Word: cbs
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Like Benton Fraser, the Canadian Mountie on CBS's new show Due South, Canada's TV industry has always been something of a fish out of water in the U.S. To be sure, American shows and movies are frequently shot north of the border, and TV stars from Michael J. Fox to Dan Aykroyd and Martin Short have came from Canada. But the xenophobic networks have always resisted Canadian programs; the few that travel south have mostly been consigned to cable, syndication and the late-night crime-time-after-prime-time ghetto...
This fall, however, Due South has broken the prime-time barrier. Produced by Toronto-based Alliance Communications, the series has done surprisingly well for CBS in the ratings (and even better on Canada's CTV, where it is the highest-rated Canadian show ever). The culture clash between a Dudley Do-Right Mountie (Paul Gross) and his streetwise partner (David Marciano) is so genially caricatured that it has charmed audiences on both sides of the border. "I think Canadians like the fact we're offending Americans, and Americans think we're offending Canadians," says creator Paul Haggis. "That's part...
...Michael Crichton (Jurassic Park, Disclosure), made its debut on NBC in mid-September with a cloudy prognosis. Hour-long TV drama had been in a long-term slump, pushed aside by the proliferating prime-time magazines. ER was scheduled, moreover, opposite the season's one other new medical drama -- CBS's Chicago Hope, which boasted bigger stars (E.G. Marshall, Mandy Patinkin) and the kind of high-pitched melodramatics that viewers seem more comfortable with. Yet ER was instantly a huge hit. In its first five weeks, the show has drawn an average Nielsen rating of 18.3, ranking...
...were going to get television. The truth is, television is going to get us." It's the film's most disingenuous line. The bigwigs may have escaped punishment, but the scandals rocked TV as nothing before or since: quiz shows vanished from the air, ethical standards were drastically tightened (CBS President Frank Stanton even proposed banning canned laughter), and the industry suffered a black eye that took decades to heal. "Get television" is exactly what Goodwin and his colleagues did. Quiz Show does too; it just doesn't have the grace to admit...
...meat that titillate and sustain the O.J. industry. That pit is wired for live action: the TV networks have flown in their war-coverage equipment from Haiti and erected scaffolding several stories high, portable satellite dishes and stages around the courthouse. With Dan and Connie chomping at the bit, CBS news, always a leader in entertainment, has laid 55,000 feet--more than 10 miles--of cable...