Television Programming

With substantially lowered production expectations, KCET-TV Channel 28 on Tuesday adopted a $42.5-million budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1--the first under the leadership of its new president and chief executive officer, Al Jerome. Just $8.7 million is being budgeted by Los Angeles' flagship public television station for the core productions area--primarily $1.

The Federal Communications Commission, whose former chairman once labeled television a "vast wasteland," is now hoping to augment the medium's role as a classroom. After months of wrangling, FCC Chairman Reed Hundt now has enough votes to pass a guideline that would effectively require broadcasters to program a minimum of three hours a week of educational programming aimed at children.

It's the V-chip redux. Just as pressure from politicians and the public forced the TV industry to capitulate in its opposition to a ratings system that would help parents guide their children's viewing habits, it now appears that broadcasters are losing ground in the battle to stave off how much educational programming they must provide for youngsters.

If the entertainment industry is built on relationships, then it perhaps logically follows that, in setting the networks' prime-time schedules, who you know--and what they may owe you--often precedes how good your show is. Television industry insiders maintain that commitments made to stars and studios even before prototypes for their series were produced had as much to do with what was scheduled for September as the goal of putting on the best programs.

It pretty much came down to "Dragnet" vs. "NYPD Blue." Jack Valenti, head of the Motion Picture Assn. of America, defended the moral lessons and downplayed the sometimes steamy visuals of the latter, while Ralph Reed, executive director of the Christian Coalition, waxed nostalgically about the straight-arrow style and on-screen propriety of the former. "I think 'NYPD Blue' is the finest-crafted show on television," Valenti said.

It had to happen eventually. After several television seasons in which an astonishing variety of people decided to host syndicated talk shows for fun and profit--comedians and faded movie stars, a best-selling author, a former Planned Parenthood president, the onetime mayor of Cincinnati--the twilight of talk is descending. All of the nine shows that debuted last fall, many of them "Ricki Lake" clones with precocious young hosts, have been yanked.

I know a lot of people will be relieved to hear that the early word on the fall prime-time season is: "It's going to be a safe one." After being assaulted this past season by programming that set new lows for standards of taste and decency, it's a natural reaction. We all needed a break. So, anticipating a brave new Big Brotherly world of V-chips and ratings, the four major networks--ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC--have apparently decided to make nice in prime time.

There are days, Doug Herzog admits, when he wishes that the cable network he runs was named Mildly Amusing Central instead of Comedy Central. Being the medium's only all-comedy channel is both a blessing and a curse. "You can do almost anything within the genre of comedy, and we're positioning ourselves as an edgier alternative to broadcast shows," said Herzog, president of the channel since last July. "But what's funny is subjective, and comedy is very hard to do."

Inflaming its rivalry with Walt Disney Co., NBC has snagged a second series from Disney's ABC television network, picking up "The Naked Truth." The Brillstein-Grey comedy, starring Tea Leoni, aired on ABC last season. In April, NBC surprised the television community by picking up for Monday night "The Jeff Foxworthy Show," another Brillstein-Grey comedy that aired on ABC last season. ABC canceled "Foxworthy," but it had placed a 13-episode order for "The Naked Truth" as a midseason backup show.