Warren Littlefield, president of NBC Entertainment, voiced optimism Sunday that the loss of “Seinfeld” and NFL football would not put a crimp in the fortunes of the No. 1 network this fall. In addressing the Television Critics Association, he also challenged the common wisdom that cable viewership was eroding his audience.
Citing advertiser confidence and a confounding series of charts, Littlefield put a rosy look on what is generally considered a dismal forecast for broadcast television.
He predicted that NBC would again dominate the key demographic categories this fall and that “Frasier” would hold the “Seinfeld” audience when it moves to Thursday and that “Just Shoot Me” would become a dominant show on Tuesdays.
Littlefield said producers of “NewsRadio” would address the death of star Phil Hartman in its opening episode this fall, first by telling the sitcom’s characters that his character, anchor Bill McNeil, had suffered a fatal heart attack, then by allowing them to eulogize him at a memorial service. McNeil’s replacement, played by Jon Lovitz, will be introduced in the second episode.
– Coming on board “Law & Order” as an assistant district attorney will be former fashion model Angie Harmon, whose resume includes a stint on “Baywatch Nights.” “Are you going to wear a bikini during sweeps?” asked one unimpressed woman reporter.
The answer, of course, was “No,” but the question gave series creator Dick Wolf a chance to defend the show’s succession of ravishing female prosecutors: “Beauty isn’t a detriment to intelligence. . . . Young women viewers want to see other young, empowered women who aren’t secretaries. Holding a person’s previous credits against them in this business is pretty risky.”