FOX ANNOUNCES ALLY’S OUTTA HERE, ABOUT TWO YEARS TOO LATE

By JOHN YOUNGREN

NEWS ITEM: Fox announced it canceled "Ally McBeal" this week.
But more on that in a moment.

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TELEVISION TEMPLATE: The following five-year scenario is not necessarily based on any specific prime-time television show, but no program in the past 20 years of TV fits this mold any better than "Ally McBeal."
Consider:
YEAR 1--With a fresh voice, a finely balanced cast and a host of creative ideas, said show gets off to a hot start, immediately embraced by critics. Innovative storytelling approach is like nothing else on TV – and show begins to get enough newsprint to offset any lack of viewers.
YEAR 2—Most viewers have finally caught on – the show is a bonafide hit. Voice is still fresh; cast seems more polished and confident. But, funny thing: Fans of the first season begin to notice cracks in the foundation – it seems like good ideas are played too big, or too long. Only difference is, many fans haven’t seen show before, so they actually don’t know that a few of these things are seeming a bit worked over already.
Nevertheless, magazine covers and watercooler conversations aplenty, and 2-3 other networks prepare to introduce very similar concepts in Year 3.
YEAR 3–Now that everybody’s on the same hit parade, the predictable backlash begins. Cast members are either added or subtracted, with nothing near the care or forethought that went into the initial show’s formula, concept or balance. Fans of all ages notice the show seems to be slipping – or, worse, going back to the well too often for a funny gag. "[Insert Show Here] isn’t as good as it used to be," becomes a common refrain. Copycat concepts appear on the scene. Someone in the cast squabbles over money. Someone else gets publicity for something nasty unrelated to the show.
YEAR 4–Scrambling to find the now-obviously-missing magic, the show adds big-name guest stars or does stunts – long-lost children, dream sequences, character deaths, will-they-or-won’t-they? couples getting together – to appeal to the once-loyal audience. The hype machine is in overdrive. Sometimes, it works: "The Show Is Back," Entertainment Weekly screams, and longtime fans, feeling misled by somewhat brainwashed, seemingly agree.
YEAR 5–Or no, we don’t. Too many lost hours watching a show that really hasn’t been any good since its second season begin to catch up. The guest stars and convoluted storylines and gimmicks feel just like that – gimmicks, and desperate ones at that, made bigger and bigger as the show gets further and further away from its soul and instead seems bent on ratings and attention. You end up feeling cheated, most of the time. Like a relationship gone bad, even longtime fans give up – it’s just too damn sad to watch.

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BACK TO "ALLY:" And then, if the network and producers are smart, they stop the chase. See "Ally McBeal," which lasted – surprise! – for five years.
If producers and networks are not smart, or if the ratings are still misleadingly high, everyone repeats the cycle of years 3-5 over again and over again. See "The X-Files," "ER," or even Kelly’s own "The Practice."

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PREDICT-ALLY ENOUGH: Actually, for as brilliant as he is, many of "Ally" executive producer David E. Kelley’s series over the years have followed this basic pattern. The prolific creator/producer/writer has created some of TV’s most memorable moments and most compelling dramas – but he has a way of letting his shows drift as the years go by:
–"Picket Fences," CBS. Never as good as its first season or two. Once the initial controversies died down, the show just became more and more ludicrous. –"Chicago Hope," CBS. It was strong enough to face-off with "ER" in its first season. But a series of cast and conceptual changes eventually drove the audience away, despite some mad scrambling by Kelley and his creative team late in the game.
–"L.A. Law," NBC. Kelley didn’t create this one – Steven Bochco did. But Kelley came on board in the first season, and the show’s early best years were on his watch. By the show’s fifth and sixth seasons, however, it was basically on the Year 4 and 5 cycle described above. It lasted another four years, but it never should have.
These days, Kelley has two other shows on the air – the struggling "The Practice" (a little older, but behaving like a Year 4 show) and the second-year drama "Boston Public" (where most of Kelley’s creative energies seem to be going this year).
Kelley’s also got something else in the work, about three single female lawyers looking for love in San Francisco.
Fox is seriously considering it for next year.

