Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, December 25, 1993 TAG: 9312250161
SECTION: SPECTATOR PAGE: 13 EDITION: HOLIDAY
SOURCE: ERIC MINK NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
From CBS' "60 Minutes" on Sunday to Fox's "Front Page" on Saturdays, the format chugs steadily ahead - three stories and a kicker, three stories and a kicker - albeit with variations in style and personnel.
CBS' "48 Hours," anchored by Dan Rather, arguably is the lone rebel of the bunch. The Wednesday hour (10 p.m. ET) typically includes several pieces of varying lengths that in isolation look an awful lot like magazine efforts.
But all of the stories explore different angles of one larger topic, an approach that usually qualifies as documentary, although the "48 Hours" folks and CBS may fear the "d" word as the kiss of death.
Semantics aside, "48 Hours" is, in fact, the only weekly documentary series on network TV, but it's saddled with several problems.
One is the special responsibility of 10 o'clock shows to help boost the late-news ratings of CBS' affiliated stations. During the important February, May and November ratings periods, for example, stations try to concoct local stories that dovetail with a given week's "48 Hours," no matter how flimsily.
The ideal "48 Hours" topic, therefore, lends itself to heavy promotion by the station throughout prime time, hooks viewers into "48 Hours" at 10 and ultimately carries them into the late local newscasts that follow.
One result: You're not likely to see many foreign-based issues or topics of unusual density or complexity - the ramifications of the GATT treaty, for example - subjected to hour-long treatment on "48 Hours."
The attempt to apply magazine technique to the documentary form produces other difficulties for the program.
The first is the sacrifice of an overall theme and connective tissue that could otherwise link separate stories together in a solidly rooted whole and magnify their impact.
Another problem is perception. The one-subject "48 Hours" approach is unique among prime-time news programs, but the show continues to be lumped in with the seven magazine shows currently on the schedule.
The network seems to play down the very aspect of the show that makes it unique, perhaps fearing the "d" label. The result is that "48 Hours" stories tend to get lost in the torrent of news magazine pieces that pour through the tube on any given week.
The irony is that prime-time documentaries may have had trouble grabbing big audiences, but at least they stood out from the crowd. Sometimes they even earned prestige points for the networks that aired them, and they occasionally made a significant impact on domestic or international policies.
CBS News, in fact, recently has reconstituted its CBS Reports documentary unit, although early plans suggest a primary focus on historical events, not current ones.
Maybe the network figures it has "48 Hours" for its topical material, but if that's so, the program ought to be free to tackle subjects and issues that could be little more ratings-risky.
by CNB