Networks Look to Stars to Pilot the Season

Bleary-eyed network executives, studio heads, writers and producers are in the last throes of the television industry’s frantic pilot season, as the networks prepare to announce their new prime-time shows for the fall out of the more than 100 candidates that have been developed.

Even as the list was narrowing, some of the projects were still filming over the weekend and this week.

But along with the typical pacing and fretting that developers do during this time of year while waiting to see if their shows will be picked up or kicked out, there is added anxiety: At several of the networks, the odds of making the cut seem longer than ever.

The reason: A significant number of commitments for new series have already been made to various stars and producers.

Performers Bill Cosby, Michael J. Fox, Ted Danson, Mary Steenburgen, Peter Strauss and Bebe Neuwirth, and producers Steven Bochco (“NYPD Blue”), Chris Carter (“The X-Files”) and David E. Kelley (“Chicago Hope”) are among those who have such deals. So does “Clueless,” a series based on the hit Paramount film that starred Alicia Silverstone.

“It just seems to get harder every year--hard to get on the schedule and harder to stay on,” said producer Dick Wolf, who has developed a CBS drama and is waiting to hear whether his Fox show “New York Undercover” and his United Paramount Network series “Swift Justice” will be renewed. “It’s just tougher to get on the networks. This is the toughest pilot season I’ve ever experienced.”

A major studio executive who has several series vying for consideration by the networks added: “It’s a perpetual source of frustration. A number of years ago, the networks were negotiating time slots for successful producers who wanted their shows in a certain spot as a payoff. Now these commitments are being made to these big-ticket performers.”

Such deals are generally made because the networks believe that, in the increasingly competitive TV arena, a marquee name is needed to draw viewers to check a show out. Whether the name is enough to keep audiences interested is another matter: Several shows in the past few years with prominent performers such as Mary Tyler Moore, Martin Short, Delta Burke and Cosby have flopped, while series with a cast of unknowns such as “Friends” have become huge. Still, the networks believe that a major name or a known concept provides valuable insurance to attract an audience.

“It does seem a lot tighter this time around,” said Eric Tannenbaum, executive vice president of TriStar Television. “When there are about 125 pilots competing for a limited number of slots, it just makes it that much harder.”

Others were not so glum, however, pointing out that the upstart Warner Bros. Network and United Paramount Network have opened additional opportunities for producers and studios to market their wares.

And the “guarantees” aren’t always what they seem. A project that isn’t jelling could get pushed back to midseason--as happened this past year with Don Johnson’s “Nash Bridges”--or even scrapped, albeit with hefty penalty payments that the network would have to make to the talent with whom it had deals.

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Network executives are playing their cards close to the vest at this point, not saying one way or the other what shows have the inside track heading into the final stretch. (NBC expects to announce its lineup May 13, with the others following during the ensuing two weeks.) Nevertheless, studio heads, producers and writers say some projects are definitely generating “heat.”

Perhaps the biggest commitment involves CBS’ attachment to Cosby and his American adaptation of the British hit “One Foot in the Grave.” The network, which has been struggling in third place and is in dire need of a hit to help turn things around, has signed a two-year, 44-episode commitment for the series, which is reported to cost about $1 million per episode, nearly twice the price for a typical situation comedy. The show has already undergone major changes in writers and casting, and it is uncertain what form the final project will take.

CBS also has made commitments to a series from DreamWorks SKG, starring Danson and Steenburgen as two divorced newspaper reporters; to “Public Morals,” a comedy from Bochco about a vice unit of the Los Angeles Police Department; and to Peter Strauss in the TriStar pilot “Moloney,” in which he plays a divorced psychiatrist and cop specializing in crisis intervention.

ABC has already committed to at least two series: “Clueless” and producer Kelley’s “The Practice,” about a Boston law firm serving poor clients. In addition, the network says it hopes to fulfill commitments to former “Cheers” star Neuwirth with “Dear Diary,” about a married working mother, and to Michael J. Fox with “Spin,” about a deputy New York mayor.

Meanwhile, the Fox network is said to be ecstatic over a new show from “X-Files” creator Carter called “Millennium,” about an investigator with special psychic gifts, and has made a 13-episode order.

Top-ranked NBC, which is in the best shape this season, has not made any commitments to producers or stars. But the network is said to be very interested in the Carsey-Werner comedy, “Men Behaving Badly,” about two male roommates.

“Just Shoot Me,” with Laura San Giacomo as an unemployed news writer who starts work at her dad’s fashion magazine, and a David Kelley-produced comedy in the vein of “Grumpy Old Men”--starring former “Picket Fences” stars Fyvush Finkel and Ray Walston--are also getting positive word at NBC. Dramas being given a special look include “I.A.,” about a police internal affairs unit, “Bump in the Night,” described as “ ‘X-Files’ Meets ‘Ghostbusters,’ ” and “The Prosecutors,” about three female attorneys.

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The top CBS contenders include “Life and Stuff,” starring comedian Rick Reynolds as a father and husband working in an advertising agency; Universal’s “Feds,” a drama about federal prosecutors from “Law & Order” producer Wolf, and “EZ Streets,” a crime drama about a cop and a young ex-con. CBS is also developing a spinoff of the popular series “Touched by an Angel” with Gerald McRaney, former co-star of “Simon & Simon” and “Major Dad.”

High on ABC’s list is Twentieth Television’s “Relativity,” starring Kimberly Williams from “Father of the Bride” as an engaged but romantically confused woman, and Brillstein-Grey’s “Ties That Bind,” with Elizabeth Perkins as an employee at a New York ad agency.

Fox is said to be enthusiastic about “Secret Service Guy,” with Judge Reinhold as a clumsy agent; “Jules,” starring Julia Sweeney as a reporter whose family moves in with her; and “Mommy and Me,” a comedy with Pauly Shore.

Meanwhile, UPN is said to be very interested in “An American Family,” a drama about a Latino family, and “Sparks, Sparks and Sparks,” about a black law firm. And the WB Network is still pondering a series based on the film “Buffy The Vampire Slayer.”