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Otherwise the new season will be much like the last, with only a few variations. Violence will be toned down, in response to strong pressure from 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.
If it sounds like the '50s at ABC, it is —with one exception: a sexual soap opera called ... Soap. (Soap is one of the few shows that have ever created controversy even before they went on the air (TIME, July 11). Church groups have denounced it, the opposition has derided it, and some advertisers have pulled away from it. Even a few of ABC'S own affiliates have announced that they will not carry it but will stick with the usual mouthwash instead. Soap will not shock veterans of the late-night Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, but it is daring, and perhaps tasteless, for ABC to carry such a show in prime time. If the reaction is too strong against it, the series could hurt the entire schedule. But if it hits, it would give ABC the same anchor Tuesday night that CBS had Saturday night with All in the Family, another once daring show.
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's a good program "
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. He was born with perfect pitch for American pop TV taste. "He's the man with the golden gut," says Bonny Dore, a former ABC director of variety shows. "He knows instinctively what works and what doesn't." From Irwin Segelstein, Silverman's counterpart at NBC, comes similar and perhaps, given the source, more telling praise. Says he: "Freddie has some strange umbilical relation to the viewer."
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."