CBS PRESIDENT EMPHASIZES CHANGING FACE OF TV.

Byline: David Kronke TV Writer

CBS may be riding high in the ratings in prime time, but that didn't prevent Les Moonves, president and CEO of CBS Television, from his usual pugnacity and feistiness in his press conference during the semiannual TV Press Tour in Pasadena. In contrast to the diplomacy that other network executive press conferences follow, Moonves took potshots at the other networks and offered up other colorful observations about the state of television in the year 2000.

Moonves began by introducing three other top CBS executives - Andrew Heyward of CBS News, Nancy Tellem of the network's entertainment arm and Sean McManus of the sports division - by explaining he didn't want reporters to get ``tired of seeing the same two people'' in the programming department. He then added, referring to the other networks' recent turnover in top management positions, ``Actually, at the other networks, you never see the same two people.''

Moonves suggested the recent departure of Lindy DeKoven, who left NBC Saturday night after running the network's TV movie division, is because NBC's upcoming 10-hour miniseries ``The 10th Kingdom'' is ``a dog.'' He added, ``If I had 10 hours of TV that wasn't very good, I'd get rid of the executive responsible early so I had someone to blame.'' He said that ``CBS has never been dominated by one producer who provided bad special effects,'' referring to ``Kingdom'' producer Robert Halmi, who has also produced other expensive but low-rated miniseries for NBC such as ``Leprechauns.''

More seriously, Moonves spoke of his hopes for CBS' upcoming midseason series ``City of Angels,'' a multiethnic drama set in a Los Angeles hospital. Last year, the NAACP decried the lack of racial diversity in network television casts, and this series, from ``NYPD Blue'' collaborators Steven Bochco and Paris Barclay, will be an important test to see if mainstream audiences will warm to a show with a predominantly minority cast.

``It is more than just a television show,'' Moonves said. Though development of minority-themed series has increased since the NAACP complained about the dearth of African-American roles on TV, should ``City of Angels'' not click with viewers, he conceded, ``I don't know if it will kill the genre, but it will set it back. Unfortunately, that's true.''

``This one is becoming more symbolic than it should,'' Moonves said, adding that the series is more correctly characterized as multicultural than strictly African-American in its concerns. ``We do have to get beyond that this is a black hospital show.''

Moonves said that given the show's time slot - 8 p.m. Wednesdays, a traditionally weak point on CBS' schedule - ``It doesn't have to be an instant hit.'' The network plans to give viewers time to find the series.

Moonves added that he had met with several minority groups on Tuesday and an announcement was forthcoming on CBS' official policy for bringing more actors of color to the TV screen. NBC and ABC have already detailed plans for integrating the TV landscape, but Moonves said, ``We were out in front of this issue. ... CBS by far in terms of having people before the camera is ahead of everyone else.''

Close scrutiny of CBS' news division put Heyward on the defensive. Both the network's evening news and recently retooled morning news package, ``The Early Show,'' have suffered from fallow ratings, but Heyward declared that no personnel changes were in the offing.

``Both operations are fundamentally very sound,'' Heyward said. ``The evening news program is solid as a rock editorially.''

He added that ``The Early Show'' has ``done a terrific job of mounting a credible, competent and competitive program. The cycle has not favored our program, but I give them credit for getting us on the playing field.''

Heyward also defended Jane Clayson, co-anchor of ``The Early Show'' with Bryant Gumbel, who was roundly criticized in reviews of the show of not holding her own with her colleague.

``I think Jane's doing great - she took on a daunting challenge,'' Heyward said. ``She started strong and is getting stronger, and her rapport with Bryant will continue to evolve and grow. You can't artificially cast the show - 'Send me someone perky and feisty.' You have to let the relationship evolve. But as far as Bryant dominating her - I don't think that's true.''

CBS also took a critical hit for digitally altering images in its broadcasts of ``The Early Show'' and its news coverage of New Year's Eve in Times Square - a CBS logo was digitally superimposed over an NBC logo. Critics charged that this alters viewers' perceptions of reality, something TV news organizations should not be in the business of doing.

``It was a close call, and we did debate it,'' Heyward said. ``Reasonable people can agree to disagree on this issue as to whether it was appropriate. ... I don't think signage in Times Square affected a news story.''

Moonves interjected that he could imagine the NBC logo being part of a CBS news story: ``If someone used the NBC logo to commit a murder, we wouldn't cut it out.''

Moonves also repeated his earlier criticism of the prime-time game show phenomenon, even though his network has followed ABC's wild success with ``Who Wants to Be a Millionaire'' by developing its own quiz shows.

``I don't think it's good for television,'' he said. ``But am I jealous (of ABC's success)? Absolutely.''

McManus of CBS Sports noted that football ratings for the network were up 3 percent, even though the network had based much of its coverage on the assumption - disastrously wrong, as it turned out - that the Denver Broncos and New York Jets would be powerhouse teams this season. ``That proves that of all sports, nothing is as dominant as NFL Football,'' McManus said. ``It bodes extremely well for us in the future.''

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Photo: ``City of Angels,'' CBS' new medical drama premiering at 8 p.m. Sunday, features a predominantly minority cast.