WHILE REGIS BURNED
It was my hope, during that time when Regis Philbin seemed to have the TV audiences of the nation pretty much under his control with the program now, short-titled as “Millionaire,” that we were on the edge of a positive result bringing us improved TV programming.
ABC-TV, I was pleased to see, appointed Susan Lyne as “Entertainment President.” The title itself impressed me .... not “Vice President in Charge of Entertainment but “Entertainment President”. The very classification seemed to grant to Susan Lyne , the young lady from within the firm who was named to the position, a somewhat higher level in the pecking order at Board meetings.
Susan Lyne set forth some interesting idea, too. She wanted to make her network a “talent magnet”. She plainly said “we have a lot of work to do” and said “it was a time when no broadcaster can do the expected. We need to occasionally surprise people, to make noise.”
In the weeks when Regis was running hot and breaking his own records for viewers, it was refreshing to find someone concerned about the future. You will recall how the TV world went wild with imitations,. We watched a score or more of imitations of the “hit” show. Regis Philbin, has what is known as “street smarts” which told him when it was time to leave, and when Millionaire fell into two traps - one over scheduling of the show and, then, a reliance on celebrity participants which is so often a sign of weakness.
What followed the remarkable Regis revival ?
“Millionaire” itself was an import. It was the Yankee version of a British TV show, TV moguls seem to think something used was more profitable than anything new. We have been engulfed in a parade of so-called “reality”shows and a mixture of “Talent(?) Shows” of the most pathetic types. That era has run it's downward course and we now come to the “new” Fall shows.
We are just beginning to see new fall offerings. There are around thirty of them , and I have seen two thus far which have have not been encouraging at all.
We should be watching the ABC-TV entries, in particular, because if they out-rate or out-last the others, Susan Lyne's work will be vindicated. She envisioned a place where “creative talent will be given freedom to do their best work “. She realized she faced a situation on which the prevailing way was to “attract talent was by offering more money.”
The success of ABC-TV shows this fall will let us know if Susan Lyne's innovative work has had the desired affect.
.A.L.M. September 19, 2003 [c471wds]