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PRODUCER EXTRAORDINAIRE: Kelley – always a personal favorite of mine, which is why the ups and downs of his extraordinary list of shows have always fascinated me – reportedly made the announcement of the end of "Ally McBeal" to the show’s cast and crew on the show’s set on Wednesday.
"There were tears. It was emotional," Chris Alexander, a spokesman for 20th Century Fox Television, told the Associated Press.
The final episode of the series will air May 20.
Kelley always thought "Ally McBeal" would be difficult to maintain much past five or six years, especially since it was so hard for him to hand it off to other writers and producers. Unlike the rather logical template on which a legal drama – like "The Practice" – is built, the whimsical, sometime-musical, comedy-crossed-with-drama leanings of "Ally McBeal" were particularly of its creator’s mind. The show mirrored his personal, quirky, sometimes-dark sense of humor and romance.
It won the best comedy series Emmy in 1999 (following Year 2, for those of you keeping score at home).
"It's sad to say goodbye to something you love, even when perhaps it is time," Kelley said in a statement.

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END NOTE: Her turn as the daughter in the movie "The Birdcage" aside, "Ally McBeal" put its star, Calista Flockhart, on the map and made her one of my personal favorites: I have an autographed photo or two of her in my collection of autographed photos of stars from the now-defunct Truly Unique Collectibles website (more on that in another column).
One year, someone gave me an "Ally" calendar.
Yet a few days ago, when I wrote my "Top 10 TV Babes" list in this very "Pop Stew" space, Calista didn’t even make my list.
A few of my longtime fans wrote in, wondering why.
Now you know: I’d simply given up. For me, the fifth season of "Ally McBeal" has been a lot of videotapes of the show I’ve made and then watched the first 10 minutes of before getting bored or disgusted.
Not even Calista could save it.
So Arrivederci, Ally.
Rest well, my pretty.

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That’s it for this time. Tune in again soon for another exciting edition of the one and only, award-winning "Pop Stew!"

GUMBEL’S GRUMBLING LEADS OFF A NEW POP STEW POTPURRI

By JOHN YOUNGREN

I’m not sure that Bryant Gumbel is giving up his third-place CBS "Early Show" gig because, as one tabloid said, Katie Couric has whooped him, but – no matter how you slice it -- he did decide to leave.
And, if he’s human, there’s got to be part of Gumbel wondering why he left mornings the first time – when he left the "Today" show all those years ago.
I mean, if Gumbel was going to do morning television – get up at 4 in the morning, blah, blah, blah – he once had THE job to have. Together, Gumbel and Couric made "Today" the No. 1 show in the mornings. Though things are supposedly testy between them these days, they played off each other well and were a consistent team for the better part of a decade.
But then, after 15 years on "Today," Gumbel decided he’d had enough of morning TV and left "Today" and NBC in 1997, only to end up hosting an ill-fated evening news show ("Public Eye with Bryant Gumbel") at CBS, where he turned up after an extended sabbatical.
Meanwhile, at NBC, a very nervous network – remember, Matt Lauer was no shoo-in when he first got the co-hosting job – had unexpectedly watched Lauer and Couric grow into an even better, more-balanced morning pair than Katie and Bryant had ever been. Not only did Lauer maintain Gumbel’s numbers, he built upon them.
And NBC’s "Today" has been "America’s First Family" ever since.
So at CBS, somehow, they talked Gumbel into helping them try to reinvigorate the mornings. Eventually paired – in the infamous "Operation Glass Slipper" co-anchor search – with former KSL-TV anchor Jane Clayson, Gumbel took over a morning franchise that has stumbled repeatedly over the years.
When you think about it, it was like taking Derek Jeter off the New York Yankees and putting him on the Montreal Expos. No matter what set of circumstances came together, Gumbel went from the class of the league to an expansion team; from a sure winner to an also-ran.
And despite his valiant efforts – Gumbel is still one of the best interviewers and most compelling personalities on TV – Bryant couldn’t pull the "Early Show" out of third place. (And it remains a diiiiiiistant third, too, far behind "Today" and "Good Morning America," even after Gumbel’s 2-1/2 years.)
Did his frustration show? Maybe, a little. A few months into "The Early Show," Gumbel lost his patience with one guest following an interview and referred to him as "a f***ing idiot," which was picked up on camera even though Gumbel thought he was off the air.
And Gumbel and Couric also traded jibes in recent years.
"We were never really that close," Couric said (of her teaming with Gumbel) in 1997. "There was a lot of creative tension. Well, there was a lot of tension. I don't know how creative it was."
"I do think the comparison is a little unfair in light of the fact that I won in two different decades with two different co-hosts," Gumbel said, when people began comparing his track record with Couric’s recent success with Lauer. "I won with different executive producers, I won with different studios."
But, when he announced he was stepping down last week, Gumbel played down any push he may have received to step aside. He also didn’t mention Couric, the competition, or what had to be the ongoing frustration of finishing third week after week. Instead, he said he was just tired of getting up early in the morning.
"After more than 17 years of hosting a morning news program, I feel it's time for me to move on and do something else with my life," he said.
Funny thing is, he said the same thing after leaving "Today" and obviously didn’t stick to his plan.
I just hope he doesn’t turn up now on UPN mornings.

