Few changes in anchoring slots

Andy Wallenstein

  In a striking departure from its usual sitcom-saturation strategy, NBC has unveiled a fall lineup loaded with new hour-long dramas. The shift reflects the handiwork of the network's new programming chief, Garth Ancier, who built the WB on the backs of soapy serials like Dawson's Creek.
   Preaching the importance of consistency, NBC has made few big changes and left the anchoring time slots alone on six of seven nights.
   But some debatable programming decisions and a lackluster crop of new shows could prove troublesome. Only Stark Raving Mad seems to have hit potential, largely because it will follow Frasier on NBC's vaunted but vulnerable Thursday night. This season, its first without Seinfeld, NBC floundered in primetime, failing to launch any new hit sitcoms.
   For the 1999-2000 season, NBC has ordered five dramas and just two sitcoms. It's a telling transformation for a network that had as many as 18 sitcoms on the air just two years ago, down to 11 for the upcoming season.
   The emphasis on drama was also spurred by the midseason replacement Providence, a "chick show" that revitalized NBC's Friday lineup. To capitalize on its surprising success, NBC canceled its esteemed Friday crime drama, Homicide: Life on the Street, to make way for a more female-friendly new series at 10 p.m., Cold Feet.
   It's a bold but smart move. Homicide had been declining both creatively and in the ratings, averaging a subpar 3.8/12 among 18-49.
   In an effort to redress the network's spotty performance on Monday and Tuesday nights, poorly rated veteran sitcoms NewsRadio and Caroline in the City were also canceled. But whether there will be any improvement on those nights seems highly questionable, with NBC possibly overestimating its new programs.
   On Monday, the new Law & Order spinoff Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, will inherit the 9 p.m. time slot, where it will face stiff competition from ABC's Monday Night Football and FOX's Ally McBeal.
   Also moving to Monday is Thursday-night mainstay Veronica's Closet, which rarely retained the audience of lead-in Frasier. It won't do much better behind Monday 8 p.m. anchor Suddenly Susan.
   Tuesday's anchor is still 3rd Rock From the Sun, which could rebound from a rough season now that ABC's Home Improvement is leaving the air. The new sitcom The Mike O'Malley Show will follow but would have probably been better off hammocked between Just Shoot Me and Will & Grace, who provide a nice one-two punch at 9 p.m.
   The network's conservative approach at 8 p.m. draws praise from John Osborn, associate director of media planning at BBDO. "I don't see anything wrong with a stay-the-course kind of strategy," he says. "They've lost viewers in a lot of areas, but there's a lot of strength, too."
   Don Bennett, director of operations at Nortel Networks, a NBC advertiser last season, agrees. `The lineup is very consistent, which is good because we're looking for that kind of stability."
   NBC is betting on John Wells, executive producer of ER, to repeat the magic he wrought with his top-rated medical drama. Two of his pilots, Third Watch and The West Wing, have been pressed into primetime duty. They have impressive pedigree, but so did Trinity, a Wells creation that tanked after four episodes last season.
   On the weekend, two risky decisions were made for Saturday and Sunday anchors. The pilot Freaks & Geeks inherits the same Saturday 8 p.m. time slot where last year's biggest bomb, Wind on Water, washed out.
   On Sunday, one of NBC's five installments of Dateline NBC will now go head to head with CBS's 60 Minutes, which shows no signs of slowing down after two decades on the air. Dateline has become a valuable utility player for NBC, demonstrating chameleon-like ability to blend in with whatever programs surround it. NBC may have better luck in the midseason, with four new programs on order and some impressive specials lined up for sweeps months.
   Two animated series in particular, Sammy and God and the Devil and Bob, have quirky potential. Even more promising are The 10th Kingdom, a 10-hour miniseries from TV movie guru Robert Halmi Jr., and The '70s, a sequel to February's high-rated miniseries about the 1960s.

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