New York --TBS Superstation is scrapping
"Destination Sunday," but not destination marketing. If anything, it's
emphasizing appointment viewing in 1998-99 with a move to themed nights.
Moreover, after a joint TBS/Turner Network Television
upfront presentation to the advertising community last week, Turner Broadcasting System
Inc. officials indicated that TNT is rethinking its planned Thursday 8 p.m. to 10 p.m.
scheduling for one of its primetime anchors -- the off-net, Time Warner-owned ER.
TBS Superstation president Bill Burke said
"Destination Sunday" will give way to "Superstation Sunday," featuring
all movies all day and night. The National Geographic Explorer series will shift to
Wednesdays. "We're going to revitalize [that series with] ... more action, more
predators," he said.
Mondays now will feature National Basketball Association
games instead of movies, Burke said, while Tuesdays will showcase specials like figure
skating. Thursdays will combine Thunder, its successful new wrestling series, with
the "Movies for Guys Who Love Movies" franchise.
Other movie franchises will dominate Fridays -- bracketing
"Dinner & a Movie" with "'80s Night" movies -- and Saturdays,
adding "Movie Lounge," described by Burke as "Politically Incorrect
meets Siskel & Ebert."
TNT president Brad Siegel, citing ER as one of its
"high-impact" shows, mentioned only its 7 p.m. stripping. Later, TBSI spokesmen
said that TNT may not offer two-hours of ER Thursdays at 8 p.m. after all -- perhaps
to protect the long-term off-network ratings appeal of television's No. 1 series.
Afterward, Steve Heyer, TBSI president and COO, disclosed
that he had obtained a copy of CBS' anti-"Millennium" study and said the
research in it offers "nothing new" and is "embarrassing" to broadcast
networks.
