NBC Makes Some Serious Changes

NBC, which two years ago began the TV season with an unprecedented 18 comedies on its roster, will undergo what might literally be called a dramatic shift in September, placing just 10 sitcoms on its prime-time schedule while adding five new dramatic series.

The resurgence of the drama is even more evident at the WB network, which will offer back-to-back dramatic programs five nights of the week, moving its lone evening of comedy shows to Friday--the night commanding the lowest overall tune-in by viewers.

Industry sources see NBC’s new lineup, which the network will officially unveil to advertisers today, as tacit recognition that the sitcom market has become saturated in recent years, diluting the pool of writing talent and thus the quality of the shows. They also attribute the revised course to poor development of new sitcoms and renewed faith in dramas based on the success of “Providence,” which instantly breathed life into NBC’s sluggish Friday-night ratings when the show was introduced in January.

With all six broadcast networks announcing their fall schedules this week, a few trends are already emerging. The networks are again relying heavily on producers of existing hits, with NBC ordering two new series from “ER” producer John Wells (one of them with “Sports Night” creator Aaron Sorkin), a “Law & Order” spinoff focusing on a “special victims unit” and a comedy from the producer of “Just Shoot Me.”

Of course, NBC--whose audience has dropped 14% this season, partly due to the loss of NFL football--employed the same strategy a year ago with scant success. The network canceled both “Trinity” and the Nathan Lane vehicle “Encore! Encore!,” which came from Wells and the creators of “Frasier,” respectively.

Several programs are also either set in high school or focus on protagonists in their early 20s, reflecting the network obsession with youth, trying to capture the young-adult audience sought by advertisers.

The WB, for example, will introduce a show about alien teenagers, “Roswell,” after “Dawson’s Creek” on Wednesdays and use a series about the most and least popular students in high school, “Popular,” to lead off Thursdays. The latter bears some thematic resemblance to “Freaks and Geeks,” an NBC drama about teenage misfits, which will precede the returning series “The Pretender” and “Profiler” on Saturdays.

NBC will add only two new comedies in the fall. “Stark Raving Mad,” about a persnickety book editor (“Doogie Howser, M.D.’s” Neil Patrick Harris) who must work with an eccentric novelist (played by “Wings’ ” Tony Shalhoub), has landed the coveted slot between “Frasier” and “ER” on Thursdays, while an as-yet-untitled sitcom starring Mike O’Malley (from the WB’s little-seen “Life With Roger”) will join the Tuesday roster.

“Jesse,” the year-old comedy starring Christina Applegate, retains the coveted slot following “Friends,” despite plans to completely revamp the show next year. That means another freshman comedy, “Will & Grace,” returns to Tuesday nights after “Just Shoot Me.” The Kirstie Alley show “Veronica’s Closet” also loses its cushy Thursday digs, taking up residence Mondays next to another onetime occupant of prime time’s choicest real estate, “Suddenly Susan.”

The new series from Wells are “The West Wing,” a behind-the-scenes look at the White House written by Sorkin--who also penned the feature film “The American President”--that stars Martin Sheen as the President and Rob Lowe as an aide; and “The Third Watch,” an ensemble drama about police and emergency personnel in New York. NBC’s final drama, “Cold Feet,” deals with tangled romantic relationships and will seek to build on the audience for “Providence” Fridays.

NBC will place “Third Watch” on Sundays opposite “Touched by an Angel.” That CBS show will receive additional dramatic competition from the WB, which is relocating its critically acclaimed first-season drama “Felicity” to that hour, followed by “Jack and Jill,” a show about a developing relationship between two young adults in New York.

The WB is expected to pair “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” with the spinoff series “Angel” on Tuesdays and will follow its most popular show, the family drama “7th Heaven,” on Mondays with “Safe Harbor,” starring Gregory Harrison as a widower raising four children. “Charmed,” the fantasy about three witches, will be asked to try working some magic opposite “Frasier.”

The WB will move its comedies “The Jamie Foxx Show,” “The Steve Harvey Show” and “For Your Love” from Thursdays to Fridays in the fall--launching a new sixth night of programming on the fledgling network--joined by a new animated series, “The Downtowners.” Gone from the WB schedule are the sitcoms “The Wayans Bros.,” “Smart Guy,” “Sister, Sister” and “Unhappily Ever After.”

With major corporations controlling the networks, the schedule-setting process has again produced complaints that deal-making, not merit, is determining which shows get ordered and where they are scheduled. ABC, in particular, is said to be insisting on financial terms many studios see as onerous as a condition of placing a show on the air.

ABC’s new dramas include “Once and Again,” from the creators of “thirtysomething,” about two divorced parents trying to begin a relationship; “Wasteland,” as the producer of “Dawson’s Creek” shifts his focus from angst-ridden teens to angst-ridden young adults; and “Snoops,” the latest show from “The Practice’s” David E. Kelley, featuring Gina Gershon (“Showgirls”) as a private investigator.

All told, NBC is bringing back 16 of its 22 hours of prime-time programming, adding a single new program each night of the week. The network hopes this strategy will provide a sense of stability and avoid confusing viewers as to where to find their favorite programs. Among the programs canceled are three long-running series: “Homicide: Life on the Street,” “NewsRadio” and “Caroline in the City.”

Some say the situation comedy is in a funk similar to one that the form experienced in the early 1980s, before “The Cosby Show” revived the genre. Others say that appraisal is too sweeping.

“Comedy isn’t dead,” said one veteran TV executive. “It’s just not on.”

Despite the decline in the number of sitcoms, there will still be newsmagazines aplenty in prime time. NBC’s lineup will again feature five editions of “Dateline NBC,” with the Sunday installment shifting to 7 p.m., directly opposite CBS’ “60 Minutes.”

Here is NBC’s fall schedule (new shows are in italic):

Sunday: “Dateline NBC,” “Third Watch,” movie.

Monday: “Suddenly Susan,” “Veronica’s Closet,” “Law & Order: S.V.U.”

Tuesday: “3rd Rock From the Sun,” “The Mike O’Malley Show,” Just Shoot Me,” “Will & Grace,” “Dateline NBC.”

Wednesday: “Dateline NBC,” “The West Wing,” “Law & Order.”

Thursday: “Friends,” “Jesse,” “Frasier,” “Stark Raving Mad,” “ER.”

Friday: “Providence,” “Dateline NBC,” “Cold Feet.”

Saturday: “Freaks and Geeks,” “The Pretender,” “Profiler.”