Last fall, the new network television season was an unmitigated
disaster. Insipid sitcoms like "Chicken Soup" disappeared without a
trace. Advertising executives gleefully based the networks' new
shows, the majority of which were promptly canceled.
But this year, something different is happening. Ad executives
looking out to the fall are actually saying *nice* things. It's quite
uncharacteristic of them, really.
[...] The three networks plus Fox Broadcasting are currently
deciding about 112 pilots, which they will narrow down to 25 to 30
to be introduced as series in the fall. [...]
What sounds fresh and new to trained media executives, of course,
may sound just plain weird to the rest of us. Among the pros'
favorite picks is ABC's "Cop Rock," a combination rock opera and
police drama. They're also high on Fox's "Babes," about three
beautiful 200-pound-plus sisters, and CBS's "Shangri-La Plaza," a
sitcom-operetta with no spoken dialogue that takes place in a mall.
Other pilots seem even more unlikely. NBC's "Red Pepper" follows
the career of a marionette who is also a successful talk-show host.
Then there's ABC's "Plymouth," a drama about a small town that,
after a toxic spill, is forced to relocate--to the moon.
Ironically, viewers have religious and "new traditionalist" activists
to thank for the fall season's bizarre new pilots. Last fall, in response
to outcries by people like Terry Rakolta, the Michigan woman who
urged advertisers to boycott Fox's "Married...With Children," among
other shows, the networks played it safe. Afraid of scaring off
advertisers, they chose non-controversial shows that followed
already successful formulas. They failed miserably; the shows were
so dull that 13 out of 23 new programs on the three major networks
were promptly canceled.
This fall's far more daring lineup is simply a reaction to the
overstultified programs last season, media executives say. [...]
Rev. Jim
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End of SubGenius Digest
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