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American Morning
Preview of CBS's and Fox's Fall Lineups
Aired May 16, 2002 - 08:51 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Now we turn to our sneak preview segment, our look at the networks' fall schedules being unveiled this week. First, we take a look CBS, which last week unveiled seven new shows.
Here is CNN's Michael Okwu.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MICHAEL OKWU, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At CBS, drama is king.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "CSI" blew past "ER."
OKWU: Network execs presented advertisers a fall line-up featuring seven new shows, five of which are dramas.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You want to yell at me, too?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Not right now, maybe later.
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KEN TUCKER, "ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: I think it will work to their advantage to get people hooked on hour-long shows if they can, and keep them running through the night.
OKWU: The eye is safely positioned as number two, largely due to successful dramas like "Judging Amy," "The Guardian" and the smash hit "CSI." The network's highest rating drama has produced an eagerly anticipated Monday night spinoff "CSI Miami."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID CARUSO, ACTOR: My name is Horatio Cane (ph). I'm the head of the crime unit.
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OKWU: That show may be poised to launch a franchise for CBS, while resurrecting the small screen career of David Caruso. CARUSO: I think the model is so proven that there is a real temptation to expand, and I wouldn't be shocked if you saw "CSI New Orleans."
OKWU: The buzz here is a network musing about making a run at number one NBC. CBS will showcase dramas from a pair of high-profile feature filmmakers. "RHDLA" comes from "Ali" director Michael Mann, an unconventional police drama set in Los Angeles. Jerry Bruckheimer, who already produces "CSI," will guide its spinoff, as well as the detective mystery "Without a Trace."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We just got a ransom note, and there is proof of life.
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ANTHONY LAPAGLIA, ACTOR: He brings the best, the best editors, the best sound editors, the best production value, the best special effects.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was so afraid you wouldn't remember me.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As if I could possibly forget you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
OKWU: For comedies, "Graham and Alice" and "Still Standing" on Sunday and Monday. Hospital drama "Presidio Med" starring Dana Delaney will air on Mondays and Wednesdays, "Hack" on Friday night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'll mess up your face, and then I'm going to mess up your car, and then just for fun, I'm going to...
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OKWU: CBS is canceling "Family Law" and "Education of Max Bikford." "First Monday" has seen it's last. Still, CBS brass is confident that their new shows will enhance the kind of programming that's made them number two with 18 to 39-year-olds for the first time in almost a decade.
LESLIE MOONVES, CBS ENTERTAINMENT PRES.: We have gotten younger in this past year, and with these shows, we're going to continue in that direction.
OKWU: Experts project CBS could make $250 million more in advertising this year than last year, part of the game plan, along with not being number two.
(END VIDEOTAPE) ZAHN: And Michael joins us now to help us look ahead to later today when the Fox network unveils its fall shows. Some of those shows look good. What does fox have on deck?
OKWU: I'll tell you what's going on, the big news at Fox is the fact that two standbys are no longer going to be on the network. Number one, "Alley McBeal." This was a show that I loved, I have to admit.
ZAHN: Yes, I'm upset about this one.
OKWU: I watched this show every Monday night. I made no plans on Mondays, because I need to get back and watch "Ally." And I will be watching for the last neurosis filled night. This show is going off the air, and they have replace it, and they're going to call David Kelley to the rescue, the $30 million man, and in fact, I'm probably devaluing him, but he's coming up with another show about a trio of professionals living in San Francisco, female women, and you guessed it, they are lawyers, and according to the Fox brass, they say this a show where the women are going to try to make their mark on legal system as well as the opposite sex.
ZAHN: He's so good at that, and he was a former lawyer himself, so he understands all that stuff that goes on in the courtroom.
Now I understand Fox also could be shifting around some of its big shows? Where are they going to plug holes? What are they moving?
OKWU: This is what's going on, "The X Files," another show that was a standby at Fox, huge ratings when it first came out on the scene about nine years ago, I believe. This was the talk of television when it first came out. It is no longer going to be on the air, so they're going to be filling that block with a block of comedies. You want to go back to the roots, they want to start getting those younger viewers that they lost over the course of the past few years.
Fox needs to do something to fix its schedule. It's lost 4 percent of its viewers, an even higher percentage among 18 to 49-year- olds, which is a demographic that Fox owns, so you are going to be seeing shows like "The Bernie Mac Show," which is a very big show people are talking about. It centers around an African-American family, and it's a real crossover hit with whites as well, and they're going to put that up against ABC's show, which is also got a African- American family, and that program is very, very popular, "My Wife and Kids," with Damon Wayans. So it's a real risk. We'll wait to see what happens.
ZAHN: Early buzz on which network has the strongest line-up? Have the critics seen enough of this stuff to be able to make an determination?
OKWU: Critics are saying everybody is playing it safe. They're playing it safe because the advertising market still looks like it soft, and they don't want to alienate advertisers.
ZAHN: Yes, of course you're going to play it safe in this environment. Who wants to take a risk when the advertising dollars aren't out there.
OKWU: I want to see more stuff on HBO, frankly.
ZAHN: Good, we hope it drives the audience to our product. Of course we're all owned by our parent company AOL/Time Warner.
OKWU: Have to get that plug in there.
ZAHN: In the interest of full disclosure, for hyping HBO, we've got to tell them, but we really do like the programming on HBO.
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