Another Half

NBC Enterprises hopes to take The Other Half into a second season next fall, but it's not a firm go yet. Last week, signaling its commitment to the show, it added a fourth co-host, actor Dorian Gregory, who joins the show today. He replaces Dr. Jan Adams, who left earlier in the season, and joins Dick Clark, Danny Bonaduce and Mario Lopez to bring the complement of co-hosts back to four. The show is cleared in 85% of the country, and both Gannett and Hearst-Argyle Television, partners in a syndication-program-development consortium with NBC, have indicated their commitment for a second season.

The big question is whether the NBC stations in New York and Los Angeles will carry the show next season in time periods attractive to both viewers and advertisers.

Word is, NBC Stations won't decide until after the May sweeps. In February, The Other Half averaged a 1.6 household rating and a 6 share across the top 100 markets, according to a Katz TV Group analysis of the Nielsen Station Index ratings.

In New York, in the March ratings book (Feb. 28-March 27), Other Half was fourth in its time period, with a 1.6/5 at 10 a.m., behind Rosie O'Donnell, Maury and The Guiding Light. In Los Angeles as well, the show was fourth in its noon time period.

At this point, NBC Stations has more program commitments than decent time periods. The group has picked up two new shows: the John Walsh talker and Life Moments. So far, the only show definitely leaving the lineup in New York is Sally Jessy Raphael. In Los Angeles, the only known departure from KNBC will be Rosie. "The Other Half is less a question mark now than it was at the beginning of the year," says Katz Programming Vice President Bill Carroll. "Key station groups have re-upped." And the addition of Gregory is a clear sign, he says, "they aren't going to be coasting through the May book."