Dow Jones Newswire
January 11, 2003
THE PITCH: ABC's Latest Mission? Hyping 'Alias' To Crowds
By Brian Steinberg
A Dow Jones Newswires Column
NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Terrorists, torturers and a troubled family background aren't enough to stop super spy Sydney Bristow. Her greatest escapade is about to take place right after this year's Super Bowl.
Whether she succeeds or fails in her mission that night is less important than how many people watch her do so - and decide to watch again.
Agent Bristow is the lead character on "Alias," an adventure drama airing on Walt Disney Co.'s (DIS) turnaround-mode ABC network, and her ultimate victory or demise hinges on executives at the Alphabet Network transforming the show from a cult fave to a massive hit.
Putting "Alias" on after the Super Bowl - perhaps the best-watched TV event of the year and often a temporary rating booster - is part of a "big push" to ensure the program becomes "a big, long-running hit drama," says Steve Sohmer, the network's executive vice-president of marketing.
Will "Alias" thrive or die? Ultimately, says Tim Spengler, an executive vice president and director of national broadcast at Interpubic Group of Cos.' (IPG) Initiative Media, "the unwashed masses across the whole country will decide."
Gripping Episode
Meanwhile, viewers can expect to be dazzled as "Alias" vies for their attention. The episode airing after the big football game "starts with a spectacular opening," says J.J. Abrams, the program's creator and executive producer, and ends with "the single most shocking thing you'll see on TV this year."
Already, however, ABC has expressed concern over the drama's sophomore-year performance. "As well as the show does for us, it should be doing better, given the quality," said Lloyd Braun, chairman of ABC's entertainment group, during a conference call after the November sweeps. "If anything, we've got to make the show more receptive to non-viewers."
"Alias" stars Jennifer Garner as a twentysomething CIA operative who realizes she knows less and less about her family, friends and enemies the more and more she deals with them. Like the title, nothing on the program is what it seems. Bristow works for the CIA but spends her days spying on a rogue operation known as SD-6, which bills itself as a CIA offshoot in order to play on its employees' patriotic leanings. By many accounts, "Alias' is everything ABC needs - a clever fusion of espionage, family drama, gadgets, disguises, exotic travel, humor, a breakout starlet and spiraling subplots that keep loyal fans coming back week after week.
The last element may give ABC pause. Like "24," an action series that takes place in real time on News Corp.'s (NWS) rival Fox, "Alias" can be tough to follow if a viewer skips an episode or two. "It's not a show you can watch passively or you can watch hit-or-miss," says Jack Sander, executive vice president of media operations for Belo Corp. (BLC), which owns four ABC affiliates. "You almost have to stay with it all the time. You couldn't have said that about 'ER' five years ago or so."
Of course, complex storytelling isn't the only challenge. On TV, Sunday nights have become as competitive as Thursday nights. For most of this season, "Alias" has had to contend not only with "The Sopranos" on AOL Time Warner Inc.'s (AOL) HBO, but also "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" on General Electric Co.'s (GE) NBC and teen favorite "Angel" on WB, owned by AOL and Tribune Co. (TRB).
"With 'The Sopranos' out of the mix, and 'Angel' moved to Wednesday, I think ABC will have a better chance of seeing what 'Alias' can do," says Pattie Glod, vice president of marketing and media for Limited Brands Inc. (LTD), which advertises for Victoria's Secret during "Alias."
The network may need to know soon, suggests Kathryn Thomas, an associate director at Publicis Groupe SA's (PUB) Starcom Entertainment. Simply put, "Alias" isn't cheap, she says, costing between $1.5 million and $1.7 million an episode, according to one estimate. Because it is produced by Disney's Touchstone Television, ABC and Disney likely bear full financial responsibility.
Show-Biz Economics
"It's an expensive show to produce. Jennifer Garner has been made a star because of this, and will only get more expensive," says Thomas. "If they can't find a viable financial model this season," she adds, "Alias" could very well "go away."
ABC disputes that notion. "The shows that are really expensive are shows that have gone through one cycle, and then have a chance to renegotiate their whole talent structure," says ABC's Sohmer. "I don't know whether it's expensive or not, but it's not expensive compared to 'The West Wing' and some of those others."
Nevertheless, ABC might want to look into ways to make "Alias" pay off a little faster, suggests Thomas. A DVD of the first season could give the show a promotional boost - and a financial one. And repurposing "Alias" on cable's ABC Family channel may not be the best use of the program, she says; at times, "Alias" can be sexy and violent.
For his part, Abrams is aware of some of the challenges. "There is some truth to the confusion factor, but I love the show so much that the last thing I would do is dumb it down," he says. "There is a difference between dumbing it down and eliminating unnecessary confusion." Viewers can expect subtle shifts in the storytelling, he says, that bring Sydney and her CIA handler, Vaughn, together romantically. What's more, the show will demonstrate more clearly who Sydney's enemies are, never an easy task.
"Ultimately, the show is a mystery, and that's kind of the fun of it," says Abrams, "but in a mystery, if you don't know who you are, it goes from being a mystery to being a mess. That, to me, is something we're going to be able to deal with."
Expect lots of "Alias" promotion over the next few months, says Sohmer, on ABC as well as in print and on radio. Promotions for the show focus on "the foreground adventure, the caper," he says. "The adventure of the week is a real potboiler, with a beginning, middle and an end." Ongoing subplots take a back seat. After the Super Bowl, ABC hopes to attract new viewers, and then keep them. "You can look for us to be hammering away," he says, through February and March.
Meanwhile, ABC might enjoy an added boost when the 20th Century Fox super-hero movie "Daredevil" comes out on Feb. 14 - "Alias" star Garner has a featured role as the knife-throwing assassin Elektra. "Getting her out on the talk-show circuit, getting her into promotional places could help a lot," says Belo's Sander. If so, then "Alias" may well be armed for its most harrowing assignment - staying on the air.
Want to pitch THE PITCH? Send e-mail to: brian.steinberg@dowjones.com.
Brian Steinberg can be reached at 201-938-5218
© Dow Jones Newswire 2003
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