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Late Peter Tripp will be remembered for marathon broadcast By AARON BARNHART
The Kansas City Star Peter Tripp, a disc jockey who rode the Top 40 wave from Kansas City to New York in the 1950s before crashing on the shoals of the 1960 payola scandal, died Jan. 31 in Northridge, Calif., at the age of 73. Tripp, a native of Port Chester, N.Y., arrived at the old KUDL-AM in 1953. The next year he was hired by Todd Storz at WHB to be host of the station's first countdown show. Storz developed the widely copied rock 'n' roll format known as Top 40, according to Dick Fatherley, a Kansas City, Kan., announcer and radio historian who worked for Storz-owned stations in the 1960s. Top 40 was Tripp's ticket to the big time. He joined New York's WMGM in late 1955 as host of the station's countdown show, ``Your Hits of the Week.'' The station hired him to counter the threat of another fast-rising DJ, Alan Freed, on rival WINS. Tripp's popularity peaked in January 1959 when he stayed on the air without sleep for more than 200 hours, broadcasting from a booth in Times Square. The stunt, supervised by a team of doctors, made national news and raised money for the March of Dimes. According to Peter Tripp Jr., the medical records taken at his father's marathon ``became required reading in the behavioral sciences at colleges and universities from coast to coast.'' (One of the doctors by Tripp's side noted, ``There has been a progressive disturbance in his thinking and feeling ... He is vacillating between belligerence and submissiveness.'') But glory turned to shame in May 1960, when Tripp, Freed and six others were indicted by a federal grand jury for accepting bribes from record companies and distributors in exchange for radio airplay. Freed may have been the best-known victim of the payola scandal, but it ruined Tripp's career as well. He lost his $900-a-week job at WMGM and eventually ran up a $50,000 legal bill. A three-judge panel found Tripp guilty in 1961 of accepting $36,050 in bribes. He was fined $500 and given a suspended six-month jail sentence. At the time, Tripp called himself ``the fall guy for what hundreds have done and are still doing'' and professed his innocence until his death. Fatherley, who interviewed Tripp last year for a book he is writing on the Storz company's invention of Top 40 radio, said Tripp told him flatly, ``I never took a dime from anybody.'' Tripp stayed in the radio business until 1967 before moving to Los Angeles to sell physical fitness equipment. He later became a motivational speaker and retired to Palm Springs, Calif. To reach Aaron Barnhart, phone (816) 234-4790 or visit the TV Barn Web site at www.tvbarn.com

ALIGN="BOTTOM" BORDER="0" NATURALSIZEFLAG="3"> All times Eastern About TV Barn Late Night Line-ups Read Other TV Critics The LATE SHOW NEWS Archive Contact TV Barn Updated 2/17/99 at 12:01 AM CST

Crossover appeal

In the annals of television, there are two divisions. One is the regular season, the other, sweeps. How do we know we're in sweeps again? That's easy: Another "Homicide"-"Law & Order" crossover miniseries begins tonight. People say they're getting sick of these crossovers, but I love 'em. If they did these every six weeks I suppose I'd become a little weary, but only a total grump wouldn't enjoy watching "Law's" Briscoe (Jerry Orbach, pictured left) and "Homicide's" Munch (Richard Belzer, right) do their Heckle-and-Jeckle routine. Or watch the New York and Baltimore detectives fight -- more or less good-naturedly -- over jurisdiction. Besides, crossover usually give the shows' producers a chance to do something above the run-of-the-mill murder cases. "Law's" Rene Balcer and "Homicide" writer/inspiration David Simon penned tonight's and Friday's episodes, which are entitled, "Sideshow," and if that sounds familiar, it ought to be; the subtext is impeachment. A murder mystery becomes ensnared in Washington politics when McCoy (Sam Waterston) is hauled before a grand jury by a thinly-veiled Ken Starr lookalike whose independent investigation into the president has taken a lurid turn. There's a pivotal scene late in the hour in which independent counsel and McCoy square off; it has weird parallels to the final "Seinfeld" episode, in which the reputations of the four main characters are put on trial. It didn't win me over, but try it for yourself. (NBC Photo: Eric Liebowitz)

Now! Here are the overnights

Overnight ratings are the first word in whether a show is clicking with viewers or not. But they aren't the last word. Now, TV BARN brings you the daily overnight numbers for prime time as compiled by Nielsen Media Research in 44 of the nation's largest markets. Click here for an explanation or go directly to the latest overnights.

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Six Pack To Go has made TV Barn one of its picks-of-the-day. Woo hoo!

Satellite TV: The dish goes deeper

In this report, which appeared earlier this month in the Kansas City Star, I explore the rapid growth of satellite dishes on the American scene and why the dish is making us a cable nation. Full story

Broadcasters prowl Capitol Hill

While cigarette makers and gun manufacturers face a public increasingly intolerant of their agendas, no one, it seems, has anything bad to say about the nation's broadcasters and their shameless agenda to become even more powerful. Yet in city after city, they have turned what used to be a community-oriented business into a faceless enterprise that often regards local viewers with contempt and is more interested in pleasing Wall Street than Main Street. Full story Broadcasters pound table, demand more! more! more!!! from Congress Previously on TV Barn:

Reader mail Damone writes, "Have you caught any of the new 'Later's' with Jerry O'Connell? Let's just say it made me long for the wit and intellectualism of the Kinnear years. His first two days of interviews were with young starlets, and I've never actually seen sexual harassment on screen before this. He was all over them. Every third sentence out of his mouth was something along the lines of 'You're so hot tonight.' If you haven't caught it yet, it is worth it just for the proof that there was someone worse than Greg." More reader mail

Pick to click
Daria
MTV, 10 p.m. Wednesday
Despite bigger budgets and higher profiles, the networks' new wave of animated sitcoms haven't produced one that approaches "Daria." Despite being a spin-off of another MTV cartoon, "Beavis and Butt-head," these tales of the prematurely jaded teenager and her loser friends have developed their own distinctive voice and attitude and is definitely not just for adolescents. The third season of "Daria" begins at 10 tonight on MTV with a side-splitting special musical episode. Daria's father sings the show's most uproarious number, "Goddammit, Goddammit," but there are other great tunes as well. Also listen for the usual collection of cult-classic lines coming out of the Morgendorffer's mouths. My favorite is spoken by Daria's Mom: "Doesn't anyone in this town wear pants anymore?"

Show du jour
Star Trek Voyager

Star Trek:Voyager
UPN, 9 p.m. Wednesdays
Allow me to summarize this show's first four seasons in a way my fellow non-Trekkies will understand: The Starship Voyager has been drifting far from home for a long time in some place called the Delta Quadrant. The crew are trying to get back to Earth but are blocked by the Borg, whose standard greeting, "Prepare to be assimilated, resistance is futile," has made them almost as well-known a "Star Trek" enemy as the Klingons. In 1997, in the most-publicized casting move since a woman (Capt. Janeway, played by Kate Mulgrew) was put at the helm of Voyager, a model named Jeri Ryan joined the cast of "Star Trek: Voyager" as an ex-Borg called Seven of Nine. The two women clashed continually as Janeway's and Seven of Nine's relationship became the focus of the season's storylines, somewhat to the dismay of other cast members (Robert Duncan McNeill told an interviewer after the fourth season that he counted 18 of 26 episodes focusing on Ryan's character). With the top-heavy Ryan poured into a skintight outfit next to Janeway's comparatively frumpy Trekware, it was not difficult to see this as a mother-daughter relationship playing out. That relationship is about to undergo one of its more unusual tests tonight, when in a two-hour "Voyager" movie, the Borg get inside Seven's head and re-assimilate her back into their sphere. Tonight's episode also marks the television debut of that creepy bodyless Borg Queen (Susanna Thompson), previously seen in the "First Contact" movie. She's the one who ordered Seven's return. Once she enters the picture, you realize what's really going on: A custody battle. It's Kramer v. Kramer, only in another century and with people who speak like they all swallowed dictionaries. As if the meaning weren't perfectly obvious, there's a flashback storyline weaved throughout regarding Seven's parents, renegade Borg hunters who slipped up and got assimilated. (Photo credit: UPN)

On this date ...
Whatever happened to "ALF"? Six years after the series ended with a cliffhanger on NBC, an ABC TV-movie "Project: ALF" attempts to provide answers, on this date in 1996. While ABC dumps the film in its Saturday night graveyard, the film is later released as "ALF: der Film" in German movie theaters, on videocassette, and a successful showing on RTL TV. -- Tom Heald

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Reader mail David Carroll sure brightened my day with this letter. "Aaron, thanks again for your column and your website -- and the chance to actually contact you. Some of the other big names apparently don't welcome feedback from their readers, like Rudy Martzke, the nerdy sports-on-TV columnist for USA Today. He recently wrote a hilarious column naming his 'All Century Sportscasters,' which was fairly accurate if the century began in 1980, when his idols Costas, Michaels, etc. came into prominence. Folks like Mel Allen, Ray Scott, Harry Caray and other true giants somehow didn't make our Rudy's list. I suppose they didn't return his calls... "I'm actually writing you about 'Inside Edition.' Yes, I fell for the hype, and actually taped the three episodes with glamour-puss Deborah Norville behind bars in a nasty ole prison for a few days. I howled! Poor Deb, with minimal makeup, and an 'unobtrusive' camera crew mixing with folks from the darkside; Deb's anguished phone calls to her tots ('Mommy's in a hotel'); Deb captured attempting sleep, thanks to the miracle of night-vision cameras; Deb's relief when some thug-ette is released (o fortunate timing!); the fear on Deb's face when an unexpected 'shakedown' occurs (did they find her concealer???); the 'live' phone calls from viewers with in-depth comments ('Deborah, you are so pretty!'); Deborah's profound statement upon being freed at last (squinting at the sun, she said, 'It's brighter than I thought!') You would have thought she was one of John McCain's old POW-mates! "It will go down as one of the great camp TV sweeps stunts of all time! And 'Saturday Night Live,' if you don't parody this one, you're not paying attention!" Read more letters Picks to click ... for the week of Feb. 14 are here. The daily digest ... for Feb. 18-20: I'm test-driving a ReplayTV box in my home right now. If any of you have memorable stories or other comments about using one of these here personal video recorders (Replay, TiVo, the new WebTV, etc.), I'd to hear 'em ... CNN's "World Beat" travels to one of my favorite cities, New Orleans, for a two-parter airing midnight Friday (repeating 4:30 a.m. Saturday) and Sunday at 3:30 p.m. Ellis Marsalis and his sons Wynton, Branford and Jason are featured, as are the Neville Brothers, taxi-driving blues sensation Mem Shannon and the illustrious Dr. John ... Ben Affleck and Fiona Apple grace "SNL" this weekend ... and pick up the new issue of Entertainment Weekly (with the spring film preview cover) to read Ken Tucker's very worthy review of "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno." Note: Letterman fans will enjoy it the most ... A&E's "Biography" is launching its own book club -- with George Stephanopoulos as the first to be featured. You can post questions to him about his new book at the Biography.com web site; George will answer a handful of questions in about a month and a half. And you thought TV was superficial ... One of our moles is reporting that "Who Wants to Marry a Multimillionaire?" was rigged: "Talk radio stations have been flooded with reports that the groom had known the bride for over six months, and there are photos surfacing of the happy couple together many moons ago." Well, if that's so, then I don't suppose one of our intrepid readers would mind forwarding those photos to their favorite member of the media? (And you thought TV was superficial ...) Previously on TV Barn:
17 Feb: "Who Wants to Marry a Multimillionaire?"
16 Feb: Mediachannel.org
15 Feb: Dave's coming back
10 Feb: Tom Joyner
9 Feb: Game show gossip
8 Feb: Daytime TV nuttiness
7 Feb: Dave coming back soon?
4 Feb: Frederick Wiseman's latest
2 Feb: Coming to the TV: the Internet
On this date... in 1990, David Banner slash "The Creature" falls to the ground lifeless, ending the TV movie, "The Death of the Incredible Hulk." Plans were actually afoot for a rebirth/revenge Of The Hulk sequel, but they were scrapped in light of Bill Bixby's mounting health problems. February 19: in 1987, Yul Brynner encourages people to kick the habit in a controversial, anti-smoking public service announcement. Brenner should know the consequences of lung cancer -- he's dead when the spots begin airing. February 20: in 1968, Peter Falk dons the rumpled raincoat as Lt. (Frank) Columbo in "Prescription: Murder," a TV adaptation of William Link and Richard Levinson's stage play. It's not Columbo's first TV appearance, though, as Bert Freed played the character in "Enough Rope," an episode of "The Chevy Mystery Theatre." -- Tom Heald On the wires:
(Stories open in a new window. Many links expire over time.)

"Sports Night" benched, four sitcoms in at ABC [ Read it ]
Digital cable beefs up services [ Read it ]
Harry's "sources" were ABC.com guessers [ Read it ]
Two already gone from Oxygen [ Read it ]
Gay adoption story to become TV pilot [ Read it ]
Bill Carter's spin on "Multimillionaire" [ Read it ]
"Winning Lines" felled by nervous insurer [ Read it ]
Charles Kuralt estate battle begins [ Read it ]
Ambitious Nick plans include Latino series [ Read it ]
Big Radio wants to kill Little Radio [ Read it ]
FX:Movies doing makeover [ Read it ]
More TV news from ZENtertainment [ Read it ]

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(continued from front) Speaking of "SNL," Bob Joress has been keeping me updated over the past few months on a strange phenomenon happening on that show: His home town of Framingham, Mass., keeps getting written into the scripts! It all started last November, when Bob wrote, "This past weekend's 'SNL' featured an NRA skit. The first person 'interviewed' in the skit was a 'Gil Framingham.' The skit interrupted a previous cheerleader skit feature the Spartans. Later in the show, we were treated to the 1977 'circumcision ad' featuring a rabbi from Temple Beth Shalom. "All of which begs the following question: What is the relationship between 'SNL' and the Town of Framingham? The high school football team (pre-consolidation) was called the Spartans. And one of the temples in town is Beth Shalom. Can you find out if there's a Framingham connection? Perhaps it's an old school mate of mine who'd like to give me a job!" So TV Barn forwarded Bob's letter to the publicist for "SNL," who wrote back, "After reviewing the tape, it clearly looks like a coincidence of unbelievable proportions ... Beth Shalom could be a temple anywhere." End of the matter? Hardly. Framingham got mentioned in a recent episode of Fox's "Family Guy," and then last month Bob wrote: "Tonight on 'SNL' we met a family in a Will Farrell skit named Tom and Kathy Framingham. That brings to four the number of local references. As the definitive TV guru, you must solve the mYStErY of fRAmiNGhAm ... I implore you." We'll try our best. "Late Show with David Letterman" fan Dan Muckey writes, "Add me to the list of people who are enjoying the unique use of guest hosts on 'Late Show Backstage.' It's like the best of two worlds: We see a fresh Julia Roberts, but still have classic Dave. Although I'm not looking forward to seeing Bruce Willis do his 'Go-Go' routine again." "To me, they are a breath of fresh air," writes Bruce White. "I've stayed up too many nights watching them where I might not have stayed up for the show otherwise." David Bruggeman counters, "While I can't say 'Late Show Backstage' looks bad right now, it certainly has lost some of its focus. I find it really strange that by the end of last week the folks at the 'Late Show' couldn't sustain a guest for half the show and had to go to other segments that didn't involve them at all (the night with Alec Baldwin, for example, they inexplicably cut to the Mad Baker segment). For all these 'friends of Dave,' I'd think they could find a half hour of material for each one. They didn't even use all the good Bruce Willis material, like the clip where Dave finds Bruce dancing in the strip club." Patrick Dobson responds to my recent column about Mediachannel.org. "I agree media criticism is good, but it ain't all good," he writes. "Media criticism does not work well by itself. It is best and most functional in concert with independent voices, usually in a form that treads on the giants' turf. Alternative papers used to serve just this function. But even here, a shift to freak-show reporting -- telling 'us' about 'them,' rather than telling people about themselves -- and a move to conglomeration hurts, rather than helps." (Indeed, Patrick's employer, the alternative PitchWeekly, was just bought out.) John Carney recently went to a taping of the ABC sitcom "Norm" and penned a column about it for his newspaper, the Shelbyville (Tenn.) Times-Gazette. He writes, "One thing I didn't mention in the column is that they were very deliberate, both in the pre-show introduction and the curtain call, in introducing Norm Macdonald and Laurie Metcalf together, with equal billing. Every other cast member was introduced individually, but in both cases Norm and Laurie were brought out together." And Michael Jones, having seen my recent story on the wacky new game show "Wed at First Sight," writes, "Finally television is doing something to reverse the 'Seinfeld' syndrome (many dates, no marriage) that so poisoned the medium in the 90's. Here another idea: What about a two-part program in which the couple are hitched after an obligatory 30-minute courtship -- and immediately enter an intense counseling session with Dr. Laura to solidify the relationship? I wonder if the doctor would go for something like this." Well, if her new syndicated show tanks in the ratings this fall, after a couple of weeks she'll be open to just about anything.

Did that aliens special actually beat "60 Minutes II"?

No, but "Confirmation: The Hard Evidence of Aliens Among Us?" came whisper-close to knocking off the CBS newsmagazine -- and did, in fact, handily beat the CBS special starring Tara Lipinski in the 8 p.m. hour. The first part of a "Law & Order"-"Homicide" crossover miniseries did stellar numbers.See the overnight ratings Also, from our TV critics section, here are Ed Bark's and Tom Feran's hilarious takes on "Confirmation."

Desperate measures

The nutty thing is, this might actually work: ABC has been getting pounded on Thursday nights for years. Nothing -- not critically-lauded dramatic series, not first-rate Hollywood flicks, na da -- has been successful against NBC's murderer's row of sitcoms. So in a move that smacks of desperation, ABC is putting reruns of two highly rated comedies, "The Drew Carey Show" and "Spin City," up against "Frasier" and "Veronica's Closet." ("America's Funniest Home Videos" and an ABC News-produced hour will bookend the sitcoms.) It's hard to see how this will do anything for "Drew Carey," already one of the 15 most-watched shows in television and the undisputed champ of Wednesday nights. But "Spin City" could benefit. It has stiff competition on Tuesdays from "Just Shoot Me" and could use the added exposure. And while the Michael J. Fox vehicle has been disappointing -- it's possibly the largest comedy ensemble paid to stand around and watch one or two members perform -- few will argue that it's miles better than "Veronica's Closet," which if it were on any other night would be in deep Nielsen doo-doo. The schedule shuffle takes effect March 4, one day after the winter ratings "sweep" ends. The first "Drew" repeat will be last season's memorable take on "The Full Monty." In the first "Spin" repeat, Carter (Michael Boatman) is misstaken for a mugger while jogging in Central Park.(Photo credit: Timothy White/ABC)

Now! Here are the overnights

Satellite TV: The dish goes deeper

Pick to click
ER
NBC, 10 p.m. Thursday
It's a battle of global proportions tonight as Fox's "World's Wildest Police Videos" squares off against ABC's "World's Deadliest Storms" at 7 p.m. ABC follows that with "Stephen King's Storm of the Century's" third and final grueling night. Of course, if you have any taste other than that in your mouth, and you didn't catch the first two parts of "Storm," you're not going to have a whole lot of network fare to work with. At least not until 10, when George Clooney's character walks away from "ER."

Show du jour
WWPV

World's Wildest Police Videos
Fox, 8 p.m. Thursdays
This show gives us a very high level of realism. A surreal level of realism, you might say. That's because everything you see on this hourlong program has been pumped up with teases, replays and Foley work galore, including plenty of what I call "Fox noises"--swooshes and whirs that were first noted on Fox sportscasts but now can be heard across the network (and on newscasts of its local affiliates). The teases are especially galling: I counted 4-1/2 minutes in one hour episode, or about 10 percent of the total show time. And that's not counting all of the manipulative segues and instant replays, the same wreck shown sometimes three or four times. The narrator for "World's Wildest Police Videos" is a former sheriff, John Bunnell. His voiceovers and standups aren't exactly riveting, but that's the point: They give this compilation of mostly car chases a more authentic feel than if a professional announcer had stepped in. But when you think about it, that's manipulative, too.

On this date ...
In 1979, two years after the original series, ABC continues the story of Alex Haley's "Roots" saga with "Roots: The Next Generations," picking up with the story of Tom Harvey, Kunta Kinte's great grandson. Fortunately, the producers have enough sense to stop before releasing "Roots Deep Space Nine." -- Tom Heald

On the wires:

E-mail aaron@tvbarn.com with comments and bug notices. Pick to click
Homicide
NBC, 10 p.m. Friday
If you missed part one of the latest "Law & Order"-"Homicide" get-together Wednesday, don't worry -- the story is recapitulated in tonight's second half, which airs at 10 p.m. on NBC. For once, it looks like Munch (Richard Belzer) and his conspiracy theories may be on the money: A slaying of a government worker draws the attention of a Ken Starr lookalike, and now, instead of tussling with each other for jurisdiction, New York and Baltimore are allied against Washington. But as the hour wears on and everyone begins taking potshots at the independent counsel -- the real one -- you realize it's really the Hollywood Democrats against the Beltway Republicans. Save Our History
8 p.m. and midnight, Saturday
The History Channel
The Underground Railroad has been called "the country's first civil rights movement." Its story is told in a two-hour installment of the History Channel series "Save Our History." Alfre Woodard narrates this undistinguished but informative collage of old photos and sketches, historical re-enactments and interviews with experts on the movement. 1999 Trumpet Awards
7 p.m. Sunday
TBS Ted Turner's answer to the Image Awards handed out its hardware Jan. 11 but are only now being aired. Among those honored: philanthropist Matel Dawson Jr., Bryant Gumbel, opera diva Jessye Norman, Smokey Robinson and civil-rights pioneer Dorothy Height, winner of this year's Living Legend award.

Show du jour
WWPV

That '70s Show
Fox, 8:30 p.m. Sundays
Teenagers in Wisconsin grow up in the era of bell bottoms and frizzy hair in this new show from Bonnie and Terry Turner and Mark Brazill, the forces behind "3rd Rock from the Sun." An ensemble of ten--six teens led by Eric (Topher Grace) and his next-door neighbor Donna (Laura Prepon)--make up the cast. Eric is 17, exceedingly ordinary and eminently suburban. Heck, his folks are even named Red and Kitty (Kurtwood Smith and Debra Jo Rupp)! Eric likes to hang out in the basement with Donna and their friends Kelso (Ashton Kutcher), Kelso's annoying girlfriend Jackie (Mila Kunis), Hyde (Danny Masterson) and my favorite character, Fez the exchange student (Wilmer Valderrama). There they try to scam a little beer and who knows, maybe a reefer or two. Occasionally Red and Kitty have a party, invite over Donna's parents, Bob and Midge (Don Stark, Tanya Roberts), and make fun of Bob's bizarre new perm. "That 70's Show" has been rightly compared to "Happy Days," another sitcom that harkened back 20 years in time to what seemed liked a more innocent time for teens. Tonight's episode, however, is distressingly up-to-date: Donna secretly goes on the pill -- but thanks to a classic sitcom screwup, Bob (pictured, right) is accidentally handed his daughter's prescription while Eric (center) looks on in horror. This is followed by a sequence that mimics a bad black-and-white instructional film, but the effect is disorienting: When you impose a retro gag on an already-retro piece, don't the two cancel each other out? (Photo credit: Frank Carroll/FOX)

On this date ...
In 1972, America's most lovable bigot Archie Bunker gets a smooch from Sammy Davis, Jr., on a very special "All in the Family." Bunker also manages to ask Davis, "Do you take cream and sugar in your eye?" On Feb. 20, 1987, David Hartman leaves ABC's "Good Morning America" after 11 years on the job, while Charles Gibson steps on board. On Feb. 21, 1986, "The Misfits Of Science" last airs on NBC, allowing viewers one last opportunity to witness the telekinetic powers of the young Gloria Dinallo, played by Courteney Cox. The straight-from-the-comic-books adventures of young mutants learning to control their powers fails to catch on despite a killer time slot between "Knight Rider" and "Miami Vice." -- Tom Heald

On the wires:

E-mail aaron@tvbarn.com with comments and bug notices.

>>> Aaron Barnhart's TVBARN.COM

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"Wait till you hear what happened to me." And with that opening line, David Letterman reasserted his rightful place on stage at the Ed Sullivan Theater on Friday, in his first taping of a "Late Show" broadcast since his emergency open-heart surgery last month. Here's the way I wrote it up for Monday's Kansas City Star. Now, for our TV Barn readers, the enhanced content. "I'm not going to spoil the show for those who are going to watch it," writes a longtime TV Barn reader who was there, "but I really felt the show was special and hilarious. Not once was the applause sign lit -- all the laughs and claps were genuine. And for those of you who are med students, there is a lot of medical humor." Dave also made his pre-show appearance before the studio audience more electrifying than usual by running onto the stage. "He looked great and had a big smile," said a mole. "He had a few very funny one-liners about being off the show for so long, and then asked us one favor -- to clap to thank all the doctors and nurses who saved his life ... At the end of the show, we all got special cardiac-bypass 'Late Show' T-shirts." "Late Show" executive producer Rob Burnett added, "It was amazing. It was one of those shows that honestly in my heart I believe 15 years from now people are going to say, 'Did you see the Letterman comeback show?' It had an amazing emotional quality to it. ... He came out and the audience leapt to its feet ... You got that from one side, and then behind Dave you saw hardened stagehands choking back tears. It was one of those shows that will be hard to forget."

