Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, July 31, 1994 TAG: 9408020012
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By RON MILLER KNIGHT-RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
DATELINE: LOS ANGELES LENGTH: Medium
It was an hour Duggan isn't likely to forget soon.
In a contentious session, the new PBS chief said ``feisty'' is the right word to describe PBS these days, then set out to prove it.
``We're troubled by the future of drama and fiction on PBS,'' Duggan explained, saying that American-made dramas don't do well elsewhere and aren't as profitable for PBS as British dramas imported for ``Mystery!'' and ``Masterpiece Theatre.''
He seemed to be setting the stage for a general shift away from paying for dramas that aren't done on bare-bones budgets, while admitting that programs such as the highly successful ``Three Tenors'' concerts cost more than PBS ever has paid for such things.
Critics bombarded the erudite and articulate former FCC commissioner with charges that PBS is favoring big business and turning away from controversial programs at a time when a free-spirited PBS is needed more than ever.
Duggan responded with growing heat, suggesting too many critics have selective memories and really ought to be applauding the network's continued display of courage in the face of ``pummeling'' from all sides of the political spectrum.
``I don't stand here as an adversary of creative people,'' Duggan said at one point after Randy Holland, director of an acclaimed documentary PBS refused to show, slipped into the hall and began berating him for it.
To add to the ``Fortress PBS'' flavor of the session, critics were handed leaflets by a group called the Coalition vs. PBS Censorship as they filed into the hall. The group called a news conference immediately after Duggan's to lambaste network policies further.
Such controversy is nothing new for PBS, which is regularly attacked for bias by the right and timidity by the left, but Duggan began his reign by stepping on an especially big land mine shortly after he started Feb. 1.
That was when PBS announced it was dropping plans to film a sequel to Armistead Maupin's ``Tales of the City,'' the enormously popular miniseries that was shown in January and set a ratings record for ``American Playhouse,'' landing high on the network's all-time Top 10.
Maupin and others openly criticized the decision on grounds that PBS had caved in to organized protests from the religious right, which had been outraged by the nudity, explicit language and kissing scenes between gay men.
``I don't think I've gotten two letters from the religious right about `Tales of the City,''' Duggan said. He insisted the sequel PBS announced in January was canceled only because the producers demanded a fee that was ``10 times the cost of the original.''
He said he'd probably received 2,000 letters from people demanding that PBS reverse its decision on ``Tales,'' but said the controversy was started by ``disgruntled authors'' and critics who didn't have all the facts.
Duggan declined to take blame for the ``Tales'' call, which he said was ``a collegial decision.'' He went to great lengths to insist it signifies no rollback in PBS's boldness during his regime.
``We're the network that did it in the first place, when the other networks passed,'' he said.
Still, Duggan was hammered with question after question. Critics reminded Duggan the original ``Tales'' was a bargain for PBS, considering the ratings phenomenon it became, and challenged his remarks that a price of $2.5 million for the sequel meant the producers were ``socking it'' to PBS.
Duggan conceded that probably was a poor choice of words, but insisted that PBS has to carefully monitor such expenditures and already has lost the long-running series of National Geographic specials to NBC because it refused to pay $1 million an episode.
Duggan's response to Holland, whose award-winning documentary chronicled the history leading up to the Los Angeles riot following the Rodney King decision, was that PBS's ``Frontline'' already had done a hard-hitting show on the same subject.
During his opening remarks, Duggan said his regime will be characterized by efforts to renew PBS's mission as an educational medium, by exploring new partnerships and technologies, and by developing new ``streams of revenue.'' He said PBS will be ``tougher'' on producers in financial negotiations from now on, which drew expressions of astonishment from several critics who thought PBS already was the lowest-paying market in TV.
Through it all, Duggan kept his temper, although you could almost see his temperature rising. And before he left, he reminded the crowd he was in on the creation of PBS and wasn't about to tear it down.
``I'm not here because I'm paid a commercial network executive's salary,'' he said, ``but because I love this institution.''
by CNB