Dial File — Steve Bornfeld: Could game shows be the final answer?

Friday, Feb. 18, 2000 | 9:35 a.m.

Steve Bornfeld is the Sun features editor. His television column appears Fridays. Reach him at steveb@vegas.com or 259-4081.

Question: "Which of these does not -- or will not, before long -- go with the other three?"

A:) Dramas. B:) Comedies. C:) Creative storytelling of any kind. D:) Networks.

"I'll say ... Networks!"

"Is that your final answer?"

"Uh ... yeah, I think ... wait ... maybe not ... Um ... Well, OK, yeah."

"NETWORKS IS ABSOLUTELY RIGHT!"

Far-fetched? Perhaps, but not as far-fetched as it used to be.

Cable keeps gobbling up Emmys for series and TV movies like the Tazmanian Devil on crystal meth. Meanwhile, broadcast networks look more like Goofy on a bender as they increasingly go gimmicky with game shows and stunt specials of every stripe. That may be creating a slowly widening programming gulf that could eventually redefine both entities: cable as provider of quality drama and comedy; networks as purveyors of wacky whimsy.

Consider:

Is this just another jump-on-the-bandwagon-while-it-lasts trend or are we at a TV crossroads?

Could go either way from here.

More fascinating than the game show explosion itself has been the wary reaction of network executives who fret over the trend even as they exploit it. Several network top dogs have waved away any significance to the game-show glut, dismissing it as little more than a pop culture belch. But rarely have execs so unenthusiastically exploited a public craving for programming.

Why? Because it dovetails with cable's surge on the drama/comedy/movie front -- and that, ominously, could cost the networks the crown they've worn for decades as Kings of Quality TV.

NBC's "Frasier" is no longer the talk of the sitcom set. HBO's "Sex and the City" is. ABC's "The Practice" doesn't set drama lovers' tongues a-waggin' as much as HBO's "The Sopranos" does. TV movies on CBS, NBC, ABC and Fox are losing steam -- not to mention Emmys -- to a building body of work not only on HBO, but also on Showtime, TBS, TNT, USA, A&E and even such movie neophytes as VH1 and MTV.

Cable -- most notably HBO and Showtime -- has capably copied the network template for series and movies and enriched it with a judicious use of profanity and nudity, just enough to lend an air of realism without creeping into gratuitousness. Meanwhile, the networks -- largely constrained by obscenity boundaries applied to the public airwaves -- still sprinkle scripts with mild profanity and brief nudity. But it's transparent and forced -- like children trying to prove they're grown-ups -- rather than a casual part of the adult vernacular, a la "The Sopranos" and "Sex and the City."

Network TV's most brash attempt to ape cable -- Fox's appalling "Action" (since axed) -- was a malevolent mess that failed not because of its language and lewdness, but its mean-spiritedness. It would have tanked on any channel.

It all seems like another inevitable step along cable's inexorable march toward TV supremacy, seemingly leaving the networks as "alternative" programmers -- a virtual flip-flop in status compared to cable's early days, shivering in the shadow of the mighty broadcasters.

Of course this is a doomsday scenario, but you can't blame the networks for reluctantly constructing bomb shelters out of gimmicks and game shows -- just in case it turns out to be their final answer.

Croon a Tune: Hey, Buddy, can you spare a theme song?

He could if his name was Ebsen and his theme was "Barnaby Jones." The memorable music of last week's Croon-a-Tune quiz was from the detective series that Ebsen headlined just one season after completing the successful run of "The Beverly Hillbillies."

Good guesses included "The Streets of San Francisco," "Matlock," "Cannon" and "Diagnosis: Murder," but the only four who came and listened -- and identified -- the music for a man named Jones were crackerjack Tune Crooners Tony Varchetto, Joe Lacy, Linda Noel and Rich Kackstetter.

For this week: "Come and listen to my query 'bout a Croon a Tune quiz; if you get it right, you're a Dial File wiz; hear it now by phoning 259-4012; or Granny hunts ya down and turns ya into vittle stew."

Now kick yer shoes off. Set a spell.

Closing Credits: On March 7 NBC will throw its new animated series, "God, the Devil and Bob," into the 8:30 p.m./Tuesdays slot -- in direct competition with ABC's godlike "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire."

Quipped NBC chieftain Garth Ancier: "We're confident that if anybody can beat 'Millionaire,' 'God' can."

If he's wrong, stay tuned for the NBC News special report: "The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse."