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It's a pretty good TV season
Sacramento Bee - November 3, 1999
By RICK KUSHMAN
Here's something you don't say often: This is a pretty good TV season. Putting the words "good" and "TV season" in the same sentence usually causes the gag reflex to kick
in, but this year no one's choking on their TV.
It's still early, and besides, I'm not saying perfect. There are still too many lame comedies, too much young angst, too many news magazines, too few people of color, Fox is whiffing on everything
and "Ally McBeal" has become a Playboy joke.
But any season with even one genuinely smart, original new series can be considered an overall draw, and this year five new shows are surprisingly impressive, while a few others have solid
potential.
Not only that, people are watching. That should be no surprise. We watch good shows, not demographics or copies of last year's hits. It's just that the network programmers don't seem to know that.
Or maybe, finally, they do. Because this year there's NBC's "The West Wing" and the spin-off "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," CBS' "Judging Amy" and "Now
and Again," and ABC's "Once and Again," all creative and ratings successes.
Notice, by the way, the similar names, "Now and Again" and "Once and Again." There's no good reason for that. Just remember that shows with "Again" in the title are
worth a try.
There's more good news: Ratings king "ER" worked out its problems; "Law & Order," which never had any, climbed into the top five this season; Emmy-winner "The
Practice" moved up to a solid No. 11; and a deal is all but signed for a "Homicide: Life on the Street" movie.
If you need more reasons to be optimistic, both "Suddenly Susan" and "Veronica's Closet," two former dark holes on NBC's Thursday night schedule, are faring miserably on
Mondays and could be out of our hair soon. Or maybe I'm just being too optimistic.
In any case, this is an early season snapshot. TV networks are completely capable of destroying any good show - or in the case of ABC with "Once and Again" and "NYPD Blue," two
good shows.
In case you missed it, ABC found a decent compromise on its dilemma over the shared Tuesday 10 p.m. slot: "Once and Again" will stay there until January, then move to the same time on
Mondays. "NYPD Blue" will open its season in January back on Tuesday nights, which at least means it will run straight through the season with no annoying month-long breaks for reruns.
So here are some of the high and low points so far.
SUCCESS, THY NAME IS DRAMA: TV has a natural cycle. First, the focus is comedies, then dramas, then comedies, then dramas. For now, anyway, dramas are not just hot, they are intelligent, complex
and entertaining.
But it's more than just a cycle. The same forces helping make sitcoms terrible - a demand for comedy writers that is larger than the available talent, and the networks' rush to make long-term
deals with every marginally successful producer before someone else does - are elevating the quality of TV dramas.
That's because with the growth of mini-networks WB and UPN, there are more slots for dramas. That - added to the greater network reliance on writers/producers - is luring some very talented people
to TV and giving other writers who have been less-than- satisfied with network TV incentives to try again.
This season, there are new dramas from people like Aaron Sorkin ("The West Wing"), Joss Whedan ("Angel"), Paul Haggis ("Family Law"), Marshall Herskovitz and Ed Zwick
("Once and Again") and Glen Gordon Caron ("Now and Again"). All have credentials from feature films and unusual, quirky TV series.
But it's not just the writers. TV's drama form has been growing and improving for years. Viewers simply won't sit for lousy hour shows when they can jump to something better, which forces the
networks not to skimp on dramas.
SUCCESS, THY OTHER NAME IS GROWN-UPS: The season started with all this shouting about teen-oriented series. So what happened? Viewers - even younger viewers - are flocking to the shows about
grown-ups.
"Judging Amy" features a single mom who moved home from New York to her mother's house to take a judgeship in Hartford, Conn. "Once and Again" is the story of finding
love after divorce, kids and turning 40. "Family Law" is about a 40-ish lawyer starting a new practice after her husband-law partner left her. "The West Wing" shows a fictional
White House where people act, more or less, like adults.
What's happened here is easy to figure out. The networks' obsession with demographics - translation: ad rates - led to this year's focus on teens, because advertisers pay well to reach teens and
because WB used teen audiences to grow a little last season. The flaws in that thinking include:
--Teens watch less TV than most people, so the size of the potential audience is smaller.
--Teens watch shows that are good, not just shows about teens. But networks never give anyone - let alone young viewers - credit for brains.
Many of the new teen shows reek.
On the other hand, the new adult dramas connected to something that is often missing on TV - a genuine emotional life and a desire to see some hope in the world.
That doesn't mean saccharine or cloying - most of the new dramas portray emotional forces that are complicated and often frustrating. And even the softer versions like "Judging Amy" or
"Family Law" give glimpses of life's complexity, and of the effort involved in finding simple happiness or deciding right and wrong.
All of that - the emotional engagement, the layered view of the world, the idea that many people try to do the right thing - are universal attractions to viewers, regardless, in many cases, of
age.
SUCCESS, THE VETERANS: There is another odd development this season. Many returning shows came back better than before. There are exceptions - "Ally McBeal" among them so far - but here
are a few examples:
"ER": After suffering a mini-slump with the departure of Doug Ross (George Clooney), the show is humming again with Mark Greene (Anthony Edwards) feeling betrayed, Kerry Weaver (Laura
Innes) grabbing power, the egomaniacal Dr. Romano (Paul McCrane) pushed more comfortably into the background, and Alan Alda, in a short-term stint, back in scrubs as a veteran emergency doc.
