RARE ROSEANNE PROMO 1988

LEAPING TOO SOON AND TOO OFTEN

On this date in 1989, "Quantum Leap" debuted with a Sunday night movie premiere.  The show has always had a loyal fan-base.  What many don't recall is that it was a surprise second-season renewal.  Three airings on Wednesdays at 10 saved the show and turned out to be the only time slot that worked for this cult favorite.  This excerpt from my Kindle Single about my days as an NBC page recalls a time when not only was the renewal a surprise, but "QL" was struggling in season two against fellow quality dramas "Wiseguy" and "China Beach."  When asked my two cents, I suggested a family-friendly 8:00 slot, which was a common thought at the time.  When it was attempted in 1990 and 1992, it only proved fans liked their show where it was.  But then, I was among those surprised that the anthology format was going to last.

I arrived in California for the first time at the end of October, 1989, having lined up three or four interviews a day at NBC.  After locating the west coast page lounge, I “camped out” in sort of a mirror universe, complete with our east coast group picture on the wall.  My suit stood out like a sore thumb around the much more casual Burbank office style.   Hanging out in the NBC commissary (made infamous by bad food jokes by Johnny Carson and Bob Hope), I kept a log of my meetings in a notebook.  There was a pay phone outside to call home and internal phones to make appointments. 

Brandon Tartikoff was my first meeting that Monday.   I was greeted by his assistants whom I had previously spoken, and was escorted to an “auxiliary guest office.”  Although disappointed that I wasn’t brought into Tartikoff’s real office, I wonder if the guest office was later made infamous in 1994 when Jay Leno listened in on executive phone calls about his future on “The Tonight Show.”  Tartikoff soon entered, casually dressed in a sweater, and greeted me with familiarity from our few encounters in New York.  He had been working out some details regarding a live “Night of 100 Stars III” that would air the following May.  I told him of my background as a student of television.  He wondered if I had any relatives in the business, but I had not.  He asked if there was an area of programming in which I was most interested.  He had previously met some young people who wanted to enter development, current programming and such.  Without hesitation, I responded “scheduling.”  I had spent my life following the strategies of the then-four networks.  Besides, there weren’t many other people I had met who also followed the schedule.  Most of my page friends wanted to get into sports, news or entertainment programs. 

Tartikoff flipped over one of my resumes and scribbled the names of five of the newer NBC shows on the back: “Sister Kate,” “Mancuso, FBI,” “Hardball,” “Quantum Leap” and “Midnight Caller.”  Three of them were brand new fall shows.  The time-travel drama, “Quantum Leap” is easily the most recognizable of the quintet.  I wondered why he hadn’t written down the new Mel Brooks comedy “The Nutt House,” but later that day, I learned from a USA Today newspaper that it was the first cancellation of the season. 

That fall, “Quantum” went into its second season and was a bit of a surprise renewal.  It struggled on Friday nights early that spring as the replacement for fellow Universal drama, “Miami Vice.”  East coast execs would look at the overnights and ask “when can we get “Vice” back in there?”  With the series finale looming, “Vice” wound up replacing “Quantum” on Fridays after it had aired three times.  (Incidentally, “Vice” wrapped things up with a finale and still had four unaired episodes that didn’t broadcast until later.)  “Quantum” then ran three times on Wednesday nights at 10:00 where it did well in the 18-49 demographics.  It had only aired twice when it was announced as renewed for the fall schedule.  That fall, it didn’t set the world on fire on Wednesdays (competing with two other quality dramas, “Wiseguy” on CBS and “China Beach” on ABC).  Tartikoff asked me to write a few paragraphs about the five shows and send it to his office.  In my paper, I said to give “Quantum” which felt like an early-evening show, a couple of shots at Sundays at 8:00.  To me, the anthology format of the show to be like roulette.  If you liked the life Sam Beckett jumped into that week, fine.  If you didn’t like that life or the time period, you might not watch.  A Sunday tryout should show if there was interest and if not, pull the plug.  I was wrong, as it slowly built a loyal audience on Wednesdays and ran five seasons.  But, as I suspected, it was tested at 8:00 on Fridays and Tuesdays in the years to follow but it never did as well as in its Wednesday slot.

