Has ‘Falcone’ Been Left for Dead on Ratings Highway?

Television presented a tale of two Mafia dramas over the last week, as CBS sweated out the verdict from Nielsen families on “Falcone” while “The Sopranos” finished its second season with a definite bang, mowing down eye-popping ratings by Home Box Office’s less stringent standards.

Yet, despite mixed reviews and at best tepid results, CBS officials insist they are undeterred by the “Falcone” experiment, which entailed running the show in a concentrated eight-night window. The network maintains broadcasters must test new ways to introduce and schedule programs, accepting the risks inherent in that approach.

The true story of an undercover FBI agent, “Falcone” starred Jason Gedrick and was derived from the same source material as the film “Donnie Brasco.” Ratings misfired initially before exhibiting modest signs of life, leaving the program’s future regarding another season up in the air.

Perhaps appropriately, the one night “Falcone” took off was when HBO played the season finale of “Sopranos,” which attracted an estimated 9 million viewers--representing a 72% leap over last year’s final episode and exceeding the 8.7 million “Falcone” averaged through its first seven telecasts. Tentatively scheduled to return next spring, the critically lauded series qualifies as an enormous hit for HBO, especially when taking into account that the pay service is available in roughly a quarter as many homes as the major networks.

CBS’ roll-out plan for “Falcone” hinged on promoting the show heavily during coverage of the NCAA college basketball tournament, which draws millions of young male viewers, whom the networks in general--and CBS in particular--struggle to reach.

Still, relatively few of those men showed up, and CBS’ most loyal audience--women in their 40s and older, the ones watching “Judging Amy” and “Touched by an Angel”--largely stayed away as well.

While CBS has fared well with programs tapping into that softer vein, the network has been frustrated in its efforts to be edgier and reach the more elusive younger demographic for which advertisers pay a premium. Recent examples include not only “Falcone” but the oversexed-singles comedy “Grapevine,” recently yanked after a trial run on Monday nights.

One theory is CBS simply faces too steep an uphill battle luring that younger audience--indeed, that all the major networks are more narrowly defined these days and venture outside their programming profile at their own peril.

CBS rejected the notion that certain kinds of shows can’t succeed on the network.

“I refuse to believe CBS can’t get the young, smart, hip drama audience,” said CBS Television President Leslie Moonves, acknowledging that he was disappointed by “Falcone’s” ratings but didn’t view the show as a major failure.

CBS has more big scheduling gambles in the offing, including the reality concepts “Big Brother” and “Survivor,” which will each provide a voyeuristic view of ordinary people thrown together in a house and on a remote island, respectively.

Both programs appear designed to reach the MTV crowd watching “The Real World”--a group “Falcone” mostly failed to attract--although they have the advantage of costing far less to produce and will make their debuts during the summer, when rating expectations are considerably lower.

Another factor in “Falcone’s” modest firepower may be that viewers were reluctant to commit to a new dramatic program over several nights, as demonstrated by NBC’s less-than-mythic ratings for its 10-hour miniseries “The 10th Kingdom.” NBC began to backpedal even before that project aired, saying additional five-night productions probably aren’t in the cards.

“It’s tough to break up people’s viewing patterns,” said Robert Singer, one of “Falcone’s” executive producers, who lauded CBS’ aggressive promotional campaign but pointed out that those on-air spots and the broadcast pattern may have left the impression the show was heavily serialized, which it wasn’t.

“It’s tough to say in a promo, ‘If you can’t tune in tonight, tune in tomorrow, it won’t make any difference,’ ” Singer noted.

Bob Igiel, president of the broadcast division at Y&R;’s Media Edge, a media buying firm, questioned whether the subject matter lends itself to a series on broadcast television but said the idea of seeking to turn a midseason replacement program into an event has considerable merit.

“I look at it as a very interesting experiment,” he said. “You have to try different things. I’m not ready to give up on that concept, as long as it’s episodic. An eight-night miniseries is not going to work.”

Beyond the time commitment involved, “Falcone” doubtless suffered from the fact that viewers hungry for moody 10 p.m. dramas are already well-fed. The CBS show had to face “NYPD Blue,” “Law & Order” and “ER” on successive nights, with the medical drama not only pummeling “Falcone” last week but another would-be challenger, ABC’s psychiatric-hospital drama “Wonderland,” despite its mostly positive reviews.

“When we were up against tough competition, we got hurt,” Moonves conceded. “The other hours, we did pretty well.”

That leaves the jury out on “Falcone” until CBS sets next season’s lineup in May, joining the ranks of shows experiencing a form of slow torture common to both organized crime and network television--waiting to discover if you will live or die.