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Fox Television lives up to its name
By ERIC DEGGANS PASADENA, Calif. -- Ask any Fox executive here, and you'll be told, with uncharacteristic honesty, why viewers will get a sneak peek at the network's new reality series, The Chamber, at 8 tonight. Beating the competition. "We would have loved to have had three months to tee the show up (and prepare viewers)," said Sandy Grushow, Fox Television Entertainment Group chairman, about the decision Friday to move up The Chamber's debut from a Jan. 20 start. "But we don't have that luxury." Once word leaked about The Chamber's debut, ABC decided to premiere its new reality show, The Chair, at 8 p.m. Tuesday. It didn't help that producers of The Chair -- which requires contestants to answer questions while keeping their vital signs below certain stress levels -- had once pitched their show to Fox while it was developing The Chamber, which requires contestants to answer questions while being stressed with 90 mph winds, seismic jolts, and other distractions. Now, producers of ABC's The Chair have sued Fox, claiming The Chamber is too similar. Fox has countersued, claiming staffers from The Chair tried to steal elements of their show by sneaking onto their set and hiring away key production personnel. For viewers, all it means is they're getting less notice of two new reality TV-style game shows at a time when fewer channel surfers care about the genre. Is this any way to run a TV industry? "There are times when you gotta roll the dice," said Grushow, when asked whether such feuds confuse viewers for no good reason. "It's a gut call . . . we feel this is one of those times when (the program shifting) is worthwhile." Viewers have already seen how some of this petty sniping can affect content. Consider Fox's decision to announce Emmy winners during the final World Series game and CBS rerunning its popular Michael Jackson special Wednesday against ABC's telecast of the American Music Awards. Next month, NBC pits a Playboy Playmate edition of its exploitive reality series Fear Factor against Fox's Super Bowl halftime and post-game (20 minutes of NBC's show airs at halftime, interrupting a Weakest Link repeat, with the rest scheduled after the game). "There are some moves you see done purely out of spite," said Les Moonves, CBS president and CEO, referring to Fox's Emmy announcements. "But there are a lot of competitors at the networks, and sometimes it can get a little out of hand. Hopefully, if it starts to affect ratings, people will pull back a little." Don't expect that at Fox, which will air another episode of The Chamber at 9 p.m. Jan. 20 before parking the show at 8 p.m. Fridays on Jan. 25. The network will move Dark Angel back to 9 p.m. Fridays and eliminate the second, 9 p.m. rebroadcast of its new thriller, 24. Other Fox announcements at the TV Critics Association's winter press tour: Dennis Hopper joins 24 for five episodes as a Balkan war criminal who blames Kiefer Sutherland's CIA agent for his fall from power. Halle Berry appears on an upcoming Bernie Mac Show, paving the way for a one-hour final episode in May filmed in Mac's Chicago hometown. The debut of spin-off That '80s Show at 8 p.m. Jan. 23 and the March 11 debut of American Embassy, a drama described as Ally McBeal-meets-the-diplomatic service. Fox even persuaded rocker Jon Bon Jovi, who joins the Ally cast in Monday's episode, to stop by. "This was just another challenge . . . a wonderful creative outlet . . . and you know I have a great day job, so I don't have to lie," he said jokingly to a roomful of TV scribes. "I know what my market is . . . it's the women. So I have to do things for women, so I know what to do as a guy onstage. Don't think I'm not thinking all the time, you know."
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From the wire |