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FLYING CROW: Sheryl Crow is on a roll right now, with crowd-pleasing performances at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, at a live fundraising event in New York and all over late-night television and VH-1, where she’s been heavily promoting her new album, "C’mon, C’mon."
The new CD, released Tuesday, is Crow’s fourth studio recording and first in the past three years. And, as produced by Crow, "C’mon, C’mon," is another entry in the star’s strong collection, a whiskey-and-beer flavored collection of broken-hearted love songs and acoustic, hook-laden rockers.
While the album’s first single – "Soak Up The Sun" – has received the most attention (the song’s memorable hook has already been cannibalized for new commercials by those bastards at American Express), it’s just one of a handful of memorable songs on the album. "Steve McQueen," the album’s opening track, is a playful and provocative rocker, a sure request at Sheryl Crow concerts for years to come.
The album’s title track, "C’mon, C’mon," is also a standout, if for nothing more than Crow’s typically pessimistic, world-weary tone as she sings (along with guest Stevie Nicks, Crow’s recording buddy, who lends her own seen-it-all spirit to the proceedings) "C’mon, c’mon, c’mon and break my heart again, for old time’s sake."
Crow has a lot of guest stars on her latest recording, including Nicks, Lenny Kravitz, Don Henley and Natalie Maines of the Dixie Chicks. But the star of the show is the sultry Crow, more accomplished and confident than ever, bringing it home on clean album tracks like "Hole In My Pocket," "Abilene," "Lucky Kid" and "Over You."
[POP STEW RATING: 4 Carrots]

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A NOD TO NANNY: Garnering big attention for its semi-fictional subject matter – New York socialites are treating it like a "60 Minutes" expose – the new "The Nanny Diaries: A Novel" is an entertaining winner, as much of a page-turner as any John Grisham mystery.
The book (St. Martin’s Press, about $25), a first-time novel written by two former New York City nannies (Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus) is loosely based, say the authors, on their own experiences while working in the competitive field of domestic child care. Their protagonist, named Nan, is a twentysomething college student charged with caring for the 4-year-old son of "Mr. & Mrs. X," an intelligent and sensitive little boy named Grayer (he’s a lot smarter than his parents, that’s for sure).
While much of "The Nanny Diaries" focuses on the mundane aspects of domestic care and college life, anyone who has had to deal with the condescending, stretch-you-to-the-limit requests of holier-than-thou employers will surely identify with Nan’s ongoing plight (for me, it all brought back a former boss I used to housesit for while making sure his dog ate steak and drank bottled water).
Indeed, Mrs. X’s constant badgering, phone calls, bizarre requests and brazen, shameless disregard for Nan turn out to be both entertaining and frustrating.
In fact, if "The Nanny" has a weakness, it’s that you never quite feel Mrs. X gets her just desserts. The ending is a bit scattered, and far from tidy.
A sequel is reportedly in the works.
Which, when you think about it, is a lot like real life.
[POP STEW RATING: 3 Carrots]

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That’s it for this time. Tune in again soon for another exciting edition of the one and only, award-winning "Pop Stew!"