Top programming lieutenants at the three networks and Fox Broadcasting Co. took center stage at yesterday's Hollywood Radio & Television Society luncheon, outlining their webs' programming goals for next fall.
The panel discussion, moderated by producer and well-traveled network programming chief Fred Silverman, stayed close to the future of network TV and the issue of targeting the young-adult demographic, vs. CBS' stated strategy "to define ourselves in the truest sense as 'broadcasters,' with the accent on the word 'broad,' " as articulated by Eye Web exec VP Peter Tortorici.
Though he admitted that explaining the success of CBS' "Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman" amounted to Monday-morning quarterbacking, Tortorici suggested that by simply replicating existing hits, the networks "create an appetite for what (forms) we aren't supplying."
Speaking for the production community, Silverman brought up the explosion of news magazines in prime time, saying the trend should be of particular concern to suppliers since it "can potentially put a lot of people out of work."
Tortorici, however, felt the pendulum would cycle back toward dramatic fare, and ABC exec VP Stu Bloomberg contended that the networks must retain scheduling balance despite the tendency away from one-hour shows. "We can't be the all-comedy, all-reality network," he said.
Tortorici pointed out that news magazines remain consistent performers in part because they don't have to compete against each other in a given time period, as comedies and dramas frequently do. Once two news shows are duking it out in the same hour -- a seemingly inevitable face-off as the form proliferates -- there will be diminishing returns, but virtually any time period can support a single news/information show, he said. "Unfortunately, or fortunately, they (news programs) make financial sense," Bloomberg added.
Asked about targeting younger demos to the exclusion of older viewers, NBC exec VP of prime time programs Perry Simon reiterated his network's recent acknowledgement that it had gotten too narrow in its approach and outlined a multipronged strategic plan that includes more innovative promotional methods, year-round programming, strategic alliances with cable to help finance production and more partnerships between programming, sales and marketing.
The only newcomer to this year's luncheon, Fox senior VP of current programs and specials Dan McDermott, said his service had undergone tremendous horizontal expansion in adding new nights and now wants to grow vertically -- providing more hits and broadening its reach among adults in the 18-49 demographic.
McDermott also maintained that news and reality programs can be viewed as "realistic dramas," a sentiment echoed in January by ABC Entertainment prez Ted Harbert, who contended that many viewers now get their "drama fix" from news shows.
Three of the four panelists sat behind placards that read "Joey Buttafuoco" at the start of the light-hearted session, though there was one slightly awkward moment when Simon noted that "Saddam Hussein would have been a gentle moderator" in light of the grilling the quartet's bosses received at a similar HRTS session in September. Sitting behind Simon on the dais was producer Diane English, who asked the sometimes-pointed questions at that earlier event, along with Lucie Salhany and Debbie Allen.
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