- News Archive for October 1997

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL LENDS SUPPORT TO THEME OF SOCIAL AND MORAL RESPONSIBILITY ON THE SENTINEL -- October 31

To help spread awareness for Amnesty International, the respected worldwide organization that campaigns for a universal declaration of human rights, Paramount Network Television's The Sentinel will address the issue of human rights abuse in a special episode entitled Fool Me Twice, airing Wednesday, November 5 in its new time slot of 9:00 p.m. ET/PT on UPN.20

"Amnesty International is delighted to support and commend The Sentinel, and its episode, Fool Me Twice. We appreciate the attention the episode calls to the plight of prisoners of conscience around the world and the message it sends to human rights abusers," said Dr. William F. Schulz, Executive Director of Amnesty International USA. "Hundreds of thousands of men, women and children are imprisoned, tortured or executed each year because they voice their beliefs. This episode of The Sentinel reinforces the critical message that governments must respect, protect and promote the rights of all people."

"We are happy to reinforce, through the powerful medium of television, the Amnesty International message of the fundamental human right to self determination," says Paul DeMeo, Executive Producer of The Sentinel.

Fool Me Twice, finds the fictional town of Cascade the setting for an Amnesty International Peace Conference. Detective Jim Ellison (Richard Burgi) and Blair Sandburg (Garett Maggart) become enmeshed in an assassination plot directed by Feliz Lemec (Clifton Davis of Amen fame), the President of St. Germaine, a politically unstable Caribbean country, against his fellow citizen, the internationally admired human rights activist, Genevieve Benet (Kira Arne). During a ceremony where Benet is to receive an Amnesty International humanitarian award, she plans to expose, with photographic evidence, Lemec and his government as bloody violators of human rights. Tension mounts as Ellison and Blair must protect Benet from the deadly behind-the-scenes maneuverings of Lemec, who has learned of Benet's plan to inform the world of his atrocities.

The Sentinel is a Pet Fly Production in association with Paramount Network Television. The Paramount Television Group is part of the entertainment operations of Viacom Inc.

PRNewswire (Thanks Barbara)

NEW UPN BUSINESS OPERATIONS VP -- October 31

Entertainment Wire (Thanks Manuela)

Support letter from Danny Bilson

I have just logged on to your website and am truly grateful for this kind of support. We need it. It is my opinion that our network has, and continues to take The Sentinel for granted. The lack of promotion and care is always a sore spot with me.

I want to personally thank the people that have dedicated their time to this site. Keep it up and maybe the fans can get us some of the support we all deserve.

I do read a lot of the letters and will respond to e-mail when I can. This show belongs to all of us.

Thanks again,

Danny Bilson

SENTINEL MOVES TO 9PM TIMESLOT -- October 16

UPN's new entertainment chief Tom Nunan made his first scheduling moves Wednesday, swapping timeslots for sitcoms Clueless and Moesha on Tuesday nights and dramas The Sentinel and Star Trek Voyager on Wednesday nights.

Nunan is flipping Star Trek to 8:00 pm and The Sentinel to 9:00 pm in order to take greater advantage of Star Trek's kid and teen appeal. The Sentinel is more of an adult show. Nunan also feels the stronger show should lead off the night.

Variety (Thanks Kendra)

This could be an intelligent programming move on UPN's part, allowing the stronger show to lead the night and retain viewers for the later timeslot -- now Voyager viewers will see ads for the upcoming The Sentinel episodes, in the same way that we have been bombarded with ads for Voyager. Perhaps the Powers That Be can also take advantage of the more adult classification at the 9pm timeslot.

Certainly, The Sentinel will now find itself pitched against stiffer competition on the prime networks -- 3rd Rock From The Sun/Working, The Drew Carey Show/Ellen, Bryant Gumbel's Public Eye and Party of Five, and Voyager now goes in against Dharma & Greg, The Nanny, Murphy Brown, Spin City, Tony Danza, and Sister Sister.

Hopefully, UPN will take the opportunity to heavily promote both The Sentinel and Voyager in their switched timeslots, and both will benefit from the push. But don't leave it to "hope", don't leave it to "faith", let Tom Nunan and Dean Valentine know that you expect them to continue to support their second highest rating show in a manner commensurate with its quality and potential.

SENTINEL CHARITY AUCTION -- October 15

The Final Bids For The American Cancer Society On-Line Auction were incredible!!

The Signed Script for "Three Point Shot" went for $800 and the Sentinel Cap went for $180.

As a result of the generous people at Pet Fly, the efforts of the Vancouver Office for The Sentinel, and Shanda's help in running the auction - $980 was raised for The American Cancer Society.

Thanks to everyone who passed the information on to other lists and to everyone who submitted a bid. And a final thanks to the two people who made such generous bids, they are greatly appreciated by the American Cancer Society.

(Thanks Shanda Harry)

UPN THURSDAY NIGHT MOVIES ON HOLD? -- October 14

The movie night originally was scheduled for an April 1998 debut, but newly hired UPN CEO Dean Valentine wants to push back the premiere, probably until September.

The sci-fi movie night is expected to be an expensive and ambitious endeavor, with the emerging network planning 30 movies annually, twice the number of films that many studio produce in a year. Sources said a delay may be partly due to the difficulty of producing such a high volume of originals.

UPN had no comment, but Valentine discussed the possible delay in a conference call Monday with affiliates, according to station managers.

