If last season was one of innovation for the television networks, this season is one of the tried and true--although how true remains to be seen.
It's not news that ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox are struggling these days. The Big Three networks have lost a third of their audience in the past decade, and declining advertising revenues mean at least two of them will lose money this year.So last season, they tried some new and different programming ideas. Singing and dancing police officers in "Cop Rock." Gothic supernatural soap opera in "Twin Peaks." The offbeat charm and wonder of "Northern Exposure."
But, with the exception of "Exposure," the new and innovative programs were ignored by the viewers. And the networks, being the reactionaries that they are, have decided not to try it again.
Instead, we're seeing more traditional programs this fall--particularly that old standby, the sitcom.
Of the 29 new series coming to the four networks this fall, 18 are sitcoms, and another six are either comedy-oriented reality programs, or comedy/variety.
As a matter of fact, of the 78 programs in prime time this fall on the networks, 49 are sitcoms. That's almost 63 percent. Even several supposed rdramas ("Pros and Cons," "P.S.I LUV U") are more like hourlong comedies.
In addition to the sitcoms, another 10 are either entirely comedy based (like "The Sunday comics" and "Carol Burnett") or strongly emphasize the funny stuff.
That's almost three-quarters of all the programs on the air.
In contrast, there are only four new dramas this fall, and just a total of 16 on the four networks.
Once again, economics are behind this. Sitcoms are cheaper to produce that dramas. They pull better ratings in reruns. And, in the long term, the producers have a much easier time syndicating comedy reruns that dramas.
TV REALITY; Also as a matter of economics, the networks are showing an increasing reliance on relatively cheaply produced, so-called reality programming, which ranges from drama ("Rescue 911") to comedy ("America's Funniest Home Videos") to sports ("The Ultimate Challenge").
COMEDY SITUATION: With sitcoms, it's not so much the concept as it is the execution.
After all, when you're going down a path that's been traveled thousands of times before, it's difficult to come up with anything completely new different.
And this year's new crop of half hour comedies is no different. They range from vaguely familiar to out-and-out retreads.
Not that that's necessarily a drawback, "Good and Evil" is almost a carbon copy of "Soap," but it's wildly funny in its own right.
But then there's "Brady Bunch" ripoff "Step By Step" that's just terrible--bad scripts, bad acting, bad bad bad.
It's shows like this that could revive the hourlong drama form.
DRAMATIC PAUSE: It isn't hard to find television analysts who are ready to proclaim "The drama is dead!" these days.
And, at first glance, it would appear they might be right.
Network schedules once replete with hourlong dramas are now nearly void of the form. And while dramas once were firmly ensconced at the top of the ratings, now they usually languish more toward the middle--or bottom.
Not that we haven't been through this sort of thing before. Westerns were once all over the schedule--they've just made a bit of a minor combck in the past couple of seasons. Variety shows once could be found almost any night of the week before disappearing altogether (But they're making a minor comeback this season with "Carol Burnett" in addition to "In Living Color.")
Because of the current economics of network television, it'll be harder for dramas to make a comeback, but all it will take is one or two to turn into big hits before they'll start proliferating again.