Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, July 24, 1993 TAG: 9307240296
SECTION: SPECTATOR PAGE: S-11 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: VERNE GAY NEWSDAY
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Which network will win the 1993-94 season? CBS.
Which new show will be a hit? ABC's "Grace Under Fire."
According to share estimates by 15 top advertising agencies, the 1993-94 season will look, well, pretty much like 1992-93. There will be no super new hit; no change in overall network status; no significant reversal-of-fortune (good or bad) for any network on any night. It threatens to be one bloody bore.
But let us not abandon hope. These mega-agencies claim there will actually be a few pretty good shows - and more than a few beasts. Advertisers are particularly high on CBS' "Dave's World" (Monday nights, a sitcom based on columnist Dave Barry, with Harry Anderson, which they estimate will get a 22 share - the percentage of sets actually tuned to a TV show at any given time), and ABC's "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman" (Sundays nights; 17 share). They also like NBC's "Cheers" spinoff "Frasier" (Thursday nights, starring Kelsey Grammer as Frasier Crane, now a radio talk-show host; 23 share). But the show that has the greatest chance to succeed is ABC's "Grace Under Fire" (Wednesday nights, with comedienne Brett Butler; 24 share).
The list is a little longer for things they don't like. NBC's "John Larroquette Show" (Tuesday nights; 15 share) will get creamed opposite "Roseanne"; CBS' "Angel Falls," (Thursday nights; 15 share), about a mom who returns to her hometown, also looks like a bummer, as does ABC's "Paula Poundstone Show" (Saturday nights; 13 share).
Each year around this time, major agencies prepare their show/network performance estimates to assist them in commercial purchases. They rely on numerous factors, including a time period's historical performance, a show's lead-in and lead-out.
by CNB