FAMILY TELEVISION Council's clout can save shows

Wholesome quality of two family programs are worth PTC's positive effort.
By JONATHAN STORM
KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
Nobody likes a tattletale.
Take the Parents Television Council, which says it has one million members. Nattering nabobs of negativism, they spend most of their time howling about the dire state of TV, picking one risque incident here and one tasteless epithet there, and flooding the Federal Communications Commission with complaints.
Guys, here's a chance to be positive for a change: Two of the shows you love, 8 p.m. dramas that ooze family and moral values from every scene, are hanging by cobwebs, though still not canceled.
The threads holding NBC's "American Dreams" and CBS's "Joan of Arcadia" on the air would snap even before Sidney Bristow could climb back to safety on "Alias." But, aided by the shrill cries of the council, as well as thousands of other less politicized viewers, rescue may still be possible.
Last month, NBC cut the production of "Dreams," the moving story of a Philadelphia family in the 1960s, when the times, they were a-changin'. Two weeks ago, the network moved the show from Sundays to Wednesdays. Despite powerful story lines and a soundtrack that in a single show can include everything from Paul Butterfield to Paul Revere and the Raiders, with Bob Dylan in between, "Dreams" couldn't keep up with the joy and bathos of ABC's "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition." "Dreams" will wrap its third season running Wednesdays at 8 p.m. through the end of the month.
The premise of 'Joan'
"Joan of Arcadia," a surprise hit last year, bumps along on Fridays, dwindling in the ratings despite a close connection to God. He doesn't just return the producers' phone calls. He also shows up on-screen every week, in different guises, to push teenager Joan Girardi down paths that not only lead to spiritual awareness and self-discovery, but are also just plain fascinating.
March Madness basketball blankets CBS the next couple of weeks. "Joan" will return April 1, with four consecutive new episodes before the curtain falls for the season.
Gorgeously acted by multigenerational casts, with voices unheard anywhere else in prime time, the shows are unique: satisfying for adults, with strong hooks for preteen and older children. But neither will make a peep during the sweeps in May, when networks go all out to maximize viewership - and when the new fall lineups are announced.
Held in high esteem
"Joan" ranks No. 1 with the council, for family-friendly programming, "uplifting without being saccharine," says the endorsement. "Dreams" comes in No. 9 on the top 10 list, which, it must be acknowledged, includes "Home Edition" (No. 6) as well as such dramatically mediocre fare as the WB's "7th Heaven" and a couple of Pax programs.
A sad message in the ratings decline of both "Joan" (tied for 72nd place among 182 major network shows) and "Dreams" (tied for 79th) is that Americans in general don't much like complex TV drama unless it contains a dose of sex or violence. But the Parents Television Council wields power, even if it doesn't always reflect popular taste. (CBS' "CSI," television's No. 1 drama, and "Two and a Half Men," the No. 2 comedy, are on its wworst 10 list.)
And there are some important, receptive ears at both networks. Jeff Zucker, president of NBC Universal Television Group -- the big boss -- swears up and down the flagpole (when "Fear Factor" contestants aren't slipping off the pig grease on it) that "American Dreams" is his favorite show. Nina Tassler developed "Joan of Arcadia" before being named president of CBS Entertainment last year.
Give them your thoughts
Near the top of the council's home page - www.parentstv.org - is a link that says, "File an FCC Complaint." For the next two months, the group could give up its role that by comparison makes "Dreams' bratty tattler Patty Prior look like an angel. It could change the click to a direct, Don't-Cancel-"Dreams" line to Zucker, and add another urging the renewal of "Joan" that goes to Leslie Moonves, co-president and co-chief operating officer of Viacom Inc., which owns CBS.
Postcards - not letters - can make an effective flank attack, both for council folk and the rest of the people in the world who would like to act independently to support TV that is both entertaining and important. Flood the honchos' mailboxes at the addresses in the accompanying box.
FOR "AMERICAN DREAMS":
Jeff Zucker
President, NBC Universal Television Group
30 Rockefeller Plaza
New York, NY 10112.
FOR "JOAN OF ARCADIA":
Leslie Moonves
Co-president, Co-Chief Operating Officer, Viacom Inc.
CBS Television City
7800 W. Beverly Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90036.
And don't feel as if it's a big waste of time. How can you give up on family television, when it can offer so much? Be like Joan, who goes with God even when he gets her so confused, she could spit.
"You feel frustrated and victimized," he told her last week. "Yet you're still talking to me. So, somehow, you know this isn't pointless."