The question posed to Marc Cherry was brusque and unsubtle, but it was what almost everyone in the room was thinking.

Cherry is the creator of “Desperate Housewives,” a satiric soap opera debuting this fall that was the consensus favorite among TV critics at the recent Television Critics Association press tour. But critics are a leery bunch, and for good reason.

Which led to the question:

“ABC has a history of finding really good shows and screwing them up,” a critic said to Cherry. “They put them on the wrong night or put them on the right night then move them to the wrong night, or they find ways to lose them. Are you nervous?”

Cherry said he wasn’t nervous for two reasons: He got the time slot he wanted – on Sunday nights – and ABC is widely viewed as having the strongest slate of new fall series. Series such as “Lost,” about plane-crash survivors stranded on an eerie tropical island. And “Wife Swap,” which despite its lurid title is an affecting reality series. Even “Eyes,” a private-eye drama scheduled to air midseason, crackles with snappy dialogue.

But that doesn’t mean Cherry doesn’t also have reason to be nervous. Because the TV game has gotten increasingly competitive and complicated in recent years, which means networks rarely give new shows more than a few weeks to establish themselves. And because ABC has made some astonishingly bad moves:

In 1999-2000, “Who Wants To Be a Millionaire?” became such a phenomenon that ABC figured viewers couldn’t get enough of a good thing and littered the schedule with “Millionaires.” Viewers got too much of a good thing and lost interest, and ABC began a steady slide from first into fourth among the six networks.

In January 2003, ABC launched two promising new series: “Veritas: The Quest,” an adventure drama from the “Indiana Jones” school, and “Miracles,” a supernatural drama with religious overtones. Both were the type of shows that required patience and nurturing, and their tones meshed well with each other. But they were separated by a fading “The Practice” on Monday night. The whole Monday lineup was then disrupted when ABC kicked off “I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here!,” a sweeps-stunt “reality” show that ran every night for two weeks even though it couldn’t earn any viewer interest. “Veritas” and “Miracles” never had a chance to gain momentum, and were canceled within weeks.

Last fall, ABC debuted “Karen Sisco,” which was one of the season’s critical faves. The show was a quirky, sexy crime drama and was presented with a sunny Miami flavor. It seemed like a perfect pairing with “Alias,” another genre drama featuring a strong, attractive female lead. But instead it was placed after “The Bachelor,” a reality series for romantic escapists who don’t typically go for crime dramas. That time slot also put it up against crime-drama leviathan “Law & Order” on NBC. “Karen Sisco” was gone by midseason.

ABC isn’t the only network to give good shows the ax early, of course. And it has stuck by some shows – “Alias” being a good example – that aren’t necessarily ratings whoppers but have strong cult followings. But ABC has a longer than usual list of much-admired shows – “My So-Called Life,” “Relativity,” “Once and Again” – that have died early deaths.

The problem ABC is having these days is getting people to find its shows. When you’re in fourth place, fewer people are watching your network, so fewer people are seeing the promotions for your strongest new series. Since CBS has its “CSIs” and “Survivors,” NBC has its “Law & Orders” and “The Apprentice,” and Fox has “American Idol,” ABC has few places it can schedule new shows where they won’t get walloped by the competition.

Even ABC executives are saying they have to be more patient.

“I think it is an incredibly cluttered market out there right now,” says Stephen McPherson, the new president of the network’s prime-time entertainment division. “I think as long as we believe in the creative (aspects) and we know we’ve got what we’ve promised we’re going to deliver, we’re going to stick with (the new series) as long as we can.”

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In a way, McPherson is in his position because of the network’s woes. Susan Lyne, the former entertainment president, and Lloyd Braun, the chairman of the ABC television group, were fired in April because of the network’s ratings problems. And there are reasons to be optimistic about ABC’s new crop.

For the first time in years, the network appears to be scheduling wisely, pairing new shows with established lead-ins that are likely to draw similar audiences. “Desperate Housewives” will follow the surprise hit “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition,” which started midway through the 2003-“04 season and is poised to explode in 2004-“05. “Wife Swap” will follow “The Bachelor,” making a much more reasonable pairing than the “Bachelor”-“Karen Sisco” combo. ABC’s new comedies “Rodney” and “Complete Savages” are comparatively mediocre, but they’re coupled with hits – “According to Jim” and “8 Simple Rules,” respectively – that seem destined to deliver sympathetic lead-in audiences to them.

And, McPherson says, being fourth place actually allows the network to be more patient with the new shows.

“When you’re in this position, you absolutely approach things differently than if you were on top and trying to hold on to that,” McPherson told critics. “We’re really are not looking at it and saying … “How do we change the whole network overnight?’ We really want to look at time periods, we want to look at (specific) nights, and we want to, hopefully, improve in those specific places and build out from there.”

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Of course, even with patience, the network will face an uphill battle with many of its shows. Although “Wife Swap” has a good lead-in and considerable critical buzz, for example, it will still be up against “Law & Order” – and CBS’ “CSI: New York,” which seems like the one guaranteed hit new show on any network.

If you believe McPherson, though, he’ll give the new shows a chance to find an audience. Because he keeps coming back to being patient and giving shows time to find audiences.

“Being patient with shows that are great is what makes great television,” he says. “It’s what made “Raymond.’ It’s what made “Seinfeld.’ So I really do think it’s going to come down to “Do we have the material, do we have the shows to be patient and build this network back?’

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ABC does have the material, and it has done a better job of placing it than it has in the recent past. What it’ll need now is McPherson to be true to his word.

Patience is rare these days in television, where ratings and advertisers drive what’s on the air more than quality does. But, since impatience hasn’t exactly been working for the network, it doesn’t have much to lose by letting the new shows find their grip.

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Robert Philpot: rphilpotstar-telegram.com

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(c) 2004, Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

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