From Milton Berle, Bob Hope and Sid Caesar, all the way forward to “Ally McBeal,” it was obvious from the clips shown during the recent Emmy telecast that most of the memorable moments came from network television. The DuMont network was around in the beginning, and Fox, WB and UPN came along at the end, but the dominant players for the last 50 years were ABC, CBS and NBC.
Although no one expects the Big 3 to be unseated anytime soon — especially if they play their cards right in the digital revolution — fissures in the television foundation are spreading quickly, and several were in plain sight on awards night.
No one is surprised that shows and movies originally broadcast on cable television are nominated in great numbers and, indeed, are expected to win in key categories. HBO came in second behind NBC in total nominations, while its $65 million mini-series “From the Earth to the Moon” topped NBC’s “ER” in nominations and winners.
It was clear the networks were feeling the pressure when, after nominations were annnounced in July, they publicly argued that the epic 12-part study of the Apollo space program didn’t conform to a traditional mini-series format and shouldn’t have been eligible.
“It was more of a volley against HBO than (against) us,” producer Tom Hanks told reporters. “There’s no question it is a mini-series, but there’s also no question this is a high-stakes financial game.”
Although “Ally McBeal” didn’t walk away with any major Emmys, Fox’s hybrid dramatic comedy series about yuppie lawyers was the talk of the 1997-98 season. This year, one of the new shows being touted as an exciting prospect is WB’s “Felicity,” which has been described as “Ally goes to college” and nicely complements the part-time network’s teen-oriented hits, “Dawson’s Creek” and “Buffy the Vampire Slayer.”
UPN is hoping its oddball “The Secret Diary of Desmond Pfeiffer” — about a black butler in the Lincoln White House — will draw attention to its urban-niche programming, instead of its sagging ratings. Then, there’s the new Pax TV, a seventh national broadcast network, which is getting its start airing reruns.
Even though pro wrestling, football and cartoons dominate cable’s top-25 shows, the looming spectre of pay television — which includes direct-broadcast satellite — is what has the broadcast networks looking over their shoulders.
This summer, for the first time, the aggregate audience for the four major networks dipped below that of the combined competition. For the last two Nielsen reporting periods, even with the help of NBC’s popular two-part documentary on Princess Diana, their total weekly share was only 49 and 51 percent.
NBC Entertainment president Warren Littlefield acknowledged this summer that cable and satellite services have become “a force to be reckoned with.” He took the offensive, though, by trumpeting the benefits to audiences and advertisers of broadcast television.
“Despite increased penetration and the addition of new cable services every day, viewership for individual cable services — and pay cable — is simply not on the rise,” Littlefield argued. “But, actually, does the viewer really distinguish any longer between network television and cable television? The kids, when they’re sitting there with a clicker, don’t really distinguish at all (and), in 76 percent of the country, NBC comes in on a wire, just like anything else.
“So, we are looking, really, more than ever, at competing with everything that comes in over the wire.”
Cable `a safe haven’
Meryl Marshall, president of the television academy, recalls that broadcast networks first balked at including cable programming in Emmy competition, not wishing to shine attention on the growing commercial force.
“It’s been a continual process, but, like the syndication market in the early ’80s, I think cable started to blossom when it started to order original programming, as opposed to just putting on reruns of network series and movies,” said Marshall.
Cable also offered a “safe haven” to shows that might not have been accepted immediately in the ratings-dominated world of network television.
“Some shows need to be nurtured with a very specific audience,” Marshall added. “Women’s sports, for instance, wouldn’t have found a home until Lifetime gave them a berth, and Comedy Central gave an opportunity to `South Park’ and `Politically Incorrect.’ Yet, these shows are now being mainstreamed and they are appearing in the broadcast arena.”
At a time when critics bemoan the lack of fresh writing on network comedies, dozens of new and original shows are being added to cable schedules, and even the fledgling DBS industry is getting into the act.
DirecTV, with 3.9 million subscribers, has carved out a niche market based on its “big ticket” sports schedule and digitally delivered pay-per-view movies. It now plans to offer exclusive services such as a channel devoted to vintage episodes of “The Tonight Show,” reruns of popular soap operas, free concerts by artists such as Shania Twain and the Rolling Stones, and the new Action Adventure Network, for which directors such as John Landis and Francis Ford Coppola will translate classic works of fiction into series form.
“We feel an increasing pressure to differentiate ourselves from all sorts of competition, because there’s a lot of people trying get people to either buy equipment or watch their station or do something else, especially as the digital world creeps up on us,” said Stephanie Campbell, senior vice president of programming for DirecTV Inc. “I think there’s going to be a lot of confusion in the marketplace and we’re all going to have to explain to people what it means to them. We need to look for ways to stand out from the crowd.”
While broadcasters struggle to launch hits the Big 4 still crush cable when it comes to creating drama series and promoting “event television,” like NBC’s “Merlin” and final “Seinfeld” episode, and the Super Bowl. Still, many have argued that HBO’s “The Larry Sanders Show” has been a consistently better comedy than “Frasier,” despite its five Emmys, and made-for-cable movies are more innovative and entertaining.
Networks also face pressure from advertisers, many of whom are guaranteed certain ratings, and affiliate boards, “who sit and tell you that a movie or series will never fly in my territory.”
John Matoian, president of HBO Pictures, said when he was at CBS he wanted to adapt “Miss Ever’s Boys” — a play based on the long-hidden Tuskegee study — into a made-for-TV movie.
“People looked at me and said, `Are you out of your mind?” he recalled. “It’s period; it’s about gonorrhea and syphilis; with one exception, it has a 100 percent black cast; it’s rural; and it’s about the government doing something ill to a large group. I kept saying, `So, what’s the problem?’
Last year, HBO’s presentation of “Miss Ever’s Boys” won Emmys for outstanding movie, a special President’s Award and for Alfre Woodard as best actress in a movie or mini-series.
How to attract viewers
One way to attract new viewers is to give them something they can’t get on broadcast television. In the past, this has meant that premium services such as HBO and Showtime have openly catered to adult male audiences with shows that have included nudity, raw language and graphic violence.
Lately, however, these networks have moved toward original comedy series that, while still edgy, are targeting more adult women. HBO’s recent “Sex in the City” series, for example, developed a following not unlike that devoted to Fox’s “Ally McBeal.” Meanwhile, “From the Earth to the Moon” attracted an older demographic not currently in favor with network and Madison Avenue executives. The response was immediate.
Competition from cable, especially on Saturday and Sunday nights, seems to be pushing the networks to come up with more adventurous “event” programming.
” `From the Earth to the Moon’ is a good example of where cable is doing something the networks used to do well and had abandoned for a while,” said the academy’s Marshall. “Now, in the coming year, the networks are coming back and doing some interesting product. NBC just announced it will do `The Bible,’ and ABC has announced a mini-series on the civil-rights movement.”
