NEWS & NOTES : NETWORKS FIND MIXED MESSAGES ON WHAT VIEWERS LIKE, DISLIKE.Byline: Daily News Wire Services Aside from the obvious - that ``ER'' and ``Seinfeld'' are unmatchable successes - the first week of the new television season left most network executives groping grope v. groped, grop·ing, gropes v.intr. 1. To reach about uncertainly; feel one's way: groped for the telephone. 2. for indications of what viewers really like, and what they really, really don't like. Some early signs already have been smudged. After Week 1, for example, it looked as if NBC NBC in full National Broadcasting Co. Major U.S. commercial broadcasting company. It was formed in 1926 by RCA Corp., General Electric Co. (GE), and Westinghouse and was the first U.S. company to operate a broadcast network. had severely dented CBS' four-comedy block on Monday with its ``League of Their Own'' lineup of female comedies. But the early news from Week 2 was that NBC's Monday comedies, most of which are despised by critics, fell backward in a big way. That was the second bit of unhappy news for NBC, which sailed through much of the first week looking as if it were heading for an even more dominant season. NBC threw a monster Thursday at its competitors, with live ``ER'' and a new ``Seinfeld'' that actually set records for that now venerable show. But Sunday night Sunday Night, later named Michelob Presents Night Music, was an NBC late-night television show which aired for two seasons between 1988 and 1990 as a showcase for jazz and eclectic musical artists. , NBC's new comedies, ``Men Behaving Badly'' and ``Jenny,'' trailed all three other networks, even among the young viewers NBC has declared the Holy Grail of television. Still, it was far from the worst network news of the week. ABC ABC in full American Broadcasting Co. Major U.S. television network. It began when the expanding national radio network NBC split into the separate Red and Blue networks in 1928. lost several million viewers from its premiere week last year. That network did have one new comedy, ``Dharma dharma (där`mə). In Hinduism, dharma is the doctrine of the religious and moral rights and duties of each individual; it generally refers to religious duty, but may also mean social order, right conduct, or simply virtue. and Greg,'' which scored hitlike numbers its first time out. But ABC got clobbered on Saturday, its Tuesday was hit hard by NBC, and Thursday went completely to the devil. The network's widely praised new drama about a Catholic priest, ``Nothing Sacred,'' was the lowest-rated show on any network. Just to rub it in, four more advertisers, responding to protests from conservative Catholic groups, announced this week that they were pulling their commercials. CBS (Cell Broadcast Service) See cell broadcast. had the most up-and-down week of any network. Depressed after Monday, CBS was pleased with how well its ``Country Music Awards'' did Wednesday and thrilled by how ``Promised Land,'' another religious-themed show, buried ``Nothing Sacred'' on Thursday. Then came Friday, where CBS' expensive gambit of buying two former hits from ABC's TGIF TGIF abbr. thank God it's Friday lineup is floundering. The results improved slightly for a second week of CBS' best new series on the night, ``The Gregory Hines Gregory Hines (February 14, 1946 – August 9, 2003) was a Tony Award-winning American actor, singer, dancer, and choreographer. Born Gregory Oliver Hines Show.'' But CBS returned to strength on Saturday and Sunday and was buoyed by a comeback for its comedies on Monday, which easily beat NBC's. That left Fox, whose performance has been basically steady, especially with those precious younger viewers. Fox's most promising new show, ``Ally McBeal,'' has declined but is still doing better than comedies Fox had last year. But ``The Visitor,'' its new sci-fi show on Friday, sagged badly in its second outing. |
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