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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Cosby Giving Television Another Go With Cbs Sitcom

From Wire Reports

Bill Cosby and the Carsey-Werner production team, whose “The Cosby Show” propelled third-place NBC to ratings dominance in the 1980s, will bring a family sitcom to No. 3 CBS next fall.

“This is the place that offered us the most attractive contract,” Cosby said at a Friday news conference. “Not only with dollars, but with people. … It’s also a family feeling here.”

It was the first CBS talent deal announced after Westinghouse Electric Corp.’s $5.4 billion takeover of the tarnished Tiffany Network. The financial terms of Cosby’s “multi-series, multi-episode commitment” were not announced.

Tom Werner said Carsey-Werner’s deal included “an arrangement beyond this which may cover a series or two,” but added, “We do have commitments with other networks and our focus is on making this series work.”

The series, as yet untitled, will be produced in New York City and based on the British series, “One Foot in the Grave.” Cosby said he’ll portray a “curmudgeon, a correctable fool” who is “Archie Bunker without the racism and sexism.”

The CBS deal is also something of a comeback for Cosby’s television career. His revival of the “You Bet Your Life” quiz show died in syndication and his one-hour drama, “The Cosby Mysteries” flopped last season on NBC.

NBC wins sweeps month

While NBC is gleeful about winning its fourth consecutive sweeps-ratings race, the combined Nielsen numbers have to be cause for concern for the Big Three networks.

For the just-concluded November sweeps, a quarterly ratings period used by local stations to set future advertising rates, NBC, ABC and CBS were watched on average by 53 percent of the available audience each night. That’s a 10 percent decline compared to last November, when the Big Three drew 59 percent. Compared to the November 1993 results, the Big Three are off 23 percent.

Some of the decline, at least for this year, can be attributed to CBS’ 24 percent year-to-year ratings plunge. Then, too, there’s the growth of cable. In November 1994, the nation’s cable networks attracted 29 percent of the available viewing audience in prime time. This November, the number jumped to 34 percent.

According to CBS research maven David Poltrack, the networks narrowed their programming focus this fall - they all went after the “Friends” audience - thereby driving some viewers to cable.

NBC was top dog this sweeps period, averaging an 11.9 rating (percentage of the nation’s 95.9 million TV homes) and a 19 share (percentage of the sets in use). ABC averaged an 11.2 rating/18 share, CBS a 9.9/16 and Fox a 7.4/12.

NBC also won in the category of 18 to 49-year-old viewers for the first time since 1989. And the “Tonight” show won its first-ever sweeps against CBS’ “Late Show.”