Advertising: Old-Fashioned Flattery From Fierce TV Rivals

The networks are taking a page from the cable playbook and scheduling series that run for fewer episodes than 22, their standard order. Rather, what the networks are calling “limited series” or “event series” will play for 12 to 15 weeks in a row without the repeats or interruptions that drive viewers crazy — and also drive them from broadcast to cable, which adopted the concept of limited series decades ago.

NBC and Fox described plans for such shows on Monday, as the upfronts week began in New York, with limited series that will include a return of “24.” ABC chimed in on Tuesday with a limited-run drama, “Betrayal.”

On Wednesday, CBS — known for traditional formats as typified by its procedural crime dramas like “CSI” and “NCIS” — said it would embrace the idea with “Hostages,” a limited series about a murky conspiracy with a doctor, played by Toni Collette, in its cross hairs. The show will be shown at 10 p.m. on Mondays, starting in September, and run for 15 episodes, either consecutively or taking a short break around Christmas.

After the conclusion of “Hostages,” a spy drama, “Intelligence,” with Josh Holloway of “Lost” as its star, will take over the time slot for 13 weeks. (CBS plans to offer another limited series, “Under the Dome,” during the summer, before the 2013-14 season starts.)

At the same time, cable channels are increasingly emulating the “broad” aspects of what the broadcasters do by picking up series meant for wider audiences.

For example, at a presentation on Wednesday, executives from the TBS and TNT cable channels described series they are scheduling or have in development from crowd-pleasing performers and producers like Michael Bay, Jerry Bruckheimer, Cee Lo Green, Howie Mandel, Dick Wolf and Dwayne Johnson, the actor known as the Rock.

The crisscross between cable and broadcast comes as the demarcation line between the two is growing increasingly blurry. Viewers watch programs on smartphones, tablets and laptops as well as TV sets.

An announcement by the TBS and TNT executives underscored that trend: beginning in the summer, both channels will enable cable subscribers to watch live programming streams through two new apps, Watch TBS and Watch TNT, as well as on the TBS and TNT Web sites. The day before, ABC said that it would begin testing with Nielsen a method of measuring commercials watched on tablets and smartphones through mobile apps.

Still, as interested as the networks may become in event series, there could be limits to their ardor. Nina Tassler, president for entertainment at CBS, told reporters at a breakfast briefing that as a general rule, CBS believes in full orders of 22 episodes, or with especially popular shows, 24.

“Our viewers want more episodes, not fewer episodes,” she said. “We don’t need place fillers.”

CBS executives originally asked the producers of “Hostages” for the usual 22 episodes, Ms. Tassler said, but agreed on a limited run of 15 when the story line for two full years was outlined to them. It is good to provide viewers with “more originals, fewer repeats,” she added.

Skepticism about event series on networks was expressed in jocular fashion by Jimmy Kimmel, in his annual monologue at the ABC presentation, during which he mocks the ritual of selling new, unknown shows to advertisers.

At ABC, said Mr. Kimmel, the host of “Jimmy Kimmel Live” on the network, “we’ve been doing limited series for years: ‘666 Park Avenue,’ ‘Last Resort,’ ‘Don’t Trust the B in Apartment 23’ — all limited, very limited.” (Those shows were flops for ABC during the 2012-13 season.)

Mr. Kimmel’s jape got at a truth: ABC’s mediocre ratings this season mean that it will place fourth among the big four networks, behind CBS, Fox and NBC. ABC ordered more than a dozen new series for 2013-14 in hopes of rejuvenating its schedule, and spent several minutes of its presentation praising them as well as digital efforts like Watch ABC, its new live-streaming app for local stations.

Mr. Kimmel did not limit his jokes to his own network. Perhaps he was trying to pre-empt CBS when he called the network’s chiefs “smug,” followed by an unprintable slur, during his routine. The contrast between the two networks — one anxious, the other confident about keeping its victory streak going — could not have been more apparent as they talked up their new schedules to advertisers.

That was telegraphed by Leslie Moonves, the CBS Corporation chief executive, during the breakfast briefing. “We were very flattered when Jimmy Kimmel called us smug,” he said, repeating the unprintable word. “That must mean we’re winning.” (Mr. Moonves, for the record, said that CBS would try to act less smug.)

Despite whatever borrowing may be taking place between networks and cable channels, they remain competitive, and during their presentation, CBS executives boasted about the power of broadcast television.

Mr. Moonves had just one thing to say about cable during the presentation. After the cast of “How I Met Your Mother” — the popular CBS sitcom that will in the fall begin its final season — performed a skit, he joked, “I’d like to see the cast of ‘The Walking Dead’ do that.”

Thursday, the final day of the upfronts week, will bring presentations by the CW broadcast network and the USA Network cable channel. After that will be the negotiations between the television companies and Madison Avenue over rates for commercials to run during the 2013-14 season.

Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/16/business/media/old-fashioned-flattery-from-fierce-tv-rivals.html?partner=rss&emc=rss