ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, October 15, 1996 TAG: 9610150044
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JENNIFER BOWLES ASSOCIATED PRESS
What are independent television producers to do these days, with networks canceling their critically acclaimed shows and media megamergers squeezing out the little guys?
If you're Stephen J. Cannell, you launch your new show in syndication, sell off your production company and beam your creative energy toward another industry altogether - the literary world.
Cannell just published his second novel, ``Final Victim,'' a psycho-thriller following up his best-selling debut ``The Plan,'' and is close to finishing a third book.
``I love it,'' he says as he finishes a bowl of chili amidst the din of a lunchtime crowd at a Hollywood eatery.
``I'm going to write a book a year from now on,'' vows Cannell.
Don't doubt him.
Over some 35 years, he has put his mark on TV as one of its most prolific producers and writers. ``Wiseguy,'' ``21 Jump Street,'' ``The A-Team'' and the classic ``The Rockford Files'' are just a few of his creations.
Cannell's latest venture is ``Two,'' an hour-long action-adventure starring Michael Easton as twins separated at birth who grow up into polar opposites. One is Gus McClain, a college professor with a lovely wife, a house and all the good things in life. The other is the evil Booth Hubbard, who kills McClain's wife and frames his twin for the murder.
What follows is very much a fugitive plot similar to Cannell's own ``Renegade,'' with McClain dodging the law while hunting down his brother.
``I loved the idea that a guy would be chasing himself and yet there would be a possibility of even psychic communication between the two brothers,'' says the goateed Cannell, a gleam in his blue eyes.
As executive producer, the 55-year-old Cannell is hoping this show will fare better than last season's ``Profit.'' The critically acclaimed show about a manipulative J.R. Ewing-type executive lasted only four episodes before Fox yanked it off the air.
``Unless I could climb inside the network and read the fine print that was hanging on the walls over there I really don't know,'' Cannell says about why the show might have been canceled.
``I think we all are sort of being pushed to the center and that's the nature of the beast,'' he says. ``The more out there and on the wings you are, the more opportunity you have for a quick cancellation and the less opportunity you have to ever make the schedule to begin with.''
``Two,'' in fact, was pitched to CBS executives, who Cannell says liked the pilot but failed to place the series on the fall schedule. So Cannell opted for syndication.
While first-run syndication doesn't get you the commercial advantage of a network series because the show airs at different times in its various markets, it does guarantee you 22 episodes, Cannell says.
``Often with a network, they'll cut you off with 13 shows or even in some cases less. ... You have to have tremendous leverage with big star power or something to get more than that,'' he says.
While a syndicated series (``Baywatch'' and ``Hercules: The Legendary Journeys'' are examples) may be looked down upon in some acting circles, Easton jumped at the chance of doing a series with the likes of Cannell.
``For the most part, you look at the role, you look at the script and the pedigree of the people who are involved ... and Mr. Cannell, I mean I grew up with his television shows,'' says Easton, perhaps best-known for his role a few years back as Tanner Scofield on the NBC soap ``Days Of Our Lives.''
Cannell is ``a maverick and he's got his opinions about television. I really like that,'' Easton says in a telephone interview from Vancouver, where the series is filmed at Cannell's North Shore Studios.
Cannell began filming in the Canadian city in 1985 with his series ``Stingray,'' because its star, Nick Mancuso, wanted to work in his native country.
Production costs also were cheaper in Vancouver and Cannell continued to film there with ``Wiseguy'' and ``21 Jump Street.''
While he still owns North Shore Studios, he sold his 16-year-old production company last year to New World Entertainment while remaining its president. Then, this summer, New World Entertainment was gobbled up by an even bigger fish, Rupert Murdoch's News Corp.
``I don't necessarily see it as a good thing, because you're going to end up with four or five people making all the programming decisions,'' Cannell says. ``I always think there's some value in diversity of thinking.
``But it is what it is and, rather than sit around and whine about it, you look at the new marketplace and you say, `How can I be effective?'''
That said, Cannell jumps into his black limo and zooms off - to his typewriter, no doubt, to put the finishing touches on that third novel.
LENGTH: Medium: 86 linesby CNB