Ready to expose the roots of bad TV

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© St. Petersburg Times
published January 9, 2002

PASADENA, Calif. -- Poetic justice is a commodity in short supply here.

So it's small wonder that legendary producer David L. Wolper (Roots, The Thorn Birds) hesitates a bit when asked about the departure of ABC programming honcho Stu Bloomberg.

Bloomberg and his pals decided many months ago to pass up a Wolper-produced documentary on the 25th anniversary of Roots, which was broadcast on ABC and still is one of the most-watched miniseries in history.

(NBC snapped up the documentary, which airs Jan. 18.)

That decision was one of many boneheaded moves (overexposing onetime hit Who Wants to Be a Millionaire while failing to develop new hits is another) that likely led to Bloomberg's wisest move: stepping down Monday as co-chairman of the network.

"They said (the Roots documentary) would skew too old," Wolper said, chuckling. "I say, "So what? It's Roots.' And they could sure use it now."

News of Bloomberg's departure came during the first day of the Television Critics Association's winter press tour. The scaled-down version of the summer event pulls together critics from across the country for two weeks of news conferences about midseason shows and more.

It makes sense that such tidings as Bloomberg's would break here. With ABC's tour day scheduled for Sunday, the network has a chance to get Bloomberg's replacement, new ABC Entertainment president Susan Lyne, before the nation's TV scribes in short order. (It also came as told-ya-so justification for critics weary of Bloomberg's thinly veiled contempt and evasiveness during tour news conferences.)

But it also sums up the atmosphere at the winter tour, at which networks reveal their plans for the months ahead.

NBC today faces the task of convincing critics it can develop a comedy anyone cares about, as the negative buzz for Hank Azaria's midseason series Imagine That and Seinfeld alum Julia Louis-Dreyfus' Watching Ellie builds to deafening levels. (Snickering has begun over one news conference that may hint at the network's desperation: an L.A. Law reunion movie.)

CBS will deploy James Garner in a hapless attempt to distract writers from the awfulness of his new Supreme Court show, First Monday. ABC will try to pretend Bloomberg's departure isn't proof of its abysmal programming decisions over the past few years.

And Fox executives will say -- with straight faces, mind you -- that new series starring former Conan O'Brien sidekick Andy Richter and an animated bunny make for groundbreaking comedies.

If there's any theme here, it's that the midseason -- often an experimental haven where hits including The Simpsons and Malcolm in the Middle got their start -- is creatively challenged this year.

It reminds me of a comment delivered by a non-critics association hotel guest Tuesday after hearing my job title.

"TV critic?" he said, while smiling sarcastically. "Why, whatever would you find to criticize?"

Two days into the tour, it's obvious that's going to be the least of my problems.

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