TELEVISION

By TAMALA M. EDWARDS

It's a familiar TV gimmick: Watch the characters' eyes, not their lips. Though the television industry claims to still be in negotiations with Washington over a new rating system, it is ready to consent to Washington's wishes. ABC, CBS, FOX and cable are ready to make the most likely fix, adding (S)ex, (L)anguage and (V)iolence to the current system, but only when Congress offers some sort of assurance that this is the last campaign in the ratings war. "This really is a Kabuki dance in so many ways; my lips are saying no, but my eyes are saying yes," sighs Bill Pitts, vice president of government affairs for abc. Though public dissatisfaction is cited as one of the reasons for the industry change of heart--a TIME/CNN poll shows that 80% of parents with children 12 and younger want S, L, V--the real reasons are that the networks want Congress to owe them something. All this could make for one big happy TV press conference, except that nbc, the No. 1 rated network, is concerned about how S, L, V will work with the V chip, and that the ratings might prompt more boycott campaigns. Others say nbc is nervous about parents getting a heads up to the sexy language in such top shows as Seinfeld and Friends.

--By Tamala M. Edwards