Only CBS lineup has some shows for all generations

Cincinnati Enquirer - May 23, 1999

BY JOHN KIESEWETTER

Youth must be served — by everyone else. Thank God for CBS.

At CBS, they get it. They realize that most Americans — those of us who can remember life before MTV — don't want a fall TV season filled with high school dramas or more shows about young, attractive, single Friends.

Only CBS is the true BROADcaster, with a fall TV lineup appealing to viewers of all ages.

The other networks look like the cable channels they're losing viewers to, specialized niche services catering to the 18-34 or 18-49 demographic.

Only CBS executives recognize that today's best in prime-time are the old pros: Doris Roberts and Peter Boyle (Everybody Loves Raymond), Dennis Franz (NYPD Blue), George Segal (Just Shoot Me), Yaphet Kotto (Homicide: Life in the Street) and John Lithgow (3rd Rock from the Sun).

Only CBS had the courage to disdain TV's misguided youth movement and build a fall lineup with Betty White, Tyne Daly, Dixie Carter, Park Overall, David Ogden Stiers and Swoosie Kurtz. They have appeared on more Emmy-winning shows than Fox or WB ever have aired.

Roll over, James Van Der Beek, and tell Dawson's Creek the news.

CBS won't be staging any high school dramas this fall. But Procter & Gamble will have plenty of advertising opportunities for Clearasil.

Every sort of teen

The other networks will explore the angst of high school outcasts (NBC's Freaks and Geeks), cheerleaders and jocks (WB's Popular), rich manipulative snobs (Fox's Manchester Prep), orphaned teen-age space aliens (WB's Roswell) and even somewhat normal kids (Fox's Get Real).

While CBS reached for the stars, Fox favored young talent so unknown that it didn't bother listing their names in the fall season announcement Thursday.

But not everyone on CBS will be wheeled in from the Beverly Hills Retirement Center.

On CBS you'll find former NYPD Blue star Amy Brenneman as a divorced judge (Judging Amy), Nancy Travis and Kevin Pollak as husband- wife attorneys (Work with Me), and Tony Award nominee Alfred Molina married to NYPD Blue's Sharon Lawrence in a domestic comedy called Ladies Man.

CBS won't be the channel for young, single college grads in New York (ABC's Wasteland from Dawson's Creek creator Kevin Williamson); young, single strangers in New York (Fox's Time of Your Life with Jennifer Love Hewitt); young, single friends in the big city (WB's The Downtowners cartoon); or young, single book editors in the big city (NBC's Stark Raving Mad and ABC's Then Came You).

Not to mention all the returning shows about young, attractive single people in the big city: Friends, Suddenly Susan, Veronica's Closet, Spin City, Will & Grace.

Just Shoot Me. Sometimes that's how I feel reading the synopsis for a new TV series.

To be fair, a couple of fall dramas on ABC and NBC look interesting to this TV critic who has only three years left in the 18-49 demographic.

ABC's Once and Again looks promising. Sela Ward (Sisters) and Bill Campbell (The Rocketeer) play newly divorced parents who try not to let their kids get in the way of their romance. It comes from the trusted team of Ed Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz (thirtysomething, My So-Called Life).

"West Wing' gets a vote

NBC's West Wing could become the most anticipated show for fall. The White House drama comes from the fertile minds of John Wells (ER) and Aaron Sorkin, the Sports Night creator who wrote Michael Douglas' The American President (which airs 8:30 p.m. Monday on Channels 12, 7)

West Wing also will stand out on NBC due to its mix of old and young faces — Martin Sheen, Rob Lowe, John Spencer (L.A. Law), Moira Kelly (To Have & To Hold) and Allison Janney (Primary Colors).

Don't be surprised if Mr. Sheen and Mr. Spencer steal the show, even if NBC promotes the sexy young Oval Office staff.

Thank you, CBS, for not forgetting the aging population bulge called the Baby Boom. Thanks, CBS, for noting how many grandparents spend more every Christmas at Toys R Us or Best Buy than college kids or young professionals struggling to keep up with new car payments.

Thank you, CBS, for keeping your word.

"CBS is committed to being a broadcaster in the truest sense of the word. We will continue to program for all audiences," CBS Television President Leslie Moonves declared last year.

"The relentless pursuit of demographics is turning the network business into narrow-casting. If all networks continue to chase the same limited audience, we will ... offer indistinguishable programming," he said.

"Viewers outside the 18- to 49-year-old demographic need to let advertisers know that they have purchasing power, and they do respond to advertising," he said. "I don't think viewers want twentysomething Madison Avenue media buyers wielding so much influence over (network) programming."

Youth must be served by somebody. But not everybody. I'm grateful CBS feels the same way. Maybe someday we'll convince advertisers, too.


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