ABC WON'T MESS WITH SUCCESS, WILL UNVEIL ONLY 7 SHOWS THIS FALL

• Published in: The Salt Lake tribune
• Main Author: Rick Du Brow LOS ANGELES TIMES
• Format: Newspaper Article
• Language: English
• Published: Salt Lake City, Utah The Salt Lake Tribune 11.05.1994
• ISSN: 0746-3502

ABC, coming off a strong season with seven returning sophomore series, on Monday announced its new prime-time lineup for the fall, bidding to dethrone ratings champion CBS with the help of a one-hour drama from the creators of "thirtysomething" and a program starring Korean-American comedian Margaret Cho. Sophomore series returning for ABC include "Grace Under Fire," "NYPD Blue," "Turning Point," "These Friends of Mine" (which will be retitled "Ellen," after star Ellen DeGeneres), "Boy Meets World," "Thunder Alley" and "Lois & Clark." ABC has been notoriously unsuccessful on Saturday nights. But last year's suprise success of CBS' "Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman" indicated there is an audience for traditional entertainment on that night. Although ABC focuses on a younger audience than CBS, aiming chiefly at viewers 18 to 49, [Pete Barrett] said that the Saturday movie programming "is a presentation that parents and their children will be able to enjoy together. We feel that if we put on good movies, we'll be able to win some viewers over who have been watching videocassettes, renting movies and playing video games. We're after young families here who have not been watching television."