High Noon for 8 O’Clock

At first glance, “Melrose Place,” “Mad About You” and “The Nanny” don’t appear to have a lot in common, other than the fact all three long-running series are limping toward the finish line, with Wednesday’s “The Nanny” leading this month’s parade of series finales.

In a way, however, these shows and a few others--combined with pesky cable interlopers such as Nickelodeon--helped fundamentally alter network television, at least in terms of the manner in which the networks approach the 8 p.m. hour they once theoretically earmarked for family-oriented fare.

Five years ago, each of these programs was cruising along near its ratings peak. “Mad About You” was in its second season leading off NBC’s powerhouse Thursday lineup--in 1994 providing the springboard the network used to launch a new sitcom, called “Friends”--while the other two both successfully moved to Mondays at 8 p.m. that fall.

At the time, TV critics engaged in plenty of second-guessing about whether “Melrose,” with its version of musical beds, and “Mad About You,” whose central couple seemed to have sex anywhere but (one memorable encounter took place on a kitchen table), were appropriate for the opening hour of prime time. Ditto for “The Nanny” and its steady diet of sexual innuendo.

Though Fox sought to lay some blame on NBC for shifting “Mad About You” to 8 p.m. first, most TV executives agree Fox prodded the elder broadcast networks to emulate its strategy, by slotting irreverent shows such as “The Simpsons” and “In Living Color” in the 8 o’clock hour.

Garth Ancier, the one-time Fox and WB network entertainment chief who completed a rare hat trick this week by assuming that job at NBC, articulated that view last year: “When Fox started moving shows that did well with adults [to 8 o’clock], it was like a dam was broken, and everybody started programming differently,” he said.

The networks also justified airing adult-oriented programs in an hour some advocates would like to see reserved for nothing more provocative than the Olsen twins by pointing to cable. They attribute the decision to move away from programs suitable for kids to their inability to compete with Nickelodeon, the Cartoon Network and other channels specifically dedicated to children.

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It’s fun to mull over such chicken-and-egg questions--whether the networks changed their strategy because they had lost kids already, or kids went elsewhere because the networks abandoned them.

Yet the truth, as usual, represents a confounding mix of factors in hard to ascertain measures. This is especially maddening to those determined to find single culprits and easy solutions to complex problems, as evidenced by the debate waged by competing factions in the wake of the recent school shootings in Littleton, Colo. In that case, calling for summits and pointing fingers makes us feel like we’re doing something, at least until the next tragedy comes along to shift our focus.

In similar fashion, blaming the networks for abdicating their responsibility to children tells only part of the story, ignoring how the media world has changed and the complicity of the TV audience itself in that process.

Granted, networks chose what’s best for their pocketbook, not their conscience. Losing viewers, and unable to reap any financial benefit from having kids tune in since prime-time ad sales are predicated on adults between the ages of 18 and 54, executives have clearly increased the level of sexual content at 8 p.m. in recent years. In another financially motivated move, family dramas were largely supplanted by cheap reality shows (“World’s Wildest Police Videos” and “Cops”) and newsmagazines, neither of which make the world look like a particularly safe or friendly place.

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All this happened in stages, however, without any appreciable public outcry. Sure, TV critics and a few advocates weighed in, but Fox slid “Melrose” into family territory and the Republic didn’t fall. Cards and letters didn’t come pouring in. Ratings were good. Advertisers stayed on board.

Even complaining hasn’t done much good in the past. Fox’s “Married . . . With Children,” for example, actually seemed to benefit from the efforts of Michigan housewife Terry Rakolta, whose grass-roots campaign against the show helped bring thousands of less principled viewers to it. This remains a tried-and-true strategy, in fact, underscored by the attention showered on wrestling this year, and before that Comedy Central’s “South Park.”

Some parents who objected to what they saw on the networks doubtless vented their anger less demonstratively than Ms. Rakolta, deciding they would rather switch than fight by steering their kids to home videos and Nickelodeon.

Unfortunately, that reaction only supported the networks’ arguments: Most people don’t have minor children in the house, and because those that do have plenty of options, let them decide what’s appropriate for their kids. As for parents, those weary of sitting through “Full House” could pop in a tape of “The Little Mermaid” for the tykes in one room and visit “Melrose Place” or “Friends” without them. Many have done just that.

To be fair, the networks haven’t thrown in the towel on families entirely. Softer dramas like CBS’ “Touched by an Angel,” NBC’s “Providence” and the WB’s “7th Heaven” have shown such programs can be commercially viable. ABC brought back “The Wonderful World of Disney” (partly as a two-hour weekly commercial for its corporate parent), and even NBC officials suggested in January that they wanted to make their comedies a bit less sex-obsessed, admitting to a loss of balance in that regard.

Still, even dialing the major networks back to the 1950s wouldn’t make the problem disappear at this point, not with four dozen channels and at least two TV sets in the average household, plus roughly 80 million people surfing the Internet.

Beyond an endless cycle of reruns, then, “Mad About You,” “Melrose Place” and “The Nanny” leave another kind of legacy, having served as trailblazers in a media age where five years ago feels like a distant memory. Fittingly, “The Nanny” won’t go quietly, with CBS to air a half-dozen original episodes beginning next month, after its finale, since the show was yanked prematurely in March due to disappointing ratings. Irate over that act of disrespect, fans launched a vigorous Internet campaign on the show’s behalf, calling themselves the “Oys in the Hood” Project.

OK, so the name isn’t a whole lot funnier than most uttered (or squawked) on the show itself. But it is clean, and these days, that counts for something.