MONDAY,AUG.19,2002
NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN • 15D
Networks focus on 'comfort TV'
By Frazier Moore
AP Television Writer
NEW YORK (AP) — If you had been strolling on Fourth Avenue in Manhattan one morning last week, you might have come upon "NYPD Blue," visiting from Los Angeles to shoot location scenes.
Deployed along a city block were Dennis Franz (Detective Sipowicz), several of his co-stars plus police cars and ambulances all waiting in the heat for the cameras to roll.
Even with summer still in force — at 8 a.m., this day already was sweltering — the television industry has resumed production for fall, and there could be no more reassuring sign of it than seeing New York's (fictional) Finest back on the streets.
Granted, "NYPD Blue" entering its 10th season lacks the creative vigor it once had. The show is like a cop near retirement, hanging on to make his pension. After all this time, he's seen it all. And so has the seasoned "NYPD Blue" viewer, long past the point of being surprised by the show that used to pack surprises every week.
But that isn't bad. That's "comfort TV," which last season became the networks' favorite buzzword and, now, their obsession, as they start the new season in a climate of fear.
TV is nothing if not a mirror of society and, society-wide, fear is in vogue. No wonder. If you believe the news this summer, not only is your 401(k) a lost cause, but your child needs a personal bodyguard 24/7, and your airline nilot needs a Breathalvizer.
Meanwhile, the collective psyche
of the TV industry is plagued by its own special demons. Eroding audiences. Runaway production costs. Those confounded TIV tvo gadgets that let viewers zap commercials.
In June, Variety reported that despite near-record ad sales in the preseason "upfront," "making money in network television has never been harder. Only two webs (NBC and CBS) turned a profit last year, and the outlook for 2002 isn't much brighter."
In this jittery environment, "comfort TV" must move to the next level. Call it "rescue TV," pulling viewers and networks back from the edge.
At a moment when everyone is feeling preyed upon, ABC's righteous "NYPD Blue" will be joined in prime time by no fewer than 20 crime-and-punishment series — seven of them new.
Playing to a nation that would love to erase the past year and try again, both the WB comedy "Do Over" and ABC's drama "That Was Then" dispatch their heroes to a state of youth where life's mistakes can be corrected and history rewritten.
In tune with a society that feels chronically unnoored, the new CBS drama "Without a Trace" will try to find missing persons while the title character of Fox's "John Doe," who doesn't know who he is, will try to find himself.
A few upcoming series (including NBC's drama "Boomtown," and, from ABC, the Bonnie Hunt sitcom "Life with Bonnie" and the wacky mystery "Push, Nevada") are stirring critical interest. But clearly no one at the networks is looking to revolutionize drama or comedy this fall. A climate of fear breeds lowered expectations — from network and viewer alike.
Perhaps no show reflects more modest hopes than NBC's sitcom "The In-Laws," which reveals TV's new normal to be old hat. A sort of denatural"All in the Family" 30 years later, "The In-Laws" finds winsome but money-strapped newlyweds Matt and Alex moving in with her parents, who are played by brassy Jean Smart and graff Dennis Farina.
"The In-Laws" is meant to charm the audience with its reassuring familiarity. That, Zucker says, is what Tuesday-at-8 on-NBC calls for.
And, odds are, that's what YOU'RE calling for.
You want gut-wrenching drama?
Check your 401(k).
841-PLAY
Adjusting to his "little girl's" marriage has put Dad on edge, and at one point he bolts from the house in a snit.
Bingo! says NBC Entertainment President Jeff Zucker, explaining how this was his aim for the Tuesday-at-8 time period, which in recent years has been a killing field for more inventive fare.
"When your father gets upset he takes long drives," Mom explains. "We once had an argument over daylight-saving time and he was gone for seven hours." Wait a beat for the inevitable punch line: "Or, according to him, eight."
Judging from its pilot, "The In-Laws" defies evaluation as good or bad. Instead, it succeeds at being comfortably predictable, already lodged in the viewer's experience — even sight unseen.
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) Determined to crush rampant bootlegging, Malaysian officials are cracking down on factories suspected of churning out illegally copied movie and music discs.
Officials crack down on pirated media
Authorities have long struggled to stem the tide of pirated CDs that has flooded warehouses and sidewalk stalls in Malaysia, considered a hub for video, music and computer software piracy in Southeast Asia.
MOSCOW(AP) — The United States has urged the Russian government to take stronger action against software piracy, saying Russia has become the world's second largest
producer of counterfeit music and video products after China.
ENTERTAINMENT BRIEFS
The government is increasing the
U. S. Ambassador Alexander Vershbow has asked Russian Press and Mass Media Minister Mikhail Lesin for help investigating plants suspected of producing illegal music and video-discs, the U.S. Embassy said last week.
Russia ranked No.2 in software piracy
number of officers to raid factories believed to produce pirated discs because the problem is "much bigger than initially thought," the New Straits Times newspaper said Saturday, quoting Domestic Trade Minister Muhuid-din Yassin.
Lesin's ministry is the licensing authority for Russian CD and DVD manufacturers.
According to the U.S. Embassy, Russia manufactures over 200 million CDs and DVDs a year, while domestic demand is estimated at 10 million.
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