Friday, April 07, 2000
NBC to bench Saturday night shows
BY JOHN KIESEWETTER
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Bad news for fans of NBC's The Pretender and Profiler.
The Saturday night dramas will be kicked off NBC during February sweeps for XFL games, the new football league created by the World Wrestling Federation Entertainment Inc.
NBC will jointly run and own the new XFL with the WWFE. Play begins on Feb. 3, a week after the Super Bowl, and continues in prime-time until the XFL Championship game on April 21, 2001.
The Pretender is ranked No. 92 this season. Profiler is No. 100 of 169 series. Both are third in the time period, behind CBS' Walker, Texas Ranger (41) and Martial Law (66), and ABC's movie (80).
“The XFL will be a great addition to our Saturday night lineup,” says Scott Sassa, NBC West Coast president.
XFL games will appeal to the same young male viewers who watch CBS' action series.
According to Dick Ebersol, NBC Sports and Olympics chairman, Monday night WWF wrestling on the USA Network — cable's top-rated series — draws 47 percent more male viewers ages 12-24 than ABC's Monday Night Football. NBC saw proof of the WWF's popularity two weeks ago, when Saturday Night Live drew big ratings for The Rock, a WWF personality.
The XFL will give viewers unprecedented access to the game, with cameras in locker rooms, on sidelines and in the helmets of selected players. XFL players, coaches, locker rooms and huddles also will have microphones.
NBC, which threatened to form its own league with Turner Broadcasting after losing NFL rights in 1998, will own 50 percent of the league and its eight teams. NBC also has purchased a 3 percent stake in the WWFE.
SABRINA MOVING: Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, the Melissa Joan Hart sitcom partly owned by Cincinnati's Procter & Gamble, will jump from ABC to WB this fall. The Warner Bros. network has ordered two seasons (fifth and sixth), more episodes for lucrative syndication sales.
Sabrina's disappearing act from ABC should be troubling news for parents. Sabrina, ABC's highest-rated TGIF comedy, was the best family show in ABC's Friday lineup. Amid speculation that ABC could scrap its family Fridays, ABC spokesman Kevin Brockman confirms to USA Today that the network is “re-evaluating” the night.
Sabrina also has been the No. 1 show with female teens for two years.
“Acquiring the rights to Sabrina, the Teenage Witch is another example of how the WB has built a business in a unique demographic space that is no longer being contested by the older skewing networks,” says Jamie Kellner, WB CEO.
ENQUIRERING MIND: Enquirering mind wants to know: Where should letters of support be sent for ABC's Sports Night (9:30 p.m. Tuesday, Channels 9, 2), which ended its season Tuesday and may not be renewed?
Direct your letters to Stu Bloomberg, ABC Entertainment co-chairman, 2040 Avenue of the Stars, Los Angeles, CA 90067.
Also send copies to producers Aaron Sorkin, Thomas Schlamme and Rob Scheidlinger, to Sports Night, Touchstone Television, 500 S. Buena Vista St., Burbank, CA 91521-0672.
Granted, Sports Night this year wasn't as good as the first season, because Mr. Sorkin was preoccupied with launching The West Wing. But the worst Sports Night is far better than most prime-time sitcoms.
It ranks No. 49 (of 169 series) for the season. Sports Night averages more viewers than Once and Again (59), Norm (61), Two Guys and a Girl (62), Sabrina the Teenage Witch (63), That '70s Show (83), Boy Meets World (90), 3rd Rock from the Sun (91) and The Hughleys (94).
NEW VS. OLD: In unusual candor, NBC Entertainment President Garth Ancier has explained why the revamped Veronica's Closet and Suddenly Susan were ratings flops this season, despite the overhaul:
“It's easier to retool a show, than to launch a new one, but sometimes you don't make the shows better,” he said.
“I don't think we made them worse . . . I think we tried our best to make these shows better than they were.”
Brooke Shields' Suddenly Susan (No. 113 of 169 shows) was pulled in November. Kirstie Alley's Veronica's Closet (106) vanished in January. Christina Applegate's Jesse (13) was replaced last month by Daddio.
Suddenly Susan survived this long because Warner Bros. reportedly demanded a two-year renewal as part of the 1998 ER negotiations.
MILLIONAIRES: Maybe Regis Philbin should change the name to Who Already is a Millionaire. Ten celebrities will try to earn $1 million for charity in May 1-3 Who Wants to be a Millionaire episodes being taped today.
Contestants are: Ray Romano, Emeril Lagasse, Drew Carey, Dana Carvey, David Duchovny, Kathie Lee Gifford, Queen Latifah, Rosie O'Donnell, Vanessa L. Williams and Lance Bass of 'N Sync.
They will skip the “fastest finger” round and go directly to the “hot seat.” But they will get all three lifelines.
AROUND THE DIAL: Ted Koppel anchors a Nightline town meeting today (11:35 p.m., Channel 9) about the Elian Gonzalez custody battle.
Weird weather due for weekend
Readers cry foul over ballpark design
City supervisor put on paid leave
Driver who wrecked festival gets 141
FWW crackdown widens
Teacher's union losing president
Bad time to switch city managers
Preparing kids for a multicultural world
Teach kids to be 'culturally competent'
Minority health fair addresses barriers
Minority scholars program to honor namesake at events
New look, new content coming to the Enquirer
Adult club to open near speedway
Autopsy scheduled on 18-month-old boy
Children report abduction attempt
Defendant admits he killed girl
More students face drug counts
Police chief's leave a mystery
GET TO IT
NBC to bench Saturday night shows
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