Colin Dawson was in the audience for Friday's taping and got this "cardiac special" T shirt. (AP/Beth Keiser) Just in case Letterman needed it, the "Late Show" staff had plenty of material ready to use on the air. (The New York Daily News reported that Bryant Gumbel and CNBC's Maria Bartiromo would be among those starring in a taped mock newscast poking fun at Dave's heart problems.) It all got set aside. "If you liked the writers' strike shows you'll love this, because that was all this was," said Burnett, referring to the 1988 shows Letterman essentially ad-libbed. "The whole show was reformatted on the fly and all the planned comedy and segments were dumped. It was a very happy decision to make." Burnett reports that his boss is in fabulous condition and "was not at all wiped out from the experience. ... He was thrilled that he responded as well as he did." So look for things to return to normal on-air, although not immediately. Dave will adhere to a Monday-Wednesday-Friday routine at least through next week (with guest hosts on the other days), and there's the matter of all that material they didn't use on Monday. "My personal feeling is that on Wednesday we will still have the right to empty the bin of all that heart surgery stuff," said Burnett. "But eventually it will evolve into the same old crap." Watch Dave and "Late Show" cue-card guy Tony Mendez clown around

Picks to click ... for the week of Feb. 21 are here. The daily digest ... for Feb. 21: The wheels are starting to come off that "Who Wants to Marry a Multimillionaire?" Turns out that the contestants signed an agreement that the marriage could be annulled on a moment's notice, and several news reports have not very nice things to say about the alleged megabucks guy, Rick Rockwell. San Diego station KFMB, a CBS affiliate, tracked down a former girlfriend, who said that she and Rockwell talked about getting back together two days before the telecast, and that he mentioned the annulment clause in a manner that suggested he wouldn't hesitate to use it. And another woman, who met Rockwell on the Internet, said he was "trying to get into my pants less than three weeks ago." Don't be surprised if Fox pulls the one-hour condensed repeat of the broadcast off Tuesday's schedule ... Unexpected benefits of having ReplayTV in the house: During a segment on Sunday's "60 Minutes," an interviewee said to Bob Simon, "Can you say 'bullshit' on '60 Minutes'?" Turns out you can -- but I hit the rewind button and gave it another listen, just to be sure ... Advertising Age reports that 30-second spots on Monday's Letterman broadcast are fetching more than $100,000, and that CBS is expecting at least an 8 Nielsen rating (season average: 3.1) ... The highest-rated "Late Show," for your info, was taped nearly six years ago to the day, when first lady Hillary Clinton granted Dave's Mom an interview during the 1994 Olympics in Lillehammer ... Guess Howard Stern picked a fine night to appear with Jay Leno to plug his new TV show? If you're like me, and you only occasionally catch episodes of "Ally McBeal," it's easy to feel lost amidst all the various connivings, couplings and decouplings going on in Ally's frisky law office. Fortunately, Tom Heald has devised this all-purpose "Ally McBeal" episode description template: "Ally sees visions of ______ while dating a guy who's really a ______ with a very large _______. The firm tackles the important issue of ______, and dances to ____ in the unisex. Special guest star ______ dies, and Vonda Shepard sings __________ by Gary Glitter." Previously on TV Barn:
18 Feb: Reader mail
17 Feb: "Who Wants to Marry a Multimillionaire?"
16 Feb: Mediachannel.org
15 Feb: Dave's coming back
10 Feb: Tom Joyner
9 Feb: Game show gossip
8 Feb: Daytime TV nuttiness
7 Feb: Dave coming back soon?
4 Feb: Frederick Wiseman's latest
2 Feb: Coming to the TV: the Internet
On this date... in 1997, on "Days of Our Lives," Kristin Blake gives birth to John Black, Jr., ... except it isn't really Kristin, it's her pregnant look-alike Susan Banks, and the child's father isn't John Black ... it's really Stefano DiMera, although Banks believes the father of her child is really ... Elvis Presley. -- Tom Heald On the wires:
(Stories open in a new window. Many links expire over time.)

AP's version of Dave's return [ Read it ]
Bill Nye suing Disney [ Read it ]
Germans to buy Jim Henson Company [ Read it ]
Westminster Dog Show scores big again [ Read it ]
"X Files" takes syndication lead [ Read it ]
Duh! CBS, Viacom announce Grammys alliance [ Read it ]
103-year-old Mexican woman lands soap opera role [ Read it ]
More TV news from ZENtertainment [ Read it ]

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All times Eastern Monday, 2/21 In 1963 the CBS historical series "The Great Adventure" made an all-star production out of Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad. In recent years TV Land has made that episode, called "Go Down, Moses," a Black History Month staple. It airs at 8 tonight. Ruby Dee (who plays Tubman) and her husband, Ossie Davis, star in "Go Down, Moses," as does blues legend Ethel Waters. Almost as noteworthy was "The Great Adventure" series itself. It was a high-polish effort, produced by John Houseman in conjunction with the National Education Association. The theme song was written by Richard Rodgers, one of only three times he ever wrote for TV. The series lasted just two years on CBS, however, joining "Omnibus" and "Profiles in Courage" on the scrap heap of television history. Tuesday, 2/22 Tonight's "Will & Grace" (9 p.m., NBC) is ripped from the headlines -- of our Stargazing section, that is. One morning last summer outside the "Today" show studios in New York weatherman Al Roker was working the crowd when he spotted a young man whose sign professed love for someone named Jill. But when Roker asked about Jill, the young man turned and gave the guy next to him, named Rich, a nice long smooch on national television. Roker instantly remarked, "See, they wouldn't allow that on 'Will & Grace.' " Maybe -- or maybe not. You'll have to tune in tonight to see if Big Al eats his words (and yes, he makes a cameo appearance). Wednesday, 2/23 Looking not just to win the February ratings "sweep" but to conquer it like a feudal titan, ABC has scheduled more extra episodes of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire," beginning tonight (8 p.m., ABC), when it takes on the first hour of the Grammys on CBS. Say what you will about "Millionaire" questions being too easy (though after seeing some of the brighter contestants taken down well short of the big money, I'm inclined to think it's more the luck of the draw). If watching people win lots of cash was the only criterion, "Greed" would be the top-rated show and "Winning Lines" might still be with us. The one thing "Millionaire" can be faulted for -- other than demolishing some of its worthier opposition on other networks -- is that it can't seem to buy a contestant who's not a white male. Even Regis Philbin complained about it during a recent show, and the executive producer of "Millionaire" has vowed to fly around the country this summer recruiting women and minority contestants if need be. Hey, now there's a show idea: "Who Wants to Be On 'Millionaire'?" Thursday, 2/24 Tonight's "Mystery!" (9 p.m. on PBS; check local listings) retreads the familiar whodunit formula in which a big-city crime interrupts the pleasures of small-town life, and a sleuth finds herself at odds with the official crime-solvers. The twist to tonight's tale, "Trial by Fire," is that the sleuth is the town prosecutor, and the fellow she's sleeping with happens to be the police chief. Juliet Stevenson ("Truly, Madly, Deeply") stars. Friday, 2/25 "Freedom Song," a new TNT movie debuting 7 p.m. Sunday (repeating at 9:30 p.m.), tells the story of perhaps the least-understood flank in the civil rights movement, the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee, or SNCC (pronounced "snick"). Though it would later become identified with black separatism espoused by its leader, the late Kwame Ture (aka Stokely Carmichael), SNCC's early years were marked by aggressive organizing by its hardcore band of volunteers. They even waded into rural areas, like the Mississippi town depicted in "Freedom Song," where the Klan and local authorities worked hand in glove to create virtual apartheid states. "Freedom Song" opens inside a jail cell late one night in 1961. A young black teen-ager is singing the opening bars of a movement hymn. Soon other young men join in, and it looks like one of those standard-issue, "Eyes on the Prize" uplifting scenes -- until we realize they are waking up all the white citizens around town who have their windows open that hot summer night. As the whites curse the blacks from their porches, the young men congratulate themselves for striking this small, nonviolent blow. Danny Glover and Vicellous Reon Shannon ("The Hurricane") star in "Freedom Song," which a gives a good idea of just how terrifying it must have been to organize in the Deep South in the early 1960s.

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Eerie TV team-up scores By John Zipperer There are times when you want to just leap up from your chair and kiss your television. One such time was this past Sunday during Fox's "The X-Files," in which the story of a violent killer was told in the form of an episode of "Cops." In hand-held camera style, L.A. police teamed up with FBI special agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully to track a reported monster terrorizing a neighborhood. Beautifully played and scripted, the episode was a shining example of "The X-Files" turning in a strong seventh season, confounding those of us who wrote it off after last season's lackluster showing. In fact, it may have regained its title as the most innovative series on broadcast television. (continued) Picks to click ... for the week of Feb. 21 are here. The daily digest ... for Feb. 22: File this under "Not TV, but ...": an interesting story from my pal Steve Weinberg on John Lennon's FBI file and the arduous, 14-year fight to get the Feds to release it. Previously on TV Barn:
21 Feb: Dave is back!
18 Feb: Reader mail
17 Feb: "Who Wants to Marry a Multimillionaire?"
16 Feb: Mediachannel.org
15 Feb: Dave's coming back
10 Feb: Tom Joyner
9 Feb: Game show gossip
8 Feb: Daytime TV nuttiness
On this date... in 1971, Fred Rogers leaves his neighborhood and takes the trolley to visit his friend on another network, CBS, appearing this morning with his friend Captain Kangaroo. -- Tom Heald On the wires:
(Stories open in a new window. Many links expire over time.)

"Multimillionaire" groom an abusive, overinflated loser? [ Read it ]
AND: Fox drops idea for future installments [ Read it ]
AND: Groom denies allegations [ Read it ]
Dave gets Regis to admit he's underpaid [ Read it ]
Snyder makes comeback noises [ Read it ]
Mexico City archdiocese denounces "Pokemon" [ Read it ]
Nick to lose megabucks in kidvid ads [ Read it ]
Shed a tear for "Baywatch Hawaii" [ Read it ]
More TV news from ZENtertainment [ Read it ]

Pick to click
Inside the White House Press Corps
TLC, 9 p.m. and midnight
For those people who find reading too time-consuming, tonight's "Inside the White House Press Corps" is a worthy substitute for Spin Cycle, Howard Kurtz's terrific book of how the administration "spins" the journalists assigned to cover it. It offers a peek into the cramped, noisy world of the White House press pack and its daily hunt for news. Filmed during the high tide of the Lewinsky scandal, it shows reporters circling the president restlessly, scrutinizing his facial gestures, his every word for meaning -- and of course, for its next story. Meanwhile the president's advisors are two chess moves ahead, turning such innocuous events as a prayer breakfast into big news -- and thus beating the press corps at their own game. Among those interviewed: author Kurtz and Kurtz's number-one source, former Clinton press secretary Mike McCurry. Meanwhile, sister network Discovery unveils "The Johnson Tapes," two hours of recently released audio from Lyndon Johnson's White House years, also at 8 and 11 p.m. Show du jour
BET Tonight with Tavis Smiley
BET, 11 p.m. Mondays-Thursdays This meaty, highly watchable talk show is a true alternative to all those other late-night talkers. "BET Tonight" is targeted straight at African-Americans, and yet what it puts on the air many nights is livelier and more accessible than what you'll see on Leno and Letterman. Radio commentator Smiley is a pointed if somewhat stiff interviewer. On emotional topics he's been known to turn into an accuser. But he has on more good quality guests of color than all those other late-nighters rolled together, and the conversations are often more enlightening than those talking-head routines on the big networks. Smiley is a patient interviewer; Charlie Rose could learn a few things from him. Topics of discussion tend to be what we used to think of as mainstream--the presidential agenda, race relations, the state of Generation X--before other cable channels redirected the national conversation to trivial hot-button issues, usually involving sex. "BET Tonight" also takes phone calls; the average caller sounds like they'd never get past an AM radio talk-show screener. There's a news break, with headlines you'll almost never hear in the general press (stories about police brutality and prominent black Americans are common). Photo credit: MSBET Reader mail Tom Heald notes, "How far is ABC willing to go to convince us that Larry David's new sitcom 'It's Like, You Know...' is the second coming of 'Seinfeld'? Not only are the promos telling us that David was the co-creator of "Seinfeld," but the voice subtly mentioning this is none other than Seinfeld's J. Peterman (John O'Hurley)."
More reader mail On this date ...
In 1989, wacky sitcom teen Mike Seaver (Kirk Cameron) learns all about prejudice working the overnight shift at a 24-hour grocery store when his wacky sitcom boss (Dick Van Patten) chooses to transfer Mike to a more desirable shift over two more experienced minority workers on A Very Special "Growing Pains" on ABC. His less Caucasian coworkers? Anjul Nigam and future Academy Award winner Cuba Gooding, Jr.-- Tom Heald On the wires:

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NEXT! Okay, sure, now we'll never know if there's a real multimillionaire out there who's actually willing to turn their blessed event into a network-TV sweeps stunt. But don't worry -- the demise of Fox's "Who Wants to Marry a Multimillionaire?" just means there's one more time slot open for some other high-stakes game show. Same with the cancellation -- er, I mean hiatus -- of the bewildering "Winning Lines" on CBS. You don't think the Tiffany Network is bailing on the game-show craze this early, do you? Au contraire, and in this article from Wednesday's Kansas City Star I offer 1,064,000 reasons why. Picks to click ... for the week of Feb. 21 are here. The daily digest ... for Feb. 23: "Late Show with David Letterman" doubled the Nielsen rating of "The Tonight Show" in the Monday overnights. I expected triple the usual "Late Show" audience for Monday, and indeed, the broadcast scored a 9.3 rating; its season average is 3.1 ... I wouldn't expect very stellar numbers, however, for Tuesday's broadcast, featuring Bill Cosby's nutty-professor routine as a nearly inept guest host. You're saying this guy subbed for Carson once? ... Movies I wish I'd reviewed: MTV's "2gether." as I read this wire story, it seems to me this spoofy story about a boy band cries out for comparisons to the original fake boy band, Fresh Step ... The final words, we hope, from "Who Wants to Marry a Multimillionaire?" Rogers Candenhead writes, "The media appears to have missed one of the funniest elements of this story, at least to me. Show cocreator Mike Fleiss is a cousin of someone else who became famous for hooking people up based on economic criteria: Heidi Fleiss" ... And Tom Heald passes along a suggestion for a future Fox reality special: "'Secrets of Street Magic,' in which Fox executives beg the (new) Masked Magician to please make Rick Rockwell disappear. The secret? He's named the presidential candidate for the Reform Party." Previously on TV Barn:
22 Feb: "X-Files" meets "Cops"
21 Feb: Dave is back!
18 Feb: Reader mail
17 Feb: "Who Wants to Marry a Multimillionaire?"
16 Feb: Mediachannel.org
15 Feb: Dave's coming back
10 Feb: Tom Joyner
9 Feb: Game show gossip
8 Feb: Daytime TV nuttiness
On this date... in 1966, Lucille Ball tells CBS her sitcom will self-destruct if they don't accept a new drama from her Desilu Studio -- "Mission: Impossible." -- Tom Heald On the wires:
(Stories open in a new window. Many links expire over time.)

Jim Henson Co. sold for $680M [ Read it ]
Donny and Marie to host Miss America again [ Read it ]
"I Dare You!" claims stuntman's life [ Read it ]
WB, UPN kiss and make up in 6 cities [ Read it ]
More TV news from ZENtertainment [ Read it ]

Pick to click
King of the Hill
Fox, 8 p.m.
I've previewed tonight's episode in its entirety, but I'm still unsure how exactly Hank Hill wound up being abused by a dolphin in a swimming pool. Or why his son, Bobby, is suddenly addicted to capers. But suspension of disbelief is common when watching this animated sitcom, even though it does manage to be suspiciously true to life's little inanities. In this episode, Hank gets Luanne a job at the local country club so she'll stop mooching off of him. As usual, his good deed does not go unpunished. Also tonight, the ratings stunts just keep coming as Sherman Helmsley, a.k.a. George Jefferson, joins several African-American sitcom stars of the past on "The Hughleys" at 8:30 on ABC; Priscilla Presley and Christopher Lloyd grace "Spin City" (9 p.m., ABC), which marks a reunion of sorts of Lloyd and Michael J. Fox from their "Back to the Future" films; and Felicity (Keri Russell) decides to marry her boss -- ewww! -- on "Felicity" at 9 on the WB. Show du jour
Biography
A&E, 8 p.m. weeknights
A&E's flagship show is one of the most influential programs in the history of cable, having spawned a raft of imitators, everything from E!'s "Celebrity Profile" to VH1's "Legends." It is one of two major catalysts for the current revolution in documentary programming on cable (the other being The Discovery Channel). And it is now the basis for an entire 24-hour cable network, The Biography Channel, launched by A&E in 1998. But "Biography" also deserves a share of the blame for the boring sameness of cable, the formulaic approach to non-fiction programming and the increasing emphasis on celebrities. At its inception the idea of a one-hour personality profile each night was novel. A&E did biographies of historical and political figures, intellectuals and artists. Increasingly, however, "Biography" has migrated to the middle of the pop culture, devoting entire weeks to advice columnists, fast-food restaurateurs and O.J. Simpson trial figures. Ten years ago, "Biography" was poaching viewers from broadcast TV, notably PBS. Today, other cable channels are poaching from A&E. The increased emphasis on celebrities is A&E's attempt to maintain "Biography's" viewer share at a time of unprecedented competition. In 1998, CBS newsman Harry Smith (pictured)was hired to take over the chief narrating duties for "Biography" while the program's longtime hosts, Jack Perkins and Peter Graves, assumed lesser roles. On this date ...
Broadcasting live before a studio audience? "Gimme A Break!" Nell Carter and Dolph Sweet crack wise on this night in 1985, in the first live sitcom telecast since television's Golden Age in the 1950s.-- Tom Heald On the wires:

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Reader mail Andy Ihnatko writes, "Boy, what a profound lack of class shown by NBC and 'The Tonight Show'! I have never in my life seen a 'Tonight' show so heavily promoted as Monday's Howard Stern appearance. In fact, I don't think I can remember any 'TS' which got standalone promos not even attached to other NBC promos or tags. "That's not to say that Dave's return to 'Late Show' should be regarded as a national holiday, but so brazenly counter-programming what will obviously be a very emotional show is just horribly tacky. Granted, it's sweeps. But Lord, this comes across as the pathetic act of a show desperate for ratings and not a consistent ratings champ run by self-confident, secure people. "I don't want to hate 'Tonight,' but it seems like every six months or so I've got a new reason to wonder just what the hell happened to Johnny's show." Read more letters Picks to click ... for the week of Feb. 21 are here. The daily digest ... for Feb. 24: Buoyed by the Grammy telecast on CBS, as well as residual interest in his post-heart-surgery condition, David Letterman was again the big winner Wednesday night. He blazed to a 7.5/19 in the overnights, though Jay Leno's 5.3/13 wasn't too shabby (though "Law & Order" scored well at 10 p.m., giving NBC a decent lead-in as well) ... The first hour of the Grammy telecast did edge out ABC's special edition of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire," but the big story here is that the two shows combined for a 51 share. Those are the kinds of numbers that would look good 20 years ago. In all, the four major networks pulled in fully two-thirds of the people watching television Wednesday night from 7 to 8 ... Awwwww. "Wed at First Sight," the game-show concept offering instant nuptials (and an irresistible nugget for TV scribes), has been pulled from syndication, though USA Today reports it may be offered later to the cable market. It wasn't clear whether the faulty background check done on "Who Wants to Marry a Multimillionaire?" groom Rick Rockwell exposed flaws with "Wed at First Sight" -- but you couldn't blame the latter's producers for getting cold feet now! Previously on TV Barn:
23 Feb: More games to come
22 Feb: "X-Files" meets "Cops"
21 Feb: Dave is back!
18 Feb: Reader mail
17 Feb: "Who Wants to Marry a Multimillionaire?"
16 Feb: Mediachannel.org
15 Feb: Dave's coming back
10 Feb: Tom Joyner
9 Feb: Game show gossip
8 Feb: Daytime TV nuttiness
On this date... in 1976, a Korean War reporter (Clete Roberts) visits the 4077th "M*A*S*H" unit to conduct "The Interview," based on an Edward R. Murrow documentary "Christmas in Korea." Each of the cast members was given a tape recorder to create their character's thoughts and answers to writer Larry Gelbart's questions, and from these ad-libbed character sketches the episode was written, accompanied by period newsreel footage. -- Tom Heald On the wires:
(Stories open in a new window. Many links expire over time.)

How thesmokinggun.com nailed Rick Rockwell [ Read it ]
Transgender wants interview with Roseanne canned [ Read it ]
No, Robbie Knievel didn't die [ Read it ]
"ER" wins again, edging out Regis [ Read it ]
More TV news from ZENtertainment [ Read it ]

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(continued from front) Jeff Robbins writes, "I completely agree with you in regard to your brief summary of Tuesday's Late Show. As thrilled as I was to see Dave back on Monday, I was just as embarrassed by Tuesday's show. The Cos looked like he had never hosted a luncheon, much less a television program. The mispronunciation of names, the confusion as to where he should sit and not knowing when to take a break, the horribly forced interviews (I loved the fact that during the interview with the nurse who delivered the McCaughey septuplets, we didn't hear about the delivery of the McCaughey septuplets), and the cute but unfunny monologue. And where was Paul? Did Cos demand a more urban band for his show? CBS should cancel Bill's sitcom as punishment for dropping that stinkbomb in Dave's house. Erin PaIicki writes, "I read John Zipperer's article on the new series 'Lexx' with interest. I am a 38-year-old female science fiction fan to whom it is obvious that the demographic they're aiming for with this show is boys aged 12 to 24. In the first episode I saw it appeared that the female character had sex with several monks. However, in the next episode she still claimed to be a virgin. (In case you think this is just my perception, my husband said to me, 'Didn't she have sex with those guys in the last episode?') This horny-virgin routine is going to get old very quickly, and from what I've seen so far that's what the series revolves around. I'm surprised that this series would be broadcast on the same network which brings us the wonderful series 'Farscape,' but it does indicate to me that I won't be seeing 'Crusade' on Sci-Fi anytime soon." Barbara Carr writes, "My friends and I also went to a 'Norm' taping in January (see last week's Reader Mail) and we wondered about Norm Macdonald and Laurie Metcalf being introduced together rather than separately. But I came to the following conclusions: (1) Norm is really shy about the 'top billing' aspect of his job and feels that Laurie Metcalf is the star; (2) Norm used to write for 'Roseanne' and he feels Laurie Metcalf didn't get her due then and deserves it now; (3) Norm is just terrified of going out there alone by himself." Brad Harvey writes, "Is it just me or is it just wrong to see two half hour airings of 'Whose Line Is It Anyway?' (an adaptation of a British show) followed by a one-hour 'Who Wants To Be A Millionaire' (taken from yet another UK show) and have the network keep promoting itself as America's Broadcasting Company?" "M-D November" writes, "With the money being as important as the gameplay, why didn't someone at CBS contact Dick Clark about reviving 'The Pyramid'? �That show had everything going for it -- the pace was right on target, you could get two front games and two end games into a half hour, and it was cheap to produce! �Just throw in some 'Millionaire'-esque production values and grab some stars as they leave 'Hollywood Squares' one night, and I think CBS would have a hit. And NBC missed the chance to revive another classic wordplay game, 'Password'! �Granted, everyone who has ever hosted 'Password' is dead, but..." And Michael Jones asks, "Along with the Letterman thing, could you keep TV Barn readers apprised of the progress of your home remodeling project?" Why, certainly. The sheetrock is up on our new bath and closets, so we'll be painting this weekend. Look for an extra wacky fume-enhanced edition on the Web site Monday."

>>> Aaron Barnhart's TVBARN.COM [logo] TV Barn All times Eastern About TV Barn Late Night Line-ups Overnight ratings The TV Critic's Toolbox Read Other TV Critics The LATE SHOW NEWS Archive Contact TV Barn Updated 2/24/99 at 8:38 AM CST

She had it all

Was it the presence of Betty Bacall? Or is there a permanent cult of viewers that simply will not miss any miniseries that stars Richard Chamberlain? Whatever the reason, Tuesday's gut-wrenching wrap to the story of pathetic tobacco heiress Doris Duke helped CBS to an easy win in the overnight ratings. Building a full Nielsen ratings point on its lead-in "JAG," the two-hour finale averaged a 12.8 rating and 21 share to lead the night, topping even that very special "Home Improvement." -- View the overnights Click here for an explanation of overnight ratings or go directly to the latest overnights.

