Syndicators Debate Tests, Talent And Barter

Two top syndication executives — Debmar-Mercury’s Mort Marcus and CBS’s John Nogawski — squared off Monday over whether short-run testing of new programs is a worthy means of assessing their viability.

Marcus, a leading proponent of short-run tests, said he believes whole-heartedly in the concept that more shows should be thrown on-air to feed a lively marketplace.

“Most thing aren’t going to work, but I believe there should be 20 to 25 tests a year,” Marcus said as part of a panel on syndication at the NATPE convention in Miami. “Then what you’d get is hits. Real hits,” he said.

Nogawski, however, disagreed, saying that he doesn’t believe a few short weeks is enough time for people to find a show, let alone grow to like it. “You don’t know anything in 10 weeks,” he said. “All you’re doing is burning cash. I’m not in that business.”

Nogawski said he favors testing talent by first integrating them into an existing show to see if they have the power to sustain their own program. “The difficulty of a test is these are big shows and big talent and people we have to work with,” he said.

Marcus, however, said you have to let shows fly on their own to see if they’ll work.  “It’s not just ratings,” Marcus said, adding that the creative viability of a show is a key component to seeing whether it will work.

That factor was in play in Debmar’s recent decision to nix a talk show starring Fran Drescher for 2011 after a test run, he said.

Panelists also discussed whether barter-based deals would be diminishing as cash starts to free up.

Tribune president of programming Sean Compton said paying cash for shows that are going to pay off is worthwhile, while barter could be an option for lesser-producing shows.

Nogawski also said that shows like CBS’s Excused, which will debut this year, are options. Though the dating show does have a cash component, it also is less pricey for stations then sitcoms, while providing a nice complement to them, he said.

Meanwhile, panelists also debated what the few offerings for 2011 mean for broadcasting. Marcus said Debmar-Mercury has confidence in the Jeremy Kyle Show, which has been cleared in 73% of the country, based on Kyle’s long run and success in the United Kingdom, where he has done 1,200 shows.

And Compton said Tribune is going ahead with The Bill Cunningham Show, which currently is cleared in about 40% of the country, and may not get more than 60%, he said.

Panelists also debated whether there are worthy replacements out there for the three big TV mainstays leaving broadcast stations this year: Regis Philbin, Oprah Winfrey and Mary Hart.

Marcus had especially strong words for Philbin, whom he called “a whole different thing. There isn’t anybody as good as him.”

While panelists agreed the search for folks to fill their shoes may be long and hard — and that Winfrey and Philbin in particular may stand alone among TV personalities — testing the waters is incumbent upon programmers, especially when there aren’t many options for new programming available.

“There will be an impact,” said Compton, adding that syndication, however, will still go on. “Will you see another Oprah? Probably not,” he said.” But, he added, “radio never saw another Howard Stern. And we never saw another Johnny Carson.”