Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, April 20, 1990 TAG: 9004200554
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: E-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: TOM SHALES
DATELINE: LOS ANGELES LENGTH: Medium
Yes, it's Saturday morning television, the lucrative battleground where networks compete for the hearts and minds of 2- to 11-year-olds. Since November of 1988, ABC has been No. 1 in this profitable time period, thanks largely to "The Bugs Bunny and Tweety Show," vintage cartoons that don't lose their appeal even after dozens of reruns.
But CBS, by adding turtles to the stew, could score a tremendous upset when the fall season begins in October. CBS executives have taken so many raps for bad decisions lately, they ought to get credit for what seems a shrewd one. They expanded their planned "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" cartoon show from a half-hour to an hour even before the current "Ninja" theatrical movie proved to be awesomely turtle-riffic at the box office.
"It was expanded before the movie was released," says Judy Price, the CBS vice president in charge of children's programming. "We had already optioned the Turtles for Saturday morning in the fall. The movie is frosting on the cake."
CBS doesn't share in the film's profits, but the huge hullabaloo over the film is bound to be helpful in the ratings, even though the film is a live-action version and CBS has the cartoon. In three weeks of release, the picture has grossed more than $70 million and may turn out to be the highest grossing independently-made film of all time.
"What the movie has shown is that the Turtles' appeal is not just for boys anymore," says Price. "Now girls are catching on to the Turtles, too. The movie is expanding the base."
CBS didn't invent the cartoon series. It had already been running for a full season in syndication - five days a week, Monday through Friday. It became a cult hit almost at once; the show attracts not only kids, but many adults, who like the tongue-in-cheek humor and the spoofing of traditional action-adventure cartoons.
Who are the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles? By name, they're Michaelangelo, Leonardo, Raphael and Donatello - cool dudes who would rather order out for pizza than crash through doors and bash villains. However, when called upon to right a wrong or rescue a victim, these "heroes on the half shell" lurch into action.
Price says it's very nice that adults enjoy the show, but that's not the audience that Saturday morning advertisers pay millions to reach.
"Certainly it doesn't hurt the image of a show if it crosses over all the lines," Price says. "So that's a plus. But ideally, if given a preference between being No. 1 with 2-to-11s or No. 1 with adults, we have to prefer the 2-to-11s.
"But the show does work on two levels. It is a send-up of superhero shows, and adults like that. Kids don't really understand that aspect. To them, it's just good stories and relatable adventures that they get into."
by CNB