FIRST OFF . . .

Calling it “the season without reason” and “the dreariest program development yet,” FCB/Telcom released its annual outlook Monday on what the TV networks will be serving up come fall. The consensus: “This year’s class of network programmers simply recycled the output of their predecessors . . . and came up with essentially the same mind-numbing sitcom premises with different titles and players. And the drama development is basically forgettable, except that several series conjured up vivid images of past failures. Are we exaggerating? Fervently we do wish we were,” the report said. While there were “a few individual pieces of work that one could feel warm about,” the impression is that “all of the broadcast networks are in various degrees of trouble because of too little emphasis on the product side by management.” Some comments: ABC’s development crop is “pure vanilla”; CBS’ “long on ‘rah-rah’ and short on substance”; NBC has “some weaknesses that will have to be shored up,” and Fox has a “ ‘guts ball’ approach to networking.” In all, 135 programs are covered in the report. FCB/Telcom is the TV programming division of Foote, Cone & Belding advertising agency.