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AT $300,000 FOR EACH SHOW THE COST IS SPECTACULAR, TOO will be produced in compatible color that you can see on your present black-and-white receivers. The launching of these “spectacu¬ lars” on such a spectacular scale re¬ flects the thinking of the network executives responsible for your TV viewing. Unlike movie chieftains, who waited until their box-office receipts started to nose-dive before attempt¬ ing to plug the dike with 3-D, Cine- maScope and other gimmicks, TV ex¬ ecutives aren’t confronted now with a slump in audience. But to forestall the possibility of current viewers growing tired of standard TV fare, and to spur the growth of new au¬ diences, they feel that now is the time to create more ambitious shows. As explained by Sylvester L. (Pat) Weaver, Jr., NBC president, there are cycles in every entertainment medi¬ um. “First there is a period of fresh¬ ness and growth, followed by a plateau,” he said. “After that, you reach a crisis where your audience starts to slide. The time for innova¬ tions is not during the crisis period but when you’re on that plateau.” Actually, Weaver thinks that TV hasn’t even reached the plateau of viewing yet. Max Liebman, erstwhile producer of Your Show of Shows, who will pro¬ duce 20 spectaculars for NBC next season, isn’t certain that TV needs a boost right now. “It seems strange that a medium as young as TV would need a stimulus,” he said. “I don’t think that’s so. TV works in trends or waves. First, there’s a wave of interest, followed by one of disinterest. The recent Army-McCarthy hearings, for example, created such a wave of interest. Many people bought sets for the first time just to watch them.” Liebman is to produce a 90-minute “spectacular” each fourth Sunday night, starting Sept. 12 with the Betty Hutton show. He’ll produce another series of 10 programs every fourth Saturday night. Leland Hayward, for NBC, is to stage a 90-minute show each fourth Monday night. NBC is planning still a fourth series of super¬ shows every fourth Saturday at an earlier hour than Liebman’s, these to be produced by Worthington (Tony) Miner. On the CBS front, an hour-long series, titled The Best of Broadway, will usurp the Blue Ribbon Bouts time period each foxirth Wednesday night. These will feature adaptations Rodgers and Hammerstein: a TV salute on General Foods' birthday. of some of the best Broadway shows of the last 20 years, and each will have an all-star cast. Also on CBS, Chrysler will sponsor an hour-long “spectacular” each Thursday night, spotlighting melodrama three weeks, with the fourth Thursday a musical. According to CBS program chief Hubbell Robinson, Jr., this series will use adaptations of works of some of the greatest American and British au¬ thors, both living and dead. Also on the “spectacular” agenda are such one-shot extravaganzas as that being planned by the electric light industry for Oct. 24, to celebrate