the cost of the broadcast networks,” said Kate McEnroe, president of AMC Networks, which operates two cable channels for Cablevision Systems Corp., the Long Island cable operator.

Analysts say Herzog is also a good choice because of his experience with honing a sharp identity for Comedy Central--a concept referred to as “branding” that has caught on with broadcasters as they have struggled with the fragmentation of their audience by the niche-oriented cable channels. As broadcasters deploy new channels using airwaves they recently received from the government for digital television, Fox executives say it will be imperative to more tightly define their core network.

In this new world, Fox would be defined by programs such as “Ally McBeal,” “The X-Files,” “The Simpsons” and the NFL pregame show that target a young and adventuresome audience, said David Hill, chairman of Fox Broadcasting Co.

Yet rival network heads say the narrow focus of cable will be hard to translate in the broader world of broadcasting. They see Herzog’s appointment as a signal that Fox will return to its irreverent youthful roots at a time when that demographic segment is becoming crowded and when 50% of all advertising dollars are spent to reach 25-to-54-year-old viewers.

“Clearly, one of the raps against Roth was that his programming was too middle-of-the-road,” said one television executive. “There is a mandate to get niche programming back on Fox, and Herzog will force Fox to narrowcast to a 12- to 24-year-old audience.”

Herzog admits he will be a fish out of water. “For a while, it will be like an alien landing,” said Herzog, who was a chief programming executive at MTV before joining Comedy Central in 1995.

At Comedy Central, Herzog was known for his talent relations, leadership and light touch as a manager.

He put “South Park” on the air after several other cable networks had passed. The program raised the profile and distribution of Comedy Central, which now reaches 55 million subscribers, up from 35 million when Herzog started.

After losing “Politically Incorrect With Bill Maher” to ABC mid-way through his tenure, colleagues say Herzog tweaked “The Daily Show” into a top performer by bringing in a live audience and making it “warmer.” The network also scored with “Win Ben Stein’s Money” and the special “The New York Friars Club Annual Celebrity Roast” of Drew Carey.

Herzog said he dismissed the idea when he was approached about the Fox job several weeks ago but came to realize that “Fox is a place that I could thrive. They are set up for the future in this new world order.”

After moving his family--his wife and three children--to Los Angeles, from New York, he said he will concentrate on ways for bringing comedy back to Fox. While the network has had success with animation, it has failed to develop live-action sitcoms.

“We have to find a way to reinvent and expand the definition of comedy,” he said. “ ‘That ‘70s Show’ is trying different things and needs time and patience. I’d like to nurture that. At the end of the day, just like in movies and music, this is a business of hits. All it takes is one show: Nothing showed me that like watching ‘South Park’ take off.”