Remembering Gene Siskel

Jym Dingler writes, "I was deeply disappointed in David Letterman's so-short 'tribute' to Gene Siskel Monday. His few well-intentioned sentences misfired badly when he immediately segued into more commentary on Hillary Clinton's New York senatorial bid. What, he couldn't have shown us some classic Siskel & Ebert clips from the show? The 5th-anniversary-show gag tribute to a supposedly dead Calvert DeForest was far more touching, even though it was just a comedy bit. As little as I care for the 'Tonight Show,' at least Jay struggled to discuss his parents' deaths. What will Dave do when his mother dies? Give us another lame excuse for a eulogy before launching into 'Can A Guy In A Bear Suit Crash A Funeral'?"

TV Barn readers remember Gene: John Christensen writes, "A trait of Siskel's that I often lampooned to friends was his tendency to describe failed movies in terms of what a better movie might have been: 'Make a movie about these characters instead' or, 'Write a story that goes this way, for a change.' One friend, in particular, always complained when Siskel would do this -- after a movie, if someone is caught making such an argument, she or he is immediately tagged as 'making a Siskel.' But I also always found it to be an oddly optomistic way of looking at failed films. Siskel was always exhorting filmmakers to look at their story in a new way, to show him something he hadn't seen before. And that, I suppose, is what I'll always remember. I think I'll go watch the episode of "the Critic" that features Roger and Gene, now. I've got it on tape here somewhere. They sing. It's sort of sweet." More reader tributes (Photo credit: Chicago Tribune) He had been one of my longtime readers on the Internet and, in our occasional e-mail exchanges, mentioned more than once that he wanted to meet me in person. So when I came to Chicago last October, Gene Siskel invited me to accompany him and a few others to a screening and lunch. But I ran late filing a rewrite for my paper back in Kansas City and had to blow off the date. After I filed, I called Gene at home to say sorry, maybe we could hook up the next time I was in town. He cut me off. "Where are you?" he said. Read the full piece From the Chicago newspapers:
Who's who of 1,500 pay their last respects
Rick Telander salutes Bulls fan No. 1
Rob Feder's obituary in the Sun-Times
Roger Ebert's remembrance
Rick Kogan's obit in the Chicago Tribune
Bob Greene's terrific tribute

The view from Jasper

By Harrison Wyman ABC News "Nightline" has been doing a continuing series of broadcasts on the issue of race in America. "America in Black and White" has explored aspects of the racial divide in depth in a consistent manner and with a level of insight missing from most television journalism. When the verdict came in convicting a young white man of participating in the dragging death of a black man in the small town of Jasper, Texas, "Nightline" correspondent John Donvan had been in Jasper reporting on how the tragedy affected racial relations in the small Texas town. What Donvan found was people reaching out to each other. White residents who thought their racial relations were good found that their black neighbors did not share the same view to say the least. What may surprise people is that the white people of Jasper looked at the situation and found that their black fellow citizens may have a point. The actions taken to bridge the gap range from the removal of an iron fence that separated races in a graveyard to a white sheriff going over and talking to a small black child in a way that he would not have done before the dragging death. The point of the story was that people of both races in Jasper are talking to each other in a way they had not before. An honest dialog is happening where there was silence. Although it took a tragedy to create this conversation, its goal is to prevent another such tragedy and create a true sense of community in the process.

Weathering heights

Quick -- name five meteorologists on The Weather Channel. Even longtime aficionados of TWC would be hard pressed to remember the network's veteran on-air weather talent by name. But that, as I discovered in this 1997 profile, is one of the secrets to its success. Read the story

We interrupt this program...

... to call your attention to our snappy new logo (I might need to add a white background to it, don't you think?) and two new features at the TV Barn:

Read Other TV Critics. Now you can link to scores of my colleagues across the country.
The TV Critic's Toolbox. This is a resource I'm assembling for parents and anyone else who wants to think more critically about what they see on TV and learn how to "talk back" to their TV sets.

Previously on TV Barn:

Pick to click
American Masters
PBS, 9 p.m.
"Paul Robeson: Here I Stand" (check local times) is the second PBS treatment this month of the celebrated and controversial actor-singer. And yet, even these two hours are not enough to encompass one of the titans of American culture. Robeson was born with an earth-shaking baritone and superb athletic skills. Confronted by a world order determined to hold him back, he became the most fearless public black figure of his time. Shackled by an entertainment industry that considered blacks only for subservient roles, Robeson broke free, aligning himself with the British working class and, eventually, Soviet sympathizers. His personal and professional journey is recounted, year by year, with the help of close friends and his son, Paul Robeson Jr. One revelation of this special is how over time Robeson altered his trademark song, "Ol' Man River," transforming it from a show tune into an anthem for the labor movement. Ossie Davis narrates.

Show du jour
Dateline
NBC, 8 p.m. Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays; 10 p.m. Mondays and Tuesdays.

"Dateline NBC" wasn't winning any friends and it wasn't winning over a whole lot of viewers in 1993. Nothing new about that; NBC had launched several newsmagazines over the years, with little success. But that year "Dateline" became embroiled in something far worse than a ratings slump. Its producers were found to have set off an explosive device under a GM minivan as part of an investigative report into the cars' safety. The humiliation reached the highest levels of General Electric, NBC's parent company, and forced the resignation of its news president. Then something very unusual in the annals of television happened: "Dateline" got a second chance, and reinvented itself. Under its new producer Neal Shapiro, the program stopped trying to imitate its magazine rivals at CBS and ABC and instead began borrowing heavily from the country's best local newscasts. Warm, personality-centered features, consumer and health news accompanied the harder, more traditional stories. Critics clucked, but "Dateline" clicked with viewers. The show expanded to a second night, then a third, allowing it to take advantage of breaking news in ways its competitors couldn't. While the nightly newscasts continued to decline in ratings and influence, "Dateline" was bringing viewers back to the news, pulling in not only the over-50 news addicts who typically watch news, but viewers smack in the middle of NBC's young-adult demo. Two nights of "Dateline" are rated in the top 20 show in both total viewers and adults 18-54. In a way, too, the ubiquity of "Dateline" was the fulfillment of a wish long held by Walter Cronkite and other old-timers: an hour of news, in prime time, five nights a week. The stories on "Dateline," by the way, have won plenty of news Emmys. And while we're invoking news icons, it's safe to say Edward R. Murrow himself would be happy to see the hourlong documentaries that air routinely on "Dateline Friday." In one, the last days of a death-row inmate in Texas were chronicled, along with the agony of his mother and the chilling coldness of the victims' survivors who attended his execution. In another report that won a DuPont Award for journalistic excellence, Tom Brokaw visited a mixed-race suburb of Chicago and coolly demolished every excuse given to him by the whites who were leaving. An NBC crew filming at a New Jersey soup kitchen were approached by a homeless man brandishing a veterans' ID tag; their encounter led to a remarkable documentary on the army company in which the man served 30 years earlier. Still, the critics hammer away at "Dateline." It was predictably trashed after an early 1999 co-production with People magazine was announced. The reason "Dateline" does tie-ins with People is they both know how to tell stories about people. I was blown away by a report last season about Margaret Ray, the woman who stalked David Letterman and, later, astronaut Story Musgrave. It was a masterful narrative on the way schizophrenia, the disease that afflicted Ray and two of her brothers, tears its victims away from reality and, ultimately, their will to live. Told by Ann Curry, who was sympathetic but did not drip with pity the way Barbara Walters does, "Dateline's" story consumed two long segments and was as thorough as a New York Times profile of Ray that I'd read earlier. But it also did one thing the newspaper story didn't: It packed one hell of an emotional punch. Ask yourself this: If "Dateline's" brand of journalism is so unseemly, why are we always roped in whenever it tells stories we're interested in? The two "Dateline" co-anchors also have side projects on MSNBC. Jane Pauley hosts the night historical capsule "Time and Again" and Phillips anchors "Weekend Magazine."

On this date ...
In 1992, Geraldo Rivera has fat cells from his derriere implanted into his wrinkled forehead. (Insert "Butthead" joke here.)-- Tom Heald

On the wires:

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Updated 2/25/99 at 8:56 AM CST Thursday

Grammys deliver whammy

CBS executives like to brag about the fact they don't fill up sweeps months with stunt programming designed to inflate their audience numbers. This month, for instance, about 90 percent of the Tiffany network's prime time consists of the regularly-scheduled shows. But it's that other 10 percent that's saving the CBS bacon. Powered by last night's Grammy awards, the network had its second big nightly win in a row. The big numbers also allowed CBS to actually look competitive against NBC in late night. Click here for last night's overnights.

Remembering Gene Siskel

Jym Dingler writes, "I was deeply disappointed in David Letterman's so-short 'tribute' to Gene Siskel Monday. His few well-intentioned sentences misfired badly when he immediately segued into more commentary on Hillary Clinton's New York senatorial bid. What, he couldn't have shown us some classic Siskel & Ebert clips from the show? The 5th-anniversary-show gag tribute to a supposedly dead Calvert DeForest was far more touching, even though it was just a comedy bit." (In that bit, Siskel spends the show looking for Ebert, then has an emotional reunion with "Roger," actually Calvert, complete with slo-mo embrace.) Jym adds, "As little as I care for the 'Tonight Show,' at least Jay struggled to discuss his parents' deaths. What will Dave do when his mother dies? Give us another lame excuse for a eulogy before launching into 'Can A Guy In A Bear Suit Crash A Funeral'?"

TV Barn readers remember Gene: John Christensen writes, "A trait of Siskel's that I often lampooned to friends was his tendency to describe failed movies in terms of what a better movie might have been: 'Make a movie about these characters instead' or, 'Write a story that goes this way, for a change.' One friend, in particular, always complained when Siskel would do this -- after a movie, if someone is caught making such an argument, she or he is immediately tagged as 'making a Siskel.' But I also always found it to be an oddly optomistic way of looking at failed films. Siskel was always exhorting filmmakers to look at their story in a new way, to show him something he hadn't seen before. And that, I suppose, is what I'll always remember. I think I'll go watch the episode of "the Critic" that features Roger and Gene, now. I've got it on tape here somewhere. They sing. It's sort of sweet." More reader tributes (Photo credit: Chicago Tribune) He had been one of my longtime readers on the Internet and, in our occasional e-mail exchanges, mentioned more than once that he wanted to meet me in person. So when I came to Chicago last October, Gene Siskel invited me to accompany him and a few others to a screening and lunch. But I ran late filing a rewrite for my paper back in Kansas City and had to blow off the date. After I filed, I called Gene at home to say sorry, maybe we could hook up the next time I was in town. He cut me off. "Where are you?" he said. Read the full piece Here's my appreciation of Gene that appeared in Wednesday's Kansas City Star. From the Chicago newspapers:
Who's who of 1,500 pay their last respects
Rick Telander salutes Bulls fan No. 1
Rob Feder's obituary in the Sun-Times
Roger Ebert's remembrance
Rick Kogan's obit in the Chicago Tribune
Bob Greene's terrific tribute

"Mystery Science Theater 3000" cancelled

After 10 seasons, the gang at Best Brains Inc. in Minneapolis confirmed yesterday that the Sci-Fi Network will not be ordering any more episodes of "MST3K," the show that made it acceptable to talk back to the movies. Started on a Twin Cities station by Joel Hodgson and Jim Mallon in 1988, the ongoing travails of a human and his robot buddies made to watch unbearably bad science fiction films never rose above cult status, but a very funny cult it was. "MST3K" aired for seven seasons on Comedy Central, then was picked up in July 1996 by Sci-Fi, which also ordered beefed up its library grade-Z films as fodder for the show. The final season begins in April. Full story from the MST3K fan site

Multiple "Fractured Fairy Tales"

Jay Ward, the undisputed master of early TV cartoons, gave us Crusader Rabbit, Rocky the Squirrel and George of the Jungle. But some would say his greatest achievement was a long-running series of animated shorts that had no easily identifiable cartoon stars and were usually written above the heads of their supposedly intended audience. Now 25 those minor classics have been assembled in paperback form as Fractured Fairy Tales. These perverse satires on the Grimm Brothers' children tales feature such never-to-be-beloved stories as "The Enchanted Gnat," "Thom Tum" and "Son of King Midas." Although they aired nearly 40 years ago -- during "Rocky and His Friends" -- many of them still hold up today. Kuwait till you read this opening from "The Flying Carpet": "A very long time ago in a far-off land there lived a very rich and powerful sultan. And each year he became richer and more powerful, for it was the custom of the people -- a custom, incidentally, that the sultan came up with -- to bring him expensive gifts on his birthday. He had two birthdays every year. That was also the sultan's idea." I chatted recently with the book's compiler, A.J. Jacobs, the Entertainment Weekly writer who in 1996 tossed off the funnier-than-heck America Off-Line: The Complete Outernet Starter Kit, about "Fractured Fairy Tales": "This one actually was inspired by the publisher who called me and asked me to do it. The editor was I think Irwyn Applebaum at Bantam. I'm guessing he's a baby boomer. They did a big Rocky and Bullwinkle book three years ago, and this is a spinoff. They couldn't get enough 'Fractured Fairy Tales' in there so they tossed me a bone. "Apparently it's very hard to get permission from the Jay Ward estate; they were right there at every step. But when they did finally approve it, they sent over a whole bunch of scripts. It was interesting to look them over and see Jay's comments written in the margins. He was pretty hands-on. "I wanted to go out there to the Ward mansion (in southern California) because my friends said it was pretty wild. They have these huge portraits of Rocky and Bullwinkle in these fancy frames, like they were George Washington."

Weathering heights

We interrupt this program...

... to call your attention to our snappy new logo (I might need to add a white background to it, don't you think?) and two new features at the TV Barn:

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Today at the NBC Commissary. Made famous by Carson. Now see what TV's elite meet to eat.

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Pick to click
ER
NBC, 10 p.m.

Now that George Clooney has taken Dr. Ross off of the "ER" rotation, others will have to take up the slack, and that will be no easy task. With the exception of his romantic interest, Nurse Hathaway (Julianna Marguiles), no one could rival Ross for passion and empathy. That is probably why Eriq LaSalle's character, Peter Benton, finds himself in Mississippi on a special "ER" episode airing at 10 tonight on NBC. Stuck in the middle of the Delta, with only the simplest medical equipment at hand, Benton is forced to be more resourceful -- and to view his practice in a new light. One suspects this is part of the ongoing thaw of LaSalle's character to help fill the emotional void left behind by Clooney. But do they do that at the expense of some of the show's complexity? Pretty soon will all we have left be cardboard villains, like Anspaugh or that bald-headed creep?

Show du jour
Diagnosis Murder
CBS, 8 p.m. Thursdays (moving back to 9 p.m. in March)
Remember how outraged Angela Lansbury was when CBS shipped "Murder, She Wrote" off to Thursday nights? After all those years of Top 10 television -- banished to a night when everyone's watching NBC. Actually, it was outrageous what those CBS executives, now long gone, did to a perfectly good little whodunit. But Dick Van Dyke and his mystery show have built themselves a perfectly good franchise on that same disparaged night. Although "Diagnosis Murder" is the oldest-skewing show on television (median viewer age: 59), it has been slowly building an audience with younger viewers and is a big reason why CBS now finishes a strong second on Thursdays.

Dick Van Dyke (pictured) created father-son roles for himself and Barry, who's been appearing on camera with Dad since the early '60s. Dick's the doctor, Barry's the cop who often relies on the elder's keen sleuthing abilities to crack the case. "Diagnosis Murder" isn't as formulaic as "Murder, She Wrote" -- you ought to know who the baddie is by the end of the third act -- but like Lansbury's show this one is an unapologetic throwback to a different era, mild in its use of sex and violence and reliant on guest stars who are either familiar to older viewers (Barbara Bain of "Mission: Impossible") or are younger celebrities with conservative appeal (singer Travis Tritt). Main complaint is that despite some clever story twists, the writing overall strives to that same bottom shelf of mediocrity occupied by so many other CBS dramas. (Photo credit: CBS)

On this date ...
Adios, Au revoir, Auf Wiedersehen... Goodnight! "The Lawrence Welk Show" airs the final new show of its 27-year run as Welk retires on this day in 1982.-- Tom Heald

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Updated 2/25/99 at 10:51 PM CST

CBS honcho: I'd like to buy NBC

The Zenmeister popped a doozy this time. CBS president Mel Karmazin told a media gathering Thursday he'd like to buy NBC. If Exxon can buy Mobil, he reasoned, why can't CBS merge with its closest rival? Everyone is still reeling from the impromptu comments made by Karmazin, but the early winner in this appears to be the Harry J. DeMott, the analyst for Credit Suisse First Boston who predicted in a report last November that CBS network would be in better hands with Karmazin that it was under outgoing CBS chief Michael Jordan. Conventional wisdom, you'll recall, begged to differ. CW saw the Zenmeister as someone infatuated with profit -- which spelled bad news for a broadcast network like CBS that lost money last year. Not DeMott. "Most people at the networks are like ostriches and will likely suffer the same fate as the ostrich that keeps its head in the sand for too long: ostrich burgers," he wrote. "Fortunately for CBS shareholders, Mel's got his head up and he sees the imminent danger and he's running fast." He sure is. Read the story

Surviving the impact of Fox reality specials

That gruesome twosome, "Surviving the Moment of Impact" and "World's Most Shocking Moments Caught on Tape," propelled Fox to yet another second-place "win" in the Thursday overnights. The honor may well shift to CBS when the national ratings are compiled later, but it does not speak well for limited-run series "Turks" that it lost three share points from its lead-in, "Diagnosis Murder," nor that those points returned for its lead-out, "48 Hours." Meanwhile "ER" had a second powerful ratings week, scoring a 34 share in the second half hour. Click here for last night's overnights.

Here's what we know ...

Stuff I haven't seen on the wires but can confirm:

That "Mystery Science Theater 3000" is history. Started on a Twin Cities station by Joel Hodgson and Jim Mallon in 1988, the ongoing travails of a human and his robot buddies made to watch unbearably bad science fiction films never rose above cult status, but a very funny cult it was. "MST3K" aired for seven seasons on Comedy Central, then was picked up in July 1996 by Sci-Fi, which also ordered beefed up its library grade-Z films as fodder for the show. The final season begins in April. Read the account from the "MST3K" fan site.
That "The Sopranos" is definitely coming back for a second season, but don't believe that Newsweek account that it's coming back for 22 episodes. When's the last time anything on HBO was renewed for 22 episodes? (Besides, of course, "Dennis Miller Live.") An HBO spokesman told me 13 episodes at a minimum will be produced next season.
That "The Chris Rock Show" is a firm go for season number four. Look for fresh episodes in September.
That media giants A.H. Belo and Gannett are swapping TV stations in an effort to widen Belo's reach in the state of Texas. Belo will get Austin's KVUE, home to one of the quality TV news shops in all the land; Gannett takes the Sacramento station KXTV and cash consideration of up to $55 million. A Belo executive said Thursday the move was in the best interest of both companies. "A good ABC affiliate in a top 20 market is nothing to be given up lightly," he said. (True enough, but it should be noted that KXTV hasn't a prayer of being top rated in its market, not with NBC powerhouse KCRA to contend with.) Source: TV Business Confidential (414-482-2638)

Remembering Gene Siskel

He had been one of my longtime readers on the Internet and, in our occasional e-mail exchanges, mentioned more than once that he wanted to meet me in person. So when I came to Chicago last October, Gene Siskel invited me to accompany him and a few others to a screening and lunch. But I ran late filing a rewrite for my paper back in Kansas City and had to blow off the date. After I filed, I called Gene at home to say sorry, maybe we could hook up the next time I was in town. He cut me off. "Where are you?" he said. Read the full piece Here's my appreciation of Gene that appeared in Wednesday's Kansas City Star. Jym Dingler writes, "I was deeply disappointed in David Letterman's so-short 'tribute' to Gene Siskel Monday. His few well-intentioned sentences misfired badly when he immediately segued into more commentary on Hillary Clinton's New York senatorial bid. What, he couldn't have shown us some classic Siskel & Ebert clips from the show? The 5th-anniversary-show gag tribute to a supposedly dead Calvert DeForest was far more touching, even though it was just a comedy bit." (In that bit, Siskel spends the show looking for Ebert, then has an emotional reunion with "Roger," actually Calvert, complete with slo-mo embrace.) Jym adds, "As little as I care for the 'Tonight Show,' at least Jay struggled to discuss his parents' deaths. What will Dave do when his mother dies? Give us another lame excuse for a eulogy before launching into 'Can A Guy In A Bear Suit Crash A Funeral'?" TV Barn readers remember Gene: John Christensen writes, "A trait of Siskel's that I often lampooned to friends was his tendency to describe failed movies in terms of what a better movie might have been: 'Make a movie about these characters instead' or, 'Write a story that goes this way, for a change.' One friend, in particular, always complained when Siskel would do this -- after a movie, if someone is caught making such an argument, she or he is immediately tagged as 'making a Siskel.' But I also always found it to be an oddly optomistic way of looking at failed films. Siskel was always exhorting filmmakers to look at their story in a new way, to show him something he hadn't seen before. And that, I suppose, is what I'll always remember. I think I'll go watch the episode of "the Critic" that features Roger and Gene, now. I've got it on tape here somewhere. They sing. It's sort of sweet." More reader tributes (Photo credit: Chicago Tribune) From the Chicago newspapers:
Who's who of 1,500 pay their last respects
Rick Telander salutes Bulls fan No. 1
Rob Feder's obituary in the Sun-Times
Roger Ebert's remembrance
Rick Kogan's obit in the Chicago Tribune
Bob Greene's terrific tribute

Multiple "Fractured Fairy Tales"

Weathering heights

We interrupt this program...

... to call your attention to our snappy new logo (I might need to add a white background to it, don't you think?) and two new features at the TV Barn:

Read Other TV Critics. Now you can link to scores of my colleagues across the country.
The TV Critic's Toolbox. This is a resource I'm assembling for parents and anyone else who wants to think more critically about what they see on TV and learn how to "talk back" to their TV sets.
Today at the NBC Commissary. Made famous by Carson. Now see what TV's elite meet to eat.

Previously on TV Barn:

Pick to click
Providence
NBC, 8 p.m. Fridays

Heaven help me, I think I'm actually starting to like "Providence." I had tuned it out after the first two episodes, mostly because the storylines were ludicrous and I found not one sympathetic character on the whole show. I'd at least hoped to warm to Mike Farrell, but he was stuck portraying a remote and uncommunicative father, "remote" and "uncommunicative" not being two qualities one usually associates with quality TV characters. (I disagree with the critics, and there were a lot of them, who went on to decry the show's "manipulative" storytelling. Eye of the beholder, I say. As if "NYPD Blue" isn't manipulative. Tell me, exactly, what narrative purpose was served by Lt. Fancy's shooting in Tuesday's episode. Oh, sure, now Fancy's wife is gonna fret -- whoop de doo.) So I was pleasantly surprised at last Friday's episode, in which a former neighbor re-entered the Hansen family, stirring up gossip among the offspring that Dad was dating again, and just four months after Mom's passing. Then an old photograph surfaced that suggested these two were fooling around even then. So now the liability in Farrell's character became a huge asset, as he cheerfully avoided all discussion of the woman's intentions, leaving everyone guessing. Then in a twist, all was made known, without malice, without the usual TV family blowup. I actually found it a relief to watch. There was another above-average subplot involving a crusty old couple with medical problems. It started predictably enough, but took a poignant turn when the old man was diagnosed, not with the deadly brain tumor he was sure he had, but with early Alzheimer's. Still, that's not to say there's a whole lot of complexity on this program. The writing, for the most part, blows. And I'm having trouble mustering much interest in the alleged star of this show, Melina Kanakaredes. She's nearly always upstaged by any other woman in the room, including her dear departed Mom (Concetta Tomei), who shows up several times each episode in an apparition. Mom is this show's bizarre, unexplained all-knowing presence -- the Cigarette Smoking Woman, you might say. Sister Joanie (Paula Cale) seems more like a sitcom character, while brother Robbie (Seth Peterson) strikes me as a mope who has stories happen to him. But then, some might say that's the definition of providence. At any rate, you have to admire a program that has made it into Nielsen's top 15 shows despite airing on Friday nights and offering very little in the way of originality. (Not to mention the fact that for a show supposedly based in Rhode Island, not one actor, regular or guest, speaks with a Rhody accent.) At least I don't hate "Providence" anymore. Hey, among some TV critics that's considered high praise. Pictured: Paula Cale as Joanie Hansen, Seth Peterson as Robbie Hansen, Melina Kanakaredes as Sydney Hansen, Mike Farrell as Jim Hansen (NBC Photo: Chris Haston).

Show du jour
Celebrity Deathmatch
MTV, various times
This horrific and unfunny Claymation series was one of the more talked-about series of 1998 and made me feel, at age 33, like a genuine Old Fart. Animated facsimiles of famous people are paired off with their polar opposites--Lucy Lawless against Calista Flockhart, or the Beastie Boys vs. the Backstreet Boys--then engage in pro-wrestling violence in extremis. The losers are blown to pieces, torn apart by wild animals, incinerated, mutilated or similarly disposed of. A disclaimer that runs before the show cautions people that the work is fiction and "IT'S JUST CLAY!" But its callous portrayal of violent death is unnerving even in these latter times. The smarmy Claymated announcers, Johnny Gomez and Nick Diamond, drench "Celebrity Deathmatch" in pro-wrestling patois from beginning to end.

