Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, January 27, 1994 TAG: 9401270015
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: MIAMI BEACH, FLA. LENGTH: Medium
\ It's like stepping into the pages of TV Guide.
Meet the cast of "Seinfeld"! Watch as veteran quizmaster Wink Martindale introduces his new quiz show! Chat with Susan Powter! Joan Rivers! David Hasselhoff!
But this is no "Fantasy Island" for the star-struck; this is the convention of the National Association of Television Program Executives, a three-day video bazaar in which the people who make the shows sell them to the people who put them on your local TV stations.
"It's kind of a Toys 'R' Us for programming," said Brandon Tartikoff. "You walk down the aisles and instead of seeing games and dolls, you see shows."
Back when he was programming chief at NBC, Tartikoff came to sightsee. Now, as an independent producer, he's pushing "Last Call" - billed as a late-night, half-hour interview-talk show with the pace of a music video.
Will "Last Call" find its way to your screen during the 1994-95 season? It's likely that decision will be made here, at the Miami Beach Convention Center, as more than 10,000 convention-goers mill about looking for that perfect lead-in to "Wheel of Fortune."
"They're kicking the tires," said Robert Turner, president of Multimedia Entertainment, which produces such successful shows as "Sally Jessy Raphael" and "Rush Limbaugh," and will introduce the new "Susan Powter Show."
"Each program executive has only so many slots to fill next season," Turner said. "He's here to look at the new properties to see how they might fit into his schedule."
As Turner spoke, his eyes darted about the lavish Multimedia booth to make sure every prospect who stepped up was greeted by a sales representative.
"Is this convention worth the expense? Probably not. But how can you afford NOT to be here? Paramount, Columbia and everybody else is here."
Such big players are here not in booths as much as in the citadels, with bright lights, huge signs, thick carpet . . . and great food.
When you're not busy striking a deal for, say, "Robin's Hoods," Aaron Spelling's new turnabout on "Charlie's Angels," or for "Trauma," a reality show about hospital emergency rooms, there's much to do and see.
On opening-day Tuesday, Martindale led conventioneers through an in-person version of his MTM game show. And Gordon Elliott, on hand to promote his new talk show, conducted a riotous interview with Joan Rivers, whose "Can We Shop" premiered recently.
There was Hasselhoff being asked by a reporter if the success of "Baywatch," his Speedo-sporting lifeguard series, surprised him. "No," he answered sagely. "It's about action, not violence. About saving lives, not taking lives."
And there were conventioneers by the score lining up like moonstruck teens to have their picture taken with the stars from "Seinfeld," who were on hand not because their show is being pitched to local stations this year but because it will be someday and Columbia wants to start the hype early.
Meanwhile, Powter was promising "no tabloid, no whining" on her talk show. Looking positively Gatsby-esque in a white linen suit, the infomercial star and best-selling author ("Stop the Insanity!") said her show will be "based in wellness."
She nodded her platinum buzz-cut head for emphasis. "I KNOW it has great potential."
She may be right. "The Susan Powter Show" is considered by industry forecasters to be a strong entry.
A syndicated nighttime version of "The New Price is Right," with Doug Davidson of "The Young and the Restless" as emcee, also could do well. Series versions of "Robocop" and "Lonesome Dove" are generating interest. And fresh-off-the-network reruns of "Home Improvement" and "The Simpsons" are hot.
For now. Next fall, when some of these series get on the air, it will be the viewers' turn to buy - or say "no sale."
Among the shows pitched at last year's NAPTE, "The Les Brown Show" was canceled a few weeks ago.
And does anyone even remember "Countdown at the Neon Armadillo"?
by CNB