SUMMER STOCK If you ran a business that was losing customers every year, would you close shop for three months? Probably not. But the networks are still slow to learn. The minute the season ended, ABC threw lost episodes of C-16 and Teen Angel on the air, a sure sign that it's time to turn to cable.
Fear not, however. There will be some original fare on the nets this summer. Fox is planning to roll out new episodes of Melrose Place in July or August, hoping to jump-start what may be the serial's last season. MP alum Josie Bissett is returning to the show, and Heather Locklear will be featured more prominently than in the past few years. Fox also plans to launch a prime-time newsmagazine and a series of specials based on The Guinness Book of World Records.
ABC will try out a new, surreal drama, Maximum Bob (based on the Elmore Leonard novel), starring Beau Bridges. And Drew Carey will host a new version of the British game show Whose Line Is It Anyway?
Forgoing any new series, NBC will once again rely on the "It's new to you" campaign asking viewers to sample missed first-run shows. Problem is, given how many times the Peacock repeated its Frasier, Seinfeld, and Just Shoot Me episodes this year, chances are the only thing new to you will be the commercials.