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Sunday, September 08, 2002

By Rob Owen, Post-Gazette TV editor

Some might say the events of Sept. 11 had no effect on the types of TV shows that get on the air now - the mind-numbing "Anna Nicole Show" on E! is Exhibit A; rough and tumble "The Shield" on FX is Exhibit B - but the new fall schedule on the broadcast networks proves last year's terrorist attacks had at least some impact.

	Brittany Snow, center, appears in a scene from NBC's "American Dreams," one of several nostalgic entries on the networks' fall schedules. (AP Photo/NBC, Alan Zenuk)

CBS executives said 9/11 wasn't a factor in their programming, and that may be. The success of "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" probably has as much to do with the glut of crime-fighting heroes on CBS this fall as with Sept. 11.

Similarly, ABC's retreat to traditional family shows and its decision to avoid taking risks probably says more about the network's ratings woes than the post-9/11 TV environment.

Attributing all of fall's themes to the attacks would be unfair, but some trends can't be dismissed.

Nostalgia, which rose in popularity after surprisingly high ratings for a CBS Carol Burnett retrospective last November, continues to permeate television. This week, The WB premieres a revival of the '60s hit "Family Affair." NBC's "In-Laws" harks back only a few years to the hit Ben Stiller movie "Meet the Parents."

Dick Clark, executive producer of NBC's 1960s-set family drama "American Dreams," said his show was in development before Sept. 11.

"After 9/11, it became ever more appropriate because [this family] lives in a world of upheaval," Clark said. "They don't know what the future is going to bring ... Kennedy dies, the Vietnam War comes on, drugs come in, there are racial problems. There are all sorts of changing times. Here we are with similar things going on today."

Fox's midseason comedy "Oliver Beene" is also set in the '60s and focuses on a young boy whose family builds a bomb shelter during the Cuban missile crisis.

"What jumped out at me was the thought of the bomb shelter and how this family is acting in this seemingly crazy way in response to [the threat of war], and isn't that silly the way they reacted?" said executive producer Steve Levitan. "Meanwhile, I had friends going out buying gas masks. I thought, as far as we've come, we're going back."

Executive producer Howard Gewirtz said many of the "Oliver Beene" stories come from his own childhood. And the timing is right for those stories to be told.

"One of the points we try to make is that there was no time when it was more under control," he said. "If anything, it was scarier back then. ... Somehow, we survived that, and whatever fears we have now, we will prevail."

Both ABC ("That Was Then") and The WB ("Do Over") have shows that feature thirtysomething guys who get zapped back to their teen years as high school students in the '80s. They get the chance to live their lives over again and presumably make better choices.

Jeff Kline, executive producer of "That Was Then," said the "Back to the Future"-like theme of his show has been on the minds of more Americans in the past year.

"Obviously, after Sept. 11, and for other reasons as well, people are looking and wishing they could go back and do something differently," Kline said. "Wish fulfillment is more of a priority when you are faced with real life that dramatically, real death that dramatically."

Reach Rob Owen at rowen@post-gazette.com or 412-263-2582.