Broadcasting Telecasting (Oct-Dec 1963)

"WHAT IS NBC REALLY AFTER?" Some observations by TV and radio editor Richard K. Doan, excerpted from the Sunday Herald Tribune of November 3, 1963 "Television's rage for ratings is possibly more feverish this fall than ever before. People in the business feel it, and can't particularly account for it "The upshot . . . has been a general blurring of any programming standards other than the gauge of mass appeal as reflected in ratings of individual shows: the 'shares' of audience they pull against other shows on the air at the same time; and the competitive standings of the networks in terms of total homes reached . . . "The picture is distorted . . . "This (NBC) is the network that is currently making a solid effort to determine whether original anthology drama (dramatic series without continuing characterizations) can win enough audience to survive Madison Avenue's scalpels. "Five weekly hours— 'The Richard Boone Show.' 'Suspense Theatre,' "Espionage. Bob Hope Presents' and "Show of the Week' — represent an immense gamble (by some sponsors as well as NBC) to restore TV's so-called 'golden age' of original dramas — if indeed it can be revived. Nobody yet knows, including NBC's decision-makers. But everybody knows that such dramas hardly ever pull Top 10 ratings. "What is NBC really after, then? An NBC spokesman put it this way the other day: "As the critics know, or should know, a network can't pursue quality and diversity in its schedule and expect blockbuster ratings week after week. " 'NBC, believing that "it all begins at the typewriter," has enrolled the finest dramatic writers in the business this season for its original series. Among them are Robert Dozier. Rod Serling. Dale Wasserman, Ernest Kinoy, Carson McCullers, Michael Dyne, Eugene Burdick, Howard Rodman, Paul Brickhill and Budd Schulberg. And we have freed these writers from the limitations of creating for continuing series and their stars. Dramatic license in good taste, we feel, is giving these writers new horizons of creativity. Many stars and agents have told us they feel NBC's renaissance of original drama has "given the medium back to the adults'." "Is NBC. aside from this, really a second-place network? "Well, it is the network whose news and public affairs programming occupies more than onequarter of its total time. (No rival can say the same.) "It is the network that threw off all its money-making commercials for one night to air an unprecedented three-hour civil rights special. "It was NBC that sparked last season's unusual excitements with the remarkable 'The Tunnel' and the color-filmed tour of the Kremlin. "It is NBC that presents the distinguished 'Hall of Fame' dramas; that supports an opera company, five of whose productions will be seen this season; and that brings us the 'Telephone Hour' musicales which, for all their excellence, drag down the network's rating average. "It is NBC that has singlehandedly pioneered color TV, to the annoyance of its competitors . . . "The point is that we are in danger of being engulfed altogether by the myth that what the Nielsen rater likes best is all that really counts. Last year, for example, NBC could claim close to 150 major awards for its programming— more than any other broadcast organization received. No awards, in case it needs to be pointed out, are made for Top 10 ratings." NBC Postscript: Of course we are not displeased at the findings of the Nielsen MNA report for the week ending October 27. The nighttime average audience figures for all network programs, 7:30-1 1 :00 pin, were: CBS 18.7, NBC 18.5, ABC 16.1 . These are estimates provided by the A. C. Nielsen Co. subject to the qualifications BHH issued 1 MMM