          That week in Burbank, I met with various executives in comedy, drama, late night, children’s programs, research and (the now extinct) movies-for-television.  Let’s cut to the chase.  I didn’t get a job.  There were two assistant positions I had applied for, as those assistants had been promoted.  Although there was no idea how to find a place to live and start working within the month, I was game.  I didn’t even have a credit card yet and had never rented a car.  I told the executives, some of whom went on to be network presidents, about my meeting with Tartikoff and my “scheduling assignment.”  Some drama executives shared their frustration about “Quantum Leap,” where they had received feedback that the handsome Scott Bakula never got the girl in the episodes.  In the far future, Bakula’s character was married but the female audience was hopeful that he would have romances (while inhabiting other people’s bodies).  

These rare promos aired the week before my 1989 visit to Burbank

and these aired after the show had moved to Fridays for the 1990/1991 season.

HOW WILL THE SHORT-LIVED SERIES BE REMEMBERED?

What is a show's legacy?  What will it take to make a show "evergreen" so viewers will find it for generations to come?  These are questions that occur to me in the era of "Peak TV."  This weekend, I binged a recent favorite, Judd Apatow's "Love" on Netflix.  It is concluding after three seasons and only 34 episodes.  I presume, as many current series do, they are wrapping the series having had an ending in mind.  Not every series has the sustenance to have a long run.  Since streaming services don't reveal its viewership figures, we don't know the viewership of "Love."  But even if the series ended on its own terms, even cancelled shows have had a history of being remembered.

Apatow, of course, is no stranger to short-run favorites having the top of the list, "Freaks and Geeks" which ran for one 18-episode season in 1999-2000 followed by "Undeclared" with 17 episodes in 2001-2002.  Even the highly-acclaimed "The Larry Sanders Show" from earlier in his career can still be elusive despite six seasons and 90 episodes.  The show won many awards, was considered one of the best comedies ever, but even on its original run on HBO, it was reported as low rated.  HBO kept it going because of its quality.  When it later aired in syndication on Bravo and IFC, the reruns didn't last long, either.

Look at even shows like "Lost," "Heroes," "Mad Men" and "Damages" which ran for multiple seasons at various success, now hardly in the zeitgeist.  How about "Dallas" and "Knots Landing" which aired for over a decade?  Some of these shows air on streaming services if you go looking for them.  What chance does a 34-episode series stand in being "found" by a new fan 20 years from now?

Streaming services have had many series of various lengths, but they proceed to emphasize original programs.  This was how earlier models of cable channels grew.  In the 90s, TV Land was a haven for forgotten gems.  In recent years, sub-channels such as Antenna TV, getTV and Decades have presented curated rarities such as variety shows, forgotten westerns or crime shows like Burt Reynolds in "Dan August."   But, as these channels progress, hits dominate.  Antenna has mostly familiar favorites like "Wings" and "Murphy Brown," getTV has "All in the Family" and "Sanford & Son" and Decades has had weekend-long marathons of shows like "Mary Tyler Moore" or even long-running oldies like "Our Miss Brooks."  They each have an oasis for some rarities, though.  I was reminded of the 1970s "The Comedy Shop" featuring stand-up comedians when I recently saw it on a Decades schedule.  The hopes are that the hits on the sub-channels will drive viewers to the exclusive shows.

Ten years ago, when I was programming the Chiller network, we aired a one-season wonder called "Profit" starring Adrian Pasdar from 1996.  During that time, the 2008 Writers' Strike was going on and original scripted programming was suspended.   By going after "Profit" fans at Entertainment Weekly, we were able to get publicity for the series as if it were a new series.  They had little else in television to report on during those days.  If 2018 is Peak TV, 2008 was Valley TV.  Chiller was on the air for only a year with little awareness, but we got an "A" rating for our program in a national magazine.  How will the word get out for "Profit" or its 2018 counterparts in the future?

It's likely that, as with cable, there may be more niche streaming services that will curate these kinds of shows.  But, years from now, there will be even more services competing!  Variety is wonderful but it will be a challenge to be "one-stop shopping" for those of us who forget even our own favorite short-lived shows.  Strategy will still be necessary to rotate and emphasize these shows.

Of course, there is also the chance the show will get revived as original programming.  Studios are currently trying to resurrect "The Greatest American Hero," "Get Christie Love!" and "Roswell" among others.  If they become new series, this would theoretically bring interest to the original series.

Have they revived "Love" yet?