On this date ...
In 1991, "Rockline" debuts on MTV. Veejay Martha Quinn offers you -- yes, you! -- the home viewer the totally awesome chance to "talk to the stars." Unfortunately, all that's available the first night is M.C. Hammer. On Feb. 27, 1986, "General Hospital's" John Stamos and "Quincy's" Jack Klugman both return to the tube, as father and son. What else can viewers ask but "You Again?" On Feb. 28, 1992, Edward Asner, Robert Guillaume, John Ritter, and Jonathan Winters voice "The Fish Police," a CBS cartoon based on a comic book from Fishwrap Productions. "All the characters are fish -- well, some are crustaceans, but why carp." Hector Elizondo and Tim Curry are swimming against the tide as villains "Calamari" and "Sharkster." And three weeks later, the series will be spotted floating near the top of the "tele-quarium."-- Tom Heald

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Kathie Lee has inspired many, many late-night tributes over the years (like this one from our pal Damone's site). But she had the last laugh on Thursday's "Late Show." You go, girl! On Thursday night, America learned a lesson that long-suffering Regis Philbin had surely absorbed long ago: Don't mess with Kathie Lee! Gifford's tour de force Thursday was so frighteningly good -- from the pitch-perfect opening number to the spirited interviews and her instant comeback to a heckler -- that it redeemed the whole guest-hosting experiment, which had still been reeling from the fiasco of Tuesday night. (That night, "Late Show's" very first substitute, Bill Cosby, stumbled out on stage in his work clothes and acted, as one reader put it, like he'd never hosted a luncheon, let alone an hour of television.) It wasn't just that Gifford was so compelling and so in command, from start to finish. Alloting herself the extra yard of permissiveness given to late-night performers, she became (in the words of Regis Philbin) "Broadway Kathie Lee," a persona just different enough from daytime's chatty Kathie as to be ingratiating. It has been 20 years since Joan Rivers made herself Johnny Carson's indispensable temp, but it's possible we've just seen her successor arrive. (continued) Picks to click ... for the week of Feb. 28 are here ... Also, it's not too late to start watching NBC's 10-hour miniseries epic "The 10th Kingdom." As you'll read in this review in Sunday's Kansas City Star, the best is still to come. "The 10th Kingdom" continues through March 6. The daily digest ... for Feb. 28: "Saturday Night Live" will air a prime-time special Tuesday at 8 featuring its finest moments in game-show parodies. Darrell Hammond (as Regis) and Will Ferrell (as Alex Trebek) host the sweeps stunt ... RuPaul is the special guest star on the season-ender of "Any Day Now," Lifetime's popular drama hour, 10 p.m. on March 12 ... As this press release crows, HGTV just passed into the promised land of cable networks with 60 million subscribers. Previously on TV Barn:
24 Feb: Reader mail 23 Feb: More games to come
22 Feb: "X-Files" meets "Cops"
21 Feb: Dave is back!
18 Feb: Reader mail
17 Feb: "Who Wants to Marry a Multimillionaire?"
16 Feb: Mediachannel.org
15 Feb: Dave's coming back
10 Feb: Tom Joyner
9 Feb: Game show gossip
8 Feb: Daytime TV nuttiness
On this date... in 1983, he's seen visions of murder and been haunted by screams in the night. All of his friends have disappeared. But it's not until after his tent has been broken down and removed and he's lifted into the air that Captain Benjamin Franklin "Hawkeye" Pierce discovers a mysterious rock formation with a message for him: GOODBYE. An estimated 121.6 million people tune in for "The Last "M*A*S*H" Project," a two-and-a-half hour finale titled "Goodbye, Farewell, Amen." -- Tom Heald On the wires:
(Stories open in a new window. Many links expire over time.)

Grushow's way: Reality specials dead at Fox [ Read it ]
... but producer says you can't stop reality TV [ Read it ]
Believe it or not, "Greatest American Hero" returning [ Read it ]
Pax nabs "Shop till You Drop" [ Read it ]
Fate of maxi-miniseries rides on "10th Kingdom" [ Read it ]
A brief history of the maxi-mini [ Read it ]
Supreme Court won't reinstate damage award against "20/20" [ Read it ]
"Baywatch Hawaii" to off Hasselhoff [ Read it ]
"Kramer, He Wrote": Michael Richards to do detective sitcom [ Read it ]
NBCi.com launches [ Read it ]
Ratings: ABC edges CBS on Sunday [ Read it ]
Letterman's week tops Leno's [ Read it ]
Action syndie shows improving [ Read it ]
Yahoo, Murdoch talking? [ Read it ]
Hunger strike at Fresno station [ Read it ]
Black actors "ghettoized" by TV - report [ Read it ]
Rural TV bill introduced in Senate [ Read it ]
FCC gets comments on descriptive video [ Read it ]
New host for "Antiques Roadshow" [ Read it ]
Comcast buys majority stake in Golf Channel [ Read it ]
More TV news from ZENtertainment [ Read it ]

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(continued from front) I wasn't so convinced in the show's opening minutes, when Gifford faltered in her monologue while the crowd -- which mixed Kathie Lee groupies in with the usual Letterman audience types -- offered her mere go-along-to-get-along applause. The zingers that did score were the kind that might have shown up on a Dean Martin roast. "I was so shocked when I heard about Dave's heart surgery ... who knew he had a heart?" And: "You think a quintuple bypass is hard? Try quintuplets! Try giving birth to five watermelons, you pantywaist geeky boy! And while you were under -- why didn't you have your teeth fixed?" But interest picked up when Gifford became "Broadway Kathie Lee" and belted out a campy show tune that poked fun at the many yarns spun about her in the tabloids. She's done this number before in her Atlantic City act, featuring such exquisite couplets as "There must be something missing in somebody's life/When they'd rather read about the plight of Frank Gifford's wife." Midway through the number, a heckler -- no doubt inspired by Howard Stern's on-air efforts to demonize Gifford -- burst through a side door into the theater, hurled a brassiere at the stage and told her to put it on. She shot back, "Put a jockstrap on, fella." Not the most scathing insult, but it was enough to throw the audience, which by now was warming up to her, even more enthusiastically to her side. The clincher came in the next moment, when she repeated the line of the song she was on when the heckler interrupted: "I've learned to laugh at all the critics and to scoff at all the jests." Her chats with Tom Arnold and Joy Behar may have been the equivalent of training wheels (she's pals with both of them). But Gifford, a veteran of thousands of hours of live TV, had the chutzpah to conduct them without ever feeling the need to defer to the guy who's normally behind that desk. (And give credit to show director Jerry Foley for grabbing reaction shots from Gifford during her interviews; it's a part of her shtick, which is not true of Letterman.) You may think I'm getting carried away over one night's appearance. So let's establish a couple of things. First, if one of the unspoken goals of the program is to have a guest host who poses absolutely no threat to the authority of the star (remember "Larry Sanders"), then you can't do much better than Kathie Lee. She has a different sensibility, she'll attract a different audience and she'll drive some of Dave's partisans koo-koo -- but she'd be failing if she didn't. The trick is to keep that audience sizable and sustainable, and so far Gifford is off to a very good start. Thursday's "Late Show" scored a 4.2 rating and 11 share, well behind Jay Leno's 7.1/18 but well ahead of "Late Show's" season-to-date average of 3.1. (In fact, Kathie Lee's rating wasn't far behind the 5.0 Dave got on Friday, when he also trailed Leno.) This despite the paltry 7 share CBS prime time delivered Thursday night -- less than a quarter (!) of NBC's 34 share for the last half hour of "ER." The second thing is that to me, naming someone a permanent guest host is a lot better proposition than a parade of fill-ins. The show's writers have more opportunities to create running jokes suited to the sub's personality. The producers can establish a routine with Host No. 2. And it brings predictability to the guest-host format -- which, as we all saw Tuesday night, is often much more entertaining than unpredictability. On Friday, workers at the office building across the street from the Ed Sullivan Theater -- who had masking-taped the message KEEP IT PUMPING, DAVE! to their windows earlier that week -- added a new message: BRING BACK KATHIE LEE! In fact, "Late Show" immediately asked Gifford to host another taping in the near future. *** Less surprising were David Letterman's first three shows back, which established what we already knew: that Dave is always at peak form in the first shows after a hiatus. With an overabundance of material prepared during the hiatus -- including jokes taped by the stars of "NYPD Blue," "King of the Hill" and even "Magnum P.I.," Letterman had little choice but to keep plugging his heart surgery all week long. But I found it didn't wear thin and I could see some references (such as to decaf coffee) already being integrated into Dave's nightly desk routine. I doubt there is a reader in my audience who hasn't seen those episodes, but a couple of things are worth mentioning. I thought on Monday Dave had gotten as close to another vulnerable moment in his life as he has ever gotten when he joked about the difference between bypass surgery and a plain old bypass, which is "what happened when I didn't get 'The Tonight Show.'" And Friday's Top Ten List -- Signs We're Out of Practice Doing the Top Ten List -- was a conceptual jim dandy, complete with false ending and a hilarious No. 1 item (by which time the list had suddenly switched to "Rejected Grammy Categories"), "Oldest Dirtiest Bastard." There was a pent-up feeling to the outflow of comedy last week -- so much material, so little time -- so it will be good to see Dave back in a regular groove this week. Ratings have already begun to settle, but I can't believe they won't experience an uptick as a result of all the sampling that took place last week. People who haven't seen Letterman in years had to have liked what they saw in these first shows back. I know I did.

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Monday, 2/28 Like Jesus and Joan of Arc before him, John Brown benefited greatly from the presence of a news media. Had Brown and his murderous raiders been wiped out at the siege of Harpers Ferry, he might have died anonymously. Instead, the weeks between his capture and execution allowed Brown to give dozens of interviews, write hundreds of letters and seal his legend throughout the North. That's just one of the revelations from tonight's new edition of "The American Experience" (9 p.m., PBS; check local listings), which depicts Brown as a lifelong failure redeemed by martyrdom. His crusade would later be remembered as part of the abolition movement, but Brown was not like most abolitionists. He lacked wealth and privilege. He mixed socially with blacks. And he saw violence as the only way to curb the evils of slavery. Tuesday, 2/29 "Nightline" (ABC, 10:35 p.m.) returns to one of anchor Ted Koppel's pet topics: the American criminal justice system and its increasing impatience with those who pass through its portals. This week, Koppel looks at hot-button issues involving kids and crime. Tonight's program looks at judges and lawyers desperately seeking the golden mean between punishment and rehabilitation. This program, as well as the one Monday night and the upcoming Friday show are based on Proposition 21, which is being voted on next week in California. If passed, it would allow local district attorneys to prosecute juveniles as adults without asking a court's permission. Koppel's approach isn't judgmental, but there's little doubt that he disapproves of the thoughtless manner in which many kids are being shepherded through the system. And he shows the perils of assuming that kids who commit grown-up crimes think and act the same as grown-up criminals. Wednesday, 3/1 Thanks to another collaboration between Bravo and Britain's Channel Four, acclaimed filmmaker Errol Morris ("The Thin Blue Line," "Mr. Death") has created his first series for television. "First Person" will have its debut at 10:30 tonight on Bravo. This first week's subject is Temple Grandin. She's the quintessential Morris subject: a blunt-talking autistic woman who has designed some of the country's most innovative slaughterhouses. Morris is often called a compassionate filmmaker, and that quality is on display here. With his photography and Grandin's vivid descriptions, we see how her "stairway to heaven" leads livestock gently to their deaths. And by the end we understand the very personal reason why Grandin has devoted herself to severing the bond between death and fear. Thursday, 3/2 "Investigative Reports" (9 p.m., A&E) last year aired the network TV premiere of "The Farm," the Academy Award-winning documentary about life at the country's largest prison in Angola, La. One of the subjects was Vincent Simmons, a young man with a long rap sheet who in 1977 was sentenced to 100 years for a pair of brutal rapes. Simmons always professed innocence, as many in Angola do, but in "The Farm" we learned that key evidence that could've freed Simmons had been left out at his trial. Now, at age 48, Simmons is finally getting heard, including on A&E. "The Farm" airs again at 8 tonight on A&E, along with updates on the six prisoners it profiled. Then at 8 p.m. Friday "Investigative Reports" takes a harder look at the Simmons case. In a remarkable coup, the producers even arranged for a confrontation between Simmons and the two sisters whose testimony sent him to prison. Friday, 3/3 "If These Walls Could Talk 2" (9 p.m. Sunday on HBO) is the second installment in what could prove to be a lucrative feminist franchise for HBO -- sort of the anti-"Sopranos." The first "If These Walls" presented three stories about abortion from the 1950s, 1970s and 1990s. This time, the focus is lesbian life and culture, from the secretive '60s to the wide-open present day. I'll bet that many viewers are tuning in because they've heard about the sex scenes -- that's plural -- between Ellen DeGeneres and Sharon Stone (directed by Anne Heche, no less). But their tale of a modern-day gay couple trying to conceive feels like a cable version of the "Ellen" sitcom. The gem in this trio is the 1961 story, with Vanessa Redgrave in a wrenchingly understated performance as a woman who finds herself an outsider after her lifelong partner dies.

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Kathie Lee quits! Kathie Lee Gifford would be the first to say that you shouldn't believe everything you read in the papers or watch on TV. Nevertheless, Gifford's announcement at the beginning of Tuesday's broadcast of "Live with Regis and Kathie Lee" that she is leaving the show after 15 years was, she insisted, the real deal. Gifford, 46, whose "host chats" with colleague Regis Philbin made "Live" one of TV's most popular daytime programs over the past 12 years, said she will not renew her contract when it expires this August. The stunned studio audience gasped, prompting a smile from Gifford. "Oh, I was hoping you'd do that!" she said. The reason, said Gifford, had nothing to do with negotiations over her contract renewal but with her desire for more privacy for her children, 10-year-old Cody and 7-year-old Cassidy. "When we started together," Gifford told Philbin, "I was not married, I was childless, and the world was a different kind of place, too. We could make jokes about things and tell what we did last night without anyone taking it and sensationalizing it and making it disgusting and lurid and horrible." But now as a parent, Gifford said she had become increasingly uncomfortable with making her personal life into daily grist for the talk-show mill. "The very thing that has made the show so successful -- host chat -- is the thing that caused a real concern in my life that my children be protected," she said. Her co-host, as usual, tried to make light of the news. When Gifford referred to the "parade of contestants" who would pass through their New York TV studio this fall, vying to serve as his co-host, Philbin impishly responded, "Why does it have to be anyone?" But Philbin knows as well as anyone that Gifford was invaluable to the show's success. As one of daytime's top-rated programs, "Live" remade the career of Philbin, who himself made a memorable departure 30 years ago when he walked off the set of Joey Bishop's late-night show on ABC, blaming himself publicly for that show's poor ratings. In 1985, after reviving his fortunes doing local morning television, Philbin was paired with Kathie Lee Johnson, a former "Good Morning America" correspondent and "Hee Haw Honey," on "The Morning Show" on New York's WABC-TV. On Labor Day, 1988, the show was renamed and went national. Soon audiences were tuning in, not so much for the guests but for the opening banter between cranky, old-school Reege and no-nonsense Kathie. Their 15-minute klatch was the foundation of the program, but over time it probably owed its stature as much to Gifford's growing off-camera dossier as to the hosts' on-air chemistry. At first, the details were simply fodder for the host chat, from her courtship and marriage to broadcaster Frank Gifford to the precious moments in the lives of her children. But over time she became identified with unfavorable publicity over a fire aboard one of the ships in the cruise line she endorses, sweatshop-like conditions at a factory that made Kathie Lee designer clothing, and an unseemly tryst involving her husband and another woman that was captured on camera and printed in a supermarket tabloid. Radio shock jock Howard Stern was a constant irritant, and last week, during a well-received performance as guest host of the "Late Show with David Letterman," a prankster from another New York radio station got into the theater and hurled a brassiere at her while she was singing a tune. Ironically, the lyric she was singing at that moment was, "I've learned to scoff at all the critics and laugh at all the jests." To some of those critics, Gifford was an accomplice to her unhappiness because she continued to share her private life with her viewers on "Live" and even put her children under the same unforgiving media glare she criticized, using them on her Christmas specials for CBS and in her live act in Atlantic City, N.J. Gifford said that Buena Vista Television, which produces "Live," had asked her for a decision on whether she would be renewing her contract by next week. By announcing her decision on live TV, she implied that this was -- to use a Philbin phrase -- her final answer. But after hearing the news Tuesday, some cynics were not ruling out the possibility that Gifford's announcement was a negotiation ploy. After all, Philbin used his appearance on "Late Show with David Letterman" last week to express his displeasure that ABC was underpaying him for his work as host of the phenomenal "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire." Days later, Philbin and ABC were nearing a new deal that would reportedly pay him $20 million a year. (Here is the version that appeared in Wednesday's Kansas City Star.) Picks to click ... for the week of Feb. 28 are here ... Also, it's not too late to start watching NBC's 10-hour miniseries epic "The 10th Kingdom." As you'll read in this review in Sunday's Kansas City Star, the best is still to come. "The 10th Kingdom" continues through March 6. The daily digest ... for Feb. 29: During Tuesday's conference call with reporters, CBS president Leslie Moonves declared the February ratings sweep "a victory for all the networks and for network television." Moonves noted that the big four networks held their ground in viewers compared with last February (thanks no doubt to programs with the word "millionaire" in them), while cable's 10 highest-rated networks, he said, were down 8 percent ... Also from Moonves: Three top-rated programs that go up against the Regis Philbin Traveling Show -- including "JAG" on CBS -- remained in the Top 20 in February despite "Millionaire's" huge ratings. "ABC had `Millionaire' in 18 percent of its schedule, and if I had it, I'd have `Millionaire' in 25 percent of my schedule," said Moonves ... Speaking of which, last Wednesday David Loehr sent me this e-mail and I wish I'd gotten around to posting it sooner: "Okay, so I'm watching 'Who Wants to Be a Millionaire' tonight, and the question is, 'Which show was a spin-off of a spin-off of "All in the Family?" A. "Maude," B. "Good Times," C. "Checking In," or D. "Gloria?"' It's a good thing the contestant picked one of the correct answers. Yup, answers -- plural. After all, 'Maude' spun off from 'All in the Family,' and 'Good Times' spun off from 'Maude.' When they took away two answers in the 50-50, these two were left. But: 'Checking In' -- all five weeks of it -- spun off from 'The Jeffersons,' which of course spun off from 'All in the Family.' And if you consider 'Archie Bunker's Place' a spin-off as opposed to a continuation, then 'Gloria' could count as well. That one's more tenuous, but even so, 'Millionaire' has shown a tendency for such nebulous questions. They've really got to be more careful. (I should say, I loathe the whole game show explosion myself -- I was killing time after 'That 70's Show,' honest -- and questions like that are one reason why.)" One of our favorite "Millionaire" contestants, NYU law student Matt Marcotte, posted to alt.tv.game-shows this letter he received from the show's executive producer, Michael Davies: "We are considering the possibliity of future speciality episodes, including a potential champions episode, in which some, if not all, Hot Seat contestants may be eligible to participate. Please be advised, however, that if you choose to appear on another primetime quiz show, you may be deemed ineligible to play on these potential specialty episodes." In fact, TV Barn has already heard from one contestant who was booted from the second round of "Millionaire" qualifying because someone spotted him during a (brief) appearance on "Greed" ... Finally, and we're getting as sick of these game-show items as you are, the AP reported that the Swedish version of "Millionaire" was ordered off the air last week because the government decided "the program is more a lottery than a real contest" ... And Oxygen announced it was picking up reruns of the sitcom "Roseanne" beginning in 2003 and will split them with Nick at Nite. Oxygen will get daytime rights, Nick will get the nite -- er, nighttime rights. Tom Heald adds, "Explain to me again how Oxygen is different from Lifetime?" Previously on TV Barn:
28 Feb: Kathie Lee triumphs
24 Feb: Reader mail
23 Feb: More games to come
22 Feb: "X-Files" meets "Cops"
21 Feb: Dave is back!
18 Feb: Reader mail
17 Feb: "Who Wants to Marry a Multimillionaire?"
16 Feb: Mediachannel.org
15 Feb: Dave's coming back
10 Feb: Tom Joyner
9 Feb: Game show gossip
8 Feb: Daytime TV nuttiness
On this date... in 1983, he's seen visions of murder and been haunted by screams in the night. All of his friends have disappeared. But it's not until after his tent has been broken down and removed and he's lifted into the air that Captain Benjamin Franklin "Hawkeye" Pierce discovers a mysterious rock formation with a message for him: GOODBYE. An estimated 121.6 million people tune in for "The Last "M*A*S*H" Project," a two-and-a-half hour finale titled "Goodbye, Farewell, Amen." -- Tom Heald On the wires:
(Stories open in a new window. Many links expire over time.)

Fox's Mike Darnell: World's scariest programmer [ Read it ]
Ratings: "ER" up slightly over one year ago [ Read it ]
iCraveTV.com goes out of business [ Read it ] [ Read the PR ]
Regis to make $20 mil/year under new deal [ Read it ]
Dish makers ready to enter high-speed Internet fray [ Read it ]
Most-read online news site is MSNBC.Com [ Read it ]
More TV news from ZENtertainment [ Read it ]

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Mike Bullard: This one's from the stomach -- I mean, heart.

Reader mail Lots and lots of reaction in the past week to Dave, Cos and Kathie Lee. But first, let's pass along something that happened last week on Mike Bullard's "Open Mike" show from Toronto, as related to us by a reader named Sonny: "On Thursday, the portly host came back from commercial to announce that he realized how precious life was earlier in the week. He then stated, If I can get serious for a moment folks ... earlier this week David Letterman scored one of his highest ratings ever when he returned from by-pass surgery. Nineteen million people tuned in on Monday to see if Dave had recovered. Now I don't want you to think that I am trying to copy him, but when he introduced his surgical team, it occurred to me that there are some people here whom I have never acknowledged and who deserve my eternal gratitude. Ladies and gentleman, I would like to introduce you to the most important people in my life: the people who work at the kitchen here at the show. At that point, members of his writing staff entered and lined up like Dave's medical staff. Bullard then introduced each one in the same way that Dave did: the supposed head chef as 'Leonardo De Vinci with a spatula,' 'Clint Miller' (actually head writer Laurence Morgenstern) as 'the best nine fingered butcher working today,' etc. Then, his voice choked with emotion, Bullard said: These are the people who put their lives on hold to make my lunch. I guess that is not the point. The point is they do it seven times a week, eight or nine times a day. And sometimes when you sit down at a big lunch you think, 'Hey, I am not going to get through this.' But you do get through it because people like these get you through it. If you ever have to have lunch, by God, I hope you are blessed to have a team like this. With that, he walked over to them and shook their hands and hugged them as they went to commercial." Read more letters Picks to click ... for the week of Feb. 28 are here ... Also, it's not too late to start watching NBC's 10-hour miniseries epic "The 10th Kingdom." As you'll read in this review in Sunday's Kansas City Star, the best is still to come. "The 10th Kingdom" continues through March 6. The daily digest ... for March 1: In case you weren't watching the show on Monday when it was announced, George W. Bush has responded to David Letterman's "Campaign 2000" challenge and will be on "Late Show" tonight, via satellite from Missouri ... Allow us to be among the first to float the name of Caroline Rhea as your next Kathie Lee. Tom Heald uncovered this five-month-old story from the New York Post in which the "Sabrina" co-star states her ambitions to host a daytime talk show, which, wrote Michael Starr, "stem from her occasional guest-hosting appearances on Disney's 'Live with Regis & Kathie Lee.' Ratings for 'Live' have been solid on the days when Rhea has substituted for Kathie Lee Gifford opposite co-host Regis Philbin" ... During a conference call Tuesday, I asked CBS prexy Leslie Moonves if he was worried that his two summer game shows, "Survivor" and "Big Brother," might not be a case of right programs, wrong network. How was TV's oldest broadcaster going to attract an MTV crowd to these shows? "We've cast 'Survivor' and it's interesting -- the people range in age from their 20s to their 70s. So the demos of the people participating go across the spectrum. clearly one of our goals is to get younger, but with these contestants we feel we can get younger and hold onto our core audience." Being able to cross-promote the shows on its new sister channel MTV, Moonves added, is a plus ... Hearst Entertainment will almost certainly green-light its new series, "Famous Homes and Getaways," after signing up the NBC-owned stations to carry the show this fall, sez Variety ... As you'll read in the Pick to Click for Wednesday (above), Temple Grandin is Errol Morris' profile in the debut tonight of his Bravo-Channel Four program "First Person." What you won't know, from surfing Bravo's lame-o Web site, is that there are plenty of ways to learn more about the fascinating Grandin. She's got her own Web site which includes the first chapter of her book, and there's this 1995 interview she gave to NPR's "Fresh Air." Steve Rhodes, who supplied the links, grumbles, "There was a full-page ad in the Chicago Tribune TV guide along with a color strip promoting the show attached to the cover. Both included the bravotv.com URL, but no info is on the site. Maybe something will go up on Wednesday but by then many people will have visited the site." Previously on TV Barn:
29 Feb: Kathie Lee quits
28 Feb: Kathie Lee triumphs
24 Feb: Reader mail
23 Feb: More games to come
22 Feb: "X-Files" meets "Cops"
21 Feb: Dave is back!
18 Feb: Reader mail
17 Feb: "Who Wants to Marry a Multimillionaire?"
16 Feb: Mediachannel.org
15 Feb: Dave's coming back
10 Feb: Tom Joyner
9 Feb: Game show gossip
8 Feb: Daytime TV nuttiness
On this date... in 1982, Adam Ant, Pat Benatar, David Bowie, Mick Jagger, Stevie Nicks, The Police, and Pete Townshend are all annoyed that their local cable company operators have yet not made the decision to add to their channel lineups a certain network devoted to rock 'n' roll. Such is the premise of the highly infectious ad campaign launched on this day: "I Want My MTV!" -- Tom Heald On the wires:
(Stories open in a new window. Many links expire over time.)

