Out with the new, and in with the old

© St. Petersburg Times
published January 21, 2002

HOLLYWOOD, Calif. -- I am standing next to him, so close that I can count the strands in the massive gold chains that encircle his neck. When he turns to explain the seven gold hoops in his ears, the scent of hairspray from his recently trimmed mohawk gathers in my nostrils.

I am standing next to Mr. T. And I am loving it.

The scene is a party for NBC stars, held as part of the Television Critics Association's winter press tour. Normally, these events are held so TV writers from across the country can mingle with new faces from upcoming shows.

But in May, NBC will present a host of specials focused on its 75th birthday, including a two-hour L.A. Law reunion movie, a Cosby Show special, a Bob Hope retrospective and a three-hour live celebration of NBC history. Its most anticipated midseason series, Watching Ellie, features ex-Seinfeld star Julia Louis-Dreyfus.

So NBC's Jan. 9 press party brought Frasier's Kelsey Grammer and West Wing creator Aaron Sorkin together with Star Trek's Nichelle Nichols, Laugh-In's Gary Owens (nearly unrecognizable in a black goatee and toupee) and, of course, Mr. T.

"Why is it that the kids love me and the parents don't?" asks T, explaining why some adults dismissed him as a cartoonish eccentric while children ate up the Mr. T magic in the '80s. "The kids saw through the toughness. They could see the twinkle in my eye, without me even winking."

Meanwhile, NBC executives are seeing the twinkle of cheap, popular programming.

And it's not just the peacock network. After 10 days of wading through each network's plans for midseason TV, one trend is painfully clear:

Everything old is new again.

"We've had plans for a year to do a number of these reunion shows and clip shows," said Jeff Zucker, president of NBC Entertainment. "But I will tell you that the success of (CBS') Carol Burnett Show special reinforced in our minds, without doubt, that it's something we should be doing."

The special in November featured outtakes of Burnett and her cast cracking up during their classic sketches. Thirty-million viewers tuned in, but most astonishing to youth-obsessed Hollywood was that many of the viewers were under 40.

Combine that with solid numbers for Michael Jackson's 30th anniversary special and an earlier I Love Lucy tribute, and you've got a clear programming trend. At a time when networks are facing the toughest advertising market in 10 years, such shows may seem like a godsend.

"I don't want to mention names, but as you can imagine, every old television star from the '50s and '60s called us," said Les Moonves, CBS president and chief executive officer. "(They asked), "Can you do a Mike Douglas retrospective?' Or they'd say, "If you did a Gilligan's Island show, why can't you do Bewitched? Elizabeth Montgomery may be (dead), but you can still do Bewitched.' I said, "How're you going to figure that one?' "

What CBS has done is sign Burnett for a yet-to-be-determined project ("I think she was shocked by the numbers herself," Moonves said), and the network plans other nostalgia projects it's not talking much about.

The fourth Survivor series, Survivor: Marquesas, hits the airwaves at 8 p.m. Feb. 28, the night after the network airs the Grammy Awards, and a spinoff of C.S.I.: Crime Scene Investigation is also under negotiation.

"We know nothing more than we are excited that a spinoff is even a speckle in Mr. Moonves' mind," said Anthony Zuicker, executive producer-creator of C.S.I. "I just checked the numbers for Law & Order, (which) was No. 8, 11 and 21. So they're obviously doing something right."

Besides stars from the past and clip shows, there's another way to turn old TV into new profits: repurposing.

To build an audience for its complicated new show 24, for example, Fox has broadcast it on Tuesdays and Fridays -- also airing episodes on the FX cable channel. ABC Family scored some of its highest ratings ever with a New Year's Day Alias marathon.

And the WB has seen the audience for its magic-centered adventure drama, Charmed, rise 20 percent by also airing it on TNT.

"The fact that there's (little) duplication between audiences on the two nights is the most important thing I've seen," said Jamie Kellner, chairman and CEO of Turner Broadcasting System Inc., an AOL Time Warner company that oversees TNT, the WB, TBS Superstation, CNN and many other TV outlets.

Such repurposing of TV shows not only helps boost ratings, it also spreads the success of a given entertainment product over a range of AOL Time Warner's various TV businesses.

"Already, you're seeing the Enya music playing behind promo spots on CNN and you're seeing the Enya record sales (on Warner Bros. Records) go to the moon," Kellner said. "You're starting to see us use all the muscle of the company to advance all the assets that we own."

Another lesson Hollywood has learned: People watch shows that sound familiar.

Case in point: NBC's three Law & Order series, which each have found strong ratings with different characters, different crimes and different themes, united around a common format.

And Fox debuts a new comedy with a familiar title, That '80s Show, at 8 p.m. Wednesday.

"We're hoping that, as That '70s Show slides into the '80s and That '80s Show slides into the '90s, we'll call '70s Show, That Other '80s Show and this one will become That '90s Show," said Terry Turner, creator of both That '70s Show and That '80s Show, laughing.

"You know, when you have something named in the same style, there's going to be a comparison," added Turner, who also created 3rd Rock From the Sun. "You'll be able to recognize what the show is in a quick bite."

In other words: The only things these shows might share is a creator who's not very inventive when it comes to names.

Repackaging old TV for a new audience is cheap and recognizable, and if it fails, no one takes much blame.

But Tom Werner, a partner in the Carsey/Werner/Mandabach production company, sees a danger in the trend.

"Every show that we have done that we thought was special was a hard sell at a network," said Werner, ticking off a list that included Roseanne, The Cosby Show and 3rd Rock From the Sun. "I long for more showmanship on the part of the networks. I think more risk-taking is going to lead to bigger rewards."

Some final tidbits from the press tour:

Network most in love with the word "the": ABC, which is likely to have series named The Job, The Web (tentative title), The Court and The Chair on air by season's end.

Most embarrassing question: The critic who asked Summer Phoenix, now starring in an MTV movie about the surge in teen heroin use, whether she knew anyone who had died of a drug overdose -- totally unaware of her brother, River Phoenix, and his overdose death.

Quotable:

Comic Denis Leary, on his plan to keep his police comedy, ABC's The Job, from getting clobbered by NBC's The West Wing: "I think when I take (West Wing creator) Aaron Sorkin hostage for about six weeks, the ratings are going to really f--- change. I've got a bag of mushrooms and a couple of hookers. He's going to be really happy."

Just Shoot Me star David Spade on TV critics: "NBC knows how hard your jobs are, thinking of funny ways to slam their new shows. Why else would they name one What Were You Thinking? It's too easy. Some of the new shows in development: This Show Is Terrible, How Bad Does This Suck? and The Carrot Top Hour."

"As they say in sports, the older you get, the better you used to be," former tennis great John McEnroe on why he's hosting ABC's The Chair.

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