“Must-See TV.” “America’s Night of Television.” “TGIF.” Watching television these days seems to be more about visiting a site than it is about watching a series.
Putting programming under umbrella titles became fashionable almost 10 years ago, when ABC took a bunch of kid-friendly comedies, led by “Full House” and “Family Matters,” put them on Friday night, and turned the evening into a two-hour TV party. “Thank Goodness It’s Funny” was born.
NBC got into the game in 1993, when it saw Thursday night comedies “Mad About You,” “Wings,” “Seinfeld” and “Frasier” as “Must-See TV.” The network went on to place most of its comedies under the “Must-See” tag — whether they deserved to be seen or not.
CBS last season went with “America’s Night of Television” for its modestly successful, family-friendly Saturday lineup of “Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman,” “Early Edition” and “Walker, Texas Ranger.”
Giving a night a branded identity can work if the right mix of shows is in place, some experts say.
“It’s not a bad idea to put together thematic nights of programming that appeals to specific demographics,” says Audrey Steele, a senior vice president for Zenith Media Services, which tracks TV shows for advertisers.
Former network programmer Don Tillman, who now runs the University of Southern California’s in-campus TV network, agrees:
“In the broadening spectrum of choices that viewers have, you’ve got to find something the viewers can hang their hat on in order to call their attention to whatever it is you’re trying to do.”
Scan the 1998-99 fall television season, and with the help of new series — and a little creativity — you’ll find several groups of shows that give identity to a night.
SUNDAY
Fox could call its lineup for that night “Keep the Kids at Bay Day,” thanks to new additions “Holding the Baby” (6:30 p.m., WFLD-Ch. 32) and “That ’70s Show.” (7:30 p.m.)
“Baby” features a little one being cared for by his father (Jon Patrick Walker), a harried advertising executive whose wife abandoned him. “’70s” also features kids: teenagers navigating the mid-1970s in Wisconsin.
“Marshaling the Troops” would work for the WB network’s Sunday lineup, which is loaded with family comedies (plus a rerun of surging “7th Heaven” at 6 p.m. on WGN-Ch. 9) all leading up to “The Army Show” at 8:30 p.m. This “Sgt. Bilko” throwback stars David Anthony Higgins of “Ellen” as a con man for Today’s Army.
MONDAY
Taking a page from NBC’s “Must-She TV” all-female comedies promotion from last season, CBS is going with “Must-He TV.”
Joining Bill “Cosby” and Ray Romano’s “Everybody Loves Raymond” are “The King of Queens” (7:30 p.m., WBBM-Ch. 2), starring comedian Kevin James as a blowhard suffering his in-laws (including “Seinfeld’s” brilliant Jerry Stiller); and “The Brian Benben Show” (8:30 p.m.), with the “Dream On” star as a put-upon television reporter.
The testosterone-heavy “L.A. Doctors” at 9 p.m. stars Ken Olin as the head of a private practice dealing with an HMO-obsessed industry.
NBC, meanwhile, alters its former “Must-She TV” promo to “Must-Be-For-She TV,” with comedies mostly geared toward women. “Conrad Bloom” (7:30 p.m., WMAQ-Ch. 5.) has a male lead, played by Mark Feuerstein of “Fired Up,” but as an ad executive searching for the right mate, look for plenty of romance.
Also slanted towards women is “Will & Grace” (8:30 p.m.), which centers on the relationship between a young woman (Debra Messing) and her gay best friend (Eric McCormack).
Call UPN’s lineup “Forget About Football,” because the comedies are aimed at families and men not interested in ABC’s Monday night gridiron contests. Aiding in that cause are “Guys Like Us” (7 p.m., WPWR-Ch. 50), starring Chicago’s Maestro Harrell as a little kid who’s watched over by his bachelor big brother and his roommate (Bumper Robinson and Chris Hardwick); “DiResta,” with transit cop-turned comic John DiResta playing a transit cop who doesn’t do comedy; and “The Secret Diary of Desmond Pfeiffer” (8 p.m.), with Chicago native Chi McBride (“The John Larroquette Show”) as a butler and adviser to president Abraham Lincoln (Dann Florek) during the Civil War.
