'Roots' Redux: TV Miniseries Make Comeback.

IN a high-stakes gamble to bring back large audiences, all four major TV networks are about to unleash hundreds of millions of dollars worth of miniseries.

The onslaught of programs -- each one about four hours long and roughly costing $15 million to $40 million to produce -- will commence with the November sweeps and continue well into 2000.

"It's terrifying; it's an enormous risk," admitted Lindy DeKoven, an NBC executive vice president in charge of miniseries. "(Miniseries) are a lot of money. If it turns out the country didn't watch, you've laid a big egg."

The initial test will come on Sunday, Nov. 7, as CBS and NBC both roll out four-hour miniseries they hope will crush their broadcast competitors, draw viewers away from cable and the Internet, and promote their regularly scheduled shows.

CBS is rolling the dice with "Shake, Rattle & Roll," a musical tale about the birth of rock music that features many classic songs of the era performed by contemporary artists. Legends like Carole King and Bob Dylan have provided new material for the movie.

NBC is turning to fantasy -- "The Magical Legend of the Leprechauns," the mystical tale of a weary businessman who looks for rest in the quiet Irish countryside, only to be drawn into the world of leprechauns and fairies. It stars Randy Quaid, Whoopi Goldberg and Roger Daltry.

A week later, CBS unleashes a special-effects disaster miniseries, "Aftershock: Earthquake in New York."

ABC enters the fray in February with a four-hour biography on the Beach Boys, which began shooting last week. Fox, which has shunned miniseries in the past, has several in the works slated to air next year, including "Journey to Mars," a sci-fi yarn produced by "Titanic" director James Cameron.

"The bar has been raised by cable," said Marci Pool, Fox senior vice president for movies and miniseries. "You need to be bigger and better to compete."

The coming wave will be far more expensive and lavish than the multi-part TV movies that aired a decade ago. That's because the stakes are now higher, with networks facing growing competition.

"Miniseries are a way to extend viewership," said Steve Cesinger, an analyst at Los Angeles investment bank Greif & Co. "It gives network TV an edge over cable. These days their job is to get people back to the set. But the whole issue isn't just cable and the 500-channel universe. With the Internet, it's the billion-channel universe."

Facing that threat, network executives are driven to come up with something big, even phenomenal.

"You can't program women-in-jeopardy movies any more," said Pool. "We realized that if you are a broadcaster, you always need other kinds of programs. Theatrical movies are too expensive and are inconsistent performers. You need to put something on that is original. If you pick the right subject matter, you can enjoy success. Fox wants to be in the event business."

And networks are hoping that viewers, once enticed by the miniseries, will stay tuned for other shows.

"It's become the flagship for your sweeps," said Sunta Izzicupo, CBS senior vice president of movies for television and miniseries. "You build your entire schedule around them."

Indeed, miniseries are as much a program-marketing tool as they are a ratings-juicing vehicle.

"The networks need major vehicles to use as places to advertise and promote their schedules. They've got to get people in to eat their meat and potatoes," said Jerry Isenberg, a former TV movie producer and ABC executive.

As an economic model, the miniseries can be a highly valuable commodity. Advertisers pay premium prices to buy time, often 30 percent higher than during regularly scheduled programming. That's because they tend to draw audiences that are larger and more upscale than those viewing regular programming.

"It draws masses to an event," said Tim Spengler, a media buyer for Los Angeles-based Western Initiative Media. "It leaves cable in the dust. A well-received event is not paralleled by cable."

As a result, miniseries tend to make money, despite their costs.

Robert Halmi, who is producing "Leprechauns" for NBC and widely considered the reigning king of the miniseries, spent nearly $30 million on "Cleopatra."

While ABC paid him only $13 million, Halmi was able to recoup his shortfall through overseas sales and has said he makes a profit. Although the miniseries about the Egyptian queen was not a smash, ABC said it was a success. "We were very happy with the results," said Susan Lyne, ABC executive vice president for movies and miniseries.

Miniseries have also created new sources of revenue for the networks. NBC pioneered the sales of videos and the soundtrack from its recent miniseries about the 1960s. CBS will be selling the soundtrack to "Shake, Rattle & Roll."

"We own everything," said Izzicupo of CBS.

While networks are finding new ways to exploit miniseries, the format has been around for decades. They first came into vogue in the 1970s after the success of such British series on PBS as "The Forsythe Saga," "Upstairs, Downstairs," and "Civilization."

But it wasn't until ABC's broadcast of "Rich Man, Poor Man" and "Roots" that the format flowered. In 1978, NBC aired "Centennial," a 24-hour spectacular that cost $20 million.

But then they began to fade in the late 1980s.

"It's cyclical," said Orly Adelson, a TV movie producer who has developed several miniseries. "It's like true crime stories, which are fading away. Eight years ago, the miniseries went away, an now they are back."

But the risks are greater than ever. "Timing has to be right," NBC's DeKoven said. "You have to know your audience. You have to anticipate trends and the mood of the country."

DeKoven attributes the success of NBC's "Noah's Ark" partially to the country's malaise surrounding President Clinton's sexual dalliances with Monica Lewinsky. "The miniseries was spiritual and uplifting and made you feel good to watch," she said. "It became part of the healing process."

DeKoven is credited with pioneering the trend toward super-lavish miniseries with films like "Gulliver's Travels" and "Merlin."

But some question whether DeKoven might have gone too far with the 10-hour miniseries "The 10th Kingdom" that NBC plans to air over four nights in February. It's a fantasy saga in which Snow White meets Cinderella, starring Camryn Manheim and Ann-Margret.

If the first night doesn't hook the audience, NBC could be wiped out for an entire week.

"I am intrigued that they are trying to do something that ambitious," said ABC's Lyne. But she is developing a project nearly as ambitious: a six-hour miniseries called "Dinotopia," which she describe as "Jurassic Park meets Atlantis," a tale of shipwrecked family that discovers a lost island filled with dinosaurs.

Whether a miniseries is ultimately successful rests primarily with the story, not the length. But even with good stories, the networks run a risk by airing so many miniseries over such a short period of time.

"Just how many miniseries can you program before they burn out and become just more of the same?" Lyne said. "The whole reason for an event miniseries is to capture people's attention. They feel bigger. If you start having eight miniseries in a row, it suddenly doesn't feel so special."