On with the Show

For five years the Ford Foundation has stood like a rock of gold behind TV's Omnibus. "We were operating," says Omnibus' Executive Producer Robert Saudek, "with what Justice Holmes called 'the fighting significance of guarantees.' " What Saudek meant was that Omnibus, with Ford's "venture capital" behind it, could fight the mediocrity of TV and "raise the level of American taste." Saudek and Omnibus made such a good start at both objectives that last week the foundation decided to abandon its "experiment" and sent Omnibus into the cold world of commercial TV --with its blessings.

The show's full property rights fell to balding, bushy-browed Bob Saudek, 45, who promptly formed a new packaging firm--Robert Saudek Associates, Inc.--to keep Omnibus on the TV air. Best "guarantee" now, says Saudek, is "the funded know-how of my creative staff," which will include such Omnibus regulars as Cultural Headwaiter Alistair Cooke, Drama Critic Walter Kerr. But the question remains: Can Omnibus maintain the courage of past conceits, the venturesomeness of past successes, the educational luxury of such occasional failures as its go-minute The Iliad, without special subsidy? The signs are encouraging: both current sponsors (Union Carbide and Carbon Corp., Aluminium Ltd.) have committed themselves to sponsor part of Omnibus for a new season, and Saudek says there are other potential sponsors, and that all three networks want the show. CBS appareritly wants Saudek more than it wants Omnibus; NBC is considering alternating Omnibus with Wide Wide World on Sundays at 4 p.m., and ABC, its present network, wants Omnibus more than Omnibus wants it.

To make ends meet--and to make a profit as well--Saudek hopes to branch out. He talks of a jazz series, a high-toned dramatic series, and a children's program which will "excite youngsters [he has five of his own] into involvement with the world." All he needs, says Saudek, is "the well-conceived idea, the well-written word, the well-cast performer and the well-spent dollar." And he believes that all of them are within reach.

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