The WB’s “Thoughtful Monday” lineup includes a fresh installment of “7th Heaven” at 7 p.m., and the new drama “Hyperion Bay” at 8 p.m. This one stars “Saved by the Bell” refugee Mark-Paul Gosselaar as a young high-tech business whiz returning to his small town in an effort to revitalize it — heating up a rivalry between himself and his older, former B.M.O.C. brother (Dylan Neal of “Dawson’s Creek”).
TUESDAY
NBC’s “Must-Be-Hip TV” schedule adds “Encore! Encore!” (7:30 p.m.) to the tragically cool “Mad About You,” “Just Shoot Me” and “Working.” The fabulous Nathan Lane (“The Birdcage”) is a retired opera star and ladies’ man who returns home to help run his family’s Napa Valley winery.
ABC chimes in with “Broods & Bosses,” a mix of family comedies and workplace humor. After “Home Improvement” is “The Hughleys” at 7:30 p.m. (on WLS-Ch. 7) Comedian D.L. Hughley stars as a businessman who moves his family to the suburbs, and has a hard time adjusting to the quiet life.
Following “Spin City” is “Sports Night” at 8:30 p.m., which looks behind the scenes at an ESPN-like sports news show.
Fox gives us “Schizo Tuesday,” with a little something for everyone: the animated “King of the Hill” at 7 p.m., the new comedy “Costello” at 7:30 p.m. (comic Sue Costello plays a sassy barmaid with delusions of grandeur), and “Brimstone” at 8 p.m. for the “Forever Knight”/”Millennium”/”X-Files” crowd (a dead Peter Horton returns from hell with a bounty on souls of the damned who have escaped).
Why call UPN’s Tuesday “Night of the Bizarre?” How to describe pairing “Moesha” and “Clueless” with “Mercy Point” at 8 p.m., a series set at a futuristic clinic in a far-flung outpost that helps human and alien life forms?
It’s “Cutie Tuesday” on the WB, with “Buffy” joined by “Felicity” at 8 p.m. Touted as “Ally McBeal” for the college-age set, it stars Keri Russell (“Malibu Shores”) as a high school graduate who ditches medical school to follow a guy to New York University.
WEDNESDAY
“Sisters Doin’ it For Themselves” has CBS’ “The Nanny” joined by “Maggie Winters” at 7:30 p.m. Former “Murphy Brown” co-star Faith Ford plays a “most likely to succeed” type returning to her hometown divorced and broke.
In the romantic comedy-drama “To Have and To Hold” at 8 p.m., Moira Kelly is a feisty public defender married to a Boston cop (Jason Beghe).
It’s “All for One” on ABC, with three ensemble comedies joined by a fourth, “The Secret Lives of Men” at 8:30 p.m. Peter Gallagher, Brad Witford and Mitch Rouse are single, thirtysomething golf buddies trying to figure life out.
UPN’s “Sci-Fi Wednesday” is “Star Trek: Voyager” joined by “Seven Days” at 7 p.m., where an ex-CIA agent becomes a time traveler who can go seven days in the past to stop a calamity — and help a friend in need change history, if he’s so inclined. Jonathan LaPaglia (“New York Undercover”) stars.
The WB has “The Bewitched” on its hands — the beguiling kids of “Dawson’s Creek” at 7 p.m., followed by three young witches in the fantasy series “Charmed” at 8 p.m. Shannen Doherty (“90210”), Holly Marie Combs (“Picket Fences”) and Alyssa Milano (“Who’s the Boss?”) cast the spells.
