ABC BUILDING ON ITS SUCCESS.

Byline: David Kronke Television Writer

Humility, the best use of dry-cleaning bags and who are the better dancers were the themes of the day when Stephen McPherson, president of ABC Entertainment, discussed his network's rising fortunes.

``This network is just at the beginning of rebuilding,'' McPherson told the journalists gathered Tuesday for the Television Critics Association press tour in Beverly Hills.

``This is not about pounding our chest and saying, 'Look at what we did.' Taking that energy (created by last season's success) and applying it to the fall - that'll be our goal.''

Fueled by last season's hits ``Desperate Housewives,'' ``Lost'' and ``Grey's Anatomy,'' ABC has transformed itself from a somnolent also-ran to a network with muscle. And the network will be very aggressive this season, as well, with a large number of midseason series already in the works.

``Midseason, to me, is anytime after fall launch,'' McPherson said, suggesting that some shows could get yanked pretty quickly if they stumble out of the gate.

McPherson insisted he's taking last year's success ``with a grain of salt. The question is, what's next? This is a job where you're judged on what you did last week, not what you did two years ago.''

In addition to the improved programming, McPherson attributed ABC's fortunes to marketing campaigns. ``Marketing is a huge obsession of mine and a huge obsession of the network,'' he said. Last year, the network got a lot of attention for its viral marketing of ``Lost'' - it planted bottles containing messages on beaches - and ``Desperate Housewives,'' which it plugged in part via dry-cleaning bags.

``Expect more of the same,'' McPherson said, adding, ``We look at each show as a project unto itself. We take the old rules and throw them out. You have to keep moving forward.''

This year, some unsuspecting dry-cleaning patrons will, in addition to the bags, be receiving an extra shirt mixed in among their laundry. ``Because those (marketing schemes) worked, it's become really competitive. People are ripping ideas off - it's become that competitive.''

McPherson noted that networks attempting to capitalize on the success of ``Lost'' with serialized science-fiction shows may be missing the point, even though his own network has two fairly similar new series, ``Invasion,'' about alien body-snatchers in a small Florida town, and ``The Night Stalker,'' a reinvention of the '70s series about a reporter investigating paranormal activity.

``There is a danger when shows succeed and people pick them apart and try to find the secret of that success. A lot of times it's just lightning in a bottle, a multitude of elements. Trying to find the reason those serialized dramas are working may be overrated.''

McPherson fielded numerous questions about mild controversies arising from ABC's summer reality series. The network canceled ``Welcome to the Neighborhood,'' a contest in which minority and alternative-lifestyle families compete for a home in a Texas cul-de-sac, before it even aired. Some groups complained about the prejudices expressed by the homeowners who hosted the show and got to pick the winner, and the question arose as to whether allowing such prejudices to be a part of giving away a home was even legal.

``This was our decision,'' McPherson said of scrapping the project. ``If I stopped airing things because of advocacy groups, we would simply run a test pattern. The show was just not right. ... The responsible thing to do is not air it.'' He added that the network was still trying to figure out if the series could be shown in any form.

There was also much discussion about the controversial conclusion of the summer hit ``Dancing With the Stars.'' Many viewers felt that although Kelly Monaco (who stars on the ABC soap ``General Hospital'') and her partner Alec Mazo were named winners, runners-up John O'Hurley and Charlotte Jorgensen clearly gave the best performance on the finale.

McPherson did a little bit of dancing himself around questions of viewers' perceptions that the fix was in to boost an ABC celebrity. Finally, he said, ``Should there be a rematch? Would that satisfy people? Maybe that's what we'll do.''

David Kronke, [phone]

david.kronke(at)dailynews.com

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While John O'Hurley and Charlotte Jorgensen seemed to be fan favorites, they came in second on ``Dancing With the Stars,'' causing some viewers to question the final result.