THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, August 3, 1995 TAG: 9508020053
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E2 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Larry Bonko
LENGTH: Medium: 71 lines
ON BEHALF OF Stephanie Kuhlmeyer of Norfolk, Kirby Dodson of Hampton and other readers who called your humble columnist to beat up on CBS for canceling ``Northern Exposure,'' here is a question for Leslie Moonves:
Dear Les: Where were you when we really needed you?
Moonves took over as the president of CBS Entertainment just a few weeks ago, long after his predecessor (Peter Tortorici) sentenced ``Northern Exposure'' to a slow death. The series, a drama that was better than 95 percent of the other programming on CBS even on a bad day, expired of neglect last Wednesday night.
Too bad Moonves hadn't arrived at CBS from Warner Brothers TV shop months ago. He might have saved ``Northern Exposure.'' It might be sailing into its sixth season today.
After rubbing elbows with Moonves when he visited with members of the Television Critics Association in Los Angeles not long ago, I got the impression that he thinks ``Northern Exposure'' is better than many of the shows on the CBS schedule.
``As a programmer, I don't have a lot of bullets in my gun,'' he said.
If he were running the network last year, when the 1994-1995 primetime schedule was drafted, Moonves said he would have done what Tortorici did - replace ``Northern Exposure'' with ``Chicago Hope'' on Monday nights at 10.
But there the similarity between Moonves and the man he replaced ends.
Moonves said he would have stripped in ``Northern Exposure'' on the CBS schedule at 10 p.m. Thursday to go up against ``ER'' on NBC. And kept it there.
``Placing `Northern Exposure,' and its soap-opera type of appeal against a much tougher medical drama could have worked for CBS. In similar circumstances, `L.A. Law' and `Knots Landing' co-existed very well side by side on the Thursday schedule.''
We'll never know if that would have kept ``Northern Exposure'' on the air. After CBS gave its Monday night time period to ``Chicago Hope,'' ``Northern Exposure'' came and went on CBS, leaving the schedule for weeks at a time.
``Once it was moved to Wednesday night, that was the death knell for `Northern Exposure,' '' said Moonves, who probably feels the pain of cancellation more than other network executives. He used to be an actor.
One of the first things he did after taking over at CBS was to bring back from cancellation a new show starring Mary Tyler Moore, ``New York News,'' and schedule it for 1995. Les Moonves arrived too late to save ``Northern Exposure.''
Morty the meandering moose, who is seen in the show's opening credits, had a better idea of where he was going than the show that made him famous. Tortorici handed the series one last insult by scheduling the last four unseen episodes in July, when the number of people watching network TV falls off in great numbers.
Kuhlmeyer, who reached me by way of Infoline (640-5555, Category 3333), said she was ``really bummed out'' by the cancellation of ``Northern Exposure.'' Kuhlmeyer asks, ``Why do the good shows such as `Northern Exposure' get axed while the bad shows such as `Married With Children' go on for way too long?''
To the end, ``Northern Exposure'' was a quiet little island of quality in prime time - just quirky enough to keep you watching and wanting more. The producers did not know for sure that the July 26 show would be the finale when it was filmed.
It was obvious the cast and crew had a hunch it was finis.
The closing scenes had a mystical touch - one last glimpse at The Brick and the other landmarks of Cicely. You knew it was all over when Elaine Miles as Marilyn Whirlwind pulled down her window shade. by CNB