It's also averaging almost 5 million viewers more than last year, drawing more than 30 million people a week.
"Law & Order": The replaceable parts just keep making it more popular, and it's never had a creative slump in the first place. So, out is Benjamin Bratt, in is Jesse Martin as
Detective Green, and up go the ratings. This season it's averaging 18 million-plus viewers, up by more than 3 million from last year, and may be the only drama in TV history to finally crack the
top five in its 10th season.
Tuesday night comedies: The death battle between NBC and ABC is a wash, as "Just Shoot Me" vs. "Spin City" and "Will & Grace" vs. "Dharma and Greg"
turned into pretty much dead heats.
All are running as smoothly as last season, though "Dharma's" Jenna Elfman can be wearing at times. On the other hand, Heather Locklear, who is always welcome, has added some zip to
"Spin City."
"Sports Night": The fastest, most melodic half-hour on TV added teeth to its plots with the introduction of William H. Macy as a ratings consultant. It also dropped a little of the
sing-song banter that some viewers criticized, and the reward has been an increase of nearly 2 million viewers for this brilliant show.
There is more: Ratings are up for "The Practice" - by more than 4 million viewers - "Everybody Loves Raymond," "JAG" and "Nash Bridges." WB's sophomore
series "Felicity" developed a sense of humor and more appeal (despite star Keri Russell's haircut); "King of the Hill" is back on Fox Sundays; "Becker" is working
out; "Providence" continues to do well; "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" is still a killer; and "Chicago Hope" has moved off life support.
SUCCESS, THE SCORECARD: Time to total all this up. Three of the six networks - NBC, CBS and UPN - have more viewers than at this point last year, which tells you that at least part of the audience
erosion problem is a quality issue.
Five of the new dramas are in the top 25 after five weeks - "Judging Amy" (11), "Family Law" (15), "The West Wing," (20), "Law & Order: Special Victims
Unit" (22) and "Once and Again" (24).
Two others, "Third Watch" (27) and "Now and Again" (47), are doing just fine.
One other new series, NBC's "Stark Raving Mad," at first glance appears to be a hit since it's ranked seventh for the year. But that's the usual Thursday night spillover, and despite
NBC's commitment for the season, it has to be considered another "Must See TV" failure. Which brings up:
THE FAILURES: Give NBC credit for uncanny consistency. It just has to schedule a comedy at 8:30 or 9:30 on Thursday night, and it will be awful. This year, "Jesse," despite retooling,
got even weaker. And the new "Stark Raving Mad," despite appealing stars Neil Patrick Harris and Tony Shalhoub, is loud and jokey.
And never mind the top 10 rankings for both. That's just audience run-off. They each lose at least 4.5 million viewers from their lead-ins, "Friends" and "Frasier."
Poor Fox. It took some risks, including the bittingly smart "Action" and the drama-comedy mix in "Get Real," and both are failing badly.
"Action," which also suffered from a Thursday night time slot and pre-emptions for baseball playoffs, nonetheless received almost universal strong reviews but did badly from the outset.
That's not all: Jennifer Love Hewitt's "Time of Your Life" premiered with 7.7 million viewers, which ranks it in the mid-80s for the season; "Ally," the short version, is
drawing dismally; and Fox canceled its entire Friday night lineup when it dumped "Ryan Caulfield: Year One" and "Harsh Realm."
There may, however, be hope. Starting Thursday, Fox is running three weeks of a game show called "Greed" that, among other things, has teammates turning on each other mid-game. Producers
have been vague about the details, but there appears to be no truth to the rumor that it's based on the weekly meeting of Fox programmers.
Teens and young-20-somethings: The only new show that can be considered a success is WB's "Roswell," and it ranks 96th for the season, which is OK, but not great, for WB. Even NBC's
"Freaks and Geeks," a series that drew raves, is holding at No. 87 for the year, a victim of Saturday night scheduling and viewer neglect.
Most of the other teen-oriented series - including "Get Real," "Popular" and "Odd Man Out" - are barely holding on, if they haven't already been canceled like
"Ryan Caulfield: Year One" or Fox's "Manchester Prep," which never even made it on the air.
Shows about early 20-year-olds are doing just as poorly. WB's animated "Mission Hill" was canned, ABC's "Wasteland" was pulled for November and may never return, and viewer
reaction to WB's "Jack and Jill" and NBC's "Cold Feet" is pretty much described by the latter show's name. (Editor's note: "Cold Feet" has been canceled.)
Comedies: After "Action," which is on hiatus at least through this month, there's not a decent show among the new crop. Already, NBC's "The Mike O'Malley Show" and CBS'
"Work With Me" have been canceled, and ABC's "Oh Grow Up" and CBS' "Ladies Man" and "Love & Money" can't be far behind.
ABC has another comedy, "Then Came You," that was pulled from the fall schedule and may never actually get on the air, which would be historic, in a way, because this would be the first
year that two shows got canceled without ever being shown. Like I said, this is a special TV season.
Copyright © 1999 Sacramento Bee. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 1999 Scripps Howard News Service. All rights reserved.
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