MOVING “NYPD Blue” reminds me of the time Coca Cola introduced New Coke a few years ago.
Coke was certain its customers would embrace a new version of an old favorite – a miscalculation so historic they teach it in business schools.
For the last six years, “NYPD Blue” fans have become accustomed to watching their favorite show Tuesday nights at 10. They remained loyal through all the Septembers and Octobers when “NYPD Blue” started its new season later than all the other shows, and through all the Marches and Aprils when ABC yanked it for six weeks or so to test some new drama series, most of which went nowhere.
Now the network looks poised to move “NYPD Blue” somewhere else on the schedule, forcing long-time fans to rearrange their viewing habits.
What’s worse, the end result figures to be one of those quandaries that top the list of things about network TV that viewers complain about most. They gripe that not only do they have difficulty finding something they like to watch, when they do find a handful of shows they like, they’re inevitably airing at the exact same time on competing networks.
The suddenly hot 10 p.m. Tuesday time period is a case in point. One of the reasons ABC is thinking about sending “NYPD Blue” packing is the surprise success of “Once and Again,” the new series starring Sela Ward as a divorced mom who’s dating a divorced dad. The show has struck a chord with women viewers, whom the networks covet more than men.
“Once and Again” has been occupying the “NYPD Blue” timeslot since mid-September and was to have relinquished the hour Nov.2 so that “NYPD Blue” could start its season (late, as usual).
But “Once and Again” is competing with a new CBS drama series – “Judging Amy” – that women viewers have also embraced. ABC figures that if “NYPD Blue” replaces “Once and Again,” ABC will lose all of its newly gained women viewers to “Judging Amy.”
So what you’ll be left with are two shows designed for women airing at exactly the same time – a situation that could turn off the very group of viewers the networks are trying to turn on.
That’s one of the dangers of trying to fix something that isn’t broken. The fact is, “NYPD Blue” was doing just fine at 10 p.m. Tuesdays. It has a loyal audience and high ratings, and it’s been showered with a boatload of Emmys.
In the end, whichever side wins in the tussle between ABC and producer Stephen Bochco over “NYPD Blue,” the real loser will be you, the viewer, whom the networks claim to serve … and then jerk around like a yo-yo.