ABC Ready for Smaller Dose of 'Reality' for Comedy, Drama
ABC executives rolled out their "Happy Hour" campaign a year ago as a way to boost ratings with blocks of prime-time family comedies reminiscent of the network's signature shows of old.
But when "Happy Hour" fell short, the network's programming took a swift and saucy turn with such "reality" fare as "Are You Hot? The Search for America's Sexiest People." Although the network, owned by Walt Disney Co., was hoping to capitalize on the success of other unscripted shows, ABC's viewers, advertisers and affiliate station owners were turned off.
ABC now has sobered up.
"I would give us a slap on the face for doing all this reality stuff," said ABC Entertainment Chairman Lloyd Braun, who is responsible for the network's prime-time schedule. "I plead guilty to the charge that we were inconsistent with our strategy."
The network was emboldened by the November success of its unscripted "The Bachelor," Braun said, adding: "Sometimes, when you are on a roll, you stay at the craps table too long."
Two years ago, ABC was widely criticized for gambling too much on "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire." When the game show became a runaway hit, ABC began airing it four nights a week, burning it out and singeing the network's ratings.
Although some TV analysts and advertisers say ABC repeated the mistake by saturating its schedule with unscripted shows, Braun insisted in an interview that the network was simply trying to fill gaps created by failed programs.
"The lesson is that you can't fix everything at once," he said. "We have to exercise a little more patience."
To that end, ABC is reshaping its schedule again in what has become a perennial struggle to attract viewers and woo advertisers. The network will announce its fall lineup next month in New York, when advertisers will begin buying commercial time for the season.
Last year, Braun said, the network expended too much energy producing "Happy Hour" comedies to fill five nights a week between 8 and 9 p.m. That marketing strategy forced the network into scheduling and developing shows built around a slogan, he said.
"You can't be rigid," he said. "You've got to be very careful not to put a straitjacket on your schedule."
With "Happy Hour," network executives wanted to deliver a message that ABC had found its way home, back to a time when ABC thrived with such wholesome hits as "Happy Days" and "Laverne & Shirley" in the '70s, "Roseanne" in the late '80s and "Home Improvement" in the '90s. No longer, ABC executives promised, would the network try to copy NBC's success with edgy urban comedies.
