ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, June 26, 1996 TAG: 9606260017
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-9 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: Cal Thomas
SOURCE: CAL THOMAS
THE COLUMBIA Broadcasting System is starting to get it. After years of accompanying the other networks deeper into the abyss where sex and violence are basic programming staples - and explaining falling ratings and market share by saying that viewers had gone to cable or the Internet - the CBS eye is starting to open.
CBS entertainment division president Leslie Moonves told me that top executives were ``surprised'' at the success of ``Touched by an Angel,'' which has consistently finished in the top-20-rated shows, and when aired as a Sunday-night special last season finished in the top 10. It is being moved to Sunday night next season and replaced on Saturday with a spin-off called ``Promised Land.'' Moonves said, ``What `Touched by an Angel' did for religion, `Promised Land' will do for patriotism.''
I've seen the pilot, and it's terrific. It's about a man (played by Gerald McRaney, who starred in ``Major Dad'') who is laid off and moves to a small town where he's been promised work. After arriving with his wife and children he finds the man who had offered the job has died. So the family is forced to hit the road, take day jobs and discover as they travel the real America. The moral of the story, said Moonves, is ``along the way, no matter how bad things are for you, there's always someone you can help.''
It's a combination of ``Highway to Heaven'' and ``The Beverly Hillbillies'' or, as Moonves prefers, ```The Waltons' and `The Fugitive.'''
Just as important to those conservative and ``family values'' viewers who have tuned out because they think television hasn't cared about them is a new magazine show in the talking stage. Moonves said he and CBS News President Andrew Heyward are planning a third magazine show for the network that could appear in midseason ``and actually reflects more of the values you're talking about.''
Asked why the sudden interest in the disenchanted demographic, Moonves said, ``Everybody is waking up to what's happening in the country. We are looking for things that represent the values we all believe in.''
For 20 years, conservatives and family-values advocates have complained and boycotted and conducted letter-writing campaigns to the networks, with little visible effect. Now, at least one network is attempting a change. Moonves predicted ABC will follow suit if CBS continues its ratings success with more wholesome and uplifting programming, but not NBC and Fox because he says they're doing well with ``hard-edged'' shows (in other words, those heavy on sexual situations).
If disillusioned viewers are smart and seriously committed to improving the quality of television, they will watch programs like ``Promised Land'' and ``Touched by an Angel'' and patronize their sponsors. They will write positive letters to CBS. They will tell their friends about these shows. They will make CBS rich in ratings and improve its profits.
While it is true that most who work in television, especially the news, have a liberal worldview and a political agenda to match, they also have a profit agenda. If everyone who has been turned off by television starts watching the good stuff when it's on, that will send a more powerful message than all of the boycotts and protests of the past combined. CBS management should see a huge number of viewers and consumers eager to meet them at their new, elevated eye level.
We all know what we're against. Now let's show them what we're for.
- Los Angeles Times Syndicate
LENGTH: Medium: 67 linesby CNB