Newsweek CIA. 25 Aug 69 TV-RADIO

Entering the Usts hoopla. As for ABC, innovation has always been the byword—and this season For the better part of the winter, tele- the network is going all out. Under the vision's big three—CBS, NBC and ABC— direction of president Elton Rule—re- immerse their best brains in their respec- cently installed to reverse the network's tive think tanks, perfecting strategies for poor rating posture—ABC has revamped the fall's battle of the ratings. Day aft- virtually its entire schedule. er day, programing staffers closet them- Most secure of the big three, CBS has selves in guarded conference rooms and added only five new shows to its fall stare at large multicolored boards show- repertoire, but the network has juggled ing the competition's tentative sched- its schedule so that each night's line-up ules—as pieced together by their elabo- differs from last year. Behind the jug- rate spy system. "These meetings," says gling is the CBS tradition of parceling out Marc Golden, CBS's director of program new shows one to a night. Sunday, how- development (and a former CIA agent), ever, became an unexpected exception "have all the internal dynamics of a cru- because of the Smothers brothers' cele- cible." Out of this furnace pops the net- brated clash with the network brass. Re- works' newly forged fall format for prime placing the smothered brothers is the time—the crucial three and a half hours brand-new "Leslie Uggams Show" which, Newsweek—Robert R. McElroy each night of the week on which cor- along with an earlier new entry—"To ABC's Pompadur at the big board porate profits can ride to new heights Rome, With Love"—will buttress the 22- or skid into the red. year-old Ed Sullivan fest. ("Rome" was with "The Jackie Gleason Show," and But for all the pain and paranoia, each placed in its time slot to offer the au- "The Bold Ones" hopes to outdraw "Mis- network has a basic philosophy on pro- dience an alternative to the children's sion: Impossible"). Some CBS officials graming. At CBS (which last year ended shows on the other networks—Walt Dis- sneer at NBC's ploy as a "tactical mis- neck and neck with NBC for top spot in ney on NBC and ABC's "Land of the take," but NBC's Herbert S. Schlosser, the industry's Nielsen charts) the name Giants.") vice president in charge of programing, of the game is bloc planning—.that is, Smart Moves: Although CBS "expects maintains: "You go against strength with putting programs that project the same to win laurels in every area," the net- more strength." Another NBC power mood back to back. "We would never work comes up strongest on Wednesday isolate play pits the new "Bill Cosby Show" a program of one type," says through Saturday nights. The network's against the venerable Ed Sullivan hour. programing head Michael Dann. CBS's most highly touted entry is the "Jim Changes: Hoping for an advantage, Saturday night schedule is a case in Nabors Hour" (Thursday, 8 p.m., EST), ABC waited until both CBS and NBC point. To catch the eye of the Saturday a brand-new variety program that will had announced their line-ups before re- night stay-at-home, CBS will offer a har- compete with NBC's "Ironside" and vealing its own schedule. "The other two monious trio of half-hour situation corn- ABC's popular "That Girl" and "Be- networks were in such hot competition edies—"My Three Sons," "Green Acres" witched." Leading into the new Nabors with each other," says Martin Pompadur, and "Petticoat Junction." show is "Family Affair," which was ABC's director of programing, "that they At NBC, however, the philosophy has moved over from another night in keep- totally discounted us." The delayed an- generally emphasized specials (a term ing with CBS's principle of scheduling nouncement gave ABC at least one late that has come to mean any single-shot new shows next to strong old ones. starter: when NBC's line-up did not in- production) and the excitement and va- In several time slots during the com- clude "The Ghost and Mrs. Muir," ABC riety that result from dropping them in- ing season, NBC plans to meet CBS's quickly bought the half-hour comedy to the regular schedule. This season, strength head-on. Three brand-new NBC and pitted it against CBS's proven win- NBC has loaded its line-up with 100 shows are slated to slug it out mono a such offerings—ranging from . an ambi- ner, "Family Affair" (on Thursday, 7:30 mano with three CBS top draws ("Then p.m., EST). Although "Ghost" was less tious rendering of Dickens's "David Came Bronson" challenges "HaWaii Copperfield" to an hour of Herb Alpert than a smash last season, ABC is con- Five-O"; the "Andy Williams Show" vies vinced it can be salvaged. "NBC missed the boat," says one ABC executive. "They had too much romance in it. We're going to put more comedy in it." ABC's cleanest schedule sweep is Mon- day night with nothing but new shows. Taking up its first one and a half hours are two 45-minute programs—"The Music Scene" and "The New People"—both of Which hope to lure the under-30 audi- ence away from NBC's front runner, "Laugh-In." Filling out the evening for ABC are two new sex-oriented programs —"The Survivors" (a Harold Robbins novel written for television), starring George Hamilton, Lana Turner and Kevin McCarthy, and "Love, American Style." "It's unconventional, it may fall fiat on its face, but we at•least try to do something different," says Pompadur in a not-so- subtle swipe at CBS's tried-and-true Monday fare—featuring "Gunsmoke," "Here's Lucy" and the "Doris Day Show." Along with its accent on youth Locked into their time slots: NBC's Cosby, CBS's Nabors, ABC's 'Survivors' ("Mod Squad," "Flying Nun" and "Tom 52 Newsweek