Here are the predicted sizzlers and flops in the new season as judged by three New York advertising agencies, DFS/Dorland; Batten, Barton, Durstine and Osborne; and N.W. Ayer.
LIKELY TO SUCCEED:
”Amen” (NBC). Sherman Hemsley plays George Jefferson playing a pompous church deacon.
”L.A. Law” (NBC). About the lives, loves and lawsuits of a group of young attorneys in a Los Angeles firm.
”Designing Women” (CBS). A ”Golden Girls” clone that casts its women as unmarried partners in an interior decorating business.
POSSIBLE:
”My Sister Sam” (CBS). Pam Dawber as a professional woman put upon by an impossible sibling.
”Matlock” (NBC). Andy Griffith plays a crafty old country lawyer.
”Jack and Mike” (ABC). Shelley Hack and Tom Mason as an upscale Chicago yuppie couple struggling to blend marriage with divergent careers.
”Head of the Class” (ABC). Howard Hesseman as a high school teacher with a gaggle of budding geniuses for students.
”Kay O`Brien” (CBS). A lady surgeon in a hospital is afflicted by an overdose of male chauvinism.
IMPOSSIBLE:
”The Wizard” (CBS). Ex-Time Bandit David Rappaport as a toy-making inventor whose talents are coveted by a sinister foreign power.
”Together We Stand” (CBS). Elliot Gould as a harried family man with more family than he ever planned on.
”Better Days” (CBS). A teenaged Beverly Hills surfer is transplanted to a New York ghetto.
”Our World” (ABC). A prime-time news magazine reminiscent of the old CBS series ”You Are There” pits Linda Ellerbee against NBC`s invincible
”Bill Cosby Show.”
”Sidekicks” (ABC). A takeoff on ”The Karate Kid.”
”Sledge Hammer” (ABC). A send-up of cops-and-robbers dramas with a dubious detective who talks to his gun.
”Heart of the City” (ABC). A cop tries to be a single parent to two perfectly revolting children.
”Our House” (NBC). Wilford Brimley as a grandfather forced to take in his daughter and her children.
