Fresh Nostalgia or Peacock Promotion? : NBC’s ‘Sunday Best’ Relies on Clips of Network’s Own Programs

At first appearance, NBC’s new series “Sunday Best” would more appropriately be called “NBC’s Best.” The hourlong comedy series, a sort of TV kaleidoscope, takes a sly look at television past and present, with the present decidedly skewed toward NBC.

Most of the laughs on the new Sunday night series will come from nostalgic, archival clip segments introduced by host Carl Reiner, fresh comedy from satirist Harry Shearer, funny news items from former NBC News reporter Linda Ellerbee and video mail from viewers.

Other network-flavored features include behind-the-scenes segments from NBC prime-time shows, recurring comedy bits with NBC personalities and comedy highlights from previously aired NBC programming.

Critics showed early skepticism of the format’s repackaged NBC programming. One TV writer said that it sounded like NBC was “feeding off its young.”

Executive producer Garth Ancier, former president of Walt Disney Studios TV division, didn’t want it to be that way. Envisioning an “all-network segment” that featured the funniest moments of NBC, ABC, CBS and Fox Television from the week before, Ancier solicited current prime-time clips from each network.

“I’d love that to happen if the other networks would agree,” Ancier said.

But he was turned away.

CBS and Fox would not comment, but a spokesman for ABC explained that “ABC is not in the business of providing material to entertainment shows on other networks because we’re in competition with the other networks.”

“We wanted to run clips from all the networks,” said writer and supervising producer Bill Handy, a former Spy magazine staffer. “We’re really trying to do a television show about television in its entirety.”

The competing networks, however, are not the only “Sunday Best” absentees. NBC’s late-night talk show hosts, Johnny Carson and David Letterman, also chose not to give clips to “Sunday Best” producers, who wanted to develop a segment that intercut Carson’s topical monologues with footage from NBC News.

“Both Johnny and Dave felt that what they do each night is designed for a specific time period and a certain context,” said Rick Ludwin, NBC’s vice president of specials, variety programs and late-night. “They felt it would not be appropriate to take bits and pieces of what they do out of that context. So they made the decision to decline.”

No one with Carson’s “Tonight Show” or “Late Night With David Letterman” would comment for this story. When asked if there was any bitterness at the network over those shows’ refusal, Ludwin said, “We certainly would have loved to have them on the show. That’s why we asked them. But we have to respect their decision and thought-process and move on.”

Confusion over the pro-NBC format of “Sunday Best” may persist because at one time “Sunday Best” was, in fact, discussed as a prime-time showcase for NBC programming.

“To be honest, NBC came to me asking to do a ‘best of’ show from their schedule a few months ago,” Ancier said. “The original concept was sort of the ‘best of NBC.’ But I think as we’ve gotten further into it, for a variety of reasons, it’s become the best of television. We’ve certainly steered a lot of the segments away from being NBC segments. Now there are only a couple left.”

The two segments Ancier referred to are a four-minute clip segment of laugh lines from NBC shows the previous week and a replay of the best “Saturday Night Live” skit from the night before. Reasoning that many people don’t stay up late enough to watch “Saturday Night Live,” Ancier calls that segment a “viewer service.”

“Certainly there are people around watching the television business today willing to seize any evidence that the networks are putting on cheaper and cheaper and cheaper programs,” said Shearer, who was a “Saturday Night Live” cast member from 1984-85. “When the notion came up that this was a clip show, people found that as proof.”

“Sunday Best” will specialize in nostalgic TV clips with two segments. One segment will look back at historic TV events that happened that calendar week, such as when Jack Paar walked off the “The Tonight Show” or Lou Grant hired Mary Tyler Moore on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.”

The other nostalgia segment will revolve around a theme. The first theme scheduled is TV pilots and includes such shows as “The Goldbergs,” “My Friend Flicka,” “Gilligan’s Island,” “B.J. and the Bear” and “The Cosby Show.”

To defend against critics who charged that NBC is trying to save money by running clips, NBC Entertainment president Warren Littlefield said at a press conference last month that obtaining clips for “Sunday Best” isn’t cheap. Networks don’t own TV shows; they pay studios for the rights to air them. When a clip is run, even for a current NBC program, the producers, actors and writers must be paid residuals.

Early Sunday evening is NBC’s lowest-rated time slot, and “Sunday Best” will be going head to head with ratings powerhouse “60 Minutes” on CBS.

Said Ludwin: “(‘Sunday Best’) is certainly an attempt to counter-program ’60 Minutes’ in that we’ve tried every form of television there is in that time slot, from straight dramas to comedy, without a great deal of success. What has at least gotten us on the scoreboard is reality comedy. When we ran ‘TV Bloopers and Practical Jokes’ in the time period, we at least got our foot in the door.”

To help the cause, NBC has hired the former promotional staff of cable TV’s “Nick at Night,” who helped popularize Nickelodeon’s nostalgic nighttime programming with funny, creative TV spots. Despite the bells and whistles, Reiner firmly denies the suggestion that “Sunday Best” is simply one big promo for NBC programming.

“Oh, if I thought it was that I wouldn’t do this show,” he said. “When I heard about what this is I said, ‘Well, it’s their home. They’re going to show you the best of their home.’ And I told (NBC) if there’s no best that week I’ll be the first one to argue and say, ‘Ladies and gentlemen, there was nothing going on NBC this week.’ ”

“Sunday Best” premieres Sunday at 7 p.m. on NBC.