Rumor is that "Brooklyn Bridge" is the favorite new show of not only CBS Entertainment President Jeff Sagansky but of the Big Eye's big guy himself, CEO Larry Tisch.
The funny and sweet half hour created by Gary David Goldberg ("Family Ties") has won rave reviews - but garnered low ratings. As a measure of CBS' commitment to this quality show, the network is doing everything it can to save the series.First, CBS moved "Bridge" from 7:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Fridays. But that moved failed to help when NBC plopped "Matlock" in that time slot and the Andy Griffith series pulled in very good ratings. (That came as a surprise to everyone, including NBC.)
So beginning Nov. 6, "Bridge" moves to Wednesdays at 7 p.m. with a special hourlong episode. The following week, it reverts to its normal half-hour form.
Not only that, but "Bridge" is going to get two special airings - Thanksgiving night at 9:30 p.m. after the television premiere of "E.T., the Extraterrestrial," the biggest moneymaker in movie history; and Sunday, Dec. 8, after the highly rated "60 Minutes."
Let's just hope all this helps "Brooklyn Bridge" find an audience. It's a great show.DOING THE CBS SHIFT: Beginning Nov. 13, "Brooklyn Bridge" will be followed at 7:30 p.m. by "The Royal Family." (And, no, there's still no decision on what's going to happen to the show without the late Redd Foxx.)
"Teech" and "Princesses" are both going on hiatus (and "Princesses" is still searching for someone to replace the departed Julie Hagerty). And CBS doesn't know what it's going to schedule on Fridays at 7 p.m. yet.AND THE LOSER IS . . . The winner (or is that loser?) of this year's Which-Show-Will-Be-Canceled-First Derby is - "The Ultimate Challenge" on Fox.
This "American Gladiators" ripoff actually bit the dust last week, suffering from overwhelming viewer apathy, which translated into abysmal ratings.
In its place, Fox will air the appropriately titled "Best of the Worst" and "Totally Hidden Videos," which move over from Saturdays. And on Saturdays, Fox will air the Tim Matheson-Sam Kinnison sitcom "Charlie Hoover" and the return of "Get a Life."
In other words, Fox is thrashing around wildly searching for anything to throw on the air.NYAH! Just when KUTV-Ch. 2 starts its 24-hour news with live, overnight reports, KSL-Ch. 5 makes arrangements for some overnight updates of its own on weekdays.
The KSL radio crew began providing 30-second local reports near the top of the hours between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m. on Tuesday morning, actually beating KUTV to the punch by a day.
The KSL radio updates on KSL-TV do not, however, include any video, other than a graphic. It's strictly a voice-over.
KUTV employs the services of its overnight television crew, putting them on camera.
In a release announcing the move, KSL attributes its latest addition to the first-anniversary of its 24-hour news service (although that began Oct. 10, 1990, not Oct. 21) without any mention of the competition from Ch. 2.
Of course, if you believe it's just coincidence you probably also believe that the folks at KSTU were just thrilled to see KSL put a 9 p.m. newscast on Ch. 14 two-and-a-half months before Ch. 13 begins its own 9 p.m. news.BOFFO BASEBALL: With a big lift from baseball, CBS won the ratings wars last week, according to the A.C. Nielsen Co.
The last two games of the National League playoffs and the first two World Series games were four of the 10 highest-rated shows last week.
CBS finished first, with a 15.3 ratings and 25 share. NBC was way back in second, with a 13.3/22 and ABC was third with a 12.1/20. For the five-week-old season, CBS leads NBC by 1.2 ratings points and ABC by 1.8 points.
Each rating point equals about 921,000 homes, and the share is the percentage of homes actually watching TV.
The top 10 shows were: 1. "World Series Game 2," CBS, 21.7; 2. "Roseanne," ABC, 20.6; 3. "National League Championship Game 7," CBS, 19.8; 4. "Murphy Brown," CBS, 19.7; 5. "A Woman Named Jackie," Part 3, NBC, 19.1; 6. "A Woman Named Jackie," Part 2, NBC, 18.6; 7. "National League Championship Game 6," CBS, 18.3; 8. "America's Funniest Home Videos," ABC, 17.9; 9. "Designing Women," CBS, 10. (tie) "60 Minutes" and "World Series Game 1," both CBS, 17.7.