Stations mull inhouse programming

With fewer hit laffers, syndies going back to basics

By MICHAEL SCHNEIDER

As they wait for the networks to come up with comedies good enough to reach syndication, stations are taking matters into their own hands.

They're loading up on second and even third cycles of such evergreens as "Friends" and "Seinfeld." They're flirting with more first-run half-hours, like the relaunch of Twentieth's "A Current Affair."

And some are contemplating a throwback to the old days -- original, local programming.

"There is a fundamental dearth of content for the fifth and sixth TV stations in the market," Sinclair's David Smith said last month at a Bear Stearns conference. "We cannot print money off old shows that have a limited lifetime. We're frankly running out of content; that's a problem that needs to be solved across the industry."

Of all the primetime sitcoms heading toward off-net syndication in the next three years, just Warner Bros.' "Two and a Half Men" could be considered a broad, legitimate hit.

That has Jim Paratore, exec VP of Warner Bros. Domestic TV Distribution (as well as president of Telepictures Prods.), salivating. "Two and a Half Men" hasn't hit the market yet, but stations hungry for something new are expected to pounce.

In the meantime, Paratore and his rivals continue to reap the rewards of a strong second-cycle (and beyond) sitcom market.

"You want the second cycle of shows that are working, like 'Friends' and 'Will & Grace,' " he says. "The better money has been on those shows."

But as they become less thrilled with the paltry choice of sitcoms that are coming down the pike -- and the fact that even the top sitcoms can't maintain a large aud forever (with a few exceptions, like "MASH") -- station programmers are contemplating how to keep their early fringe, prime access and latenight slots fresh.

In Los Angeles, KTLA vice prexy/GM Vinnie Malcolm has said his station is contemplating inhouse ideas. Meanwhile, Viacom-owned indie KCAL, which has generally stayed out of the off-net comedy business, is producing the inhouse magazine "9 on the Town" to fill one of its half-hour slots.

"A Current Affair," meanwhile, preemed this month on Fox-owned stations in slots previously held by off-net laffers.

Still, Paratore isn't pessimistic -- pointing out that all TV is cyclical, and that the sitcom had a pretty good run in its most recent spate of domination (from "The Cosby Show" to "Friends" and "Raymond").

"There's enough stuff on the shelf to get stations through the next few years," Paratore says. "But we do need to start finding some new primetime hits."