Sagansky’s feat is already drawing salutes, even from such seasoned pros as David Gerber, head of MGM/UA’s TV-production unit. “Jeff is the last of a breed,” says Gerber. “Fred Silverman, Brandon Tartikoff and Jeff Sagansky are the guys with the golden guts. They didn’t come from a womb. They came from a television set.” Whew - that’s some company. For a less hyperbolic fix on Sagansky, it helps to dial back a bit. Once installed as CBS’s programming chief-its third in as many years-he set about reviving the sick network with remedies that mixed toughness and charm:
Sagansky landed swinging, axing two series with small but passionate followings: “Beauty and the Beast” and “The Famous Teddy Z.” As critics howled, he switched his attention to Angela Lansbury, who was threatening to leave “Murder, She Wrote,” CBS’s only new hit since 1984. Once Sagansky smoothed Lansbury’s feathers, he began an intense courtship of TV’s best producers and writers - many of whom viewed CBS management as arrogant.
Traditionally, CBS’s schedule appealed primarily to oldsters, hardly the targets today’s sponsors most prize. To “lower the demographic skew,” as Sagansky put it, he embraced such youth-oriented series as “Northern Exposure.” Not everything worked: even 7 year olds rejected yucky “Uncle Buck,” a Sagansky favorite. Still, he’s managed to shave the median age of CBS viewers by two years-to advertisers, the equivalent of a Cher-size surgical makeover.
All winning networks boast one evening of near-mandatory viewing. When Sagansky looked at his Monday-night lineup, he saw “Murphy Brown” and “Designing Women” batting alone. To give them support, Sagansky and deputy Peter Tortorici moved in “Evening Shade” and “Major Dad” as Monday’s leadoffs and “Northern Exposure” as its lead-out. The result is a murderers’ row: a recent week found all five shows in Nielsen’s top 15.
Of course, as Sagansky well knows, the ratings game has radically changed: it’s no longer a three-team affair. “We’re not competing against the other two networks so much as the 400 choices viewers now have every night,” he says. Some even question whether the game is still worth winning. NBC president Robert Wright recently proposed that being No. 1 is meaningless if it takes budget-busting sports events - namely, CBS’s World Series, Super Bowl and Winter Olympics - to get there. CBS officials concede they may have overspent on the rights to such events. But as they correctly point out, the network’s surge to the top was fueled largely by the improved ratings of its weekly series. Eventually, those audience gains will pay off in higher ad revenue.
The 40-year-old Sagansky’s toughest battle is for creative talent. As the number of networks swells, the people who make the shows find themselves with unprecedented options. Here Sagansky’s personal style may be CBS’s strongest suit. Unlike his imperious predecessor, Kim LeMasters, he knows how to stroke and coax. Hollywood likes him. “He returns phone calls immediately,” says “Cagney & Lacey” creator Barney Rosenzweig. “And he’s not just a dead fish on the other end. There’s an enthusiasm about Jeff that’s almost boyish.” Others marvel at his willingness to listen to ideas and share credit. “I can’t emphasize enough,” Sagansky emphasizes again, “that this isn’t a one-man show here.” While that sounds suspiciously CC (corporately correct), Sagansky’s colleagues attest to his humility. Says CBS Broadcast Group president Howard Stringer: “Jeff’s absence of ego is remarkable.”
After picking up an M.B.A. at Harvard, Sagansky spent two years apprenticing under a programming master: NBC’s Brandon Tartikoff. As Tartikoff ’s chief assistant, he helped develop such hits as “The A-Team” and “The Cosby Show,” then jumped into the movie biz as president of Tri-Star Pictures. His performance there was undistinguished. Though “Look Who’s Talking” premiered under Sagansky’s tenure, so did such bombs as “Who’s Harry Crumb?”, “Family Business” and a remake of “The Blob.” Sagansky’s tastes run with the mainstream and, charge critics, away from the innovative or provocative. He does, however, know talent. Next fall, Sagansky will unveil new series by Diane English (“Murphy Brown”) and David Kelley (“L.A. Law”).
In the meantime, and to the despair of his staff, Sagansky continues to indulge his most notorious quirk: an obsession with animal shows. His midseason replacements include comedies about a talking mastiff and a 1,300-year-old dragon, along with a cartoon show called “Fish Police.” He even keeps a stuffed parrot in his office. What Sagansky really needs, of course, is a rabbit’s foot - and maybe, considering the intensity of the competition, a necklace or two of shark’s teeth.