Is NBC trying to kill "Twenty-One"? [ Steve Beverly ]
Bush, McCain duke it out in late night [ The AP ]
Time Warner chief: No special breaks for AOL [ Variety ]
Senator sez AOL should sell DBS stake [ SKYReport ]
Will Joy Philbin join hubby on show? [ Variety ]
Thanks to Regis, ABC will win Feb. sweep [ E! Online ]
JonBenet mini tops "10th Kingdom," "Beach Boys" [ Variety ]
CBS cable going after WWF [ L.A. Times ]
Report: Fox chief wants out [ E! Online ]
Rick Rockwell: "I was devastated" [ Reuters ]
Military sez Darva's a phony [ E! Online ]
And now from VH1, the "Daily" show [ Mediaweek ]
Ageism rampant on TV, panel sez [ Mediaweek ]
Broadcasters want action on digital must-carry [ Digital Broadcasting ]
New chief at E! [ Mediaweek ]
TiVo coming to U.K. [ Variety ]
Realtor offers free dish to home buyers [ RE/MAX PR ]
"Homicide" items to be auctioned off [ Shister ]
German version of "Big Brother" under fire [ The AP ]
Bye bye Branson: Gary, Ind., grabs Miss USA [ The AP ]
More TV news from ZENtertainment [ Read it ]

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(continued from front) Gordon Purcell writes, "Good to see Dave finally beat Leno and Stern so soundly. I think Stern has a big problem. It was acceptable enough for him to leer at porn stars and assorted bimbos because he was happily married and safe. (His movie was a great Valentine to his wife.) Now he comes off as a creep abusing his power by groping women or berating staff. Without the marriage, he can't safely cross into the general audience without changing his act. He'll be stuck with only his core male audience he has now -- and that audience will shrink over time. If Stern hadn't been so short sighted, he might have been an interesting choice for guest host." Gabe Sasso writes, "I think you totally missed the boat on the Cosby guest show. I felt that any and all cluelessness displayed was intentional. I firmly believe that the entire show was an act. I think this is supported by the fact that Biff walked him off the set at the end as if he were a mental patient gone astray. Bill Cosby is one of the most established veteran comedians and sitcom stars of our day. To think that what he did was anything but a spoof seems to sell Cos way short. Think back to his appearance in a bathrobe with a cold for another example of him playing something to a T. He was clearly sending home a point that this is Dave's show and no one else could/should really host it to any effectiveness. His refusal to sit in THE chair proves that out. Personally I loved it. I thought he did a brilliant job and I look for him to host again." To which long-longtime reader Karla Robinson replies, "That wasn't the first time Cos has disappointed in late night. If you remember, Johnny Carson, during the last few weeks of his reign on the 'Tonight Show,' requested that Cos come on and do the old 'It's God, Noah' routine. Cos came on, did the first two lines, and said, 'I forget the rest' and went to sit down and talk with Johnny. I'm a big fan of Cos -- he's a great humanitarian, his stand-up can be hilarious, he's a highly educated individual who prizes education, gave a fabulous commencement address when I graduated from grad school -- but he just seems to be really unprofessional at times. I don't get it." The mail on Monday's column, incidentally, ran about 60-40 positive. Those of you who get my weekly e-mailing know that the server was having problems, so the first two tries only sent out the first few characters of this week's issue. Curiously, the cutoff happened just as I wrote, "Admit it -- you *enjoyed* Kathie Lee Gifford's turn as guest host on ..." Which prompted Mark Monroy to write, "Were you struck down by God in the middle of that sentence?" Jeff Hysen writes, "I'll admit it--I thought that KLG did a very good job as guest host. While her opening song was longer than 'Hey Jude' and the chip on her shoulder about the press stayed on for the whole show, she was funny, warm and intelligent. I enjoyed her line about buying her dress at a sweatshop down the street. Plus, she was extremely professional. Her ad-lib when the bra was thrown to her was so good that half of the Dave newsgroup was positive that it was scripted shtick. She looked at the right camera, stood in the right places and ended each segment on time. I found this to be even more impressive after reading in 'The Wahoo Gazette' that she had only one half-hour to prepare for the show." (Wahoo was also the source that pointed out that the BRING BACK KATHIE LEE! sign, which I had taken for real, was in fact a gag.) Sue Trowbridge adds, "It's very, very hard for me to admit this, since I'm a charter member of the KLG Anti-Fan Club, but -- I tuned in on Thursday night out of curiosity to watch 'the first five minutes' of the show, and amazingly enough I found that I was still watching at 12:35 a.m. I somehow doubt that I'd become a regular viewer of a Kathie Lee-hosted 'Late Show,' but I have to say that she managed to do a credible job, even with a Z-list lead guest like Tom Arnold." "I'm one of those people who loves to hate Kathie Lee but I couldn't agree more with your 'Late Show' review -- what a pro," writes R.J. Leff. "Also, I wonder if I'm the only person who's noticed her pitch. While completely devoid of soul or emotion, her singing is note-perfect." "Maybe as long as she doesn't talk about herself she's bearable," writes Kathy Kais. "That's why i hated the song. It was all about ME, ME, ME and my poor picked-on self." "Jill in Erie, Pa.," wrote simply: "I think she's annoying." "If Cosby was unwatchable, this was only slightly more watchable," says a reader on AOL. "Why can't these guys (Letterman and Leno) have some balls like Carson had? Admittedly, he had some bad guest hosts but he also put on Letterman, Leno and Shandling. Letterman could have put Seinfeld on one night or any number of more interesting people who were volunteering to host. But these guys are incredibly insecure and afraid that someone good might be viewed as a possible successor. And what if they are? The next hosts should be groomed the way Carson and NBC groomed them for 'The Tonight Show.'" Yes, and we all see what a fine, fine outcome that had ... Adds another AOL reader, "Cosby wasn't the greatest, Kathie Lee was pretty good, but David Brenner tonight made me remember just how good the 'Tonight Show' used to be with Carson and the guest host system. Brenner was absolutely hilarious, and kudos to Rob Burnett and Letterman for the excellent job in selecting guest hosts." Amanda Bowman writes, "Yes, I loved Kathie Lee and it would be great to see a woman back on late night. Better yet, have her alternate with Charles Grodin. Now THAT would be a killer line-up." And Chris Neuman writes, "In light of Kathie Lee's guest hosting efforts and 'retirement announcement,' I feel I must bring your attention to an anagram I found today: Kathie Lee Gifford - The Glorified Fake." On other matters, Tom Heald noted that in an article I'd written last week, I had predicted that the fat lady wouldn't sing for the current game-show craze until somebody put on a remake of "Queen for a Day," that sob-story daytime show from the 1950s and '60s. Tom asks, "What do you think 'Richard Simmons Dream Maker' was?" Finally, on some old business, Darren Ellis writes, "In regards to Erin PaIicki who wrote in regarding 'Lexx' ('In the first episode I saw it appeared that the female character had sex with several monks. However, in the next episode she still claimed to be a virgin.'): For some reason, the Sci-Fi Channel is showing the episodes badly out of order. The 'first' episode is actually episode 11. All the episodes that follow took place prior to that. According to Sci-Fi's schedule-bot, it looks like they will be showing the episodes from the beginning after this week."

>>> Aaron Barnhart's TVBARN.COM [logo] All times Eastern About TV Barn Late Night Line-ups Overnight ratings The TV Critic's Toolbox Read Other TV Critics Today at the NBC Commissary The LATE SHOW NEWS Archive Contact TV Barn Updated 3/1/99 at 12:40 PM CST

Cello! Fox goes on with Zahn

Roger Ailes has done it again, luring yet another underutilized broadcast anchor to his feisty Fox News Channel. This time it's Paula Zahn, one of the more durable anchors in the rocky history of CBS's morning program. In my profile for the Kansas City Star, I asked Zahn why it was so many broadcast stars would be willing to defect to cable, where they'd be seen by a fraction of the viewers watching CBS. Read my story (Also, here's my weekly column on the local television scene in Kansas City for easy reference.)

That's the ticket

Getting into David Letterman's late-night TV show has never been easy. But since he took his act from NBC to CBS, demand for tickets has gotten just plain ridiculous -- which is a bit of a paradox since Letterman is taping 20 percent more shows than he used to (he does five shows a week; at NBC he did four) and the Ed Sullivan Theatre holds more than twice as many people as NBC's Studio 6A. The procedure used to be that you'd mail in a postcard request, wait a few weeks or months, then with luck you'd receive two tickets. If after six months you were still waiting, why that was your cue to put pen to postcard and try all over again. With this routine, the waiting list for tickets was held comfortably at six months for the first few seasons at CBS. But recently, I received a letter from one of my longtime readers, a regular attendee of "Late Show" tapings who lives in New Jersey. "The ticketing at David Letterman has significantly changed over the past several months, and I am not sure what they are doing," he writes. "Now you get a postcard, asking you to call up to reserve your seats. When you call up, you can basically schedule for any time in the next month or so, although whatever you say on the phone is final (it seems they have this all computerized and coded). They also go through a marketing survey, where they ask four questions: your age and gender, how often you watch the show, why you want to be in the studio audience, and a David Letterman trivia question, presumably to test the knowledge of the respondent. (The two questions I got in the past couple of months were, 'What is Paul Shaffer's nationality?' and 'What is the color of the announcer's hair?') This seemingly is a more useful system that allows would-be guest to schedule more conveniently, but I have to assume it means a lot more work for the folks at the 'Late Show.' I can only assume the information on guests is pertinent enough. "The oddest thing is that recently, for one visit, I got a call from the 'Late Show' (for the frankly mediocre show with Val Kilmer and Billy Bragg), saying they had a large number of male cancellations, and since I was going with a male friend, I could invite up to ten more male folks with me. I was a bit suspicious, thinking that Dave was trying to pack the audience with testosterone for some prank (he wasn't). However, arranging to bring four more friends did require several back-and-forth phone calls with friendly 'Late Show' staff, and I wondered: Is the gender balance of the laugh track worth the staff time to arrange all this?" Good question. I put it recently to "Late Show" executive producer Rob Burnett, who said the changes in ticketing policy were driven by the growing conviction among his ticket staff that the old procedure had become "inefficient and not very fan-friendly." There were times when, under the crush of demand, ticket requests were being fulfilled up to two years after they were made. "We thought that was kind of silly," said Burnett. "So now what we've done -- at some expense to us, I must say -- is we have set up a sort of reservation system." Under the new system, everyone who requests a ticket gets one. But the viewer must then call into the ticket office to reserve an actual taping date. In theory, this extends the queue even farther into the distance, because no one's request is ignored. In practice, it shifts the burden for fulfilling the request back to the viewer, who doesn't always follow through. And it means that viewers with flexible schedules can attend a taping within days of making a reservation if they are willing to go on a night when the demand for tickets was low. They may even get an unsolicited call from the ticket office asking them to bring friends, as happened to my reader prior to the Val Kilmer taping. P.S. My mole also reports that ticket-holders are having their photo ID's checked, probably because there have been reports of people scalping the free "Late Show" tickets. And you'd still better show up early because Letterman staff continue to dispense more tickets than there are seats in the Ed Sullivan -- after all, scarce or not the tickets are free and to a certain portion of the population, that means attendance is optional.

"Lansky": Mobster as bureaucrat

"Lansky"
HBO, premiered Feb. 27
(repeats Mar 2, Mar 7, Mar 10, Mar 16, Mar 22, Mar 25, among other dates; check listings for times) If true success is living to a ripe old age and never spending a day in jail, Meyer Lansky was the most successful gangster of his generation. There are more colorful stories in the annals of organized crime but the stories usually ended in bullets and blood. Lansky survived because he literally organized crime: from bootlegging to gambling, Lansky wielded power almost invisibly, arranging for the violence that kept order and secured for himself the power and influence that only money can buy. Focusing a story on him is a bit like telling the story of a company's chief financial officer and not its founder. But HBO's "Lansky" does it with solid storytelling and a first-rate cast. Richard Dreyfuss is not the first name that springs to mind for the lead in a film about the mob, but he is inspired casting in the title role, combining brains and subtle menace. Writer David Mamet's ("Wag the Dog," "The Untouchables") typically profane script tells a story of a life that started on the lam and almost ended there. It begins, as so many HBO movies do, with the elderly Lansky waiting in Jerusalem either to be awarded Israeli citizenship or a ticket back to America for possible imprisonment. The story then reviews Lansky's childhood as he flees Russian persecution and becomes a young street tough on New York's Lower East Side at the turn of the century, becoming friends with with Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel and earning the respect of a teenage Charlie "Lucky" Luciano. Dreyfuss is surrounded by actors who give solid, realistic performances. A key performance is turned in by Eric Roberts, who plays the adult Bugsy. Siegel spends a fortune on building the Flamingo hotel in Las Vegas in the late 1940's while girlfriend Virginia Hill (Peggy Jo Jacobs) keeps making unexplained trips to Switzerland. Siegel's freespending ways have lost the support of the "commission" that runs organized crime, including the exiled Luciano (Anthony LaPaglia). In the end even Lansky cannot save his childhood comrade from his own excesses. You could make an argument that parts of this story have been better told in other movies. A case could even be made that the best portrayal of Meyer Lansky was Lee Strasberg's fictional Hyman Roth in "The Godfather: Part II." But "Lansky" tells this crime story on its own terms, a new take on the dark side of the American Dream. Even though Dreyfuss's character says he "wouldn't change a thing," the success of a man of Lansky's drive, brains and will--had he gone legit--might have been staggering. The saddest words in American film apply to Meyer Lansky as well: He could have been a contender.
-- Harrison Wyman

Pick to click
Crime Stories
Court TV, 10 p.m.
Sixty-seven years ago tonight, someone stole into the home of Charles and Anne Morrow Lindbergh and made off with their baby, Charles Jr. But who? To this day, the kidnapping of the Lindbergh baby remains as deeply engraved on the American psyche as the father's flight across the Atlantic. It is the subject of tonight's "Crime Stories," a new nightly series on Court TV. My expectations for one-hour nonfiction cable programs have been greatly lowered by the likes of E! and The History Channel, but this episode, soberly told and with some outstanding interviews, is an exception. Best of all, "Crime Stories" has none of those insufferable teases leading into and out of every commercial break. As for the trial of Bruno Richard Hauptmann for the crime, it was over almost as soon as it started, thanks to a spineless defense and a media throng that fed the nation's thirst for blood. Among the interviews: A. Scott Berg, author of the new Lindbergh biography; Robert Bryan, the lawyer who reopened the Hauptmann case in 1992; and gulf war Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf, whose father arrested Hauptmann. Richard Belzer of "Homicide" fame has been towed in to bookend each hour of "Crime Stories."

Show du jour
Becker
CBS, 9:30 p.m. Mondays

Ted Danson, the former "Cheers" star, got a midseason hit in this sitcom about a grumpy general practitioner who relocates to the Bronx, complains about his job and insults his clients--but has a heart of gold. When Danson's last CBS show, "Ink," was cancelled, the network was chided for relying too much on its star to carry the show--as though the success of "Cheers" had depended more on Danson than on the show's writers. CBS apparently took the advice to heart; the writing on "Becker" is stronger than on "Ink," though hardly exceptional. But that's where Danson comes in, negotiating a middle ground between codgerly and unsavory. It helps that the part of Becker has obvious similarities to the Sam Malone character Danson played on "Cheers." And the sitcom's chief locales--Becker's private practice and the corner diner--lend themselves to vignette humor. There Danson can excel, albeit (as with most medications) in small doses.

On this date ...
In 1949, Robert Ripley's popular radio show recounting the odd, the extreme and the extraordinary makes the move to NBC-TV. Ripley will die three months later. "Believe It ... Or Not!" -- Tom Heald

Absence of Alice

Maybe ABC will think twice before pre-empting any more episodes of "The Practice" during sweeps. The David E. Kelley drama completely stole the show last night from NBC's overkill-hyped "Alice in Wonderland" in the 44 metered Nielsen markets. While "Alice" still won, it was losing audience in big furballs during the final hour, while audience for "The Practice" just kept building, thanks to two terrific Kelley story arcs, one a circuitous whodunit that reacquainted Ellenor Frutt (Camryn Manheim) with an old client, the other a delicious subplot involving a sexy 56-year-old judge and her much younger law clerk. Click here for the latest overnights.

Here's what we know ...

That "Mystery Science Theater 3000" is history. Started on a Twin Cities station by Joel Hodgson and Jim Mallon in 1988, the ongoing travails of a human and his robot buddies made to watch unbearably bad science fiction films never rose above cult status, but a very funny cult it was. "MST3K" aired for seven seasons on Comedy Central, then was picked up in July 1996 by Sci-Fi, which also ordered beefed up its library grade-Z films as fodder for the show. The final season begins in April. Read the account from the "MST3K" fan site.
That "The Sopranos" is definitely coming back for a second season, but don't believe that Newsweek account that it's coming back for 22 episodes. When's the last time anything on HBO was renewed for 22 episodes? (Besides, of course, "Dennis Miller Live.") An HBO spokesman told me 13 episodes at a minimum will be produced next season.
That "The Chris Rock Show" is a firm go for season number four. Look for fresh episodes in September.
That media giants A.H. Belo and Gannett are swapping TV stations in an effort to widen Belo's reach in the state of Texas. Belo will get Austin's KVUE, home to one of the quality TV news shops in all the land; Gannett takes the Sacramento station KXTV and cash consideration of up to $55 million. A Belo executive said Thursday the move was in the best interest of both companies. "A good ABC affiliate in a top 20 market is nothing to be given up lightly," he said. (True enough, but it should be noted that KXTV hasn't a prayer of being top rated in its market, not with NBC powerhouse KCRA to contend with.) Source: TV Business Confidential (414-482-2638)

Skip down to the wire stories

Remembering Gene Siskel

Reader mail

Longtime reader and Springsteen follower Matt Orel sent me this note on Feb. 19: "The Black Crowes performance on 'Late Night with Conan O'Brien' has been moved from the 26th to the 25th. The 26th is Max Weinberg's last show before leaving to tour with Bruce. The E Street Band has been rehearsing for about a month (often without Max, due to the Conan commitment). Think they'll be ready to play in a week? Not likely, but the rumors have already started." And for once, the rumors were right as Springsteen played NBC's Studio 6A Friday for the second time in six years -- the first was to close down David Letterman's 11-year run at the network. Coincidentally, one of Conan's guests Friday was Bill Murray, who just happened to be Letterman's first guest in both incarnations of his late-night program. More reader mail

Multiple "Fractured Fairy Tales"

Previously on TV Barn:

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One of several lead balloons Dubya sent up Wednesday night. (CBS/Worldwide Pants) Bush whacked So I get a phone call this morning from CBC Radio News. Seems there's this videotape of George W. Bush at a Michigan press conference last week taking a question from a Canadian reporter. The reporter then pointed me to Al Kamen's item in Thursday's Washington Post, which revealed that the "reporter" was actually a cast member on "This Hour Has 22 Minutes," the very funny satirical show on CBC-TV that I wish I could get in the States. "The prime minister of Canada, Jean Poutine," the reporter said, "has said you look like the man who should lead the free world into the 21st century." Bush replied enthusiastically, "Well, I appreciate his strong statement ... He understands I believe in free trade ... that I want to make sure our relations with our most important neighbor to the north of us, the Canadians, is strong." Just one problem: Jean Chretien is the PM in Canada. Kamen gave the governor the benefit of the doubt, suggested maybe Dubya was thinking of Vladimir Putin, the Russian head man. But as several of TV Barn's faithful Canadian readers pointed out today, that's not the joke. "When they referred to the Canadian minister as 'Jean Poutine,' it was hilarious to the show's target audience," writes Lex Kuhne. "Because, as all Canadians know, poutine is a regional Quebecois dish, typically a side, consisting of french fries, brown gravy and cheese curds (or plain cheddar will do in a pinch). So, not only does the bit show Bush for a doofus, but I bet it really made its audience laugh." And anyway, Kamen filed his story before he had a chance to see Bush make a complete nincompoop of himself on "Late Show with David Letterman." I suppose no one these days expects a Republican candidate for president to have complete mastery over current events, any more than he's expected to know how to anticipate those annoying little one-second delays when having a conversation via satellite. On the other hand, as president he'll be expected to have both skills pretty much down pat, so now's as good a time as any for George W. to start. And he can begin by going home and forcing himself to watch Wednesday's truly squirmworthy performance with Letterman, made possible by overly eager campaign advisers who wanted to get him on with Dave before next week's Super Tuesday sweepstakes. From the start, Dubya was digging himself a hole. Dave threw him a wiffle ball, asking him how he manages to look so youthful and rested after all that campaigning. Bush tried to be funny. "Fake it," he said -- leaving himself wide open to what came next. "Is that pretty much how you plan to run the country?" Letterman shot back, to applause. Bush then tactlessly tried a couple of heart jokes -- you didn't have the heart to invite me until now, a uniter sews up the heart while a divider leaves it open -- and left the crowd groaning. He held up a DWEEBS FOR BUSH T-shirt. Nobody laughed. (Hey, Dubya, next time put on a jacket with the letters G-U-V on the back. It got a laugh once for Mel Brooks.) Yes, satellite bounce played a role in this train wreck. But so did ill-advised handlers, a hostile audience and a frontrunner whose propensity for cluelessness is getting him in dubba-dubba trouble. Picks to click ... for the week of Feb. 28 are here ... Also, it's not too late to start watching NBC's 10-hour miniseries epic "The 10th Kingdom." As you'll read in this review in Sunday's Kansas City Star, the best is still to come. "The 10th Kingdom" continues through March 6. The daily digest ... for March 2: Late-night overnights: "Tonight Show" scored a 5.8 rating/15 share with Sen. John McCain as guest, while Letterman rated 4.8/13 with Dubya. "Late Show" improved one share point on CBS's prime-time average while Leno matched his 15 lead-in ... "Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher" airs a special live edition next Tuesday -- that is, Super Tuesday -- to analyze the fallout from what looks to be a decisive round of primaries in both parties. Michael Moore will join the fray from New York, where he's serving as the show's election correspondent-slash-troublemaker. Dana Carvey, Martha Plimpton and Chris Cuomo are among the scheduled guests ... Jeff Robbins writes, "To the gentlemen who wrote in to say that Bill Cosby's inept hosting job on 'Late Show' last week was intentional: This is Cosby we're talking about, not Andy Kaufman" ... Dana Delany returns to series television aboard the cast of "Good Guys/Bad Guys," a new NBC drama from "Homicide" and "Oz" producers Tom Fontana and Barry Levinson, reports Variety ... "20/20 Downtown" might be back in May. The unpleasant-to-watch edgy newsmag has been helped by -- what else? -- having "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" as its lead-in, sez Variety. Previously on TV Barn:
1 March: Reader mail
29 Feb: Kathie Lee quits
28 Feb: Kathie Lee triumphs
24 Feb: Reader mail
23 Feb: More games to come
22 Feb: "X-Files" meets "Cops"
21 Feb: Dave is back!
On this date... in 1977, Jay Leno makes his debut on "The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson," and immediately thinks of several ways to ruin the show if he ever becomes its host. -- Tom Heald On the wires:
(Stories open in a new window. Many links expire over time.)

DrDrew.com: World Wide wailing wall [ USA Today ]
Will the WB pick up "PJ's"? [ Variety ]
"Harsh Realm" creators win judgment against Carter [ Variety ]
Denied on cable, Oxygen expands on Web [ Variety ]
Cable ratings slipped in Feb. [ Variety ]
Commercial clutter at all-time high [ The AP ]
Schulz's dying wish: No new "Peanuts" specials! [ The AP ]
Chicago TV news takes serious tack [ The AP ]
More TV news from ZENtertainment [ Read it ]

Jack Carmody dies

The nation's best-known reporter on the TV industry, author of "The TV Column" for The Washington Post for 21 fact-filled years, crusty Jack Carmody passed away Monday ... Carmody, better known to some readers as "Captain Airwaves," coined his share of phrases, from "roller-towel alert" to "infobabe." He had retired in 1998 and his column was taken over by Lisa de Moraes ... As his editor David von Drehle recounts, Carmody was a one-of-a-kind, the kind of one-of-a-kind you thought vanished from newspapers years ago ... (Read the story) Harrison Wyman remembers Carmody as someone who took a subject "that most people normally would not read about and not only make it readable but make the reader understand why it was important" ... (Read the story)

Live! From! The! Tombs! Of! Egypt!

