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Bochco's winning series about a black hospital
By Andrew Wallenstein
The excellent interracial cast of "City of Angels" (Wednesdays, 8-9 p.m ET, beginning January 19th; sneak preview, Sunday night, 8-9 p.m. ET) will undoubtedly sit well with the NAACP. Lucky for CBS, this solid drama stands a decent chance of pleasing wider audiences, too.
As if TV wunderkind Steven Bochco ("Hill Street Blues," "NYPD Blue") were sitting in on the African-American organization's meetings, his new hour on a struggling inner-city hospital boasts both a distinguished, virtually all-black cast and an award-winning co-creator in "Homicide" director Paris Barclay. The NAACP has been threatening network boycotts all season long in demand of more minority representation both in front of and behind the camera.
But "Angels" is far from a token appeasement (the series was conceived before the NAACP controversy, anyway). Bochco and Barclay, together with Nicholas Wootton ("Blue"), have hatched a strong series that should fill the vacuum that has existed on Wednesdays at 8 p.m. for too long.
"Angels" is anchored by two seasoned black actors, Blair Underwood ("L.A. Law") and Vivica A. Fox ("Independence Day"). They play a pair of doctors desperately trying to improve Angels of Mercy, a struggling Los Angeles county hospital seeking accreditation. As if contending with endless bureaucracy, outdated equipment and paltry funding wasn't hard enough, complicating matters is their aborted engagement seven years ago. Underwood and Fox have chemistry and acting chops aplenty.
If CBS's track record with new dramas this season is any indication, "Angels" could take flight. All three freshman hours, "Judging Amy," "Family Law" and "Now & Again," have excelled in their time slots. The network's success actually made scheduling "Angels" difficult because at least one of the trio was expected to fail. "Angels" would have been the replacement.
"Angels" should also greatly benefit from the Sunday sneak preview it will get in the time slot regularly occupied by CBS powerhouse "Touched By an Angel." The network employed the same strategy with "Amy," and it went gangbusters: The premiere episode drew 19 million viewers and launched the undisputed hottest rookie series of 1999-2000.
On its regular Wednesday slot, CBS could not have picked a better time slot; switching "Cosby" to Friday was pure brilliance. Although ABC's "Two Guys And a Girl," could cause problems, Fox's "Beverly Hills 90210" and NBC's "Dateline NBC" are just begging to lose share. Thanks to the success NBC has had at 9 and 10 p.m. with "The West Wing" and "Law & Order", there's a sizable drama-friendly audience just waiting for an alternative to "Dateline" at 8 p.m.
As for the clamor for more black faces in primetime, "The Jeffersons" and "The Cosby Show" have proven that African-American sitcoms can rule the Nielsen roost. Dramas, on the other hand, haven't had the same success with black casts, and the unpolitically correct, sad truth of the matter may very well be that race-conscious America still isn't ready for a serious look at minority life in this country.
Often cited as failures in this regard are dramas "Roc" and "South Central," two quality series that withered on Fox in the 1990s. Still, that probably had more to do with a then-wobbly network. Besides, NBC's top-rated "ER" is filled with black and Hispanic actors, which hasn't hurt the show's numbers in the least bit.
Speaking of "ER," there is one potential stumbling block: Forgotten in all the hoopla over the dearth of minorities on TV is the surplus of hospital dramas in primetime. In addition to "ER" and CBS' "Chicago Hope," ABC is expected to add an hour this spring that takes place in a mental hospital. No matter how good "Angels" is, viewers may not take kindly to an overabundance of medical programming. CBS learned this the hard way last year, when the Monday drama "L.A. Doctors" struggled all season before being canceled.
-Andrew Wallenstein cover television programming for Media Life.