ABC Plans ‘Amerika’ Show Despite Soviet Objections

“Amerika,” the proposed ABC miniseries that has drawn both objections from the Soviet Union and newspaper editorials denouncing Soviet attempts to intervene in American television, got the go-ahead Wednesday for production.

An ABC spokesman said filming of “Amerika” will start within the next two months, and the program will be aired in the spring of 1987. No cast has been signed yet, and no decision made on where in the United States filming will be done.

Written by Donald Wrye, “Amerika” depicts a drab, gray life in the United States 10 years after a bloodless Soviet takeover. The miniseries originally was announced in June, 1984, under the title of “Topeka, Kansas . . . USSR.”

Delayed because of what ABC said was a need for a budget review and to trim the show from 16 to 12 hours, “Amerika” made headlines on Jan. 9 when it was disclosed that Soviet Foreign Ministry officials had objected to it last December.

Campaign by Soviets

The objections, made to Walter Rodgers, ABC News’ bureau chief in Moscow, were seen as part of a continuing campaign by image-conscious Soviet officials against what they believe are efforts to provoke anti-Soviet feelings in America through such films as “Rocky IV” and “Rambo: First Blood Part 2.”

Rodgers relayed the complaints about “Amerika” to his superiors in New York, who then notified ABC entertainment executives. But the Soviets made “no specific threats” to interfere with ABC News coverage of the Soviet Union if the project proceeded, ABC News Vice President David Burke has said.

ABC Entertainment President Brandon Stoddard, meeting recently with visiting TV writers in Los Angeles, said the project only had been postponed for a final budget review. While Soviet criticism would not stop “Amerika,” he added, “it is only responsible” that the complaints be “factored into” a decision on whether to make the program.

John B. Sias, recently named as the new president of ABC after its $3.5-billion acquisition by Capital Cities Communications, was quoted in Wednesday’s statement as saying that ABC decided to proceed with “Amerika” because “we believe in the project.”

Reference to Complaints

He was unavailable for an interview Wednesday. However, his statement included an obvious reference to the Soviet complaints to ABC News’ Moscow bureau chief.

Sias said he wanted to make clear that the decision to proceed with “Amerika” “was made by our entertainment division, supported by top management, and with the full understanding of what pressures this decision might bring to other areas of our company.”

ABC’s nightly newscast, “World News Tonight,” is scheduled to originate from Moscow the week of Feb. 24 with various reports on Soviet government and life in that country. It still plans to do that, an ABC News spokeswoman said Wednesday.

Network sources said the budget for “Amerika,” reportedly $40 million when the program originally was planned as a 16-hour offering, now will be about $32 million for a 12-hour program.

But no script changes in the shorter version have been made because of the Soviet complaints, said Bob Wright, an ABC spokesman. “Not at all.”