Grab an air sickness bag -- it's gonna be a bumpy ride for the next two nights as the February sweep approaches the final runway. First up is "Opening the Lost Tombs: Live From Egypt," airing tonight on Fox, and judging from the unintentionally hilarious press kit, the live excavation of an Egyptian queen's tomb may (or may not) help us better understand (or not) whether the Egyptians got some help building them pyramids. "And if so, from whom? Alien visitors from another world? Descendants of the lost civilization of Atlantis?" Arthur Kent hosts. That's followed by tomorrow's Monica Lewinsky-Barbara Walters love-in, and according to this story, it's already turning into a TV event on the order of the Oscars. Meanwhile, NBC is having second thoughts (a little late!) about airing its softball interview with alleged Jane Doe #5 Juanita Broaddrick. According to the industry faxsheet TV Business Confidential, NBC News has issued an order restricting the use of the interview footage by NBC outlets. That includes MSNBC and CNBC, which reportedly will have to get the OK from legal counsel every time they want to use clips from the interview. You'll understand why when you read Eric Mink's devastating review of the Broaddrick interview that aired last week on "Dateline." There was also an Op-Ed in the Washington Post about the Broaddrick interview's troubling implications.

Fox goes on with Zahn

That's the ticket

"Lansky": Mobster as bureaucrat

Pick to click
Opening of the Lost Tombs: Live From Egypt
Fox, 8 p.m.
They all ridiculed Geraldo Rivera when he went into Al Capone's vault 13 years ago and came out empty-handed. Everyone, that is, except for the TV stations lucky enough to land the live special, which beat the networks in the ratings that night. That's all you need to know about "Opening of the Lost Tombs: Live From Egypt," the mega-hyped live Fox special airing at 8 tonight on Fox. Maury Povich is host for this two-hour "exclusive adventure" into Egypt's Old Kingdom monuments. (Geraldo wasn't available.) All I'm going to say is -- remember the curse of King Tut's tomb! Also tonight, what is it with these retro spoofs? A few weeks ago the NBC sitcom "Jesse" re-created scenes from the films of Bogart. Now tonight "Moesha" (8 p.m. on UPN) is ripping off "I Love Lucy," as Moesha (Brandy) fantasizes herself trying to sing at Ricky's club. There ought to be warnings displayed before these shows: "In lieu of actual story line, tonight's episode contains liberal portions of someone else's ideas."

Show du jour
ABC News Nightline
ABC, 11:35 p.m. weeknights

This media institution, which marks its 20th anniversary in March of 2000, continues to place a strong second in late night, second only in viewers to "The Tonight Show." Perhaps owing to the show's reputation as well as that of Ted Koppel, the show's managing editor and chief anchor, "Nightline" avoided the general scourge applied to much of the rest of the news media during the prosecution of President Clinton in 1998--even though "Nightline" devoted arguably as much of its airtime to the scandal and impeachment that year as did any other news program. "Nightline" began as a 15-minute news segment, "America Held Hostage," during the Iranian hostage crisis in 1979. For 17 years ABC had been trying, and failing, to chip away at the late-night dominance of Johnny Carson. But based on the strong performance of "America Held Hostage," the head of ABC News, Roone Arledge, believed a half-hour permanent newsmagazine would be ideal counter-programming to Carson. He was right. He felt that any anchor but Ted Koppel should be used to accomplish this task. In that assessment he was wrong--and eventually admitted it himself. Over the years "Nightline" has ventured into risky territory to cover important topics. Koppel's moment-by-moment dissection of the 1991 Los Angeles riots was a devastating condemnation of the L.A. police for not taking early measures to prevent violence in the seething ghettos. Numerous "town hall meetings" of one to two hours have chewed over everything from the O.J. Simpson verdict to the killing of Yitzhak Rabin to a jury award in the Food Lion case that involved Koppel's own employer. "Nightline's" Friday broadcasts have served as a showcase for exceptional human-interest documentaries. One of them, about a Brandeis University professor named Morrie Schwartz, caught the attention of Detroit sportswriter Mitch Albom, who paid a visit to his former teacher and turned it into a bestselling book, Tuesdays with Morrie. Perhaps the best-known feature of "Nightline" has been the remote interview, in which Koppel, a formidable interviewer, sits alone in his studio while interrogating his subjects in other locations--a visual gimmick that came from Edward R. Murrow's old "Person to Person" program. It happened by accident: One night during the hostage crisis, the only guest ABC could line up was the charge d'affaires at the Iranian Embassy, who agreed to go on the air only if it didn't involve leaving the embassy grounds. Desperate to fill the time, Koppel sent a crew to uplink the diplomat to a satellite and back down to ABC, just a few blocks away from the embassy. "Nightline" was able to carve out its niche in part because viewers were willing to shift their viewing habits to accommodate a program offering in-depth treatment of a single news topic. But there's another reason: Like the programs it competes against, "Nightline" is often entertaining to watch. It has drama and conflict and familiar personalities we know on a first-name basis. It knows when to be high-minded and when it's okay to lighten up (most notable in this category were Koppel's interviews of televangelists Jim and Tammy Bakker in 1987). Today, entire networks like MSNBC are built on these principles. But "Nightline" was a pioneer and belongs to an elite of programs that know how to combine serious purpose with the classic values of "good television."

On this date ...
In 1994, playing a rich oaf didn't particularly work for Tom Arnold in his first sitcom gambit, "The Jackie Thomas Show," so when CBS gave Arnold a second sitcom shot with "Tom," he tried playing a middle class oaf, a welder trying to raise his family in Kansas. Mining the working class for laughs doesn't go as well for Arnold as it did his ex-wife Roseanne, however, as "Tom" heads for the sitcom unemployment line on this date, after a mere three months on the air. -- Tom Heald

Absence of Alice

Here's what we know ...

That Oprah Winfrey, paneling with Roseanne on Tuesday's edition of "The Roseanne Show," backpedals on her vow to quit in 2002 and soft-pedals "The Jerry Springer Show," a program she trashed in an interview that appeared in the British press. Oprah also announces she's taking her name out of Emmy consideration for best talk show host.
That "Mystery Science Theater 3000" is history. Started on a Twin Cities station by Joel Hodgson and Jim Mallon in 1988, the ongoing travails of a human and his robot buddies made to watch unbearably bad science fiction films never rose above cult status, but a very funny cult it was. "MST3K" aired for seven seasons on Comedy Central, then was picked up in July 1996 by Sci-Fi, which also ordered beefed up its library grade-Z films as fodder for the show. The final season begins in April. Read the account from the "MST3K" fan site.
That "The Sopranos" is definitely coming back for a second season, but don't believe that Newsweek account that it's coming back for 22 episodes. When's the last time anything on HBO was renewed for 22 episodes? (Besides, of course, "Dennis Miller Live.") An HBO spokesman told me 13 episodes at a minimum will be produced next season.
That "The Chris Rock Show" is a firm go for season number four. Look for fresh episodes in September.
That media giants A.H. Belo and Gannett are swapping TV stations in an effort to widen Belo's reach in the state of Texas. Belo will get Austin's KVUE, home to one of the quality TV news shops in all the land; Gannett takes the Sacramento station KXTV and cash consideration of up to $55 million. A Belo executive said Thursday the move was in the best interest of both companies. "A good ABC affiliate in a top 20 market is nothing to be given up lightly," he said. (True enough, but it should be noted that KXTV hasn't a prayer of being top rated in its market, not with NBC powerhouse KCRA to contend with.) Source: TV Business Confidential (414-482-2638)

Skip down to the wire stories

Remembering Gene Siskel

Reader mail

Multiple "Fractured Fairy Tales"

Previously on TV Barn:

On the wires:

E-mail aaron@tvbarn.com with comments and bug notices.

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Wait a minute, I hear something ... I think it's that "Roswell" show. (Warner Bros.) Head trip By Andy Ihnatko Contact (1997)

TNT, 8:00-11:00 p.m.
Sunday, March 5
Full IMDb listing What sort of person would jeopardize a promising career to obsessively scan the entirety of the radio spectrum one sliver at a time in search of any sort of signal that might be of intelligent extraterrestrial origin? How did they get that way? If such a signal were actually received, how would you break the news? What impact would it have on society? How would our world leaders and policymakers react? How would we even begin to determine that it wasn't a mere signal, but an actual communication meant specifically for us? How would we decipher the message? If it were an invitation to come on over and say howdy -- along with instructions on how to do so -- should we? If the instructions were more or less (1) Build this, (2) Have someone sit down here and then (3) Press this button, should we be worried that we were really being instructed to build an atomic Veg-O-Matic? How would we choose the lucky or unlucky bastard who gets to strap in? What would this person say to the aliens if this thing actually works? What would he or she experience? How would they share that experience upon their return? And how would we pay for all of this? So now you know what it's like to spend two and a half hours watching "Contact." It's a seemingly exhaustive series of fascinating questions and explorations on the subject of first contact with an alien intelligence, but it's like SETI itself. Near the end, you start to feel a little like Ellie the astronomer. There are just too many roads to explore and exploring them all can only be done with grim determination fueled by interest in the topic at hand. (continued) Picks to click ... for the week of Feb. 28 are here ... Also, it's not too late to start watching NBC's 10-hour miniseries epic "The 10th Kingdom." As you'll read in this review in Sunday's Kansas City Star, the best is still to come. "The 10th Kingdom" continues through March 6. The daily digest ... for March 3-5: ... Nice to have you back, Andy! ... "Biography" is trotting out its Kathie Lee Gifford chestnut at 8 p.m. Saturday on A&E ... Next week TV Guide features a first-person account by Will Durst of a good deed gone awry. Seems he cost his pal Rudy Reba $218,000 by giving the wrong answer as the phone-a-friend last week on "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire." You can spend your hard earned cash money to read all the gory details -- or you can come back here to the old TV Barn on Monday and we will have the exclusive Q-and-A between myself and Will. The only interview you'll read with Durst, right here on TV Barn. Boy, am I sounding like a "Dateline" promo or what? ... David Letterman won the week of Feb. 21 with its best household rating in four years, best adults 25-54 rating since May 1995 and biggest victory over Jay Leno since July 1995. As Letterman mentioned on Friday's broadcast, ABC's Ted Koppel called to congratulate him on the big win. Craig Kilborn also hit new highs in 18-to-49-year-olds ... And for our Kansas City readers, here's my review of C.W. Gusewelle's new documentary, "Water & Fire: A Story of the Ozarks," for public TV station KCPT. Previously on TV Barn:
2 March: Bush whacked
1 March: Reader mail
29 Feb: Kathie Lee quits
28 Feb: Kathie Lee triumphs
24 Feb: Reader mail
23 Feb: More games to come
22 Feb: "X-Files" meets "Cops"
21 Feb: Dave is back!
On this date... in 1980, few asked for it, but an ex-football jock (Fran Tarkenton), a lounge singer (John Davidson), and an "actress" (Cathy Lee Crosby) lend their combined credibility to the delivery of daredevil dogs, dummies, and death defying displays decrying, "Don't Try This At Home." Wow, "That's Incredible!" March 4: in 1982, hot on the heels of their success with "Airplane!," Leslie Nielsen and producers Jim Abrahams, Jerry and David Zucker aim too high with too many jokes-a-minute in the series "Police Squad" ("IN COLOR!") On tonight's episode, "A Substantial Gift (The Broken Promise)," the bizarre case of a bank teller who's staged a holdup, Detective Frank Drebin can tell one person's story just isn't adding up. He just doesn't know who that person is. "Special guest star" Lorne Greene dies in the opening credits. Rex Hamilton stars as Abraham Lincoln. March 5: in 1986, "Fast Times" hits TV screens with only teachers Ray Walston and Vincent Schiavelli sticking around from the film set at Ridgemont High. Among the new kids showing up for class (or lack thereof) are Wallace Langham, Moon Unit Zappa, Patrick Dempsey, Jason Hervey, Courtney Thorne-Smith and Dean Cameron as Jeff Spicoli. Nobody graduates this series, as it's flunked after only six weeks. -- Tom Heald On the wires:
(Stories open in a new window. Many links expire over time.)

WB overhauls its schedule [ E! Online ]
"The Insider" not invited to Oscars [ E! Online ]
"South Park" creators won't edit song for Oscars [ E! Online ]
Formulaic? Syndicated shows? Really?? [ KRT ]
Execs put their spins on sweeps [ ChiTrib ]
Lee selling off TV stations [ CBS MW ]
"Big Brother" German debut gets wunderbar ratings [ Read it ]
Mormon station won't air "God, the Devil and Bob" [ Media Central ]
Pappas cuts off Omaha station at the knees [ Media Central ]
More TV news from ZENtertainment [ Read it ]

>>> Aaron Barnhart's TVBARN.COM All times Eastern
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(continued from front) And rest assured, exploring them all is just what this movie intends to do. Still, "Contact" works, overall. Jodie Foster is compelling as Dr. Ellie, the astronomer who endures years of ridicule and monastic living and looks like the dog that's spun itself to exhaustion chasing its own tail and doesn't know what to do with it once it's caught it. Matthew McConaughey continues to amaze me that he can be such a smooth and polished actor every time he appears onscreen and such a complete moonshine-swillin' terbacky-spittin' hick every time he's interviewed; he turns up as Ellie's former main squeeze who (surprise!) winds up serving on the official committee that decides how Humanity will respond. But it's the premise that sells the film. The subject is just so evocative and compelling that given a sufficiently thoughtful approach, even Hollywood can't screw it up despite its best efforts. John Hurt is almost benevolently reptilian as the sickly multizillionaire who funds Ellie's research, but in a movie as pressed for time as this one it seems wholly unnecessary to introduce the subplot of a Howard Hughes-type with mysterious motives. Worse, Hurt's character provides grist for a possibly fatal copout near the end. I won't divulge it here but it's a familiar saw and it should be thrown off a bridge tied up in the same sack with the "Hero Decides He Can't Murder His Enemy And Lowers His Gun; Then Gets Immediately Gets Opportunity To Shoot In Self-Defense" gambit. There's also an unexpected Devastating Complication Just When We Least Expected It, and if the presence of those capital letters lead you to believe that this twist is both unnecessary and unfathomably reversed just a few scenes later, then your Sarcasmometer is perfectly calibrated and in need of no further adjustment. These sort of by-rote gimmicks cheapen any flick, but they're an even bigger shame in a movie like this one, which is pressed for time as it is and seems committed to provoking thought and discussion instead of more trips to the concession stand. You'll probably be able to glob past these things, though. (But will you trip over the same bit of loose carpeting I did? Check this out: the device has been constructed and they want to test it out first...so they put a crash-test dummy in the seat. What will the aliens think if their first guest from Earth just sits at their table, contributes nothing to the conversation, doesn't even touch the Mr. Pibb and Ritz crackers they've thoughtfully laid out? And when we finally put a real human in the machine, will the aliens peek out their windows, think "Oh, God, not another evening with the Humans!" and then snap off all of the lights and pretend no one's home? Discuss.) "Contact" is a Head Film. It begins with one of the most trippy and evocative scenes since "2001" and keeps your neurons firing in an overall pleasant fashion until the story starts to creak and wobble in its final act. The real ending of the film isn't in the dutiful tying up of loose ends, though. It's in the hours-long discussion you'll have with your friends as soon as the end-credits roll.

Fridge reviews are published sporadically and are based on a four-star rating system. This review is Copyright © 2000 Andy Ihnatko. May not be redistributed without permission. Studio PR types wishing to send Andy tapes, promotional clothing, or high-end video gear in hopes of securing a positive review are advised that such efforts are futile, but they're free to try to determine how high Andy's price actually is. Mail any and all pelft to Box 279, Norwood, MA 02062. He could use a new subwoofer for his home-theater setup.

They're baaaaaaack!

No, I'm not referring to Barbara Walters and Miss Thongsnapper. I'm referring to this: On Wednesday night Fresh Step is doing the Letterman show again! If that isn't reason enough to stay up late, what is? Fresh Step, LATE SHOW NEWS readers will recall, is a fake, a fraud, a swindle. It's a Backstreet Boys parody group named for a brand of kitty litter. Only, the American public has never been told the truth about them. Fresh Step was introduced last month on "Late Show with David Letterman" -- with a straight face -- by the host, who held up the group's nonexistent CD, and then on they came, lip-synching a song that went like this:

"F is for the fresh cuz that's what we are
R is for reality, we're living large
E is for emotion cuz we know how to feel
S is for the street cuz we're keepin' it real
H is for my homies cuz we got a bad rep
But ya gotta be fresh 2 fresh with da Fresh Step."

Bewildered fans wrote in. It wasn't even GOOD lip-synching ... That guy with the dredlocks -- that had to be a wig, right? A few days later, I exposed the sham in this issue of LATE SHOW NEWS. And then my moles started to check in. Ann Miner of Talkin' Broadway wrote: "Three of the 'members' of Fresh Step are Broadway performers from Footloose (Jeremy Kushnier, Jamie Gustis, and Brad Madison) and supposedly have signed a contract with Letterman for future appearances." Those future appearances begin Wednesday. Tune in -- it's bound to be delightfully appalling. (Fresh Step lyrics courtesy the "Late Show's" Wahoo Gazette

Monica mania

Diane Sawyer and her special guest host on Wednesday's "20/20," Barbara Walters. (Photo: Michael O'Neill/ABC News) If you think tonight's "20/20" encounter between Barbara Walters and Monica Lewinsky is the last word in presidential hanky-panky, think again: Lewinsky's tell-all book, written by Diana biographer Andrew Morton, is being published Thursday. That's not to say anyone seriously questions the timing of this event, which begins at 9 p.m. Wednesday. After all, it is the last night of the February ratings sweep. But some are questioning whether the two-hour broadcast will attract even 30 percent of the viewing audience. To give you some idea of what that means, an episode of "ER" topped a 30 share in February -- twice. And as I report in Wednesday's Kansas City Star, even the electronic media have had it with this story, which can't bode well for Walters & Company. (Here's my story.) Take NBC, for example. The network that aired a softball "Dateline" interview last week with another reluctant presidential accuser, Juanita Broaddrick, is having second thoughts. According to the industry faxsheet TV Business Confidential, NBC News has issued an order restricting the use of the interview footage by NBC outlets. That includes MSNBC and CNBC, which reportedly will have to get the OK from legal counsel every time they want to use clips from the interview. You'll understand why when you read Eric Mink's devastating review of the Broaddrick interview that aired last week on "Dateline." There was also an op-ed in the Washington Post praising NBC's handling of the Broaddrick interview but noting that a media circus hovered over the network as it tried to do the right thing. ALSO: Are you planning YOUR Lewinsky TV party?

Jack Carmody dies

Fox goes on with Zahn

That's the ticket

"Lansky": Mobster as bureaucrat

Pick to click
Shania Twain's Winter Break
CBS, 8 p.m.

Monica who? As far as CBS is concerned, the big female attraction tonight is the Canadian crossover country singer, who performs in a televised concert tonight that's sure to appeal to one of the network's core audiences -- country music lovers. Filmed in Miami Beach, the special features the singer in a classic variety-hour format; her two guests are the Backstreet Boys, whose appeal is decidedly non-rural, and Elton John, who sings a duet with Shania.

Show du jour
Dawson's Creek
WB, 8 p.m.

Katie Holmes, James Van Der Beek, Michelle Williams, Joshua Jackson. Photo: WB. By the standards of my adolescence at least, the small New England town of Capeside, where "Dawson's Creek" takes place, looks darned idyllic. But no: 15-year-old Dawson is a budding filmmaker in the image of Spielberg, and filmmakers require conflict out of life. And plenty of conflict have we reaped in nearly two seasons of "Dawson's Creek," which remains the hottest show on television among teenagers, a group highly coveted by certain big-money advertisers (especially movie studios, clothing sellers and fast-food chains). Dawson's world is stirred, but never shaken, by intruders from the outside world. Like Jennifer, a troubled teen who arrives in Capeside and soon steals his heart, bringing friction between Dawson and his longtime not-girlfriend Joey. Or a new teacher at the high school who seduced another of Dawson's pals, Pacey. Another teacher was blamed for one of the big scandals of the show's second season--cruelly forcing a student to read a poem to the class that exposed his sexual ambiguity and led to a hate crime. Over these circumstances Dawson maintains an impossible mastery, which may be fine for the career of James van der Beek, the actor who plays him, but strains credulity with the show's older viewers. (Not that anyone around the WB gives a hoot about older viewers.) "Dawson's Creek" divided the not-for-profit advocacy groups: the conservative Parents Television Council protested the incessant talk about sex and sexuality on the show, while the public-health-minded Kaiser Family Foundation gave the series a thumbs-up for its responsible portrayals of the "risks and responsibilities" of sex. With its seductive mix of teen fantasy, down-to-earth characters and unresolved love triangles (Joey clearly has unresolved feelings for Dawson which surface occasionally), this show became a study in how TV and hormones can make for a powerful mix.

In local news ...

We first brought you this story at 6 o'clock. New tonight: A Kansas City man has written a column about the television scene here. Aaron Barnhart is live downtown. At 10:17 we'll have still more coverage. Will there be weather later? Of course, you dummy, we always have weather later -- at 10:20! Read my recent "TVKC" columns:

The overnights

Maybe ABC will think twice before pre-empting any more episodes of "The Practice" during sweeps. The David E. Kelley drama completely stole the show Sunday night from NBC's overkill-hyped "Alice in Wonderland" in the 44 metered Nielsen markets. While "Alice" still won, it was losing audience in big furballs during the final hour, while audience for "The Practice" just kept building, thanks to two terrific Kelley story arcs, one a circuitous whodunit that reacquainted Ellenor Frutt (Camryn Manheim) with an old client, the other a delicious subplot involving a sexy 56-year-old judge and her much younger law clerk. Click here for the latest overnights.

On this date ...
After her shifty accountant disappears with all her liquid assets, former Blue Moon shampoo cover girl Madeline Hayes discovers she's the proud owner of various money-losing ventures. These include a dog grooming studio, a fingernail boutique, a family portrait studio, a bait and tackle shop, a dirty bookstore, and the "City of Angels" detective agency, whose rougeish owner, David Addison, convinces her to keep the business open. That's right: Had Ms. Hayes had the right chemistry with any of the other business managers she'd set out to fire, ABC's "Moonlighting," debuting on this night in 1985, could easily have been about romantic tension and snappy banter at a bait and tackle shop. -- Tom Heald

Here's what we know ...

That NBC is predicting total victory in the February sweep, winning in total viewers, adults 18-34 and adults 18-49. The network's entertainment chief Scott Sassa said as much in a telephone conference call with reporters Tuesday. CBS is expected to finish second in viewers, third or fourth in young adults.
That Deborah Norville is about to re-up with "Inside Edition," according to the industry faxsheet TV Business Confidential (414-482-2638). Which means you can forget all that talk of reuniting her with Bryant Gumbel at "CBS This Morning."
That Oprah Winfrey, paneling with Roseanne on Tuesday's edition of "The Roseanne Show," backpedaled on her vow to quit in 2002 and soft-pedals "The Jerry Springer Show," a program she trashed in an interview that appeared in the British press. Oprah also announces she's taking her name out of Emmy consideration for best talk show host.
That "Mystery Science Theater 3000" is history. Started on a Twin Cities station by Joel Hodgson and Jim Mallon in 1988, the ongoing travails of a human and his robot buddies made to watch unbearably bad science fiction films never rose above cult status, but a very funny cult it was. "MST3K" aired for seven seasons on Comedy Central, then was picked up in July 1996 by Sci-Fi, which also ordered beefed up its library grade-Z films as fodder for the show. The final season begins in April. Read the account from the "MST3K" fan site.
That "The Sopranos" is definitely coming back for a second season, but don't believe that Newsweek account that it's coming back for 22 episodes. When's the last time anything on HBO was renewed for 22 episodes? (Besides, of course, "Dennis Miller Live.") An HBO spokesman told me 13 episodes at a minimum will be produced next season.
That "The Chris Rock Show" is a firm go for season number four. Look for fresh episodes in September.
That media giants A.H. Belo and Gannett are swapping TV stations in an effort to widen Belo's reach in the state of Texas. Belo will get Austin's KVUE, home to one of the quality TV news shops in all the land; Gannett takes the Sacramento station KXTV and cash consideration of up to $55 million. A Belo executive said Thursday the move was in the best interest of both companies. "A good ABC affiliate in a top 20 market is nothing to be given up lightly," he said. (True enough, but it should be noted that KXTV hasn't a prayer of being top rated in its market, not with NBC powerhouse KCRA to contend with.) Source: TV Business Confidential

Skip down to the wire stories

Remembering Gene Siskel

Reader mail

Previously on TV Barn:

Go to the Old Page (previously posted dribs and drabs)

On the wires:

E-mail aaron@tvbarn.com with comments and bug notices.

