Fall schedule reflects U.S. conservatism. Number of new TV series increased. (21 Years Ago in VideoAge).

In American television, as in American politics, conservatism has returned with a vengeance.

It is said that the new TV series on the primetime schedules on all three U.S. commercial networks, ABC, CBS and NBC this season reflect the view that the power of President Ronald Reagan represents a deep conservative current in the national mood.

Thus, the networks have responded to that mood with more law-and-order police dramas, more familiar stars out of television's past, more wholesome family values and less sexual titillation and innuendos.

There is, for example, Robert (The Untouchables) Stack starring as a police captain, Mike (Mannix) Connors as an agent for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Rock Hudson, Lee Majors and Angie Dickinson (Police Woman) as private investigators, James (Gunsmoke) Arness as yet another policeman and Lorne (Bonanza) Greene as the father of a family of firefighters. Add to that list several more new cop/detective dramas with lesser-known stars and other new series starring Tony Randall, James Garner, Gabe Kaplan and even Jane Wyman, whose television credits go back to the General Electric Theater of the l950s, a series hosted by Ronald Reagan himself.

The rise of traditional authority figures and the disappearance of swinging situation comedies (sitcoms), has been increasingly encouraged by the Moral Majority. This powerful coalition of citizen groups has threatened to boycott the products of advertisers who sponsor objectionable" programs--meaning programs containing sex or violence. How all the new action series will handle that pressure remains to be seen. The task may prove even more difficult for this season's two new imitators of Dallas (Falcon Crest and king's Crossing) in the racy prime-time soap opera genre. A survey of 15 major U.S. advertising agencies by the investment banking firm A.G. Becker in New York found the agencies predicting substantially lower ratings for several returning shows this season, including Dallas, "based on the belief that the shows will be sanitized of sexual content and violence in response to criticism from [sponsors] responding to Moral Majority."

The International Scene

For the most part, however, international program distributors seem relatively pleased with the content of the new shows. For the first time in five years, one-hour drama series outnumber half-hour comedies on the network schedules. As Bert Cohen, senior vice president of international sales for Worldvision Enterprises, puts it, "As a general rule, action-adventure and drama with big-name stars are always more in demand than topical American comedy."

Also encouraging to international distributors is the increase in the number of new series overall: last fall the networks premiered 16 new series; this fall they plan to premiere 23. CBS is bringing on five new shows this fall and has picked up the Walt Disney series from NBC for a total of six additions to its schedule, the same number it added last fall. ABC is introducing eight new shows (versus five last fall) and NBC ten (also versus five last fall). Both ABC and NBC have eliminated a weekly two-hour movie slot and replaced it with series.

While there will be plenty of new product for the distributors to talk about, two large questions remain: how soon will that product be available, and how long will it last? A 13-week writers' strike this spring and summer has delayed the production of most series, especially the new ones, which in turn will delay premieres here and sales abroad. Viacom's Rock Hudson series, for example, won't go on NBC's schedule until late November, while Angie Dickinson's

Jameson Parker, l., and Gerald McRaney star as two brothers who operate a detective agency, in "Simon & Simon," a new series on CBS. the hour-long adventure drama is given a "fair" chance by top network-buying agencies toward renewed beyond its 13-week trial period.