Thursday, January 27, 2000
'90210,' 'Party' probably history
BY JOHN KIESEWETTER
The Cincinnati Enquirer
School's finally out for Fox's Beverly Hills 90210, and the party may be over for Party of Five.
Though Fox executives announced a plan this month to bring 90210 back for new episodes starting in the summer, that plan has now been dropped after declining ratings for recent episodes, mass defections by the cast and the show's high cost, more than $2 million an episode.
Just over a week ago, word was that most of the cast members had signed up for an 11th season and that it was only a matter of working out the details of their contracts. But on Monday, Fox insiders said 90210 won't be back after May.
Low ratings and cast defections also could doom Party of Five, fading in its sixth season. Neve Campbell and Scott Wolf have said or suggested that they won't be back. Jennifer Love Hewitt left this season for her own Fox show, Time of Your Life.
90210 is No. 91 overall this season, averaging 8.39 million viewers. Party of Five is averaging 6.81 million viewers, putting it at No. 102.
Last year, when they aired in different time slots, Party of Five averaged 10.2 million viewers and finished the season No. 69. And 90210 finished the 1998-99 season at No. 78, with 9.8 million viewers.
PARTY DETAILS: According to USA Today, Fox's deal for Party of Five with producer Columbia TriStar Television obligates it to continue the show for at least one more year, as long as two of its stars remain — and Columbia insists that co-stars Matthew Fox and Lacey Chabert fit the bill. Fox claims otherwise and says there's no way it will pick up another season.
“It's more like Party of Two now,” said Fox Television Entertainment Group Chairman Sandy Grushow, who wouldn't comment on the negotiations.
So begins the Hollywood horse-trading: Columbia is willing to let Fox off the hook for Party if it commits to a 22-episode, full-season renewal for Time of Your Life. According to a list of demands by Columbia now being negotiated, Fox also would have to promise to order one or more new series based on pilots under development, say studio and network executives.
But Time has been something of a disaster, despite Ms. Hewitt's following among young women. The pilot was completely reshot last summer, critics lambasted the show, and a meager 5.6 million viewers have tuned in on average each week. The show has been pulled from February sweeps and replaced with That '70s Show starting Feb. 7 (8 p.m. Mondays).
If Time marches on, it will do so at the expense of another struggling rookie drama, Get Real, which happens to be owned by Fox, through Twentieth Century Fox Television. So the Fox empire stands to gain more in future profits by making a go of Get Real, if the drama can be nurtured to success. Some also view it as stronger creatively than Time.
Fox Entertainment President Doug Herzog says he will keep only one of the two shows, and that one of them will return in March at 9 p.m. Wednesday. Get Real has already faltered there, so Time may get the nod — and a renewal from the Party of Five negotiations.
X SPOT: Without 90210 and Party of Five, Fox has even more incentive to find a way to bring The X-Files back for one more season, though that may not be possible.
The time frame for working out a deal to bring back star David Duchovny and creator Chris Carter is down to “a couple of weeks,” said one executive involved in the negotiations.
ELIAN DRAMA: The tug-of-war over Elian Gonzalez will be the subject of a four-hour CBS miniseries.
The network has hired Craig Anderson, producer of CBS' Feb. 13 Sally Hemings miniseries about Thomas Jefferson and his slave, for the story of 6-year-old Elian. No air date has been set.
Elian, rescued off the Florida coast Nov. 25 after his mother and 10 others drowned attempting to flee Cuba, is involved in a custody battle between his father in Cuba and relatives in Miami.
Mr. Anderson said he wants to film part of the miniseries in Cuba and hopes Elian's relatives there and in the United States will cooperate on the project.
The network had no comment on how the politically charged story would be approached, spokesman Chris Ender said. But he called Mr. Anderson a “well-credentialed” producer.
OVER THE TOP: Though ABC's top program executives, Stu Bloomberg and Lloyd Braun, took great pains at the TV writers' press tour this month to avoid predicting that ABC would ride Who Wants to Be a Millionaire to a win in the season's ratings, the facts seem to be overwhelming their reticence.
As of last week, ABC officially caught up to NBC for leadership with viewers ages 18 to 49.
And with ABC broadcasting the Super Bowl Sunday, and three more editions of Millionaire, the network surely will be in first place this time next week.
HIT ME AGAIN: NBC has ordered 13 more episodes of Twenty One, the prime-time game show hosted by Maury Povich. The show has outperformed NBC's regular series at both 8 p.m. Sunday and 8 p.m. Wednesday.
By the way, the toll-free Twenty One contestant number is 888-421-8000.
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