>>> Aaron Barnhart's TVBARN.COM [logo]

Updated 3/4/99 at 9:48 AM CST Thursday

Monica mows 'em down

Despite all of the pre-show publicity -- the promos, the excerpts, and an orchestrated campaign of leaks to the media worthy of the Clinton White House -- I was reluctant to believe that post-impeachment America would gather around their TV sets in large numbers to watch as this final chapter in the Monica Lewinsky saga was played out in a two-hour Barbara Walters interview. The first hint I had that I might be wrong came as we were driving home last night at around 8:30, one half hour after the interview had begun. We live in a restaurant district in Kansas City, and Wednesdays are typically good nights for the local merchants. The streets were noticeably quieter last night, and when the Nielsen ratings for 43 metered markets, including ours, arrived here this morning, I knew why. Wednesday's "20/20" blew away all the skeptics who predicted the broadcast would have trouble drawing even a 30 share from a viewing public that's burned out by the scandal. At its peak, nearly half of the households using television were watching ABC. The interview started with a 44 share and built to a 49 share in the final segment. The ripple effect was felt well into late-night, as Ted Koppel's extended "Nightline" -- a superb fast-forward through the last 14 months of the scandal -- drew more viewers than Letterman and Leno combined, and "Politically Incorrect" nearly doubled its average. In hindsight, most of the public had turned off this scandal long ago. So tuning in for the final act seemed fitting, not unlike Gracie Allen starting a book by skipping to the end. Many of us sensed, as we have in our half-century-long relationship with the tube, that this was a national event, something not to be missed, something to say you saw last night, something NBC's West Coast chief Don Ohlmeyer, who apparently doesn't go to church, likes to call "a communal experience." Thursday morning I was asked on a local radio show if last night had been "good for TV or bad for TV." I said that it was TV, that good or bad, the Lewinsky interview was a quintessential mass-media event, the kind of event we used to have all the time, whether it was watching Ed Sullivan or singing along with Mitch or listening to a story 'bout a man named Jed.

Manufacturing an aura

With her hair pulled back in a chaste fashion, eyes moist and transfixed on her interrogator, Monica S. Lewinsky wowed the nation last night on ABC in what could be considered the quintessential sweeps event: a blockbuster performance hyped to holy hell and calculated to stretch viewers' attention spans to their legal limits. Just the night before we'd had another one of these: Fox's "Live From Egypt," an archaeological dig that was about as spontaneous as that live episode of "ER." Similarly, the Barbara Walters interview of Lewinsky on Wednesday's "20/20" successfully manufactured an aura for itself (revelation and truth-telling) that disguised the fact it was little more than an exercise in television. Oh, sure, the interview broke some news. But Lewinsky had already spilled her guts to biographer Andrew Morton, and his book Monica's Story was already being unpacked from cartons last night. Perhaps more annoying than the hype preceding the interview was the fact that the program itself went on for two hours when it was clear Lewinsky only had about an hour's worth of material. The reason? No one starts a Big Event at half past the hour. Thus the special was extended for another three acts with endless teases that actually made "The E! True Hollywood Story" look like a model of restraint. But when Lewinsky finished her sympathetic interview with the words she planned to tell her children if asked about her affair with the president -- "Mommy made a big mistake" -- it brought the February sweep to a close, and not a moment too soon. (Photo credit: CNN) ALSO: Monica mania on ABC

Memo to the New York Post:

First of all, let me just say thanks for reading. How do I know you're reading? Well, for one thing your editorial page editor John Podhoretz sent me mail recently saying, "Your new site is just terrific." For another thing -- you lifted a story straight off this page and didn't acknowledge your source! Don't tell me a little birdie just dropped in your ear that story you ran Wednesday, "DAVE TO NIX SCALPERS WITH 'PIX FOR TIX.'" Of course not: you read it here first. In the past, when I was still doing LATE SHOW NEWS (and, I might add, citing the Post whenever I used one of your items), that other New York tab wasn't afraid to cite an "online newsletter" as its source. Neither should you. C'mon, guys -- give TV Barn its props. You know you would if Matt Drudge were involved. Your pal,
Aaron

Jack Carmody dies

Fox goes on with Zahn

That's the ticket

Pick to click
The Wayans Bros.
WB, 8 p.m.

Every TV critic has a guilty pleasure. Mine is "The Wayans Bros." (8 p.m., the WB). This unsophisticated sitcom has ridiculous setups, predictable outcomes -- and brothers Shawn and Marlon Wayans (pictured, L-R), who kill me every time with their fast talking brand of physical comedy. "The Wayans Bros." features some of the densest pop-culture writing on TV. (Typical punchline: "Is that E.T.? No wait, that's just Tyra Banks"). There are probably more hits than misses, but who's counting? "The Wayans Bros." has the dual distinction of being the longest-running show on the WB network and the longest-running series featuring a Wayans. It has also brought on the wrath of the NAACP and other groups for its clownish depictions of African-American life. The two brothers are unapologetic, as anyone who has seen the opening credits knows. But they can also do devastatingly accurate takes on the absurdities of hip-hop culture, something no one else on TV dares to try. Tonight: The sweep is over, so of course it's a repeat.

Show du jour
V.I.P.
Syndicated, weekly (check local listings)
If you're going to do an insipid action show, you might as well look like you're having fun doing it. That's the philosophy behind this vehicle for the top-heavy former "Baywatch" babe, who plays the head of a security agency called Vallery Irons Protection (V.I.P.), a very exclusive agency that only works venues that allow women to tromp around half-naked. Unfortunately, every 30 minutes or so somebody has to barge in brandishing an enormous weapon--the sort of ordnance your government would be proud to own--and break up all the fun. Somehow the men and women of V.I.P. manage to disarm these thugs with a few swift kicks and the show goes on. This isn't just to keep the show's body count down; it's a plot device that allows the same baddies to return later in the episode, which undoubtedly saves the producers the expense of casting extra villains. (There are other signs of cost-cutting here; one scene featuring a helicopter escape was obviously put together using film stock.) "V.I.P." is pure eye candy; dialogue and storyline are strictly incidental. The scriptwriters have a particular weakness for non sequitur gun battles and scenes with women changing clothes. But at least Anderson gets her share of non-awful lines and the occasional chance to poke fun at her own career; at one point she says, "I'm having a 'Baywatch' moment."

"Lansky": Mobster as bureaucrat

In local news ...

On this date ...
In 1984, the Television Academy Hall of Fame is established. The first inductees: Lucille Ball, Milton Berle, Paddy Chayefsky, Norman Lear, Edward R. Murrow, William S. Paley and David Sarnoff. -- Tom Heald

Here's what we know ...

That NBC is predicting total victory in the February sweep, winning in total viewers, adults 18-34 and adults 18-49. The network's entertainment chief Scott Sassa said as much in a telephone conference call with reporters Tuesday. CBS is expected to finish second in viewers, third or fourth in young adults.
That Deborah Norville is about to re-up with "Inside Edition," according to the industry faxsheet TV Business Confidential (414-482-2638). Which means you can forget all that talk of reuniting her with Bryant Gumbel at "CBS This Morning."
That Oprah Winfrey, paneling with Roseanne on Tuesday's edition of "The Roseanne Show," backpedaled on her vow to quit in 2002 and soft-pedals "The Jerry Springer Show," a program she trashed in an interview that appeared in the British press. Oprah also announces she's taking her name out of Emmy consideration for best talk show host.
That "Mystery Science Theater 3000" is history. Started on a Twin Cities station by Joel Hodgson and Jim Mallon in 1988, the ongoing travails of a human and his robot buddies made to watch unbearably bad science fiction films never rose above cult status, but a very funny cult it was. "MST3K" aired for seven seasons on Comedy Central, then was picked up in July 1996 by Sci-Fi, which also ordered beefed up its library grade-Z films as fodder for the show. The final season begins in April. Read the account from the "MST3K" fan site.
That "The Sopranos" is definitely coming back for a second season, but don't believe that Newsweek account that it's coming back for 22 episodes. When's the last time anything on HBO was renewed for 22 episodes? (Besides, of course, "Dennis Miller Live.") An HBO spokesman told me 13 episodes at a minimum will be produced next season.
That "The Chris Rock Show" is a firm go for season number four. Look for fresh episodes in September.
That media giants A.H. Belo and Gannett are swapping TV stations in an effort to widen Belo's reach in the state of Texas. Belo will get Austin's KVUE, home to one of the quality TV news shops in all the land; Gannett takes the Sacramento station KXTV and cash consideration of up to $55 million. A Belo executive said Thursday the move was in the best interest of both companies. "A good ABC affiliate in a top 20 market is nothing to be given up lightly," he said. (True enough, but it should be noted that KXTV hasn't a prayer of being top rated in its market, not with NBC powerhouse KCRA to contend with.) Source: TV Business Confidential

Skip down to the wire stories

Remembering Gene Siskel

Reader mail

Previously on TV Barn:

Go to the Old Page (previously posted dribs and drabs)

On the wires:

E-mail aaron@tvbarn.com with comments and bug notices.

>>> Aaron Barnhart's TVBARN.COM [logo]

Updated 3/5/99 at 9:33 PM CST

"Jesse" yanked; Overnight ratings Today's Pick to Click and Show du Jour

How sweep it is

So which of the big six broadcast networks won the February ratings sweep (Feb. 5 through March 3)? If you believe everything you read in PR, they all did!

NBC had the most to crow about. It won in every major category, including households, viewers ages 18-49 and other key demographics. Psychologically it recovered from November's sweep, although compared with this time last year it is still down in both households and key demos -- and remember it had the Olympics on CBS to contend with last year.
CBS proved that it can still attract young adults to the oldest-skewing network on TV. Its Grammys broadcast Feb. 24 scored the highest ratings in key demos in four years for CBS. And while they did not give Letterman the win in late night that evening, the spike in his ratings were noticeable, which would seem to confirm the point Letterman's staff make all the time: Level the playing field and we'll win.
ABC absolutely flattened the competition on Wednesday night and lifted its late-night programs to incredible heights. The huge ratings also got ABC into a second-place tie with Fox among adults 18-49, something experts had given the network only the slimmest chance of accomplishing before Wednesday. The impact was also felt locally as well in markets where ABC affiliates were running neck-and-neck with rivals. The faxsheet TV Business Confidential reports that in New York, Detroit and San Antonio -- to name three -- "20/20" made all the difference between first and second in late news for the sweep.
Fox won Tuesday with that hokey Maury Povich special from the Egyptian tombs. (One of my readers noted that every time Povich was interrupted for another startling development from the tombs, the director would always cut to a camera already perfectly positioned for the next shot. Some spontaneity!)
The WB recorded the best sweep numbers in its four-year history and unequivocally made the most strides of any network. And despite all the publicity the network lavishes on "Felicity" and "Dawson's Creek," the WB's press release Wednesday gave the real credit where it was due: to "7th Heaven." The wholesome family drama was the number one show Monday nights from 8 to 9 in the 44 metered markets. Five million viewers on average now watch the WB in prime time, a record, and household ratings are up 13 percent from a year ago (3.6). And as for it being the network of teenagers, bear this in mind: the WB's rating among 18-to-49-year-olds is a fat 2.0 (2 percent of all 18-49's), up 18 percent from last year. That growth was fueled mainly by female viewers.
And even UPN had some got numbers: Wednesday's lineup was up 19 percent compared with its season average, despite going head-to-head for one hour with Monica. "Dilbert" and "Star Trek: Voyager" are two of the shows helping to save the network's bacon.

The overnights: This night is rated R ...

... for repeats. NBC, CBS and the WB loaded the airwaves with repeats Thursday night, and it showed as viewers drifted away to look for something fresher. Some went to Fox, which grew audience every half hour of its NAACP awards broadcast. Others checked out the UPN movie, "Inferno," which gave the network a rare victory over the WB. ABC, meanwhile, smartly employed a combination of new programming and repeats of two of its most popular sitcoms, "Drew Carey" and "Spin City," to post strong ratings in the Thursday overnights.

Skip down to the wire stories

Monica mows 'em down

Once Overnightly:

Top This

(March 3, 1999) In its post-Monica Lewinsky interview broadcast Wednesday, "Nightline" summarized the entire 14-month episode from beginning until tonight (I'm reluctant to say "end") with one of the most brilliant uses of videotape and editing I've seen in a news program in a long time. "Nightline" used a video chronology that began with the first reports last January and proceeded on to the last word of Barbra Walters' interview with Lewinsky Wednesday night. One of the highlights was seeing Lewinsky's first lawyer, William Ginsburg, losing his temper with a group of reporters who were following him. He finished his rant by threatening not to give interviews. The next shot was a 16-panel split screen showing Ginsburg on every talk show in operation, a sort of one-man "Hollywood Squares." I didn't think that could be topped until that night's "Late Late Show," when ad creator and humorist Stan Freberg told Tom Snyder about being censored by CBS in the 1960s over a joke involving an American Indian. Freberg had filmed an ad for Jeno's Pizza Rolls that parodied another ad for Lark cigarettes. Like the original Lark ad, the Jeno's ad used the "William Tell Overture," popular then as the theme to the "Lone Ranger." At the end of the commercial a man emerges with a pack of cigarettes in his hand and says, "I'd like to speak to you about the use of that music." He is then tapped on the shoulder by Clayton Moore, TV's "Lone Ranger," who says, "So would I." Jay Silverheels, who played Tonto on the series, then appears and asks, "Have a Pizza Roll, Kemosabe?" Before the ad runs on CBS, Freberg gets a call from a woman in Standards and Practices insisting that Silverheels submit a letter agreeing that he is portraying an American Indian in a negative stereotype. If he refuses, the ad won't run. Keep in mind this is about 1965, not 1999. Freberg tells the woman, "But he's Tonto! He's a real Indian!", to no avail. Finally Freberg gives up, calls Silverheels and tells him the situation. Silverheels screams the same thing at Freberg: "But I'm Tonto! I'm a real Indian!" Finally he agrees to write the letter. But he asks Freberg to do him a favor: "Would you tell that woman to stop screwing around with my residuals?" I didn't think that one could be topped until "World News Now" showed some recent video of singer Gloria Gaynor singing her disco classic "I Will Survive" at a Democratic fundraiser in New Jersey -- with Bill Clinton in attendance. --Harrison Wyman

Memo to the New York Post:

Jack Carmody dies

Washington Wreck in Review

A group of reporters and columnists from America's major newspapers and networks summarize the events of the week based on what they know, not what they think. This is the simple idea behind "Washington Week in Review," a 32-year mainstay of public television. It may have been dull to some viewers, but no wonder ever said it wasn't stable. Until last week, that is, when all hell broke loose after Ken Bode, the host of "WWIR," was fired by WETA, the Washington, D.C., PBS affiliate that produces the show. -- Full story

Fox goes on with Zahn

That's the ticket

Pick to click
American Justice
A&E, 10 p.m., Saturday

It was one of the strangest cases in Chicago criminal history: Helen Vorhees Brach, young bride to the candy magnate and later heiress of a $20 million fortune, vanished in February 1977 after landing at O'Hare airport. Her body was never found and although police are pretty sure who the guilty party is, they were unable to prosecute the case for 18 years. Despite a conviction related to her disappearance, the Brach case still is unsolved. Bill Kurtis navigates through its twisted history Saturday. Also, A&E is airing its new adaptation of "The Scarlet Pimpernel" Sunday; check out their website for more info. (Photo credit: A&E)
Total Recall 2070
Showtime, 8 p.m., Sunday
On Sunday, Showtime adds to its sci-fi stable with "Total Recall 2070," a new series based on the 1990 Arnold Schwarzenegger film, itself based on a short story by Philip K. Dick. The two-hour premiere airs Sunday and 20 one-hour episodes will follow. Michael Easton, who looks like he could be the third LaPaglia brother, plays the straight-talking cop who's not afraid to use an old-fashioned pistol. He's caught up in the typical sci-fi scenario: a more perfect world that has traded individual freedoms for public safety. But when murderous androids break into the super-secretive Rekall facility, he and his android partner (Karl Pruner) find themselves bucking the system in their pursuit of justice. In a wry take on the movie, Easton's original partner, a human with an unmistakable Ah-nold accent, is offed in the opening scene and replaced by an android. Most of the leads are male, and the show is testosterone-charged in other ways, with gun battles and two sex acts within the episode's first 15 minutes. (Shame on Showtime for mislabeling this program TV-14; besides full nudity, there's some TV-MA language as well.)

Show du jour
Cops
Fox, 8 and 8:30 p.m., Saturdays
Now one of the longest-running shows on television, "Cops" is credited with ushering reality TV into the 1990s. The show's popularity has inspired a raft of knockoffs created for other law enforcement agencies, including the Highway Patrol, the FBI and even the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (which, contrary to their Dudley Do-Right image, conducted some of the roughest apprehensions ever caught on tape). A genius concept in these cash-strapped times, "Cops" doesn't require hosts or announcers or writers or studio audience--just crime suspects and the cops who haul them in. One major factor in the show's longevity is the fact that it airs on Saturday nights, when the pool of potential TV watchers is low and networks aren't about to break the bank to score a hit. While ratings for "Cops" don't approach those of its first seasons on Fox, it still does well enough with young adults to justify two airings on Saturdays, including one repeat. Those repeats are also a favorite in off-network syndication, where they are often late-night fare for stations that can't afford expensive sitcoms. The production schedule is simplicity itself: Barbour-Langley arranges with one or more law enforcement agencies in a metropolitan area to accompany officers on their rounds. For three or four weeks, a crew camps out in a Residence Inn, going out nightly with the cops. It takes about one week of riding around to gather enough interesting video for one episode.

In local news ...

On this date ...
On March 5, 1997, "Arsenio," "Feds," "Temporarily Yours," and MTV's "The Jenny McCarthy Show" all make their debuts. And by sheer coincidence, all manage to suck. The only real winner? Ms. McCarthy, whose bodily-function-oriented sketch comedy show interests a truly desperate NBC enough to give her a sitcom that fall. On March 6, 1984, a hot young standup comic debuts in a show created by legendary producer Norman Lear. What could possibly go wrong? Answer: "A.K.A. Pablo" starring Paul Rodriguez. The politically incorrect pair of "Pablo" and its lead-in -- "Foul-Ups, Bleeps & Blunders" -- fail to make even a dent in the armor of their Tuesday competition, "The A-Team." On March 7, 1955, "Peter Pan" with Mary Martin and Cyril Richard is presented as a television special for the first time. With images of cross-dressing, "magic fairy dust", and scantily clad children dressed as "Indians", a 21-year-old Jerry Falwell immediately issues himself a Parental Alert.-- Tom Heald

Remembering Gene Siskel

Reader mail

Previously on TV Barn:

Go to the Old Page (previously posted dribs and drabs)

On the wires: Click here for other stuff we've heard

E-mail aaron@tvbarn.com with comments and bug notices.

>>> Aaron Barnhart's TVBARN.COM [logo]

New at the TV Barn ... "Jesse" yanked ... "Washington Wreck in Review" ... Overnight ratings ... Pick to Click ... Show du Jour ... and my photo! Updated 3/6/99 at 11:04 AM CST

How sweep it is

So which of the big six broadcast networks won the February ratings sweep (Feb. 5 through March 3)? If you believe everything you read in PR, they all did!

NBC had the most to crow about. It won in every major category, including households, viewers ages 18-49 and other key demographics. Psychologically it recovered from November's sweep, although compared with this time last year it is still down in both households and key demos -- and remember it had the Olympics on CBS to contend with last year.
CBS proved that it can still attract young adults to the oldest-skewing network on TV. Its Grammys broadcast Feb. 24 scored the highest ratings in key demos in four years for CBS. And while they did not give Letterman the win in late night that evening, the spike in his ratings were noticeable, which would seem to confirm the point Letterman's staff make all the time: Level the playing field and we'll win.
ABC absolutely flattened the competition on Wednesday night and lifted its late-night programs to incredible heights. The huge ratings also got ABC into a second-place tie with Fox among adults 18-49, something experts had given the network only the slimmest chance of accomplishing before Wednesday. The impact was also felt locally as well in markets where ABC affiliates were running neck-and-neck with rivals. The faxsheet TV Business Confidential reports that in New York, Detroit and San Antonio -- to name three -- "20/20" made all the difference between first and second in late news for the sweep.
Fox won Tuesday with that hokey Maury Povich special from the Egyptian tombs. (One of my readers noted that every time Povich was interrupted for another startling development from the tombs, the director would always cut to a camera already perfectly positioned for the next shot. Some spontaneity!)
The WB recorded the best sweep numbers in its four-year history and unequivocally made the most strides of any network. And despite all the publicity the network lavishes on "Felicity" and "Dawson's Creek," the WB's press release Wednesday gave the real credit where it was due: to "7th Heaven." The wholesome family drama was the number one show Monday nights from 8 to 9 in the 44 metered markets. Five million viewers on average now watch the WB in prime time, a record, and household ratings are up 13 percent from a year ago (3.6). And as for it being the network of teenagers, bear this in mind: the WB's rating among 18-to-49-year-olds is a fat 2.0 (2 percent of all 18-49's), up 18 percent from last year. That growth was fueled mainly by female viewers.
And even UPN had some good numbers: Wednesday's lineup was up 19 percent compared with its season average, despite going head-to-head for one hour with Monica. "Dilbert" and "Star Trek: Voyager" are two of the shows helping to save the network's bacon.

The overnights: This night is rated R ...

... for repeats. Four networks loaded the airwaves with repeats Thursday night, and it showed as viewers drifted away to look for something fresher. Some went to Fox, which grew audience every half hour of its NAACP awards broadcast. Others checked out the UPN movie, "Inferno," which gave the network a rare victory over the WB. ABC, meanwhile, smartly employed a combination of new programming and repeats of two of its most popular sitcoms, "Drew Carey" and "Spin City," to post strong ratings in the Thursday overnights. The same strategy worked in reverse for CBS, however, which did best with an old "Diagnosis Murder," while new hours of "Turks" and "48 Hours" fizzled. Don't worry, CBS, Moses (in the form of Gerald McRaney) will be back later this month to take you to the "Promised Land."

