NO one expected “Judging Amy” to have this much of an impact – but it’s reverberating throughout TV’s Tuesday-night landscape.
The warmhearted family drama starring Amy Brenneman as a single mom who returns home to Hartford, Ct. has turned into a ratings dynamo – and is now threatening to boot ABC’s 10 p.m. rival “NYPD Blue” to another night.
“To be a show that people [at other networks] are worried about is something I never expected,” said “Judging Amy” creator/executive producer Barbara Hall.
“But I want to play with the big boys and I want to compete,” Hall said. “When I heard that we had gotten the 10 p.m. timeslot I was happy – it really raised the bar for me.”
And it threatens to pull the rug out from under “NYPD Blue.”
This week, ABC execs told “Blue” creator Steven Bochco that they’re thinking of moving his venerable cop drama to another night when it returns next month – in order to avoid the “Judging Amy” juggernaut.
Bochco went ballistic – and threatened to take “Blue” to another network.
“I knew our show would appeal to someone who might not be watching ‘NYPD Blue,’ which skews more male,” Hall said. “I always felt very strongly that if I could attempt to reach a female audience I could do well.”
Thus far, “Judging Amy” – which received a full-season pickup from CBS yesterday – has increased its audience week-by-week, hitting a high of 16.5 million viewers last Tuesday night.
That’s about 5 million more viewers than ABC’s “Once and Again,” which also airs Tuesdays at 10 and comes from “thirtysomething” creators Marshall Herskovitz and Ed Zwick.
“To hear we’d be up against Herskovitz and Zwick, and then Bochco – gee, is there anything bigger in the bag of tricks?,” Hall said. “But ‘Once and Again’ is a completely different show.”
So just what is the allure of “Judging Amy”?
“We really don’t have any gimmicks,” Hall said, trying to explain. “I don’t want to oversimplify, but it’s women writing for women in a drama game that was male-dominated for a really long time.
“I think another thing that’s worked in our favor is that we’ve combined comedy and drama in a really successful way,” Hall said. “Amy [Brenneman] has never been allowed to showcase her talents this way – she’s really funny and is a wonderful light comedienne, in addition to being a facile actor.”
Brenneman, ironically, co-starred on “NYPD Blue” in its early days.
“We like that,” Hall said, laughing. “And no – I don’t think the irony has been been lost on Amy.”