Friday, November 02, 1984

New York NY -- NEW YORK (AP) - If you don't like what's on television and think you can write better material, your time is coming. ABC plans to use new research techniques by early 1985 that will get regular folks involved in the early stages of creating TV shows.

For years, networks have used viewer testing to help determine which pilot shows become full-blown series. ABC will still do this, but will broaden its research with a computerized operation in New York that will sample the viewer-on- the-street's reaction to TV ideas - before the cameras ever start rolling. ''We hope the new testing system will make a difference,'' said Marvin Mord, ABC's vice-president for marketing and research. ''We hope to assemble enough data before the pilot to avoid mistakes once we go to pilot.'' ABC, currently the third-rated network, doesn't want another Jessie. Research on the pilot for that new series showed test audiences rejecting the setting (Tucson, Ariz.) and the credibility of Lindsay Wagner's character (a police psychiatrist).

At great expense, ABC re-shot parts of the pilot and changed the locale to southern California. New producers were brought in to re-work the concept, but apparently too late. Jessie is failing in the ratings.

In ABC's new research system, New Yorkers and tourists will be invited into a Manhattan studio, where they will see shows or, in some cases, only artwork and scripts for possible programs. The guinea pigs can adjust a dial from one to 100 to reflect how they feel about the concept, characters and other elements. ''We'll ask the group how they would make the characters more real,'' Mord said. ''We're not asking them to produce the shows but get their feedback. This will generate food for thought with writers and program executives.'' ''It sounds to me like paint-by-numbers TV,'' said Barbara Brogliatti, spokesman for producer Norman Lear's Embassy Communications. ''I don't like it at all.'' Neither does Lear. ''If we had been doing this for the past 50 years, there wouldn't have been a Billy Rose, a Mike Todd, Florenz Ziegfeld, Irving Thalberg or George Lucas,'' he said. ''ABC is throwing a farewell party for showmanship, gut instinct and creativity.'' ABC believes the research will provide a perspective besides the closed-circle opinion of Hollywood's entertainment community. ''Having all this information in advance is very valuable to producers,'' Mord said. ''Hopefully when the pilots come in, they'll be better.'' Madison Avenue has used variations of focus-group testing for years. In their quest for better research, advertisers have tried such things as monitoring the dilation of pupils and the sweating of palms.

Since 1960, CBS has tested its completed shows with New York audiences, but CBS's system doesn't permit as many gradations as ABC's. Viewers can only press a green button for positive responses, red for negative, or do nothing for neutral reactions.

Dave Poltrack, CBS' vice-president for research, said CBS has done concept-testing for TV movies but has never tried it for series.