Controversy over new wave of cliff-hanger TV serials

LOS ANGELES - Inspired by the success of serialized hits like "Lost" and "Desperate Housewives," the major US TV networks are launching a new wave of shows this fall designed to lure viewers with week-to-week cliff-hangers.

Some critics, however, are questioning the networks' strategy, given that millions of TV fans who got hooked on such shows last season were left hanging when several of those programs were canceled or failed to win renewal.

A spirited debate over whether audiences will invest their time and attention on the next crop of prime-time serials took center stage this week at the Television Critics Association's annual summer press tour, where broadcasters show off their upcoming wares for the 2006-07 season.

It was a particularly hot topic during a presentation by ABC President Steve McPherson, who plans to launch four new serialized dramas on his network next season.

The Walt Disney Co.-owned network helped spark the latest trend two years ago when castaway mystery "Lost" and suburban soap opera "Desperate Housewives" became instant hits. The Fox network, likewise, found success with its serialized espionage thriller "24" and jailhouse drama "Prison Break."

McPherson said a key strength of such shows, which led a ratings turnaround at ABC, is that they require greater week-to-week loyalty from viewers than traditional programs with self-contained episodes.

Networks are more eager than ever to create such "appointment" television as they face the growing challenge of new technologies, like TiVo, that make it easier for viewers to watch shows whenever they want and skip the commercials.

"You have to have shows that people need to watch at a specific time, otherwise it's going to be ruined for them and they don't feel they're part of the experience," he said.

The downside is that serial dramas, like any show, sometimes fail, and those viewers who did go along for the ride are left without a payoff.

Audience left hanging

"No programmer wants to piss off their audience," CBS Entertainment President Nina Tassler told TV critics. "Creating and building viewer loyalty is why we do what we do, so when that happens, it's unfortunate."

One ABC ratings misfire last season was "Invasion," which bowed off the airwaves on a huge cliff-hanger. Other short-lived serials that left viewers in the lurch included "Reunion" on Fox, "Threshold" on CBS and two NBC series, "Heist" and "Surface."

"The viewers several times this last year got emotionally involved in stories, and then the rug was pulled from them," said Gannett News Service TV critic Mike Hughes. "It happened so often ... I'm not sure those viewers will get emotionally involved the next year."

At least a dozen series with story lines that unfold from week to week are on next season's schedule.

Among the latest crop from ABC are "Six Degrees" from "Lost" co-creator J.J. Abrams, centering on six strangers enmeshed in a web of mysterious coincidence, and "The Nine," about people taken hostage in a bank robbery gone awry.

Others include Fox's "Vanished," about the disappearance of a senator's young wife, NBC's "Kidnapped," surrounding the abduction of a teenage boy, and the CBS post-nuclear disaster saga "Jericho."

Broadcasters once shied away from serialized shows, in part because they tended to perform poorly in repeats. But the industry's economics have changed.

Networks now air fewer reruns and more first-run episodes year-round amid growing competition from cable and the Web, while syndication has declined as a secondary market with the advent of DVD releases and digital downloads.

"Our whole distribution models are shifting now, and the traditional syndication pattern is sort of up for grabs, and these new revenue streams are very well fitted for serialized shows," NBC Entertainment President Kevin Reilly said.

Creative forces also are at work. After several years in which closed-ended police procedural dramas dominated prime time, many producers and programmers are looking for something different, industry executives said.

Addressing the disgruntlement felt by devotees of canceled serials, McPherson suggested there might be a way to give audiences closure by some sort of limited series wrap-up produced exclusively for the internet.

"The question at this point is given the revenue of the digital streams, how do you produce a US$4-million-an-episode show ... in a less expensive but still satisfying way for the viewers," he said.

Not all critics, however, share the outrage of die-hard fans whose favorite shows get axed.

"If you watch five episodes of one of these things, and they pull it off the air, and this greatly impacts your life, then this is God's way of telling you that whatever you're doing in your life isn't working," scoffed Ray Richmond, who writes for the Hollywood Reporter.

- REUTERS/VNU