Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, September 2, 1995 TAG: 9509070015
SECTION: SPECTATOR PAGE: S-27 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LYNN ELBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: LOS ANGELES LENGTH: Long
Heck, why not? So many of the new 1995-96 series resemble your old ``Friends'' - last season's hit NBC show that is the template for this TV generation of the young, the cute, the struggling.
Imitation is the sincerest form of television, observed the late satirist Fred Allen; the networks clearly haven't outgrown the barb.
So we get ``Partners'' on Fox. And ``The Single Guy'' and ``Caroline in the City'' on NBC. And ``The Drew Carey Show'' on ABC. For starters.
In fact comedies - not all ``Friends'' clones - represent 68 percent of the new series, compared to 45 percent of last fall's schedule. And they are mostly aimed at the demographically correct, advertiser-beloved 18-49 crowd.
Although dramas are outnumbered 2-1 on the overall schedule of 107 new and returning shows, the genre remains buoyant - particularly given the heady success of NBC's ``ER'' last season.
Networks received a frenzy of pitches for ``ER'' knockoffs (``ER'' in the newsroom was a favorite, a NBC executive said) but managed to find other inspiration as well: the O.J. Simpson murder trial.
To satisfy the public's courtroom craving, ABC offers ``Murder One,'' which will track a single case. CBS has ``Courthouse'' and ``The Client.'' NBC has ``JAG,'' a legal-cum-military drama.
How will viewers wade through this flood of series, so many with matching DNA, from the four established networks and fledgling studio networks WB and UPN?
With great difficulty, opines one expert.
``I'm concerned about the networks all targeting the same viewers and, unfortunately, with a lot of look-alike programs,'' said Betsy Frank, who analyzes TV as a Zenith Media Services vice president.
``There's a great potential for viewer confusion, which is the last thing the networks need,'' Frank said.
That's because the erosion of broadcast network audiences in this multichannel cable-TV world continues: the combined ratings for ABC, NBC and CBS were down by 7 percent last season.
(Only Fox, which added NFL games and stronger affiliates, could boast an audience increase, 7 percent).
The networks continue to tinker with packaging as well as product. Last season's gimmick was ``seamless programming'' that led viewers from one show into another without a gap, an anti-channel surfing measure.
This year, entertainment ``reports'' touting a network's fare will put between-show breaks to work.
``Promotion is key because you want to tell viewers of a show like `Friends' about every other sitcom you're introducing which might be of interest to a `Friends' viewer,'' said analyst Janeen Bjork of Seltel.
Here, network by network, are the premiere dates of new series hoping to make your acquaintance this season:
ABC:
The network introduces eight new shows as it tries to repeat its No. 1 finish and beat back a challenge from hot-on-its-heels NBC. Comedy takes a sexier turn on the network known for family sitcoms.
The first new ABC series to bow is ``The Monroes,'' with a special preview 10 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 12, before it moves to its regular 9 p.m. Thursday time slot Sept. 14. William Devane and Susan Sullivan star in the drama about a Kennedyesque political clan.
Two sitcoms debut Wednesday, Sept. 13: ``The Drew Carey Show,'' starring comedian Carey in an ensemble comedy about working-class buddies, at 8:30 p.m., and ``The Naked Truth,'' with Tea Leoni as a tabloid photographer, at 9:30 p.m.
Next up is ``Charlie Grace,'' a drama starring Mark Harmon as a private eye and divorced dad in Los Angeles, which debuts 8 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 14.
``Maybe This Time,'' a comedy starring Marie Osmond as a recently divorced single mother bunking with mom Betty White, previews at 9:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 15, before moving to its regular 8 p.m. Saturday slot Sept. 16.
Also bowing that night is ``The Jeff Foxworthy Show,'' starring the standup comic as an adoring-but-clueless husband and father; it airs at 8:30 p.m.
``Hudson Street,'' a sitcom starring Tony Danza as a police detective and single dad who meets his romantic match in news reporter Lori Loughlin, debuts at 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 19.
That night also sees the premiere of ``Murder One,'' the new drama from ``NYPD Blue'' producer Steven Bochco, which previews at 10 p.m. The series moves to 10 p.m. Thursdays at an unannounced date.
NBC:
The network that leapfrogged to second place last season over CBS and introduced ``ER'' and ``Friends'' has a hard act to follow. It's trying a comedy-heavy schedule of seven new shows with adult and family appeal.
Previews of two comedies that will be paired on Sunday kick off NBC's season Saturday, Sept. 16.
``Brotherly Love,'' starring real-life brothers Joey, Matthew and Andy Lawrence in a stepfamily sitcom, airs 8 p.m. ``Minor Adjustments,'' the lighter side of child psychology with comedian Rondell Sheridan, follows at 8:30 p.m.
``Brotherly Love'' settles into its regular 7 p.m. Sunday slot Sept. 24, followed by ``Minor Adjustments'' at 7:30 p.m.
New comedy ``The Pursuit of Happiness,'' starring Tom Amandes as a happily married lawyer coping with life's pitfalls, including an ambulance-chasing partner, debuts 9:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 19.
