It's true - only the good die young.
Not that supremely smart drama "Profit" has been pronounced dead yet. But
this week Fox suddenly yanked the wickedly funny saga of psychopathic businessman
Jim Profit (Adrian Pasdar), which aired post-"Melrose Place" at 9 p.m. ET
Monday. "Profit" ran for just four episodes, drawing unusually lavish critical
praise from TV critics. Four more episodes will air over the summer. The
show's fate for fall is unclear, but not promising.
So why did Fox pull "Profit's" plug? Thanks to really lousy scheduling "Profit"
aired opposite both the season wind-down of ABC's "Murder One" on April 22
and part two of NBC blockbuster "The Beast" on Monday. The coup de grace
came when "The Beast" ate "Profit" whole with a 19.5 rating to "Profit's"
3.9. (One ratings point equals 959,000 TV viewing households).
For a show with a uniquely intelligent sensibility that needed time to grow,
this was hardly a level playing field. Not a smart move by Fox. "We certainly
have come to an unexpected bump," "Profit" producer John McNamara said from
Los Angeles on Thursday. McNamara created/executive produces "Profit" with
partner David Greenwalt, and Steven Cannell. He previously produced "Lois
& Clark: The New Adventures of Superman" and was story editor on cult
Fox Western series "The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr."
"Yeah, I won't sugar-coat it - Adrian is really upset and depressed," McNamara
said. "But he's savvy, he knows that a 6 share (percentage of TV sets in
use at the time, compared to a 30 share for 'The Beast') is bad.
"You know we were ecstatic as those rave reviews were rolling in. Then after
we got slaughtered by 'Murder One' Fox said they were going to pull episode
six. Then after 'The Beast' debacle it was 'we're going to pull episode five
and hold it to June.'
"OK, I understand the business of it all. But we would have found an audience.
Although actually I'm proud to be beaten by Steven Bochco (creator/producer
of "Murder One") who I admire - rather than a piece of rubber who-ha like
'The Beast.'"
Of course, ratings don't tell the whole story, as they didn't when "X-Files"
first debuted to low ratings. Fox showed faith in the series, and today the
"X"-phenonmenon is huge.
Category-defying "Profit" is a tougher sell, however. Pasdar's deliciously
timed, tongue-in-cheek moves as a corporate anti-hero - expensively clad
Profit murdered his father, had sex with his stepmom, but sleeps naked like
a scared child in a cardboard moving box - are manna from heaven to viewers
who relish twisted humor. But beneath the outrageous surface the show plays
in subtle, provocative, moral shades of gray. Profit is a bad guy you hate
to love but do anyway. He's complex, both scared and scary. And his good
guy-foes in conglomerate Gracen & Gracen have dark secrets of their own.
So like cop or court shows, "Profit" does not wear a convenient label. Even
for edgy Fox this was not an easy show to promote, especially premiering
mid-season with so many hit dramas in place on other networks.
And then there were the suits. How to sell a corporate-clad vision to devotees
of Fox's street-hip "New York Undercover," nubile "Beverly Hills, 90210"
or slice of urban-hip black life "Martin," even post-"Melrose"?
"I won't play the blame game because Fox promoted us and spent money like
you wouldn't believe," McNamara said. "But the corporate setting could have
been a little off-putting to viewers, especially Fox viewers.
"And there was no right show to go ahead of 'Profit.' It's a show about TV
itself, with a hero who's a kind of anti-Mannix. But we figured a core group
of viewers would get the joke immediately, that business is a just metaphor
that allows the action and comedy to play out. It's really a show about family,
desire, and damage that's designed for the literate viewer who watches 'NYPD
Blue' and 'Seinfeld.'
"And in the fifth episode you would have seen that Profit's interests and
ambitions are not what you think they are. He really doesn't want to destroy
Chaz Gracen (CEO of Gracen & Gracen, played by Keith Szarabajka) and
take his job. He doesn't want to take over Gracen & Gracen. He really
wants a family and will do anything to get it. You'll see in episode 8 which
David (Greenwalt) wrote that characters you think are in danger from Profit
are actually in place because of him."
In fact, McNamara and Greenwalt devised a five-year plan for "Profit," much
like a five-year corporate strategy. Now that five-year plan may already
be passe, despite "Profit's" clear status as a really insider cult hit.
"This show already has a weird life to it," McNamara said. "There's this
president at ABC - no, not (entertainment chief) Ted Harbert - who always
asks me to slip him episodes he's missed. 'Brisco County' had the same kind
of effect on people."
And if truth be told, "Profit's" sophisticated sensibility might play out
better on a cable network, perhaps the network of Garry Shandling's Emmy-winning
"The Larry Sanders Show" - HBO.
McNamara draws a polite line when it comes to reaping "Profit's" rewards
outside Fox in the future. But clearly it's crossed his mind. "Well, we haven't
been officially canceled but I am a realist. But we're going down in flames
sticking to our vision. That's what I'm writing in a letter to (Fox entertainment
head) John Matoian.
"Of course, we do have a vocal minority of loyal viewers that for all I know
given the incredibly archaic ratings methodology of Nielsen could be a majority.
And we know Fox is publicly unhappy with Nielsen. It seems like those Nielsen
families are the last to catch up with a hit."
Fox and other networks are currently disputing the methodology of the Nielsen
ratings system, which uses a very small sample to collect data. Of about
95.9 million U.S. homes with TV, only about 4800 homes are sampled weekly
for national people meter ratings, with about 110,000 other households submitting
written diaries during sweeps periods (May, July, November, February) when
ratings in all 211 TV markets are gathered.
Nielsen plans to boost the number of households keeping diaries by 50 percent
over the next two years.
In the meantime, all those addicted to "Profit's" savagely smart brand of
intrigue and humor can support the series by writing John Matoian, Fox
Broadcasting Company, P.O. Box 900, Beverly Hills Calif. 90213, or by e-mailing
the Fox website at
http://www.foxworld.com.
Television News
May 06, 1996
Fox's wickedly twisted 'Profit' may be viewers' loss
By Kinney Littlefield
Orange County Register
astralj@hotmail.com
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