Reuters/Variety (Thanks Barbara)

This may very much work to our favour. What could be easier than launching your movie night, an expensive venture, than by using cast, crew and production facilities of existing shows like (surprise, surprise) The Sentinel? So now is the time to write to both Dean Valentine and John Levoff (who's sitting at his desk making up pretend movie titles and schedules) with our helpful suggestions about how attractive the idea of those Sentinel telemoves would be. Or even the original idea floated by Michael Sullivan of repackaging previously aired episodes with unseen footage.

HEAD OF NEW UPN THURSDAY NIGHT MOVIES -- October 13

Levoff is president of his own production house, New Frontier Entertainment, which he formed in 1994 and for which he developed projects in partnership with Kevin Costner's Tig Prods. and Mel Gibson's Icon Prods. as well as Warner Bros., Pressman Prods., HBO and NBC. His resume also includes a stint as president of Georgian Bay Prods, VP at MGM/UA Television, director of series at Columbia Pictures Television and director of Drama Series at ABC, Entertainment, where he worked on Battlestar Gallactica and The Six Million Dollar Man.

(Thanks Pam Buickel)

Along with new Executive VP of Entertainment, Tom Nunan, John Levoff would be the person to target regarding the rumoured Sentinel telemovies. These telemovies were under consideration earlier in the year by Tom Nunan's predecessor Michael Sullivan. Even though the personnel at UPN have changed the idea of these telemovies, which would be ideal for the new Thursday night movie slot, is still a great one. We just have to write and tell them that we wanna see them.

UPN - CONNECTING WITH REAL AMERICANS -- October 12

"We're trying to connect with real Americans, the great American middle class who lives happily between the coasts. I don't think anyone is programming for those people."

"Over the coming years, we're not going to do programming whose fundamental charm is the large bust sizes of various actresses. Aside from any moral issues I have with it, it's very important to us and the future health of this network that women of all ages watch our programming."

"I want to get to the point where people go, 'You know, I'd love to see what's on UPN. Let me turn it on.' I don't want them to say 'I'd love to see the women with large chests rattling across UPN.' That's not the image we want to put forth and I don't think that's what we want to be about."

Valentine said UPN's programming is currently "a little bit all over the place," from urban to sci-fi.

Broadcasting and Cable (Thanks Barbara)

So let them know that middle America is watching The Sentinel!

NEW PRESIDENT FOR UPN

While UPN is ahead of rival The WB in the ratings race, industry observers say that's thanks to a stronger affiliate base, not smart programming. Of its 10 prime-time shows, only Star Trek:Voyager, Moesha, and In the House have shown staying power...[snip]

The notoriously blunt Valentine is fully prepared to aggressively broaden UPN's reach. "The WB is doing it," says Valentine, of that net's more mainstream comedies (Alright Already, The Tom Show) and younger-skewing dramas (Buffy the Vampire Slayer). "We'll move in that direction too."

(c) Entertainment Weekly (Thanks Shelley)

Tom Nunan Appointed Executive Vice President, Entertainment, UPN

Nunan will begin on Oct. 13 and reports directly to Valentine.

"I am thrilled that Tom is joining UPN," said Valentine. "While I was at Disney, I had the opportunity to work with Tom and found him to be an extremely gifted executive who is very knowledgeable in all creative aspects of the business."

"What's exciting to me about this opportunity is that I see the current state of the broadcast-television industry as a completely open playing field," said Nunan. "While the major networks are concerned with demographics or their particular niche programming, UPN has the ability to grow into a quality, wide-appeal broadcast network."

During his tenure at NBC Studios, to which he was appointed in 1995 and which resulted in the studio becoming NBC's largest supplier of prime-time programming, Nunan oversaw the development of this season's new half-hour comedies, Working, starring Fred Savage, The Tony Danza Show and Union Square.

In one-hour dramas, Nunan was responsible for Homicide: Life on the Street, Profiler and The Pretender. Additionally, he helped to develop the comedy series In the House, which premiered on NBC before moving to UPN, where it has been a keystone of the network's Monday-night lineup.

Before joining NBC Studios, Nunan was executive vice president, Primetime Development, for the Fox Broadcasting Co. There, he was responsible for all areas of development for the network, including drama, comedy, alternative programming and late-night.

Prior to that appointment, Nunan was senior vice president, Comedy, at Fox Broadcasting Co., where he helped develop the series Martin, Living Single, The George Carlin Show and the critically acclaimed Bakersfield, P.D., the latter with Disney's Touchstone Television.

Previously, he was at ABC as executive director, Movies for Television, from 1988 to 1991, where he supervised more than 30 telefeatures.

Before joining ABC, Nunan was vice president, Movies, Miniseries and Drama Series, at Weintraub Entertainment Group, managing production of the studio's drama development division. From 1986 to 1988, Nunan was vice president, Movies & Miniseries, for Fries Entertainment.

A graduate of UCLA's Film School, Nunan began his career as a reader for HBO Premiere Films while still attending college.

Copyright (c) 1997 Business Wire 97-10-06 (Thanks Barbara)

WEDNESDAY NIGHT SCHEDULE

(c) VARIETY Sept 1-9 (Thanks Gloria Ainsworth)

WEBLETS LONG FOR HITS, LEADER

Valentine is walking into UPN just after the start of UPN's third full season, which, with the exception of a strong premiere for the flagship series Star Trek: Voyager hasn't looked especially promising.

It's also a time when rancor between UPN and WB is at an all-time high and the losses of the two netlets are building. UPN has lost more than $300 million and WB has lost better than $200 million, according to industry estimates.

(c) VARIETY Sep 8-14 (Thanks Gloria Ainsworth)

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