In the land of the bland, the rerun is king; For fall '98, the networks' idea of original programming: Bring back the '70s.

How shall we describe the fall schedules foisted on us last week
by the six broadcast TV networks?
Back to the Future, Part 98? Everybody Loves Rerun? Nightmare on
Memory Lane? Crappy Days?
The imagination runs wild with possibilities, which is more than
we can say for the network programmers who slapped together these
fall lineups.
The networks are on an environmental kick these days. Many of the
new shows have been 100 percent recycled from post-consumer TV waste.
ABC is bringing back "Fantasy Island," this time starring
Malcolm McDowell, who would seem a more likely candidate for a
revival of "The Island of Dr. Moreau."
UPN is sticking with "Love Boat: The Next Wave," which along
with "Fantasy Island" held down Saturday nights for ABC in the late
'70s.
And Fox is unveiling "Feelin' All Right," a show the network's
head of entertainment predicted would "do for the 1970s what 'Happy
Days' did for the 1950s. " You know what "Happy Days" does for me
now? It reminds me that in the '70s I watched a lot of lousy TV
shows.
Meanwhile CBS is alleging that its two new weekend series,
"Buddy Faro" and "Martial Law," are based on original concepts.
Sure they are - just like NBC's "Dateline Sunday" is different from
"Dateline Tuesday. " Never mind that "Buddy Faro" leads into buddy
show "Nash Bridges" and "Martial Law" leads into martial-law show
"Walker, Texas Ranger."
As for the WB, it's killing an hour of prime time by showing
"7th Heaven" repeats on Sundays (at least until January).
The network also filled another spot by grabbing "For Your
Love," a sitcom canceled by NBC. UPN was said to be considering the
same for "The Gregory Hines Show," dropped by CBS. The little
networks must've decided this is how big networks act - rummaging
through each other's discards. CBS ("Step by Step," "Family
Matters") and ABC ("Something So Right") both did it this season.
Meanwhile, the minds at NBC have come up with a sitcom about a
young single woman and her best friend who happens to be gay. They've
got another show that promises lots of scenes with Bo Derek strolling
on the beach. As Siskel and Ebert would say, the balcony is closed,
NBC.
Because faces of color once again will be missing from NBC's
Thursday-night lineup, one of its rivals will again try
counterprogramming to African-American audiences. But this time it
won't be Fox ("Between Brothers," the top-rated show this season
among African-Americans, isn't on Fox's fall schedule). Instead it's
the WB, which moved sitcoms starring Jamie Foxx, the Wayans brothers
and Steve Harvey to Thursdays.
Either this means the WB doesn't care if its black-oriented shows
draw even lower ratings than they do now or else it's the network's
way of showing these guys the door.
Not all the news from the fall schedule announcements was
underwhelming. Some of the major cable networks also announced their
new shows, and while they may not be avant-garde original, they sure
are a lot fresher than those chestnuts the broadcasters are pulling
out.
The Lifetime network this summer will show "Any Day Now," a new
one-hour dramatic series based on two women - one white, one
African-American - whose friendship often takes them back to their
childhoods in the South at the time of the civil rights movement.
Another Lifetime series, "Maggie Day" starring Ann Cusack
(sister of John and Joan), is a comedy organized around an unusual
concept for TV: a woman's midlife crisis. Lifetime tried this premise
once before when it picked up "The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd"
from NBC, which had dropped the show after one critically acclaimed
year.
The A&E network is carving out a new niche in documentary series
by scheduling its most prolific contributor, newsman Bill Kurtis,
each weeknight following "Biography" beginning June 29.
And with Barry Diller now running USA Network, viewers can expect
more quality dramas along with the pro-wrestling nights. Hallmark
Entertainment, which produced ratings record-setter "Moby Dick" for
USA this season, will produce a miniseries on the life of spy Mata
Hari and an adaptation of "Huckleberry Finn. " Movies based on Mary
Higgins Clark's mystery novels and Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure
Island are also planned.