CHRISTIAN GROUP BOYCOTS `NYPD BLUE' SPONSORS

When Donna Miller watches tonight's episode of "NYPD Blue" on KBSI-TV, she'll be logging each dirty word, each violent act, each sex scene. She did the same Saturday night when the Fox Television station aired the first installment of the new series that creator Steven Bochco bills as grittily realistic.

Miller, president of the Cape County Chapter of the American Family Association, has launched a boycott of the program's sponsors. She and her organization, which is led nationally by Tupelo, Miss.-based Rev. Donald Wildmon, claim the show is pornographic.

Steve Engles, KBSI-TV's general manager, views the show as "no better or no worse than your average soap opera."

Though AFA has spearheaded a national crusade against the program, Miller said she initiated the boycott.

"Tupelo didn't tell me to do this ... I've called the boycott," Miller said. "That doesn't mean any of our members have to do it."

She said the boycott will become known through the organization's newsletter, which is sent to more than 200 people in Southeast Missouri, through churches and by word of mouth. Three local advertisers and two national sponsors will be singled out. Among the latter at this point is Subway, which so far is the lone sponsor to switch its ads to a different program.

Doug Kesterson, general manager of the two Cape Girardeau Subway shops, said the company's advertising agency simply had purchased time slots. "I called the guy in Illinois to make sure it didn't happen again," he said.

Though he hasn't seen the program, Kesterson said: "I'm opposed to it. That's my personal opinion. Subway is family oriented. We don't want to get involved in anything like that."

But Miller said Subway will remain on the boycott list until she receives a letter from the national office stating it will not advertise during "NYPD Blue."

"It looks like we're not going to boycott them," Miller said.

Other advertisers either have directly refused to back away from the program or have been unresponsive to Miller's phone calls.

KBSI-TV acquired the rights to air the program after ABC affiliate WSIL-TV in Harrisburg, Ill., refused to show it. Miller said AFA had lobbied WSIL-TV not to broadcast the show.

KBSI was the second non-ABC station to pick up the show, although Engles said Monday that the list of non-ABC stations to sign up now numbers more than 10.

"We took on this program because we felt the viewers had an individual right to view whatever we decided to show," Engles said.

"We find it interesting that one or two people have decided to take it upon themselves to decide what they should or should not watch."

The program was shown at 10 p.m. both Saturday and Sunday "to keep it out of any chance where a child might see it," Engles said.

The station had received fewer than 20 calls about the program Monday, with the majority favoring the broadcast. Calls were coming in heavier before the program was shown, he said, and were evenly split.

"NYPD Blue," Engles says, "is a television program that is compelling, realistic and intelligently written."

Engles said KBSI has an agreement with ABC to be the network's secondary affiliate, and that contract provides for an undetermined run.

After showings again Saturday and Sunday nights, the program will assume its regular time slot at 9 p.m. Tuesdays beginning Oct. 26.

Besides sex, violence and cursing, Miller also is monitoring the show for "anti-Christian values." She contends the show has "no storyline whatsoever," and "There's no guarantee that somebody -- adult or child -- will not be affected by this."