Networks Plan Big Week Of Television

The broadcast networks will try something radically different this coming TV season debuting their new series during debut week.

After years of early starts, double pumps, special previews and other scheduling stunts and bells and whistles, nearly all shows on all four broadcast networks are debuting in their regular time slots. And, on the Big Three, nearly all shows are debuting in the first week of the 1995-96 TV season, Sept. 18-24.

“It doesn’t matter,” said Preston Beckman, NBC senior vice president program planning and scheduling, of early starts. “Good shows find an audience.”

NBC is sticking most closely to the debut week in its rollout, unveiling all primetime series on five nights - Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday - and most of Saturday’s schedule during the first week of the season, saving only Friday night for Oct. 20.

CBS will debut most of its primetime lineup in debut week, including all of its Monday, Tuesday, Friday and Saturday schedules and most of its Thursday lineup; the eye network will jump its Wednesday and Sunday slates by a week.

ABC will run slightly less than half of its debuts in debut week.

Fox continues to roll out most of its schedule early; only two of its series - “The X-Files” and “Space: Above and Beyond” - are kicking off in the first week of the season. And three series, “Party of Five,” “Too Something” and “Misery Loves Company,” will start late.

“The failure rate of shows that premiered early is no better nor worse than shows that don’t,” Beckman said.

While acknowledging that the potential for viewer confusion is “staggering” when special previews come into play, ABC senior vice president for program planning and scheduling Alan Sternfeld said there’s still a strong argument for debuting some shows in “ratings challenged time periods or nights” out of time slot or before the start of the season.

That’s the rationale behind the decision to premiere Thursday’s “The Monroes” away from NBC’s “Seinfeld” and “Murder One” away from NBC’s “ER,” he said.

ABC also decided to debut its Sunday schedule a week early in order to start the week after Emmy Sunday and help “Lois & Clark” - in one of the most tightly contested hours of television - get a jump on its new competition, CBS’ “Cybill” and NBC’s “Mad About You.” However, CBS reacted by moving its Sunday schedule debut a week early as well.

The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Lisa de Moraes The Hollywood Reporter