FROM THE "WELL, DUH" DEPARTMENT: by Brtick

NEWS HEADLINE DISCUSSIONS

FROM THE "WELL, DUH" DEPARTMENT:

POSTED BY: BRTICK
UPDATED: Thursday, October 31, 2002 09:13
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Thursday, October 31, 2002 7:21 AM

NEW YORK -- Fox made a mistake in previewing several nights of its primetime schedule, only to interrupt its flow with postseason baseball, Fox Broadcasting entertainment president Gail Berman conceded Tuesday.

Speaking at an International Radio & Television Society Foundation breakfast in New York with her fellow network chieftains, Berman said Fox will "re-examine how it will roll out" its schedule next year because this year's plan caused "disarray in terms of getting a toehold in those time periods."

Fox delayed the debut of its Thursday and Sunday night lineups until after the World Series, but the network introduced some new shows last month, including the heavily promoted dramas FIREFLY, FASTLANE and JOHN DOE, only to have to pre-empt them for baseball. "It's very difficult to preview two nights of programming and take the programs off for four weeks," Berman said.

The network gained exclusive postseason rights to Major League Baseball as of 2001, through 2006. Ratings for the World Series have proved disappointing for the network, even though analysts expect Fox to make a profit. The ratings shortfall hampered Fox's plan to provide a huge promotional push to its primetime lineup.

In the mea culpa category, NBC entertainment president Jeff Zucker conceded a mistake on his part, saying the network should not have moved its movie franchise from Sunday to Saturday nights. "We made a mistake in not being more aggressive in going after Saturday night," he said. "I regret it."

The network execs said they have no intention of abandoning Saturdays, even though HUT (households using television) levels there are dismal. Films have proved to be poor ratings grabbers on network television as most people have already seen them in other windows. But Zucker and ABC entertainment president Susan Lyne said the networks paid dearly for their packages and have to play them somewhere.

Saturdays might be a mess for most networks, but many people are focusing on what will happen at NBC on Thursdays next season. Zucker gave one hint during the session, saying that the strong -- and noncontroversial -- off-network showing of WILL & GRACE in early evening had proved to him that the show could air at 8 p.m. without any worries about racy content that had caused him to schedule the sitcom at 9 p.m.

"That gives us pause; I'll have to rethink what I said before," Zucker said as the network execs agreed that content standards have loosened considerably over the past few years, especially for shows with strong track records that have "earned" the right to stretch content boundaries. Competition from premium and basic cable -- from shows like FX's THE SHIELD -- have helped propel those changes, they said.

And the execs agreed that this is especially true for shows aimed at younger audiences, who expect a certain level of realism in television today.

"Networks that cater to young audiences have a credibility issue to deal with," Berman said. "You have to walk that line." (Story courtesy of the HOLLYWOOD REPORTER)

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Thursday, October 31, 2002 9:13 AM

RHEA

DUH indeed. Talk about shooting yourself in the foot! They have NO basis for whining about poor Friday night ratings.

Sometimes I think that a requirement for being a network executive is checking your common sense at the door (always assuming there was a sufficient quantity to start with

). OTOH, since I envision programming gurus as chimps armed with a dartboard, nothing ever surprises me.

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