NBC builds to last by tinkering with success In an age when fewer and fewer eyes are watching the big broadcast networks, NBC has no margin for complacency

LOS ANGELES - Not too long ago the network that finished atop the
ratings heap one season knew how it would behave the next: If it
wasn't broke, don't fix it. Don't move too many shows around. Protect
your time slots. Don't give viewers excuses to shop for other shows.
But NBC, the runaway winner with viewers the last two seasons, is
defying all of those rules. Come this fall, fully half of NBC's
existing lineup, including such shows as "3rd Rock from the Sun"
and "Caroline in the City," will be moved to different times. Other
programs, such as "The Naked Truth" and "Men Behaving Badly," are
being hauled into the shop this summer for retooling.
And on Thursday nights, when NBC presents its strongest magnet
for TV viewers, the network is introducing two shows that look like
they'll be anything but sure bets. One, "Veronica's Closet," stars
Kirstie Alley as a lingerie designer; it received mixed reviews from
TV critics assembled here for the networks' annual fall
presentations. That's at least better than "Union Square," a show
that didn't even have a pilot episode ready for review last week.
The home of "must-see TV" will also ask its audience to watch
one more show with Jenny McCarthy, one more sitcom with Tony Danza
and one more night of "Dateline NBC" - none of which, on first
glance anyway, appears to rate a must-see.
As the network's chief programmer, Warren Littlefield, told
critics this week, "Change is a word we've learned to live with in
broadcasting. In the past 40 months we've seen more changes than we
have in the past 40 years."
But why is NBC changing so drastically now? The answer is that,
in an age when fewer and fewer eyes are watching the big broadcast
networks, NBC has no margin for complacency. Viewers are already
shopping around. NBC's ratings were down from the previous season.
And aside from its Thursday hits, the network has precious few shows
that are both creative successes and audience favorites.
Night by night
The way to fight back, NBC believes, is by doing something only a
big broadcast network can do: Create blocks of programs with
well-defined themes and star power and promote the living daylights
out of them. What the USA cable network can currently afford to do
only on Sunday nights, NBC intends to do every night.
Monday, for instance, will be Ladies Night, home to four
high-profile sitcoms with female leads. Three of those - "Suddenly
Susan," "The Naked Truth" and "Fired Up"' - were among the top
six shows in television last year, thanks to their cushy address in
between "Seinfeld" and "ER" on Thursdays. (The three shows
rotated in and out of that same time period; any ratings system but
Nielsen's would have assigned the threesome a single ranking as "the
8:30 show. ")
There's little doubt the shows will lose audience on their new
night. "Caroline in the City" saw its viewership drop by 40 percent
this season after being moved from Thursdays to Tuesdays. The
question is, how much?
NBC was not exactly a viewer magnet on Mondays this past season
anyway, thanks to duds like "Jeff Foxworthy" and "Mr. Rhodes."
But if viewers decide, as many critics polled here believe, that
"Caroline" is the cleverest of the four shows, the network will be
wishing it hadn't canceled its Monday made-for-TV movie.
Tuesday looks like it'll be Intelligent Comedy Night. The
network's most underrated sitcom, "NewsRadio," will finally get a
time slot between two popular shows, "Mad About You" and
"Frasier. " It helps that ABC will move "Spin City" to Wednesdays.
But what will Paul and Jamie do now that the baby's been born?
Wednesdays doesn't have a theme, but with "3rd Rock from the
Sun" at 8 and "Law & Order" at 9, it may not need one. Still, NBC
has decided to move "3rd Rock" from Sunday nights into what is
arguably the toughest time period of the entire week. It's going up
against "The Drew Carey Show" on ABC and "Party of Five" on Fox.
Also that night is NBC's best new sitcom, "Built to Last,"
starring up-and-comer Royale Watkins ("Speed 2: Cruise Control").
Although it was favorably received by critics, ad agencies have not
given "Built to Last" much of a chance in its time slot of 7:30 on
Tuesdays, opposite the second half of "Beverly Hills 90210" on Fox
and ABC's new "Dharma and Greg."
But the pilot episode featured strong writing and acting,
especially from veteran actor Paul Winfield, who plays the family
patriarch and moral center. Winfield infuses his part with the kind
of stature that suggests (to a TV critic, at least) that he doesn't
have to be doing a sitcom but wants to. That strength could make
"Built to Last" a fast favorite with viewers.
Thursday's theme, of course, is "watch NBC. " But "Friends"
lost 11 percent of its audience last season; does it have the
creative energy to keep even more viewers from tuning away this
season?
And what will viewers think of "Veronica's Closet," a cynical,
often mean-spirited comedy about an ex-model (Alley) who's young,
vivacious - and considered past her prime? Here's a show with a
philandering husband and an assistant whose main task is to deny he's
gay; that casts the only African-American part in the pilot episode
as a bootlicking moron; and is gummed tight with sexual innuendo
("So what's up? " asks the husband. "Apparently you - all the
time," is the reply).
There's little doubt that the producers behind "Veronica's
Closet" are smart people. One of them, Marta Kauffman, is a vocal
critic of congressional attempts to involve itself in TV ratings and
the family hour. And if the show is half as entertaining as the
"Veronica's Closet" press conference was, it will be an improvement
over the pilot episode (which is largely being reshot anyway, with a
new actor in the husband role).
But there's a big difference between the intelligent writing on
NBC's Tuesday night shows and the lightning-quick,
sexy-bordering-on-smutty writing that has grown out of the
Thursday-night incubator. And it isn't clear that viewers will reward
the latter this season, either on Mondays or Thursdays.
Saturday night frights
One question that viewers who consult the Nielsen ratings may
still be wondering: Why were "The Single Guy," the No. 9 rated
program last season, and "Something So Right" (No. 46), an unusual
comedy about two families joined by remarriage, canceled while
"Profiler" (No. 83) and "The Pretender" (No. 89) were renewed in
a heartbeat?
The answer is that the two canceled shows didn't appear on
Saturday night, where NBC, despite being No. 1 overall, had been
finishing dead last in recent years, until it rolled out the all-new
dramatic "Thrillogy" last fall.
In May the network crowed that it had gone "from worst to
first," largely on the backs of "Profiler" and "The Pretender."
(A third show, the conspiracy-mongering "Dark Skies," vanished
mysteriously and is being replaced by "Sleepwalkers," about a
doctor who heads a dream-therapy institute.)
But NBC's claim was deceptive: CBS won the night handily in total
audience, thanks to "Early Edition" and the Chuck Norris vehicle,
"Walker: Texas Ranger. " NBC pulled in the most viewers ages 18 to
49, which are prized by advertisers.
That leaves Friday and Sunday, each of which has a "Dateline NBC" and one solid returning program ("Homicide" and "Sunday
Night at the Movies," respectively), plus star power: Ice T in
"Players" on Friday, Jenny McCarthy in "Jenny" on Sunday.