A pair of sitcoms bow Thursday, Sept. 21. ``The Single Guy,'' with Jonathan Silverman as a bachelor bedeviled by matchmaking friends, is at 8:30 p.m. At 9:30 p.m. Lea Thompson stars in ``Caroline in the City,'' about a single, successful young cartoonist.
``JAG,'' a drama about Navy lawyers (a la the Tom Cruise film ``A Few Good Men''), opens with a special two-hour premiere 8 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 23. David James Elliot and Andrea Parker star.
On Saturday, Sept. 30, the comedy ``The Home Court'' debuts at 9:30 p.m. Pamela Reed stars as a tough family court judge and single mom who finds her own four kids in contempt.
CBS:
Last season's tumble into the ratings cellar means a big shakeup this year. CBS is introducing a whopping 11 new series intended to help the network draw a bigger, and younger, audience.
A comedy and two dramas kick off the network's season on Wednesday, Sept. 13.
``Bless This House,'' starring Cathy Moriarty and Andrew Clay as a feisty blue-collar couple (reminiscent of Alice and Ralph Kramden in ``The Honeymooners''), is up first at 8 p.m.
At 9 p.m. comes CBS' answer to ``Melrose Place'': ``Central Park West,'' a nighttime soap opera set among New York's beautiful and ruthless. Mariel Hemingway, Madchen Amick and Lauren Hutton star.
``Courthouse,'' an ensemble drama featuring Patricia Wettig, Annabeth Gish, Brad Johnson and Robin Givens, bows at 10 p.m. It details the creaky workings of justice as tended by lawyers, judges and their staffs.
On Sunday, Sept. 17, comes ``Almost Perfect,'' a comedy starring Nancy Travis and Kevin Kilner as a pair of successful overachievers who meet, fall in love and then have to clear their schedules. It airs 8:30 p.m.
A special two-hour preview of ``The Client,'' based on John Grisham's legal thriller and movie of the same name, follows at 9 p.m. The series, with JoBeth Williams as the attorney who can't resist a child in trouble, moves to 8 p.m. Tuesdays Sept. 19.
A pair of comedies debut on Monday, Sept. 18. ``Can't Hurry Love,'' starring Nancy McKeon as a woman unlucky in love but with really loyal friends, airs at 8:30 p.m.
``If Not for You,'' with Elizabeth McGovern and Hank Azaria as a meant-to-be-together pair unfortunately engaged to others, slips into the 9:30 p.m. spot.
The shows premiering Friday, Sept. 22, whipsaw from comedy to horror.
First, at 8 p.m., comes ``Dweebs,'' about an office of computer nerds taken under the wing of a technophobe who happens to be beautiful Farrah Forke. Peter Scolari and Corey Feldman also star.
``The Bonnie Hunt Show,'' at 8:30 p.m., stars the comedian as a freshly minted reporter at a Chicago TV station. Improvisational comedy is supposed to be part of the mix.
Capping the night at 10 p.m. is ``American Gothic,'' a dark view of a Southern town where good and evil engage in a messy, bloody battle. The series, starring Gary Cole, is from, of all people, angelic-faced Shaun Cassidy.
On Thursday, Sept. 28, Mary Tyler Moore returns to series TV in ``New York News,'' a drama about the hard-driving staff of a New York tabloid newspaper. ``ER'' in a newsroom? The series, also starring Madeline Kahn, airs at 9 p.m.
FOX:
The network tries to recover from its fumbled effort to capitalize on Sunday NFL games and seeks to expand its young audience with eight series aimed at a bit older - but you can bet not stodgy - crowd.
Leading off is ``The Crew,'' which debuted Aug. 31. The comedy, about airline employees who are unlucky in love but have really loyal friends, stars Rose Jackson and Kristen Bauer.
``The Preston Episodes'' stars David Alan Grier as a college professor who pursues his journalism dream starting at the bottom, with a celebrity tabloid magazine. It airs 8:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 9.
Two comedies premiere on Monday, Sept. 11. ``Partners,'' with Jon Cryer, is about a man, his business partner-buddy and the fiancee who comes between them; it airs at 9 p.m.
At 9:30 p.m. comes ``Ned and Stacey,'' about a marriage of convenience between an ambitious advertising executive and a socially conscious journalist seeking a cool place to live.
``Strange Luck'' is the new 8 p.m. Friday entry bowing Sept. 15. D.B. Sweeney stars as a photojournalist who is dogged by luck, good and bad, since surviving a plane crash as a child.
On Sunday, Sept. 24, ``Space: Above and Beyond'' debuts with a special two-hour episode at 7 p.m. The drama about young military cadets thrust into an intergalactic war stars Morgan Weisser, Rodney Rowland and Kristen Cloke.
Two comedies begin on Sunday, Oct. 1. ``Too Something,'' at 8:30 p.m., stars Eric Schaefer and Donal Lardner Ward as best friends whose mailroom jobs are launch pads to greatness, they think.
``Misery Loves Company,'' airing 9:30 p.m., looks at love from both sides now: a divorced man, a nearly divorced man, a married man and a wary bachelor. OK, so it's four sides. Rick Rossovitch and Dennis Boutsikaris star.
by CNB