Where's missing audience?

"Nothing Sacred," the ABC drama series about an inner-city Catholic parish, continues to be battered by the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, and to be abandoned by advertisers scared off by that organization.

Meanwhile, the network has renewed the show for the entire season and is moving it from its doomed-to-die slot opposite NBC's "Friends" on Thursday to the graveyard of Saturday night.

Amid all of that back-and-forth, a key question about the series has not been addressed -- and some of you have the answer.

Ups and downs

The most recent advertisers to drop from "Nothing Sacred" include the U.S. Postal Service, which doesn't want its messages delivered on the show; RadioShack, which won't tune in any more; and Nissan, which was driven away by the League's activism. The League claims it has persuaded about three dozen sponsors to walk away from the series.

ABC, showing a firm commitment to the best new show of the season and a stubborn unwillingness to bow to the League's empty-and/or hard-headed response to "Nothing Sacred," renewed it for the entire season. That support and the move of the show to Saturdays may be the final attempts the network can afford to make in order to save "Nothing Sacred."

But amid all of the sponsor drop-offs, League boycotts and network maneuvering, one key question still lingers: Why don't more people watch "Nothing Sacred"?

William Donohue, executive director of the League, loves to point out that the series has lain, like the Titanic, near the bottom of the ratings since its debut last fall. He also is justifiably proud of the one million signatures he says his organization has gathered on petitions in protest of the series.

But Mr. Donohue probably doesn't want to play the numbers game too much. Even at the lower depths of the ratings, "Nothing Sacred" has about three million viewers every week; so it has a three-to-one advantage over the petitioners.

But why aren't more people watching the series? It deserves to be in the middle if not the top of the ratings list every week. Its competition from "Friends," a top-ten sitcom, is one, powerful reason. But even when NBC has shown reruns and specials, and even when ABC experimented with "Nothing Sacred" on Saturday at 9 p.m., the ratings did not budge.

Where are they?

This is a show that has dealt with as many serious issues as "E.R," "NYPD Blue" and other popular drama series. It has a cast as appealing as the ones on "Chicago Hope" or "Brooklyn South." The writing, while not up to the caliber of "Law & Order," the best show on television, is better than some of the junk that floats on the surface of the ratings pool.

So why don't more people tune in to "Nothing Sacred"?

Are they scared off by the League's unfair portrait of it as anti-Catholic or blasphemous? Maybe some are, but I would think millions more would tune in to see what the fuss is about and to decide for themselves.

Are they unwilling to be challenged about religion? Their notions of law and medicine are challenged every week by "The Practice" and "E.R." Thinking people should want to watch a show that leaves them asking deeper questions about their beliefs and traditions.

Is the natural audience elsewhere? Maybe people who would like a show that discusses sacraments, theology, vocations and social justice are too busy praying, reading the Bible and helping the poor to watch TV at all.

I'd like readers to answer my question. I have already heard from people who have watched "Nothing Sacred" and either love it or hate it. My question this time is this: If you have not watched "Nothing Sacred" at all, how come?

(You can answer by writing me at The Evangelist, 40 N. Main Ave., Albany, NY 12203; or by e-mailing me at [email protected]. I'll share the responses in a future column.)

(01-15-98)

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