THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, September 2, 1996 TAG: 9608310081
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LARRY BONKO, TELEVISION COLUMNIST
LENGTH: 144 lines
BILL COSBY HATES IT when he's described as the man who will save CBS.
He does not like to be reminded that CBS is paying him in the neighborhood of $20 million to stop the slide - NBC, ABC and Fox had better ratings among 18- to 49-year-olds last season - and restore the shine to what was once the Tiffany network.
When addressing TV writers not long ago, Cosby said he feels the pressure of a batter who has come to the plate in the bottom of the ninth inning with the bases loaded and his team trailing by three runs.
``All I'm asking is that they let me swing the bat. I'm not predicting that my show will be a hit - be No. 1 - and save the network.''
But, if not Cosby, who will save CBS? Ted Danson, another old hand brought into the CBS family this season? Scott Bakula? Rhea Perlman? Gerald McRaney? They're also on the CBS payroll this season.
Make no mistake about it, couch commandoes, CBS expects ``Cosby'' on Monday night at 8 to win its time period. And deliver a large audience to the 8:30 sitcom (``Ink,'' co-starring Danson and Mary Steenburgen), breathe new life into the Monday night comedy lineup that includes ``Murphy Brown'' and ``Cybill,'' and help make the night into part of the foundation on which the network will build a bright new future.
CBS guaranteed Cosby 44 weeks of work, an unprecedented commitment in network television.
``Bill Cosby did not come cheap,'' said CBS Entertainment president Leslie Moonves. ``We're looking for his show to explode, to help make it a blockbuster night for CBS.''
Take your best swing, Bill.
It was back to the drawing board for Moonves after last season when 10 of 11 new CBS shows crashed and burned. Only ``Almost Perfect'' survived, and that's undergoing a makeover.
This season, CBS is saying ``welcome home'' to mature viewers with series in which old reliables Cosby, Danson, Perlman, Bakula, McRaney, Peter Strauss and Phylicia Rashad star.
Rashad again plays Cosby's TV spouse.
That's an obvious trend this season - giving marquee TV names another go around. CBS is doing it big time.
So is ABC.
After losing much of its 18-to 49- and 25- to 54-year-old audience to No. 1 NBC, ABC moved to bring back the baby boomers and some of the Generation X crowd.
Michael J. Fox stars in ``Spin City.'' Molly Ringwald returns from self-imposed exile in France to head the cast of ``Townies.'' Melissa Joan Hart, a household name among teens since she was Clarissa on Nickelodeon, stars for ABC in ``Sabrina, the Teenage Witch.''
``I hope to continue doing other things - movies and stuff - but I realize that doing television is what I love,'' said Fox. ``And the idea of a regular job sounds good.'' His movie career is lost in the Hollywood backwash.
Of the 26 new comedies and 14 dramas among the new shows, the best timeslot - at 9:30 p.m. Thursday between ``Seinfeld'' and ``ER'' on NBC - goes to Brooke Shields' sitcom, ``Suddenly Susan.'' Lucky girl.
NBC is bringing back Justine Bateman - she played Fox's sister on ``Family Ties'' - in the sitcom, ``Men Behaving Badly.'' Mel Harris of ``thirtysomething'' also is working for NBC in ``Something So Right.'' UPN revived the careers of Sherman Hemsley in ``Goode Behavior'' and Malcolm-Jamal Warner in ``Malcolm & Eddie.''
Bateman says she's had plenty of opportunities to work in TV after ``Family Ties'' but resisted until now.
``This show feels right,'' she said.
Another trend: Stand-up comics continue to impress network programmers. Joining Jerry Seinfeld, Brett Butler, Paul Reiser, Drew Carey and others too numerous to mention are the following comics in new sitcoms:
Ray Romano, ``Everybody Loves Raymond,'' CBS; Jeff Foxworthy, ``The Jeff Foxworthy Show,'' NBC; Steve Harvey, ``The Steve Harvey Show,'' Warner Brothers; Jamie Foxx, ``The Jamie Foxx Show,'' Warner Brothers; Lisa Ann Walter, ``Life's Work,'' ABC; Greg Giraldo, ``Common Law,'' ABC; Tom Rhodes, ``Mr. Rhodes,'' NBC; Eddie Griffin, ``Malcolm and Eddie,'' UPN, and Flex, ``Homeboys in Outer Space,'' UPN.
