(2 of 3)
But even before Bennett's push, a number of companies, including Procter & Gamble, Sears and Kellogg, had become far more selective in placing ads. "Shows were becoming increasingly sensational, sometimes to the point of being just plain outrageous," says Elizabeth Moore, a Procter & Gamble spokeswoman. "Last spring we approached all the producers and distributors of talk shows with whom we did business. We asked them to raise their standards and improve content. Where it was clear that the shows had no intention of changing, we told them we would be withdrawing our support." The company has since stopped advertising on seven shows.
Although industry analysts give Bennett et al. some credit as a civilizing force, they point to an even more compelling factor: supply and demand. Five years ago, there were only six daytime talk shows--Oprah, Donahue, Sally Jessy, Joan Rivers, Geraldo! and Live with Regis and Kathie Lee--compared with today's 23. "You're trying to slice and dice a fairly narrow audience among an increasingly large group of players," says Betsy Frank, executive vice president of media-buying firm Zenith Media. "That wouldn't work even under the best of circumstances, even if every one of these shows were a quality offering."
In this harsh environment a new or struggling program has to stand out, and if that means forgoing shows about neo-Nazis and transsexuals, that is a price producers are apparently willing to pay. In two weeks they will head to Las Vegas to pitch their new shows at the annual convention of the National Association of Television Program Executives. Among the many allegedly more elevated offerings:
A "talk variety" show featuring Rosie O'Donnell, late of The Flintstones and K Mart commercials. "No dysfunctional families beating up on each other, I can promise you that," O'Donnell notes in a promotional video for her show, which aims to be a "Merv Griffin or Mike Douglas for the '90s."
The Bradshaw Difference, a "thought show for the '90s" from the counselor John Bradshaw, a former host of a pbs show and author of self-help books like Homecoming: Reclaiming & Championing Your Inner Child. Sample Bradshaw topics include "Dealing With Jealousy" and "Longtime Friendships that Have Failed." Producers admit that shows about neo-Nazis and transsexuals are also under consideration but insist that any such programs would be strictly limited to sensitive explorations of neo-Nazis' and transsexuals' feelings.
The Pat Bullard Show stresses the "maturity, integrity and sensitivity" of the standup comic, a former Roseanne writer. Says Burt Dubrow, programming chief for producer Multimedia Entertainment: "He's a very clean, almost Ivy League kind of guy. We're not talking about any kind of sleaze television at all."
The Jim J. and Tammy Faye Show, featuring Tammy Faye Messner (previously Bakker) and Jim J. Bullock, an unprepossessing comic and ex-regular on the New Hollywood Squares. Aiming to be an even more "fun-loving" version of Regis and Kathie Lee (as if such a thing were possible), the program's success is contingent on chemistry developing between Messner and Bullock, who suggests a more anxious, less funny Paul Lynde.