ABC puts faith in ambitious programming

Cast members Christa Miller, Busy Philipps and Courteney Cox Arquette (L-R) listen to a question about the show ''Cougar Town'' during the Disney and ABC Television Group panels at the Television Critics Association summer press tour in Pasadena, California August 8, 2009.

PASADENA (Reuters) - ABC said on Saturday it wanted to be the place for ambitious TV programing in a busy market place where viewers are shrinking and costs are rising.

Walt Disney Co's ABC is launching a bumper 11 new shows for the upcoming 2009-10 prime-time TV schedule in a bid to climb up from its current third place among the four leading U.S. TV networks.

"We have to remain ambitious," Steve McPherson, president of ABC Entertainment told TV reporters at a presentation outlining the network's new line-up.

"We have always succeeded when we have been ambitious and really pushed the limits, whether it was 'Desperate Housewives' which people said was about 40-year old women, or 'Lost'. Both shows have been very fortuitous creatively, in ratings and financially.

"There is so much great product out there. You have to be ambitious. You have to break through the clutter," McPherson said.

In a bold move, ABC is completely overhauling its Wednesday night line-up, bringing in three new family-based sitcoms with veteran favorites like Kelsey Grammer of "Frasier" fame and Patricia Heaton formerly of "I Love Raymond".

The network, which saw a three percent drop in audiences in the 2009-09 season, will also air two female-centric shows later on Wednesdays -- "Cougar Town" starring former "Friends" star Courteney Cox, and "Eastwick" with Rebecca Romijn.

Other new offerings include an expensive action-filled sci-fi mystery series "Flash Forward" and a reality show for budding business entrepreneurs called "Shark Tank".

"We realize it is absolutely a challenge (for viewers) to watch one new show, let alone a whole night of new shows," McPherson said.

McPherson said production costs were a "major issue" at ABC. All four leading networks have had to cut advertising rates by about 4 percent this year after advertisers bought around 15 percent less commercial air time for the upcoming TV season, media executives said this week.

"We have used this term 'portfolio' approach where we have to look at all our development and make sure we have some (programs) of each size. Or if we are getting out of balance with too much expensive stuff...we try to adjust," he said.

The rival CBS and NBC networks have had huge ratings and syndication successes for years with so-called "procedural" crime franchises such as "CSI" and "Law & Order."

McPherson said ABC was looking for a similar series to boost its own bottom line. "It is certainly something we are interested in...Obviously it has benefits in terms of repeats and franchises. We'd love to have one and are certainly trying to find our own version."