Romano, a protege of David Letterman, said it's a kick just to see his name on a network sitcom. ``The scariest thing for me now is learning how to act in a sitcom. It's a lot scarier than doing stand-up comedy.''
Last season, the network schedules were overloaded with clones of ``Friends.'' This year, the tendency is to do shows in classrooms.
There's the drama, ``Dangerous Minds,'' with Annie Potts on ABC. And the sitcoms ``Mr. Rhodes'' on NBC, ``Something So Right'' on NBC, ``Nick Freno, Licensed Teacher'' on Warner Brothers and ``The Steve Harvey Show'' on Warner Brothers.
Being imitated widely is Fox's ``The X-Files.''
The new dramas picking up the theme of shadowy and spooky stories are ``Dark Skies,'' ``The Pretender'' and ``Profiler'' on NBC's Saturday night lineup, ``Early Edition'' on CBS, ``Millennium'' on Fox and ``The Burning Zone'' on UPN.
Minor trend: New TV shows inspired by movies. There's ``Clueless'' and ``Dangerous Minds'' on ABC; ``Pearl'' from the script of ``Educating Rita,'' on CBS; and ``Party Girl'' on Fox.
Put ``Clueless'' and ``Party Girl'' in the category of shows about impossibly shallow but cute babes. Toss ``Lush Life'' from Fox in that pot, too.
One more trend for the 1996-97 season: A new life for shows that were tossed overboard by another network.
Foxworthy's sitcom now has a home on NBC. ``In the House'' was rescued from the NBC ``on hiatus'' file by UPN. ``Jag'' will be moving from NBC to CBS at midseason and another show eased off the NBC schedule, ``Brotherly Love,'' lives on with Warner Brothers.
Foxworthy thought his career in network TV was as dead as road kill when ABC dropped his show. Then NBC called.
``I learned from the ABC show what worked and didn't work for me,'' he said. ``I learned that I appeal to the blue-collar guy and not the guy sitting next to his pool in Palm Springs.''
What are the best new shows of the 1996-97 season? The worst? Read on.
BEST NEW SITCOM - ``Men Behaving Badly.'' Rob Schneider of ``Saturday Night Live'' plays a likable slob sharing bachelor digs with Ron Eldard of ``ER.'' From hitmakers Carsey-Werner. Wednesdays on NBC at 9:30 p.m.
WORST NEW SITCOM - ``Home-boys in Outer Space'' on UPN Tuesday nights at 8:30. In the 23rd century, will they be using such phrases as, ``Do you dig it?''? Beam this show to Venus, Scotty.
BEST NEW DRAMA - ``Millennium'' on Fox Fridays at 9 p.m. It's from the creator of ``The X-Files.'' Lance Henriksen plays an ex-FBI agent who gets into the minds of evildoers. It's dark, well-crafted, compelling.
WORST NEW DRAMA - ``EZ Streets,'' Wednesday night at 10 on CBS. This is a confusing, dreary piece of work about cops in league with the underworld. There's nobody to root for in the large cast lost in a hard-to-follow story. ILLUSTRATION: Color ABC photo
[The Townies: Molly Ringwald...]
Color CBS photo
[Cosby: Bill Cosby...]
ABC photo
Michael J. Fox stars in ``Spin City,'' Tuesday nights at 9:30 on
ABC.
ABC color photo
[Spin City: Michael J. Fox]
FOX
``Millennium,'' starring Bill Smitrovich, left, and Lance Henriksen,
could be the best new drama of the season. It's dark, well-crafted,
compelling. The show will air Fridays at 9 p.m. on Fox.
KEYWORDS: TELEVISION SHOW by CNB