Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, November 4, 1995 TAG: 9511030030
SECTION: SPECTATOR PAGE: S-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BILL KEVENEY THE HARTFORD COURANT
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
It's easy to get lost out there.
With a record 42 new shows - 43 of them seemingly based on the NBC hit ``Friends'' - a time-slot shell game and the interruptions of post-season baseball and the O.J. Simpson deluge, many viewers may not know what they're watching, let alone whether they like it.
And, even if they do find an appealing show, it might have a generic title that makes it virtually indistinguishable from a schedule full of other similar-sounding shows.
``People can't tell the difference, from `Can't Hurry Love' to `If Not For You' to `Almost Perfect' to `Pursuit of Happiness' to `Partners,''' said Dorothy Swanson, president and founder of the advocacy group Viewers for Quality Television.
In some cases, certain words are duplicated, whether it is ``love,'' as in ``Can't Hurry Love,'' ``Brotherly Love'' or ``Misery Loves Company,'' or various descriptions of shelter, including TV veterans such as ``Full House'' (canceled last spring) and ``Home Improvement,'' and newcomers such as ``Bless This House,'' ``In the House,'' ``Courthouse'' and ``The Home Court.''
``If you counted up the new and continuing shows, there are 60 sitcoms. There's no way anybody ... can keep track of all those sitcoms,'' said Alex McNeil, who tries to accomplish just that task in his regularly updated TV reference book, ``Total Television.''
Swanson said the bland similarity of titles symbolizes what she and group members believe is a shallow new sitcom schedule, including a frenzy of ``Friends'' copycats.
``It's not only the names of the shows. The stories, the characters, the plots all seem interchangeable,'' said Swanson, whose group has praised the quality comedies and dramas introduced in recent years.
In other years, the brevity of ``Maybe This Time'' or ``Minor Adjustments'' might make it easier to remember the shows. But the lack of a distinctive title has become a real problem this year, because there are just so many new shows on so many networks (six, counting the UPN and WB weblets). It's a problem for the networks, too, because many of the shows have lagged in the ratings.
``There is a huge confusion. There's never been more,'' said Paul Schulman, president of the Paul Schulman Co. in New York City, which buys $175 million in network advertising time annually.
This year, many producers were trying to develop shows that appeal to a sophisticated, urban, 18-to-49-year-old demographic. Because the networks choose shows without consulting each other, the similarities among schedules should not be surprising.
Ultimately, shows rise or fall based on good writing, Schulman said, but the lack of a distinctive title can create problems for a viewer who samples the show, likes it, but then forgets when it's on and what it's called.
Even ``Friends'' and ``Mad About You'' might have had tougher times getting sorted out from the pack if they had been introduced this year, Schulman said.
In previous years, when fewer shows were launched at a time, programs such as ``All in the Family'' quickly became recognizable for their plots and characters, and did not suffer any loss of identity due to their simple titles, McNeil said.
Schulman said series titles that feature the star's name, such as ``Roseanne'' or ``Seinfeld,'' or those that describe the main character, such as ``The Nanny,'' give viewers an idea of what the show is about and may help them remember it. (For that matter, some of Shakespeare's comedies, such as ``Measure for Measure'' and ``As You Like It,'' may be harder for the casual reader to identify than tragedies such as ``Hamlet'' or ``Othello,'' which name the main character.)
A show can change its name successfully. ``Ellen,'' the ABC comedy featuring stand-up comedian Ellen DeGeneres, was launched in March 1994 as ``These Friends of Mine.'' That had been the title throughout the show's development, but no one was very happy with it, said Michael DiPasquale, director of advance publicity and television for Walt Disney Television.
When the show was renewed for the 1994 fall season, it was scheduled to follow ``Roseanne,'' and programmers thought switching to the star's name would make it easier to promote the two shows together.
``It was cleaner, it worked, and it defined the show as a starring vehicle'' for DeGeneres, he said.
There may be at least one reason why series titles seem more and more similar. We've seen them before. As prime-time TV ages, it has reached a sobering threshold: series names as reruns, McNeil said.
For example, the new NBC comedy, ``The Pursuit of Happiness,'' shares its name with a short-lived 1987 ABC sitcom. ``The Monroes'' of ABC, which is already off the schedule, may have hope for a TV afterlife, since ``The Monroes'' also was a 1960s ABC western, McNeil said. And, ``ER'' has a predecessor in ``E/R'', a 1984-85 CBS sitcom that also featured George Clooney.
McNeil said he doesn't see TV breaking any time soon from one of its strongest traditions: imitation.
``We had `Friends,' and now we have `Partners' and `The Crew.' We don't have `Associates' or `Comrades,''' McNeil said.
``But I'm sure they're coming in mid-season.''
by CNB