Bochco to Create African American Drama for Prime Time

After a rare period of dormancy following the cancellation of his police drama “Brooklyn South,” producer Steven Bochco has finally agreed on a new dramatic TV series for CBS, earmarked to premiere in January, which will focus on African American characters.

Chronicling the struggles within an inner-city county hospital, the program will address a perceived deficiency in the world of network television. While there are numerous comedies featuring black casts, and African Americans are abundant within ensemble dramas, no current network drama focuses primarily on black characters.

Several recent dramas featuring black leads failed ratings-wise, including “Under One Roof,” “413 Hope St.” and “M.A.N.T.I.S.” Saying he has long wanted to build a show around minority characters, Bochco also stressed the series would seek to be as inclusive as possible.

“This one is first and foremost a melodrama,” said the producer, who will develop the series with Paris Barclay, the Emmy-winning director who currently works on Bochco’s “NYPD Blue.” “The ethnicity, while it’s a texture, is not fundamentally what it’s about.”

The program ends a stretch of inactivity for Bochco’s company, after a rift emerged with CBS over “Brooklyn South,” which premiered in 1997. Sources say the producer was miffed when the network canceled the series last spring and even explored getting released from his exclusive arrangement with the network. For the first time in years, Bochco did not generate a new series for this season.

Bochco agreed to create TV series for CBS in 1995, a contract that became effective a year later, after his 10-series deal at ABC expired. In addition to “NYPD Blue,” the relationship with ABC yielded “Doogie Howser, M.D.” and “Murder One,” as well as the less heralded “Capitol Critters,” “Cop Rock” and “Civil Wars.” Before that, Bochco co-created two long-running NBC hits, “Hill Street Blues” and “L.A. Law.”

Bochco’s current CBS pact is scheduled to lapse next year, meaning the producer will presumably become a free agent at some point after the untitled new program is introduced. Besides “Brooklyn South,” CBS ordered a comedy from Bochco and producer Jay Tarses, “Public Morals,” which was yanked after just two telecasts.

A CBS spokesman confirmed that the network is expecting a new show from Bochco for next season but declined to discuss specifics or the status of his deal. Bochco said it was premature to discuss casting for the new series.

Though the new show will miss the traditional fall start, premiering later appears more promising based on what has transpired this season. Few programs launched during the fall became hits, while three series that made their debut in January--NBC’s “Providence,” Fox’s “The PJs” and CBS’ “60 Minutes II”--got off to impressive starts, though the last two have faded a bit.

In addition, CBS can capitalize on its NFL football coverage to promote the program, then potentially schedule the series to air Mondays, where the competition eases once the “Monday Night Football” season concludes.