Catacombs Reference LibraryTrade Press
Space Gives Webs Big Sci-Defy Scare
Catacombs Reference LibraryThe US show business newspaper Variety was where ITC ran their adverts. It ran numerous news stories about the series (see list) including the first announcement (1st August 1973). See the Daily Variety series reviews of Breakaway and Metamorph. Variety uses it's own jargon, called "Slanguage". Some terms, such as "show biz", has crossed over into general English. Relevant Variety and business jargon is explained below.
12 March 1975
ITC so far has sold Space: 1999, high-budget hour long series premiering worldwide in September, in 48 markets. All sales are to network affiliates except in New York, where indie WPIX will air the show.
Among other stations buying the series are WCVB-TV Boston, WTVJ Miami, and WDAF-TV Kansas City.
by Bill Greeley, Wednesday 30 July, 1975, p41.
The invasion of spacemen from England is giving the American networks some real tremors.
Independent Television Corp.'s Space: 1999, the syndicated action-adventure series with production values geared to network standard and classy star attractions in Martin Landau, Barbara Bain and others, is threatening to zap four new web series before the full season begins.
The show has been sold in 128 markets, with more than 90% of the sales to network affiliates. A large majority of those affiliates are scheduling the series in prime-time. This means that network entries considered weak going into the fall season are either being cancelled or scheduled to air on a delayed basis.
The four shows being hit the hardest by the sci-fi invaders are ABC-TV's Barbary Coast, the citified oater period piece, and NBC-TV's Invisible Man, both slotted 8 p.m. Mondays, and NBC's Thursday night brace of new sit-coms, The Montefuscos and Fay, scheduled at 8 and 8:30 p.m., respectively.
Space: 1999 not only did not make a network sale. but also was not contracted by a network o&o group. Thus the series will be competing with the networks on independents in such markets as New York, Los Angeles, Chicago. Cleveland and Detroit.
But the great number of preemptions elsewhere around the country confirms a readiness on the part of affiliates to do their own thing in programming when the crunch is on. If the syndication market develops a couple of more Space: 1999's in coming seasons, the networks could have serious problems.
Besides a show of independence - and, perhaps, a little bit of good taste and sense - the local stations have another reason to carve out a niche in primetime beyond the prime-access slots. That is a need for some first-class availabilities to service "bluechip" local advertisers. It is not hard to imagine a local advertiser, like a J.C. Penney or a Sears (augmenting network spreads) picking up a big enough chunk of a network-quality local show to impress the native viewers.
To be sure, the trade will be watching the inroads closely as the new season gets underway.
3 September, 1975
In their unanimous show of great optimism and confidence over primetime clearances for the coming season, the three networks have chosen to overlook one very serious common problem.
The problem is ITC's syndicated hour series, Space: 1999, which has been sold to 146 stations. Seven of the sales have been to major independent stations, but the remaining 139 have been to network affiliates. About 70 of the affiliates have chosen to air the series in primetime, pre-empting network programs. The vast majority of the pre-emptions are levelled against new shows.
Another 22 affiliates have opted for shelving the sci-fi entry, but they will be scheduling it no later than midseason, and surely in some cases in time for the November sweep ratings.
Noting the cajolery and arm- wrenching indulged to get Boston and Washington, D.C., affiliates to reverse pre-emption plans and go with the network product, it is not hard to imagine what is taking place in the fret wards of web exec minds when they contemplate the 70 holes punched in night time slates by an action-adventure item from the syndication beat.
Nothing of this sort has happened for 20 years, the last time being when Ziv's half-hour syndication series, Sea Hunt and Highway Patrol, caused affiliates throughout the country to scrub network programs in favour of outside product. The old Ziv shows were offered with full sponsorship. Space 1999 is being sold by the local stations to both national and local sponsors.
The pre-emptions include such vital markets as Boston, Pittsburgh, Houston, Cincinnati and Hartford-New Haven. And with slight variations, the strategy behind the pre-emptions is uniform across the country.
Jack Harris, former NBC affiliate board chairman and president of KPRC-TV Houston, is pre- empting his network's new show, Invisible Man, for Space 1999, and his reasons for the move coincide with the majority around the country.
In the first place, says Harris, the syndicated show is unique in its production quality, "built for primetime" (Invisible was selected for the axe because it seems to be a "gimmicky" show). Second, the networks, under the altered prime-access rules, have taken away an hour of local time Sundays, and the stations are simply taking it back.
Harris says that a major concern of affiliates currently is the expansion of network hours (he notes that NBC will be networking from noon. until 11 p.m. Sundays, and that his station will lose a half-hour of locally produced news. Unlike CBS affiliates, who are pre-empting the new "family-hour" entry, Three For The Road, NBC affils are trapped - "We've got to carry Disney," says Harris, "That's Motherhood." Incidentally, of all the pre-emptions for Space 1999, only one is of Three For The Road, where affiliates are generally scheduling a half-hour of news with a half-hour syndicated show).
Harris expects the network will run into serious problems after the football season with its new Sunday Grandstand sports spread - "The networks don't seem to fully understand that we have to program locally."
In some cases, affiliates are flip-flopping network half-hours into prime-access positions and slotting Space in primetime. Paul Wischmeyer, veepee of CBS affiliate WOW-TV Omaha, says he will pre- empt Good Times and Joe and Sons for Space, but will slot Good Times at 6:30 Wednesdays. The offer of a Saturday afternoon slot for Joe and Sons was turned down by the network.
At WBRZ-TV Baton Rouge, g.m. Ray Alexander says Space will be slotted Fridays from 6:30 to 7:30, filling a prime-access slot ...
Diary entry from 10 September, 1975. The rough cut story would probably be an early version of Breakaway, perhaps February 1974.
Those Space 1999 sets out at the Pinewood film lot remain standing. with filming on the ITC syndication series expected to resume later this year. ATV topper Lew Grade is figuring on merchandising alone to generate more than $1,000,000 in ancillary revenues. Exec also claims the U.S. webs nixed the show because he pitched it to them on the basis of a rough cut sans music, colour correction, etc., hence blames himself for the strikeout...
24 December, 1975 p14
As previously reported (Daily Variety, Dec. 16), Space 1999, the British-made sci-fi series starring Martin Landau and Barbara Bain, has been given the go-ahead for a second season's production. ITC prexy Abe Mandell has recently returned from London where he held production confabs for next semester. ITC is a subsid of ATV, Lew Grade's company.
Production on 24 new hour long segs will begin Jan. 17 in London. Barry Morse, a regular last season, will not be back. ITC exec v.p. of syndication Pierre Weis reported renewals from a number of major markets have been received for the second term, these including KHJ-TV in L.A. Show has also been bought for the second season by the Canadian Broadcasting Corp., and in 68 other foreign countries, which aired the show its first time out.
Series has been sold in 101 markets the first season, including 55 U.S. cities.
Budget for show has been upped from its $6.500.000 the first semester to $7,200,000 for the second year, with a minimum of $320,000 per seg allotted, Mandell said.
Fred Freiberger has been signed as producer-story ed, and will work in association with exec producer Gerry Anderson. New characters will be added for the new batch.