Word: silverman
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Invigorated by Silverman's frenzied aggressiveness and unorthodox tactics, ABC?television's perennial also-ran in ratings, revenues and prestige?has all but obliterated its competitors in evening prime time. Last spring, at the end of the 1976-77 season, the network had the nation's four top-rated shows and seven of the top ten. CBS, which had been the premier network since television came of age in the '50s, managed to squeeze only two into the top ten. NBC, the granddaddy of all the networks, was able to place only one on those elevated rungs...
...Congress and the nation's parents. At ABC, even a blood-and-guts show like Starsky and Hutch will supposedly have lighter plots and concentrate on the relationship between the two stars. Comedy will also be in, as will family shows like Family or Eight Is Enough, two of Silverman's favorites...
...Silverman is clearly nervous?and a little defensive?about the show's reception. "I believe that Soap will present very positive models and will lead," he maintains. "I say that because I think that the underpinning of the show is the sanctity of the family unit?believe it or not. There is a scene between a mother and her daughter that will make you cry. Now my feeling is that if you car get involved enough in a program that when two of the characters start communicating with each other to the point where you're moved ?then that...
...When Silverman says that the scene in Soap will bring tears, he is really saying that he has already cried while watching it, will cry again when it comes on the air and yet again when it goes into reruns. What makes him the best programmer in television today is the fact that he is the best viewer working in television today. Silverman, 39, does not have to pause and think what 60 million viewers will want to see: he knows, or usually knows, because he is one of them. His likes are theirs, and his dislikes are theirs...
Unlike many TV executives who watch even their own shows only when duty requires, Silverman loves looking at TV, especially the products of his own network. "He really lights up watching those things," says Producer David Gerber. "He literally would like to get inside the TV and be one of the characters...