The Roads to Providence

Despite the fact that cable continues to peck away at their share of television’s viewing pie, officials at the broadcast networks continue to focus on their ability to reach the widest possible audience, as well as the necessity of sticking to that strategy.

Representatives of ABC, CBS, UPN and the WB network espoused varying ideas regarding how best to achieve those aims during separate interview sessions with TV critics from around the country, in town to preview new network series. The most eloquent demonstration of broadcasting’s unique power, however, came from NBC, which premiered the drama “Providence” on Friday and drew an audience of nearly 20 million viewers, trouncing all competition in its time slot.

Alan Wurtzel, ABC’s senior vice president of media development and research, said even with the undeniable inroads made by cable, the networks remain the first stop for most adults. The problem, he said, is that given the number of choices now available, those viewers will soon leave if a program doesn’t satisfy them.

Not surprisingly, the methods put forth by the different networks were in most instances self-serving, pushing the programming model that best suited their strengths.

CBS, for example, which is currently the most-watched network by virtue of attracting an older audience than its competitors, said networks must keep trying to reach the widest possible audience, while convincing advertisers to recognize the value of viewers over 50. By contrast, the WB network, which has successfully targeted teenagers and young adults, suggested networks must eventually narrow their appeal to specific audience segments, becoming more similar to radio.

According to CBS Television President Leslie Moonves, the other major networks are losing viewers in part because of their lock-step pursuit of a single kind of viewer. Their audience is eroding, he said, “because they’re going after the same 17-year-old girl in the suburbs.”

However, WB chief executive Jamie Kellner called such fragmentation inevitable, suggesting that it makes sense to provide programming that focuses on an audience niche. The WB has set its sights on viewers ranging in age from 12 to 34, a group especially attractive to movie studios and certain other product categories.

“If it’s going to be a fragmented audience, make sure that the fragment you’re hanging onto is the most valuable one in terms of advertisers,” Kellner said.

ABC Television Network President Pat Fili-Krushel rejected the notion that declining ratings for the networks reflect a failure in terms of program development, which this season included such already-canceled series as ABC’s revival of “Fantasy Island” and NBC’s Bo Derek drama “Wind on Water.”

“If viewers want a cooking show at 9 o’clock . . . they didn’t have that alternative a few years ago,” she said. “There is going to be erosion no matter what we do.”

While she acknowledged network television faces a formidable challenge, Fili-Krushel stressed the medium is “still the most effective and efficient way to reach a mass audience.” ABC pointed out that nearly 130 million people watch something on the network in prime time during an average week--a reach unparalleled by any cable channel.

Suffering an inevitable drain of viewers, the networks are laboring to reduce their programming costs and glean revenue from other areas, both by owning more of the programs they broadcast and through greater merchandising of those shows. CBS, for example, expects vast returns from selling reruns of its comedy “Everybody Loves Raymond,” which the network has a hand in producing, to local TV stations.

Broadcasters also maintain their programming must become more compelling as they adapt to an increasingly cluttered television environment.

“As an emerging network, we have a responsibility to be more innovative and interesting than the other guys,” said Dean Valentine, president of the UPN network, which has struggled badly in the ratings this season. In the process, UPN has fallen well behind the WB, the only broadcast network to increase its audience versus last year.

Despite the WB’s advantage, Valentine dismissed Kellner’s notion of television becoming more like radio. He argued, rather, that hit programs, not marketing campaigns, have historically defined a network’s identity, from Fox establishing its renegade image thanks to “Married . . . With Children” to the WB becoming a haven for teenage girls after launching “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “Dawson’s Creek.”

Though executives keep discussing the need to schedule more risk-taking programs, broadcasters increasingly face criticism from community and advocacy groups when they introduce series that might offend a portion of the audience.

Executives generally feel community groups have become more reactive to programs they deem objectionable, alluding to protests by some Catholics to ABC’s “Nothing Sacred” or by African American groups regarding UPN’s “The Secret Diary of Desmond Pfeiffer” and “The PJs,” which premiered Sunday on Fox.

Given the difficulty of launching new shows, a little ruckus isn’t always unwelcome. Kellner, a former Fox executive, conceded the grass-roots campaign waged against “Married . . . With Children” actually helped the nascent network at that time, because Fox was suddenly “everywhere in the news.”

In similar fashion, sources say Fox officials weren’t entirely upset by reaction to “The PJs,” a Foamation series featuring the voice of Eddie Murphy, feeling the free publicity can only help promote awareness of the series.

WB entertainment president Susanne Daniels said community-based protests like those seen recently “wouldn’t stop us from doing a show . . . [but] at the same time, it’s not our goal.” She also quipped that in light of the success “Married . . . With Children” went on to enjoy, “We need a little more boycotting.”

Such controversy didn’t help “Desmond Pfeiffer,” which depicted a black man in the Lincoln White House. Advocates charged that the program made light of slavery, but despite vast media coverage the show opened to minuscule ratings and was pulled by UPN after just four telecasts.

“We may have actually managed to find the show that people weren’t even curious about,” Valentine said. “It just bombed.”

The UPN executive added that a network engages in a sort of dialogue with viewers through its programming, and this fall “part of that dialogue was people saying, ‘Hey, we hate that. Don’t do that anymore.’ ”

Nevertheless, Valentine insisted UPN’s corporate parents were “unwavering” in their support of the venture, which lost well over $150 million last year. He contends UPN can regain parity with the WB simply by introducing a couple of hit shows. The network has pinned its near-term hopes largely on “Dilbert,” an animated version of the popular comic strip that premieres in two weeks.