THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 31, 1994 TAG: 9407300431
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: LARRY BONKO
DATELINE: LOS ANGELES LENGTH: Medium: 98 lines
NBC has this deep-diving science-fiction series on Sunday night at 8 that is leaking so badly, and taking on water so fast, its star (Roy Scheider) wants to abandon ship, according to reports circulating here in the land of perpetual sunshine.
NBC executives, meeting with members of the Television Critics Association who are in town to preview the new primetime season, did not deny stories in the trade papers here that say Scheider is begging to be released from his contract.
Don Ohlymeyer, who heads up NBC's West Coast operations, re-enforced the notion that not all is well with ``seaQuest DSV'' when he described the series as ``all screwed up.''
And there were long faces at NBC's West Coast headquarters in Burbank when Scheider's scheduled meeting with the TV press, by way of satellite from Orlando, Fla., was abruptly canceled. NBC moved the show wrong tense? to Florida, and added new cast members, to give ``seaQuest DSV'' a burst of vitality.
To ``re-launch'' the series, is how Ohlmeyer put it.
Is Scheider, an actor good enough to be nominated for an Academy Award twice, weary of playing second fiddle to a dolphin, and a mechanical dolphin at that?
It wouldn't surprise me to read in Daily Variety that the dolphin (Ensign Darwin) wanted out, too.
If Scheider wishes to abandon ship, then so be it, said Ohlmeyer, the least diplomatic network executive in the business. He shoots from the hip.
If Scheider is unhappy working on an NBC series, we don't want him, said Ohlmeyer. Take that, Roy, Baby.
The overall ratings for ``seaQuest DSV'' are lower than the three other network shows on that hour - ``Murder, She Wrote,'' ``Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman,'' and two sitcoms, ``Martin'' and ``Living Single.'' Scheider's series is taking on water faster than the Titanic.
Are NBC executives getting the message that people watching TV on Sunday nights prefer Lois, laughs and a little gentle mayhem to science fiction? I guess not.
At the semiannual gathering of TV critics, the network announced plans for another set-in-the-future hour on Sunday night from the same producer of ``seaQuest DSV'' - Steven Spielberg's Amblin Television. Taking a bow as the stars of ``Earth 2'' were Debrah Farentino, whom you may remember from an excellent ABC series, ``Equal Justice,'' and Clancy Brown.
Come next fall, ``Earth 2'' will air at 7 p.m. Sunday to give NBC two solid hours of life in the future - in the year 2021 on ``seaQuest DSV'' and 200 years beyond 1994 on ``Earth 2.''
Science-fiction never has been very big on television until lately, when ``Star Trek: The Next Generation'' began pulling in big numbers in syndication. This year, it was nominated for an Emmy, the first time a syndicated drama was so honored.
Despite low numbers for ``seaQuest DSV,'' NBC Entertainment President Warren Littlefield put ``Earth 2'' on at 7 p.m., when it will compete with ``60 Minutes'' on CBS, ``Fortune Hunter,'' an adventure hour on Fox, and ``America's Funniest Videos'' and a new sitcom about a family of six trying to survive without parents, ``On Our Own,'' on ABC.
``Earth 2'' is as the title suggests - a new Earth, a pristine planet 22 light years from good ol' Mother Earth, which by 2194 is such a polluted, uninhabitable mess that humans can't survive unless they live in orbiting space stations.
``That's not the life for me,'' says a group of station dwellers led by Farentino, who set out to find and colonize the new unspoiled Earth.
I have a hunch that this series will have a little of every other science-fiction series tossed into it - with a dose of ``Wagon Train,'' too. I can't tell you more about ``Earth 2'' because the producers did not have a single frame to show TV critics.
``In this series we suggest without preaching that this is mankind's future, and if we're smart, we won't make the same mistakes again,'' said Michael Duggan, creator and executive producer.
The ``Wagon Train'' angle goes like this: After Farentino and the others from old Earth crash on the new Earth, they land a half-world away from where all the stuff needed to sustain a safe and comfortable life is located. Off they go, and they encounter beasts and creatures.
Sound interesting, science-fiction fans? ``Earth 2'' will premiere with a two-hour film in November. Littlefield bought the show without seeing a script - just a 50-page treatment. Same deal with ``seaQuest DSV.'' NBC ordered 22 hours without seeing a script.
Such is the power of Spielberg in Hollywood.
``seaQuest DSV'' will be filmed in Orlando this season because it's easier to do underwater photography in Florida than in Southern California, said Littlefield, who did acknowledge that Scheider is unhappy with his role on the show. ``He's had problems with the series, and so has the network. When he's said, `I don't think I can go on,' we've asked what his problems were, and can they be worked out?''
Now that ``seaQuest DSV'' has anchored in Florida, NBC and Amblin Television wait to see if Scheider reports aboard as Capt. Nathan Hale Bridger for a second season. NBC is obligated to carry the show for two seasons.
The real mystery is why he agreed to take the role in the first place. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
Roy Scheider reportedly wants to quit the show.
by CNB