• by Paul Gough , May 11, 2004

With the help of a consulting contract from NBC and using a studio space better known for pushing the outside of the television envelope, Pax set about on the course of reinventing itself as a hipper but still family- friendly network.

Live from Studio H, Tuesday night's upfront presentation was all about Pax, but delivered by people better-known for their work with NBC. For star power, there was "Frasier" and "Cheers" star Kelsey Grammer. NBC executives were out front of the upfront, with top sales honcho Keith Turner opening the evening and research maven Alan Wurtzel and NBC Entertainment exec Sheraton Kalouria playing roles introducing research into today's diverse American family and the Pax's new shows designed to snag their interest.

"The theme of the evening is change," said Turner, who is NBC's president of ad sales. "Not revolutionary change but evolutionary change."

Turner and others laid out the strategy that the Pax ad sales chief has been outlining in recent one-on-one meetings with agencies: Pax knows that the American family is no longer just Mom, Dad, and the kids. It can be three generations living under one roof, a divorced dad with kids, or an unwed mother with her children. Wurtzel pointed out that in 1960, one-third of all American households were the so-called nuclear family. By 2002, only 7 percent of American households could claim that title. Only 23 percent of households have children under 18 today, compared to 40 percent in 1970.

"There is no longer one traditional family," Wurtzel said.

But at the same time, Wurtzel presented research showing that family seems to be more important than ever--and that children, in particular, seem open to spending more time with their parents and watching TV together, even though most everyone has multiple sets in their homes. Turner pointed to Pax as the solution for family-friendly programming that is free of the content issues that dog other networks--and, in a word, hipper than Pax has ever been.

"It's Pax TV, only better," Turner said.

In an interview earlier Tuesday with MediaDailyNews, Kalouria said Pax was trying to prove that family-friendly programming doesn't have to be boring.

"Pax has carved out a niche in the television landscape as a family-focused network. I think what this [upcoming] season does is make TV relevant to today's family," he said. "The biggest theme today is that family has changed, and Pax is changing to connect with them."

It's the first manifestation of the consulting agreement between NBC and Pax, which was made public in March in time for the development meetings and a significant investment the network has made in programming. While Pax owns a large stable of TV stations covering about 89 percent of the United States, the nation's youngest broadcast network is also the least watched. It skews heavily older female--and, the company has said in filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission in its role as a public company--Pax needs to broaden its reach in order to charge more for advertising and thrive in today's competitive media landscape.

While retaining some two of its original dramas--"Doc" and "Sue Thomas: F.B. Eye"--Pax is charting a course that it hopes will expand audiences, including the 18-49 demographic that many advertisers covet. Pax wants to continue appealing to its older demographic (it's keeping "Diagnosis Murder" and "Early Edition"), but it's also expanding its game show block into prime time, adding new original series at 9 p.m., and bringing reality programming to the network.

The original reality shows are a first for Pax, which has been airing "Candid Camera" and reruns of "America's Funniest Home Videos."

The new shows are unscripted with a conscience, with "Cold Turkey" showing viewers real people as they try to kick a habit. "Model Citizen" features five models who go on the road to small-town America to interact with everyday people and to get involved in a real community service project. "Second Verdict" features the efforts of a faux jury that hears evidence of a real-life felony case, and then deliberates with the denouement when it's revealed what the original jury decided.

Acknowledging that it's not the "hot tub" type of reality series that would run on other networks, Kalouria said that it was still an important place for Pax to be.

"This is reality with a message. We want to have fun, but we also want there to be a takeaway," he said.

Other new shows include two scripted dramas, "Left Behind," based on the characters in the best-selling Tim LaHaye-Jerry Jenkins novels, and "Young Blades," focusing on a new generation of Three Musketeers. And Grammer, whose Emmy-award-winning "Frazier" winds up its 11-year-run later this week, is the executive producer of "World Cup Comedy," a kind of cleaner "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" that features a competition between comedians and play-by-play narration.

Grammer introduced "World Cup Comedy," noting that he was happy to work with Pax--and said he had high hopes for the show, which if successful would be only the second big hit for his production company, Grammnet.