62 Sitcoms and 40 Dramas From Six Networks Are Getting Ready to Rumble

The coming 1997-98 television season literally will offer more drama than last year, but basically there will be more of everything.

Viewers again will have more than 100 prime-time series from which to choose on the six broadcast TV networks, even if many look alike, including a half-dozen shows that at least peripherally deal with religion.

Comedy still remains the most popular prime-time genre, with 62 sitcoms scheduled, 21 of which are new. While less than last September, even TV executives acknowledge it’s too many and that the number of shows is stretching beyond the pool of talent needed to write and produce them.

“Part of the problem is there is too much product on television, and too much of it is watered down,” said CBS Entertainment President Leslie Moonves.

A bigger programming trend may be toward drama series (40 are scheduled--including 15 freshman shows--compared to 36 last fall) at the expense of TV movies. Both CBS and NBC will drop one of their movie slots, which could return depending on how many series fail.

According to NBC Entertainment President Warren Littlefield, with all the choices whittling away at the network audiences, series provide a better means of getting people to watch week after week.

“We tried to say, ‘How do you make a bond [with viewers]?,’ and that’s a weekly bond with series characters. That’s a way to differentiate ourselves from the competition out there,” he said.

A more subtle aspect of the schedule is the profit emphasis, evident in 10 hours of newsmagazines--a form that’s less expensive than producing movies or conventional prime-time dramas.

Industry sources estimate that NBC, for example, will save more than $1 million a week by scheduling an extra “Dateline” and two sitcoms in place of its Monday movie--helping offset the record sum paid to renew its top-rated comedy, “Seinfeld.”

NBC’s Monday lineup, meanwhile, will showcase the progeny of “Seinfeld,” as the network seeks to discover if the female stars of “Suddenly Susan,” “Fired Up,” “Caroline in the City” and “The Naked Truth”--which all enjoyed high ratings following “Seinfeld” on Thursdays--have legs of their own.

The networks say they have learned scheduling lessons from last year, though some nights don’t betray much evidence of that.

Four networks, for example, will offer sitcoms from 8 to 9 p.m. Wednesdays, before CBS stops the competitive madness at 9 p.m. with a new magazine program hosted by Bryant Gumbel, letting “The Drew Carey Show” and “3rd Rock From the Sun” duke it out for comedy viewers.

Meanwhile, no one has scheduled comedy series on Saturdays.

Efforts have been made to provide more stability. The 37 new series ordered are fewer than last year, and CBS, Fox and WB will each leave certain nights unchanged.

Yet ABC and NBC will alter every night of the week, and 16 returning programs--including “3rd Rock” and “Murphy Brown”--will move to a new night or a different network.

“I think all of the networks have gambled to some degree,” said Bill Croasdale, president of the broadcast division at the media-buying firm Western International Media, who added that current ratings leader NBC is “definitely in the driver’s seat.”

In terms of content, religion has winged into prime time on the coattails of the CBS hit “Touched by an Angel.” In addition to WB’s “7th Heaven,” CBS’ “Promised Land” and ABC’s Dan Aykroyd comedy “Soul Man,” three new shows fall loosely into that category: the ABC drama “Nothing Sacred” and its sitcom “Teen Angel,” and “Good News,” a UPN comedy with a gospel flavor.

There will be more family-oriented programming as well, including ABC’s “Wonderful World of Disney” movie revival and dueling blocks of youth-oriented programming Fridays. CBS is challenging ABC for that audience, having acquired two of its sitcoms, “Family Matters” and “Step by Step.”

Still, calls from Washington to reinstate the “family hour” generally went unheeded, with several programs that viewers may find objectionable for children scheduled at 8 p.m.

ABC and NBC each moved fairly risque comedies that previously aired at 9:30 p.m., “Spin City” and “Men Behaving Badly,” to 8 p.m. in the fall. NBC’s “Friends” and Fox’s “Melrose Place” also continue in that hour.

New action-oriented programs “Players,” starring rapper Ice-T, and “C16: FBI,” featuring Eric Roberts, will also air at 8 p.m. In addition, “NYPD Blue” producer Steven Bochco’s new police drama, “Brooklyn South,” while scheduled at 10 p.m., promises to be every bit as gritty in its use of language and violence as his current show.

The networks maintain there are plenty of alternatives for children in earlier hours, citing their own family-oriented fare as well as cable networks like Nickelodeon--an argument that has failed to mollify critics.

Beyond the religious awakening, programmers are preaching the merits of patience, convinced that series require time to catch on. A third of last fall’s new programs earned renewal, and eight shows that made their debut later in the season will also be back, including Fox’s “King of the Hill.”

“It’s really more important than at any other time to be patient with your product,” said Fox Entertainment Group President Peter Roth, whose network canceled the Brian Bosworth series “Lawless” in March after a single telecast.

Some big-name drama producers will be busy next season. Besides “NYPD Blue” and “Brooklyn South,” Bochco is also producing ABC’s “Total Security,” and his former protege David E. Kelley will have his name on CBS’ “Chicago Hope,” ABC’s “The Practice” and Fox’s “Ally McBeal.” Dick Wolf will oversee three series as well, with “Players” joining “Law & Order” and “New York Undercover,” the latter now relegated to a backup role by Fox.

A number of familiar faces will also turn up in new programs, among them David Caruso, who very publicly left “NYPD Blue” in 1994. The actor will again patrol Tuesday nights, playing a federal prosecutor in CBS’ “Michael Hayes.”

Other stars also discovered that in network television, you can go home again. Annie Potts and Jenna Elfman--after striking out in “Dangerous Minds” and “Townies,” respectively, during the just-concluded season--return to ABC in new shows, “Over the Top” and “Dharma & Greg.” Elfman, in fact, wound up in the same Wednesday time slot.

It’s also no dream: Bob Newhart has a new CBS comedy--after a total of 15 years in “The Bob Newhart Show,” “Newhart” and the short-lived “Bob”--starring with Judd Hirsch in “George & Leo.” WB, meanwhile, gives Tom Arnold a third crack at TV stardom, on as many networks, in “The Tom Show.”