Ross reports -- television index. (1958)

Al Scalpone, CBS v.p. in charge of net programs in LA, who was one of the early movers to the Coast from NY, Blew his top over some of the "New York reviews" of the first Studio One in Hollywood. According to reports, Scalpone's rebuttal was that the program’s producer, director and the story came from NY, and he added, "Oh well, let them cry - we have the shows." This is the same viewpoint that prevailed when the "Chicago school" moved to NY following Garroway's first big success. There are those who still bewail that move, saying that it destroyed a lightness of touch and a blitheness in idea development that TV still needs. Now that much of TV’s drama production, live and TV is centered in Hollywood, the cry is that the dramatic ten¬ sion that came out of working in tight quarters and under foul conditions in NY is absent as a needed quality in West Coast productions. Hollywood has added the touch of spacious stages and wonderful sets and some of the dramatic feeling may have spread out along with the real estate. So, as TV has shifted, the followers of the various schools, whether they are real or imagined groups, have pointed up the "letdown" in TV. Then you have the other extreme, the hometown boosters who work for publications j some in the trades, some on newspapers; have been led by their own enthusiasm to make crackpot statements week after week about programs not produced in their own backyards. One trade columnist, in five days, has moved all remaining drama shows to Hollywood and is now moving the news shows from NT to Washington. He’s sure of these developments, "because where there’s smoke, etc." Basically, the final answer in commercial television lies in the results for the sponsor. And it’s what sponsors want that decide the major types of programming on the air and where such programs will be developed. Although the Writers Guild cracked down on ideas and synopses being fed to pro¬ ducers, there's a new trend in series development that’s just as speculative, although the long-shot payoff can be good. Some writers have combined with producers to de¬ velop new series, preparing a minimum of 13 scripts in advance of production. There's no payoff for the writer (he may also throw some of his own cash into the hopper) un¬ less the series sells. If it does, he's got a partnerhsip interest. If It doesn't, he can bury the scripts. But the producer hasn't invested anything except so-called know-how, which may not involve anything more than knowing where to get pilot pro¬ duction money . American Tobacco (Pall Mall) thru SSC&B will pick up a two-program half-hour sponsorship on NBC's Wagon Train, January 22 and Feb which could provide a test for future commitments . Some of the problems in getting and keeping the one-hour film shows sold out and also in getting alternate week relief on some of the successful half-hour shows (largely Westerns), reportedly has some of the net sales chiefs concerned about next season. The stumbling block is not the types of properties, but rather the hardening feeling among agencies and sponsors that certain time periods are not good for some products. They're also concerned whether the sum¬ mer doldrums combined with a surfeit of Western programs might not radically change viewer habits next fall. Some network people are watching the amount of syndicated Western fare programmed In fringe time and on independent stations to measure a pos¬ sible drop In viewers in the future. At the heart of every union contract being negotiated, including the current SAG proposals for new compensation and limitations in the used of filmed commercials. Is the basic weakness that no economical, trustworthy checking system is available to accurately measure the use and re-use of commercials, syndicated programs and feature films on TV. Also, the major increases in viewing audiences spread among the three networks and the potent sales arguments used by local stations, spurred the up-grading of the classifications for cities in the SAG proposals. Union reasoning is that if a sponsor is getting more audience for his money, the actor and announcer must get a commensurate return for using his talents on the greater audience. Because of this growth and the lack of an adequate check on use and re-use in smaller markets, the trend in union thinking and action is to more control at the source, in production and in use contracts. MID-WEEK S FECIAL 1/22/58 Page 2