THURSDAY
NBC’s “Must-See-the-Hits” includes the new series “Jesse” at 7:30 p.m. “Married…With Children’s” Christina Applegate sheds her dumbo Kelly Bundy character to play a single mother who also keeps an eye on two brothers and a bonehead dad (played by George Dzundza of “Law & Order”).
“Macho Thursday” on ABC features the way-cool Michael Madsen of “Reservoir Dogs” in “Vengeance Unlimited” (7 p.m.) as the mysterious Mr. Chapel, a dude who makes it right for those who have been wronged.
UPN already had a kooky title for its new Thursday night sci-fi, fantasy and horror film franchise, “UPN Way Out There Movie.” But the feature, which starts at 7 p.m., will simply be named “UPN’s Thursday Night at the Movies.”
The WB moved “Urban Jollies” from Wednesday to Thursday, with “The Wayans Bros.,” “The Jamie Foxx Show” and “The Steve Harvey Show” joined by former NBC series “For Your Love” at 8:30 p.m. It looks at the friendships between two African American couples and one white duo at different stages in their relationships.
FRIDAY
“Ring-a-Ding Friday” on CBS features the new, swinging “Buddy Faro” at 8 p.m. with the old, swinging “Nash Bridges” at 9 p.m. Faro (Chicago’s Dennis Farina) is a hip, Rat Pack-era private detective who reappears after many years to set up shop with a young gumshoe (Frank Whaley).
NBC trades in its “Arresting Television” tag for this night for “Arrested Television” with the addition of “Trinity” at 7 p.m. The drama follows a family of overachievers — members include a cop, a priest, a nurse, a stockbroker, a union leader and a reprobate.
For ABC it’s “TGIO,” the “O” standing for the Olsen twins from “Full House,” who return to the night they helped turn into a cultural phenomenon for kids. In “Two of a Kind” (7 p.m.), Mary Kate and Ashley play — surprise! — sisters raised by their widowed father (Christopher Sieber), who gets help from one of his college students (Sally Wheeler).
At 8:30 p.m. the Men-Raising-Badly (hey, another catchphrase!) continues at 8:30 p.m. with “Brother’s Keeper,” where William Ragsdale of “Herman’s Head” looks over both his son (Justin Cooper) and younger brother (Sean O’Bryan), an irresponsible kicker for the San Francisco 49ers.
“Battle Royal” describes Fox’s schedule, in which the bickering friends of “Getting Personal” and the fight for humanity in “Millennium” are joined by neighbors at odds in “Living in Captivity” at 7 p.m. A black couple is the only people of color in a mostly-mistrustful gated community.
“Cruisin’ on a Friday” is a possible title for UPN’s slate. “Love Boat: The Next Wave” is on at 8 p.m., but before that is “Legacy” at 7 p.m. A family in post-Civil War Kentucky tries to maintain its horse farm during the Reconstruction.
SATURDAY
“America’s Night for Violence” starts for CBS after “Early Edition” with “Martial Law” at 8 p.m. Hefty Hong Kong action star Sammo Hung plays a Hong Kong cop and martial arts master drafted into service by the Los Angeles Police Department.
“Thrillogy,” the logo for “The Pretender” and “Profiler” that was abandoned because NBC didn’t have a third member good enough to last beyond a season, may make a comeback. “Wind on Water” (7 p.m.) promises to fill the small screen with thrilling extreme sports competition like helicopter-skiing and sky-surfing — the vocation of the two sons (William Gregory Lee and Brian Gross) of Bo Derek (“10”), who plays a cattle rancher in Hawaii.
“Fantasy Saturday” fits ABC between 8 and 10 p.m., with the revival of “Fantasy Island” at 8 p.m. (Malcolm McDowell wears black suits instead of white as a more sinister Mr. Roarke than Ricardo Montalban), and romantic comedy-drama “Cupid” at 9 p.m. (Chicago actor Jeremy Piven of “Ellen” is a powerless god of love who has to get 100 couples together before he can return to Mt. Olympus.)
