When KSL decided to drop "Picket Fences" from its schedule because of the show's "offensive" content, it once again raised a question that they've been asking at Ch. 5 for decades.
Can KSL remain a CBS affiliate?Take my word for it, this will not be the last incident of its type. CBS has several shows in development that KSL will have trouble with.
And it isn't the first time this has happened. In recent years, KSL refused to air the sitcom "Dirty Dancing"; it pulled "Doctor, Doctor"; and it refused to broadcast last summer's steamy "2000 Malibu Road" and sexually oriented comedy "Grapevine."
CBS is talking to Keenen Ivory Wayans, late of Fox's "In Living Color," about a similar show. Can you imagine "In Living Color" on KSL? Not gonna happen.
"If they do a show like `In Living Color,' it isn't going to air on KSL," KSL President Bruce Reese said flatly.
And the folks at CBS aren't shy about expressing their anger with KSL. In addition to this move, KSL does not carry CBS' Saturday morning or late-night lineups.
Rod Perth, vice president of late-night programming at CBS, is well acquainted with KSL.
"They wouldn't air our New Year's Eve special because they were afraid of rock 'n' roll or something," he said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
But conflicts with CBS over the content of network programming are nothing new at KSL.
"Every year it's a concern," Reese said. "That's been an issue for a long time. If you go back in the history of KSL and CBS, the same issue has been discussed every year for 40 years. It may be becoming intensified now."
And KSL is careful to say that it highly values its affiliation with CBS, even while the station is pulling one of the network's shows off the air.
"We have had candid, good-faith conversations with CBS," Reese said. "We've each expressed our opinions on (`Picket Fences'). We talked to them prior to Friday night's show.
"We've had a good dialogue with CBS. We're not trying to do anything that would harm our relationship with them."
Reese was also quick to point out that there's more to network programming than just sex and violence.
"There's a lot of evidence that quality shows attract a big audience," he said. "Who would have thought that `Dr. Quinn: Medicine Woman' - a show that's full of traditional values - would become a hit?"
And the CBS folks, at least on the record, are equally careful when they talk about KSL. Even an obviously annoyed Perth said, "Look, KSL has been one of our affiliates for 40 years and we value that relationship."
The fact is that there isn't much CBS can do to bend KSL to its will. It can make KSL's life more difficult when it comes to pre-emptions - refusing to allow a delayed broadcast of regular programming if KSL airs a basketball game, for example.
It can threaten to sever the affiliation itself, but that's not going to happen unless KSL dumps a lot more network programming.
Should KSL do that, CBS could conceivably go elsewhere. The most obvious choice, KXIV-Ch. 14, is also highly unlikely. CBS wouldn't want to trade KSL's strong VHF signal for KXIV's weak UHF signal.
But networks have been known to play local stations off against each other. It's not unthinkable (but it is sheer speculation) that top-rated CBS could court, say, KUTV, whose affiliation with third-place-and-falling NBC isn't particularly valuable these days.
But things would have to get a whole lot worse for something like that to happen.
UNCLEAR MESSAGE? While KSL is seeking to send a clear message to CBS by pulling "Picket Fences," not everyone at the network seems to have gotten that message.
KSL is hoping that its action will be interpreted as a protest against sexually oriented, bizarre portrayals on the network.
There's no question that "Fences" pushes if not exceeds the limits of what's acceptable on the network, with plots that have openly sexual themes.
But what set off LDS Church-owned KSL was an episode the network aired this past Friday. In it, a teenage girl becomes pregnant as the result of incest, and the perpetrator identifies himself as a polygamist Mormon.
When a judge on the show points out that the LDS Church renounced polygamy in 1890, the character says that many Mormons still believe in the practice.
The program, which airs on the network Fridays at 9 p.m. MST, is a quirky drama created by Emmy-winner David E. Kelley that follows the unusual - often downright bizarre - goings-on in a small town in Wisconsin.
KSL executives spent much of last week negotiating with CBS, proposing changes in the episode and urging the network to air a disclaimer making the LDS Church's position clear.
But those negotiations broke down when CBS didn't come through - and when top-level KSL executives sat down and watched some past episodes.
KSL maintains that they've been concerned about the show since it premiered in September.
"We've been talking with them about it for months," said Reese. "This (episode) was just the straw that broke the camel's back."
But at CBS, the message isn't as clear-cut as KSL obviously hopes. A CBS Entertainment executive, who agreed to speak only if he was not identified, expressed the belief that KSL's actions came as a result of a single episode - the one with the Mormon theme.
And he questioned why KIRO-TV in Seattle - KSL's sister station (it's also owned by Bonneville International) - has not canceled the show.
(KIRO did not air last Friday's episode - it was pre-empted by the station's broadcast of a Seattle SuperSonics game. And, according to KIRO officials, the station is currently considering whether to continue carrying the program.)
Asked if he thought his message had been received, Reese said. "I don't know. But this is something we felt we had to do."
DIFFERENT POINTS OF VIEW: One thing is certain - CBS and KSL have diametrically opposed views on this series. Just days ago, Howard Stringer, the president of the network, called it a "brilliantly written show."
CBS Entertainment President Jeff Sagansky was more effusive.
"Personally, my favorite hour ever on television was `St. Elsewhere.' And I read these `Picket Fences' scripts and I look at the show, and it's the best show on, at least for my money, since `St. Elsewhere,' " he said. "I just think . . . it's unusual, it's offbeat and it's unpredictable. And it's incredibly well-acted and produced.
"You know, when something like that comes along, you hang on to it."
He insisted that despite the fact that "Fences" has struggled in the Nielsens (it ranks 72nd for the season-to-date), "We've been very pleased with the ratings so far. . . . I think it's going to have a long life on our network."
Just not on KSL.
KSL did hold out the hope that the show might return to the station at some point.
"If the producers decide to get rid of the focus on the bizarre and the aberrant, we might reconsider our decision," said William Murdoch, KSL's vice president and general manager, in a formal statement released by the station.
Of course, it's those "bizarre and aberrant" qualities that CBS likes.
NO ALTERNATIVE: Some callers have wondered if CBS wouldn't let independent KXIV air "Fences."
That isn't something that will happen soon.
KXIV is still awaiting FCC approval for Larry Miller's purchase of the station, and pending that approval - while in this sort of limbo state - Ch. 14 is in no position to strike such a deal.
(Approval of the sale is expected at any time.)
FINALLY, A TITLE: ABC's long-in-the-works Sunday news magazine finally has a title: "Day One."
The Forrest Sawyer-anchored hour debuts Feb. 14 at 7 p.m., bumping "America's Funniest Home Video" and "America's Funniest People" each back an hour, to 6 p.m. and 6:30 p.m., respectively.
"Life Goes On" will be off the schedule, and the chances of it returing are very slim.
In addition to the scheduling problem brought on by this ABC news magazine, one of "Life's" lead actors is bailing out at the end of the season.
Tony-winning actress Patti Lupone, who plays Libby on the show, will be starring in Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical adaptation of "Sunset Boulevard."
And speaking of "Life Goes On," how about a big round of jeers to KTVX-Ch. 4 for pre-empting last Sunday's episode for a Utah Winter Games special.
Once again, Ch. 4 seems not to be cognizant of continuing story lines that are interrupted by such pre-emptions.
If you're going to pre-empt something, how about making if those dreadful "America's Funniest Home Videos" and "America's Funniest People?"