Skip down to the wire stories

Monica mows 'em down

Remembering Gene Siskel

Once Overnightly:

Top This

Memo to the New York Post:

Jack Carmody dies

The nation's best-known reporter on the TV industry, author of "The TV Column" for The Washington Post for 21 fact-filled years, crusty Jack Carmody passed away Monday ... Carmody, better known to some readers as "Captain Airwaves," coined his share of phrases, from "roller-towel alert" to "infobabe." He had retired in 1998 and his column was taken over by Lisa de Moraes ... As his editor David von Drehle recounts, Carmody was a one-of-a-kind, the kind of one-of-a-kind you thought vanished from newspapers years ago ... (Read the story) Carmody was remembered this week at a service attended by all three nightly anchors and much of the East Coast TV establishment. Here's the Post's account. Harrison Wyman remembers Carmody as someone who took a subject "that most people normally would not read about and not only make it readable but make the reader understand why it was important" ... (Read the story)

Washington Wreck in Review

Fox goes on with Zahn

That's the ticket

Pick to click
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Reader mail

Previously on TV Barn:

Go to the Old Page (previously posted dribs and drabs)

On the wires: "Will & Grace" to take over for "Jesse": Here's the PR direct from NBC: The new comedy series "Everything's Relative," starring Emmy nominee Jeffrey Tambor ("The Larry Sanders Show"), Oscar nominee Jill Clayburgh ("An Unmarried Woman," "Starting Over"), feature- film star Eric Schaeffer ("If Lucy Fell") and newcomer Kevin Rahm, will premiere Tuesday, April 6 (9:30-10 p.m. ET) on NBC, and the critically acclaimed, People's Choice Award-winning comedy "Will & Grace" will move to Thursdays (8:30-9 p.m. ET) beginning April 8. The announcement was made today by NBC Entertainment President Scott Sassa. The press release goes on to say that the "season finale" for "Jesse" will air April 1. Click here for other stuff we've heard

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In happier times. Durst nightmare Poor Will Durst. The comedian, Internet columnist and host of the PBS series "Livelyhood" had to go begging for publicity in the past. But when he returned home to San Francisco after screwing up the $500,000 question for his friend Rudy Reber on "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" the other week, he found 86 inquiries from the press on his voice mail. What he didn't know -- and it's probably just as well -- is that he had also become public enemy No. 1 online at the "Millionaire" chat board, as the evil man with the wrong answer who cost his so-called pal 218,000 clams. So, Will, who is Rudy Reber and how did you wind up as his phone-a-friend on the night of Feb. 17? "Rudy used to be a comedian back when we were all fellow soldiers in the comedy wars in the early 1980s here in San Francisco," the keeper of www.willdurst.com told TV Barn. "Rudy had been a good bud. Me and my wife Debi had gone over to his house a couple of times for dinner, and versa visa. Then Rudy and his wife Tina split up, and we didn't see much of him. Next time I saw him he was a used car salesman in Portland and was trying to get back into comedy. But they didn't have a lot of open mikes in Portland ... (continued) Picks to click ... for the week of March 6 are here ... By the way, the first guests on "Lifetime Live" are Hillary Clinton and Melissa Etheridge. The daily digest ... for March 7: Apologies to everyone who kept checking in on Monday -- my "In" box runneth over, and it wasn't till Monday night I was able to clear out the time to do the page ... John Carney writes, "I'm sure you saw the bizarre incident with Tad Low of 'Pop-Up Video' forcing his way on stage during the "TV Guide Awards" to protest the fact that his show didn't win for best music program. As I noted to you a couple of years ago, the production company's Web site was always so strangely critical of VH1. Well, I've been watching VH1's new news show, 'The Daily One,' tonight. Cane and Lynda Lopez talked about the incident, calling Low a 'jackass,' pointing out that the show comes from an independent production company. They also proclaimed their affection for Carson Daly -- whose MTV show "TRL" won the award -- and showed footage of Low being escorted off following the incident. 'Pop-Up Video' is actually one of my favorite shows, and I hate to see it headed towards apparent cancellation" ... UPN sent out a press release billing its companion Web site for its new drama "The Beat" as "the first-of-its-kind Internet site." Why? Because it features "original 'webisodes' -- innovative vignettes on the Internet -- that correlate to UPN's new cop drama," which is from the shop of Barry Levinson and Tom Fontana, creators of "Homicide." But wait. Didn't NBC have "original 'webisodes'" of "Homicide" on *its* Web site? The "Beat" vignettes are produced on digital camera, so I guess that sets them apart, but "first-of-its-kind" is a tad fatuous ... The producers of "Freaks and Geeks," however, sent out a very charming p.r. to critics, along with yet another "relaunch episode" of their critically acclaimed show. "That's right, our third relaunch in one year," reads the memo from Judd Apatow and Paul Feig. "I swear to God this will be our last relaunch. That is because we have only one other option - our funeral ... We're having a great time making the show regardless of the madness that surrounds us" ... In a rare defeat for Discovery Networks, the holding company for Discovery, TLC, Travel Channel and a bunch of digital-cable-only channels said it is giving up on Discovery People, a/k/a Eye on People, which it paid CBS $100 million for last year. People's inability to get onto cable systems eventually pitted it against Discovery Health, a startup channel with a lot more promising growth curve ... Lynette Rice reports in Entertainment Weekly that "Who Wants to Marry a Multi-Millionaire" is back, and being contemplated for a 2000-01 run by UPN, among others ... And did you catch the classic comedy moment on Friday's "Late Show"? The first time the control room lets the "Decaffeinated Coffee" jingle fire too early? Dave turns to Maria Pope and says, "--ly Balloo," a reference to Bob & Ray's ace reporter Wally Balloo, who always began talking a split second before the control room potted up his mike. Coming up next:
Wednesday: Campaign 2000: The late-night vote
Thursday: TV Barn reader feels the need for "Greed" Previously on TV Barn:
3 March: "Contact"
2 March: Bush whacked
1 March: Reader mail
29 Feb: Kathie Lee quits
28 Feb: Kathie Lee triumphs
24 Feb: Reader mail
23 Feb: More games to come
22 Feb: "X-Files" meets "Cops"
21 Feb: Dave is back!
On this date... in 1979, Karen Wolek's testimony dramatically ends the Marco Dane murder trial on "One Life to Live." Under cross examination from the District Attorney, Wolek blurts out her secret: "How much more do you want, Mr. Callison? Haven't I said what everyone wants to hear? What you want everyone to hear? That I am a common hooker like Katrina Karr? That Marco Dane was my pimp? Is that what you want me to say?" Well, yeah, it is. And that the real murderer is Talbot Huddleston (one of Karen's clients). Years later, it's revealed that Marco's identical brother Mario was the actual victim. That's life in the soaps! Judith Light wins an Emmy for her breakthrough breakdown performance as Wolek, a role she took over from fellow future sitcom star Julia Duffy. March 7: in 1989, Jamie Lee Curtis has a new creep going after her, but it's just Goth goof Richard Lewis. And at least in the beginning of their series, their relationship is "Anything but Love." -- Tom Heald On the wires:
(Stories open in a new window. Many links expire over time.)

No thanks! "Today" to air Couric's colonoscopy [ The AP ]
WGA award winners [ Variety ]
Adolescence in '70s begets TV hit today [ WashPost ]
Second TV station drops "Bob, the Devil and God" [ Variety ]
PAUL HARRIS: Olympic ballroom dancing?!? [ Read it ]
Stuff you never knew about Jennifer Lopez's dress [ The AP ]
Judge throws out most damages against "Dateline" [ The AP ]
Henson's new owner reviving "Muppet Show" -- yayyyyyy!! [ The AP ]
Kathie Lee observes "bring our overexposed sons to work day" [ The AP ]
Talking heads: Nielsen meters suck [ Mediaweek ]
Clear Channel sells off 72 stations [ CBS MW ]
Gary Baseman gets Disney toon deal [ Animation Blast ]
More TV news from ZENtertainment [ Read it ]

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(continued from front) "That was at least three, four years ago. And then (last month) I get a call out of the blue. I was going to be in Chicago appearing at Zanies. Debi called me and said, 'Rudy Reber just called. He's going be on "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" and do you want to be one of his lifelines?' So I said sure, no problem, what's the big deal?" Lowering his voice, Durst added, "I didn't think he had a chance in hell of making it through the process. I was wrong. I was very wrong." But on with the story: "So I call Rudy, who's living in Virginia. He tells me all I have to do is be by the phone for two 3-hour periods on Thursday. I was in the middle of a big writing project anyhow, so I stayed in the house. Actually, I was in a 'comedy condo' -- the ubiquitous comedy condo where all of the comedians at that club stay." (I'd never heard of a comedy condo, but apparently Zanies, Improv and all the other clubs each have one. It's cheaper than giving out-of-town comics a hotel room. Durst passed along this helpful hint for all the aspiring comedians out there: "Beware the brown towels at the comedy condo. And buy your own mayonnaise.") "So I get the call from a little girl (at ABC), I can't remember her name. They call in the morning at about 11 and they say, 'Are you going to be near a phone later today?' I say yes. They say they needed me by the phone from 3 to 6 p.m. Central time. "Three-thirty rolls around and there's a call to say 'Your friend Rudy is on the hot seat.' I answered the phone on the first ring and I just said 'Durst!', because that's the way I answer my phone. She said to me, 'No, you're supposed to answer it on the third ring like we told you, because the next person on the phone will be Regis.' "See, I never thought he'd make it through the 10-person speed order quiz," Durst confessed. "He wanted to list Ben Stein, but he wasn't able to for some reason." (It would've been a massive conflict of interest; Disney has its hands in both shows, and many of the original "Millionaire" writers were borrowed from "Win Ben Stein's Money.") "So the phone rings. I wait three times, but I figure it's been 45 minutes -- no way has my good friend, smart Mensa member Rudy, made it for 45 minutes. But I hadn't accounted for show stoppages and so forth. "Sure enough, it's Regis. I answer the phone, 'Durst!' He says 'Durst? We're looking for Will Durst!' Then he says it's the $500,000 question." The question was, "Who directed Michael Jackson's video 'Bad'?" "Now I'm not a big music guy. I have 10 presets on my car radio and not one of them is music. But this was a music question I knew! I was so excited for him. I was going to help him out! Oh man, was I confident. I was very confident." Durst told Reber the correct answer was John Landis. Reber decided to risk his wad and answer the question. He said Landis. The answer was Martin Scorsese. (Landis directed "Thriller.") "They put me on hold. I was able to hear it, but I couldn't say anything. I couldn't go, 'Rudy, I'm sorry.' Plus, Regis took an inordinate amount of time. He stopped for the longest time and then he said, 'No, the answer is C.' And I just screamed. People in the comedy condo heard me screaming. And I didn't have Rudy's number. "Meanwhile, I couldn't breathe for 48 hours. I didn't tell people at the comedy club. They just thought I was unusually morose. The news media had no problem telling the story in 120 words. But I couldn't." "Then Rudy calls on Saturday. He says, 'Don't worry about it, buddy! I had a great time! I'm getting out of telemarketing! I couldn't ask for any better publicity!' "Well, it turns out -- I could!" By accepting Durst's wrong answer, Reber blew the chance to keep his winnings of $250,000. He went home with $32,000 instead. Durst has already figured out that he can make it up to Reber by sending him $20 a month ... for 908 years. "We speak every couple of days now," says Durst, adding with a laugh just slightly tinged with bitterness: "He's my counselor." Durst gave me Reber's phone number in the Newport News area. I called. Sure enough, the first thing out of Reber's mouth were compassionate words for his hangdog friend Will. "The poor guy," Reber said. "He's been getting abused for a week. That poor bastard. I felt so crappy for him." (The show aired one week after its taping, on Feb. 24.) My first question to Reber is, why Durst? And why call him for that question? "I've known Will a long time," said Reber, who had chosen chose two comics, a deejay and two relatives as his phone-a-friends. "My brother's a Ph.D., but he wouldn't know a Michael Jackson video from his left foot. My brother-in-law is a lawyer. He knows law, he knows art history. The deejay was a classic rock guy." But Durst knew a lot of pop culture history, so that's how he became the go-to. Only after the taping did Reber realize -- of course! -- that the deejay probably knew the correct answer to the "Bad" question. (And, as Reber later confirmed, he did.) Reber is a telemarketer these days, but he is well known in West Coast comedy circles. Mavis Leno produced a horoscope for him 15 years ago that predicted he would one day become a writer. Reber even had the singular honor of being dissed once on stage by none other than Rick Rockwell, the man who infamously hooked up with Darva Conger last month on Fox's "Who Wants to Marry a Multi-Millionaire?" "I had gone down to San Diego about ten years ago. I went down on a day's notice to do a comedy competition at the Improv. All of the L.A. guys were there. Afterward I'm standing up there in the back while they're tallying up the count on stage. I wasn't No. 5, 4, 3 or 2, so I knew I had won, because I knew I was definitely in the top five. Sure enough, I was No. 1 -- but Rockwell, who was the emcee, just said, 'Who the hell is THIS?' Because he thought it was going to be one of his L.A. pals. And I thought, 'F--- you.'" Of Rockwell the comedian, Reber said, "People who've seen his act know why he got out of comedy." But after his "Millionaire" appearance, Reber will likely use what winnings he has to get out of telemarketing and try a fresh start, possibly in radio. An old friend, "Dennis Miller Live" producer David Feldman, called him up and said, "You've got to get into radio," and Reber is seriously considering that. As for Durst, he's thinking of getting into the witness protection program. "I haven't seen the show yet. I can't. It's too painful. Someone has taped it for me. Maybe in five, six years we'll look back on this and laugh ... "Rosie O'Donnell made it even worse for me because she was a phone-a-friend and she offered to pay the difference if she was wrong. Thanks for raising the bar, Rosie!" Durst wrote a first-person account of his misadventure for the new issue of TV Guide. He's promised Reber the freelance money from the article. The two of them may also surface this week on an "Extra" segment. We're not sure if he gave TV Barn a print exclusive -- I'm an undisguised fan of the "Livelyhood" series -- but we're pretty sure Will won't be returning most of the 86 press inquiries he received. He's peeved about the way he's treated by the rest of the media. "The AP called me a `famous comedian,'" he grumbled. "They've never called me a famous comedian before. I couldn't get a story written about me -- until this."

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Vice President Gore paneled with Jay Leno for the first time last month. (NBC/Paul Drinkwater) Primary shades Forty years ago, Jack Paar was said to have such an influential role in the 1960 presidential election that Joe Kennedy sent him an effusive thank-you note after the election. Late-night television hasn't quite had that sway this presidential season, but then we're only to Super Tuesday, so who's to say that the bookers for the Leno and Letterman show won't be going toe to toe trying to land the most opportune panels with Gore and Bush? In this article, I review the trend and the candidates' most recent appearances. Read my article in Wednesday's Kansas City Star Picks to click ... for the week of March 6 are here. The daily digest ... for March 8: Surprisingly tight race in Monday's late-night overnights. Despite having George W. Bush as his guest, Leno and "Tonight" rated just a 5.5 in the overnights, compared with 4.6 for Letterman and guest Kathie Lee Gifford ... Alan Suhonen has been appointed general manager of Network News Service, the domestic news co-op between ABC, CBS and Fox that got off to a rocky start during the Pittsburgh fast-food shooting. Electronic Media reports that two Pittsburgh stations got into a shouting match after video shot by a Fox affiliate showed up on the city's ABC affiliate, despite assurances from NNS that rivals wouldn't burn each other that way. Coming up next:
Thursday: TV Barn reader feels the need for "Greed"
Friday: Ratings roundup, Kansas city TV Previously on TV Barn:
7 March: The $218,000 answer
3 March: "Contact"
2 March: Bush whacked
1 March: Reader mail
29 Feb: Kathie Lee quits
28 Feb: Kathie Lee triumphs
24 Feb: Reader mail
23 Feb: More games to come
22 Feb: "X-Files" meets "Cops"
21 Feb: Dave is back!
On this date... in 1996, "If you're a human being, take a break from the race. Take a load off your feet, wipe the nose off your face. Got a lot to do and we do it for you. Everybody take your place," because it's a whole new Muppet show on ABC -- "Muppets Tonight." Kermit is still surrounded by madness backstage, while the Arsenio-like Clifford the crawfish -- "your Homie made of Foamie" -- hosts the titular talk show. On the debut episode, both Miss Piggy and Michelle Pfeiffer have been booked as the show's Very Special Guest Star. This leads to Dueling Maria Von Trapps, while three Elvi witness the signing of the Declaration of Independence on "Great Moments in Elvis History." Yes, Jim Henson is very much dead. -- Tom Heald On the wires:
(Stories open in a new window. Many links expire over time.)

Top Twentieth TV exec dead at 48 [ Variety ]
"King of the Hill" co-EP signed for WB sitcom [ Variety ]
Introducing HBO Latino [ Variety ]
ABC wins 10th straight week [ The AP ]
"South Park"-ers want to say "bleep" during Oscarcast [ Mediaweek ]
Barkley signs on as NBA analyst [ Mediaweek ]
WWF tries to kill wrestling movie [ E! Online ]
More TV news from ZENtertainment [ Read it ]

New at the TV Barn ... Now it's Conan vs. Dave ... EW gives us an "A" ... The "Greaseman" debacle ... Overnight ratings ... Pick to Click ... Show du Jour ... and my photo!

Updated 3/8/99 at 12:01 AM CST

The new late-night fight

In the year 2000, Andy Richter and Conan O'Brien could find themselves stealing the spotlight from David Letterman. (Photo: Norman Ng for Edie Baskin Studios) It appears we may have the makings of a new battle in late night. Forget about Leno vs. Letterman -- now it's Conan vs. Dave. In their grand press release last week crowing about NBC's total victory in the February ratings "sweep," executives at the network chose to highlight the fact that, for the first time ever, "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" beat "Late Show with David Letterman" in a key demographic category -- adults ages 18-34. It's quite a milestone considering that Conan's show airs one hour later than Dave's. "Late Night" is also a whisker away from tying or surpassing "Late Show" in adults 18-49 and could conceivably challenge someday in adults 25-54. Some nights, Conan even beats Dave outright in total viewers. Even more ominous are these numbers that weren't included in NBC's press release: Since the 1993-94 season, Letterman has lost half his audience. He averaged a 5.8 rating (percentage of total U.S. households) five years ago and is pulling a 2.9 so far in 1999. Meanwhile O'Brien has increased his rating 40 percent in that time, from 1.5 to 2.1. And that's even before NBC factors in the estimated million or two viewers catching "Late Night" from their dorm lounges or bars (as NBC did in the 1980's when selling Letterman's show to advertisers). NBC also seems to be paying more attention to its 12:35 man in its on-air promos. Those nightly 30-second prime-time spots now carve out an extra few seconds and use actual video clips for "Late Night." For years, all the show would get on the promos was a rushed tagline: AndtonightConan'sgotBenStiller! I can understand the extra attention for O'Brien; in fact he deserves more of than he's getting even now. But what's the deal with the Letterman comparison? Many of us are familiar with the huge lift Dave gave Conan by returning to "Late Night" as a guest on Feb. 28, 1994. Why the bitterness? The two men compete in approximately zero percent of the country. NBC's tactic probably has something to do with the fact that in less than a month two network comedy-variety programs will go head-to-head in the 12:35 a.m. time slot for the first time. On April 6, Craig Kilborn will sign on as the new host of CBS's "The Late Late Show," replacing the retiring Tom Snyder. In stark contrast to Snyder's cozy conversations with his guests and callers, Kilborn and Co. will produce a show with plenty of topical humor and comedy sketches. There will be a small studio audience, something anathema to Snyder ever since NBC executives forced one on him during the "Tomorrow Show" overhaul of 1980. Kilborn's show won't likely be confused with O'Brien's; no sidekick or band, and Kilborn isn't known for his Seventies pop-cultural references. In fact, many critics early on may be looking more for resemblances between "Late Late Show" and "The Daily Show," which starred Kilborn on Comedy Central. Nevertheless, there will be one area in which O'Brien and Kilborn will be unable to avoid constant comparison: the ratings. That, I suspect, is what's really behind NBC's PR front. Even before Snyder's show launched in 1995, he and O'Brien were agreed that any notion of a rivalry between such divergent programs was preposterous. In time, that truce benefited Conan as Tom's show was stigmatized as a little-watched throwback that appealed mainly to older viewers. Now with Kilborn, NBC wants to keep CBS isolated at 12:35, even though the format change and new young host would suggest a direct assault being made on Conan's audience. If I were handicapping this, I'd say NBC's chances of succeeding with its evil plan are very good. Consider that "Late Late Show" remains at a huge disadvantage in live clearances -- that is, in stations that will air the show at its god-given time of 12:35 a.m. Eastern/Pacific, 11:35 Central/Mountain. Most CBS affiliates that aren't clearing the show live are unlikely to change course anytime soon; Kansas City's KCTV has the "Seinfeld" franchise at 11:35 for the next two and a half years. CBS could abandon the household race and simply focus on how Kilborn does with key demographics, as it does in claiming moral victories for Howard Stern. In this it will succeed, probably, because Snyder's current young-adult rating is low. But maybe not: Stern's show, after all, airs primarily on non-CBS affiliates, many of them independents that appeal to younger viewers at other times of the day. Kilborn, meanwhile, will find his show promoted during CBS prime time, when the typical viewer is in her mid-to-late 30's and 40's (and actually the median viewer age is 50-plus). Letterman's staff, as we've reported here in the past, feels CBS prime time is of little to no help in getting the word out about Dave's show to his target audience, because Dave's target audience doesn't watch CBS. Much of the time they're watching ABC and NBC, where the relationship between the networks' prime-time performance and subsequent late-night ratings are apparent, as anyone who's ever glanced the Thursday overnights for NBC knows. All in all, Kilborn will be fortunate to settle in at the 1.5-1.6 Nielsen rating of Snyder, and if he can exceed a 1.0 rating among young adults he'll be doing fine (Snyder's below 1.0). More likely he will come in below those targets and find himself in competition with NBC's "Later," a show that, you got it, airs one hour later than his, while NBC sets its sights on promoting O'Brien as the heir to Letterman's throne and the heir apparent to Leno's time slot (if and when, that is, Jay decides to step down). Of course, if Kilby knocks out a week of kick-ass shows and gets all the TV critics on his side, forget I said anything.

Fresh Step keeps it unreal

Last Wednesday, the phony sensation that's poppin' the nation made their second appearance on "Late Show with David Letterman." They performed their alleged hit "Talk to the Hand," not to be confused with the companion hit, "Don't Talk to the Hand (Girl, Talk to the Heart)," which they performed recently on MTV's "Total Request," taped about 10 blocks away. The song ended with the most blatant website plug in TV history for http://www.fresh-step.com, their supposedly "official" website. Again Letterman introduced them as a legit act. Again he held up a CD that allegedly contained the group's work (it was the soundtrack to "200 Cigarettes," probably the first disc they found lying around the music booker's office, and no, Fresh Step isn't on it). As Tom Heald notes, "You gotta love 'Late Show's' strategic use of Fresh Step on Wednesday night. Think about it: on a night when 'Nightline' has the world's best lead-in (the Lewinsky interview), Letterman's bookers offer us Kid Turkey Callers, Mark Wahlberg, and Fresh Step ... i.e., only one real guest." Not to be outdone by the real parody, Marilyn Sargent and others have created their own Fresh Step parody fansites. Link to them all or go directly to the funniest one. RELATED: Fresh Step returns to Letterman show

Entertainment Weekly rates us an "A"

That didn't take long: Time Warner's authoritative mag on everything showbiz (circ. 1 million) has already weighed in with a review of TV Barn. And guess what -- we got high score. "Aaron Barnhart morphs the site for LATE SHOW NEWS, his respected post-prime-time industry column, into a new page centered on general TV news ... Even more indispensable than the original. (Grade:) A" If you're here for the first time because you read that review, may I direct you to the "Previously on TV Barn" links, which will catch you up on most of the big pieces you've missed from the website's first month on the air. Also, I've added two more indispensable book titles to The TV Critic's Toolbox: Jeff Kisseloff's The Box and Joel Brinkley's Defining Vision. And I've added a few more links to Read Other TV Critics.

The "Greaseman" debacle

I received an e-mail on Feb. 9 from Anne Raugh, who was in the audience the night before as "Politically Incorrect" taped the first of five shows that week originating from Washington, D.C. Anne wrote, "For some reason that was never clear to me, 'The Greaseman' and a handful of his entourage were working the audience line outside the theater with hastily hand-lettered protest signs. The gist of the garbled complaints seemed to be that 'the Greaseman' had been denied a place on any of the Washington panels. Only his own station seemed to even give a damn, but I was wondering just what made him think he deserved a seat in the first place." Today, of course, "Politically Incorrect" might consider Doug "The Greaseman" Tracht very seriously as a guest, but not for the reasons Tracht originally envisioned. Earlier this month, "The Greaseman," a longtime fixture on the Washington, D.C., radio scene, was fired after playing a clip of Lauryn Hill's music on the air, then joking that no wonder "they" get dragged behind trucks -- an appalling reference to the killing of a black man by white supremacists in Jasper, Tex. Now "the Greaseman" is on a nationwide "apology tour" to make amends for his ill-chosen ad-lib. The tour last week included a "Nightline" broadcast on which an industry expert told ABC's Chris Bury that Tracht's firing will probably increase his value in the radio marketplace. After all, "the Greaseman" is a talented guy, as even Ted Koppel was forced to admit last week. (Koppel told Tracht he used to let his daughters listen to "the Greaseman" in the car while driving them to school.) And good talent is hard to find. In fact, it's highly likely that Tracht's next employer will be the same as the last: CBS, which is one of a shrinking number of radio groups that are consolidating the industry. As Harrison Wyman notes, "WARW-FM, a classic rock station where Tracht worked, is owned by CBS. So is WPGC-FM,the top-rated radio station in Washington with a hip-hop format that regularly plays Lauryn Hill's music."

How sweep it is

So which of the big six broadcast networks won the February ratings sweep (Feb. 5 through March 3)? If you believe everything you read in PR, they all did! Read the story

The overnights: The big island of Mowry ...

Did you ever notice that the ratings for "Sister Sister" on WB almost never vary from its lead-out, "Smart Guy"? The two sitcoms starring three Mowrys are now consistently the top-rated comedy shows for WB on Sundays. I think they should just take a page out of the old Saturday-morning cartoon book and create a two-hour magazine with nothing but Mowrys. And while at it, throw in their musical superhero friends, too -- Time Warner loves the co-branding.

Here's what we know:

That so long as we're talking late-night numbers, "The Tonight Show" averaged a 4.4 rating and a 13 "share" five years ago and is not much higher today, 4.6 rating/14 share season-to-date. The difference is that 4.4 was only good enough for third place in 1993-94, while in 1999 it would be good enough for first. The similar-looking share points tell us something else: Despite claims that interest in late-night TV is declining, audience levels are about where they were at the zenith of the Letterman-Leno fight. (3/8)
That Electronic Media reported, and TV BARN confirmed independently, that former "Daily Show" smarties Lizz Winstead and Brian Unger are working with new Fox entertainment chief Doug Herzog to develop a news parody program for Fox. I also learned from a source that Unger would be the host of the pilot -- a position he had lobbied for, unsuccessfully, at "The Daily Show" last year following Craig Kilborn's departure. Herzog's first act upon arriving at Comedy Central in 1995 was to find a show to replace the departing "Politically Incorrect." He contracted with Winstead and Madeleine Smithberg to develop "The Daily Show." EM reported that Herzog is also developing a pilot for Fox that would star several members of The State, which had its own MTV show and then "Viva Variety" at Comedy Central, again under Herzog. (3/8)
That Washington, D.C.'s own Paul Harris wrote the funniest post mortem on the Monica Lewinskycast. Read it at http://www.HarrisOnline.com/plain/plain.htm (3/8)
That WGN isn't murdering repeats of "Hawaii Five-O" like The Family Channel did. You may recall that, in one of their last acts while in the employ of Pat Robertson, the geniuses at Family had acquired the library of the 1970's detective series starring Jack Lord and made it the heart of the channel's prime-time lineup. When Rupert Murdoch bought the network last year and relaunched it as Fox Family Channel, "Hawaii Five-O" was thrown back in the ocean, whereupon WGN picked it up. There a fan named "Carol S" began noticing some conspicuous differences in the way the same episode appeared on the two channels. She recently posted some of them to a fanlist for the show. Among them: "The WGN version includes the scene of Marge's funeral, which was completely cut out of the Family Channel's broadcast. This is the first acknowledgement that Steve doesn't believe Lonnie is the killer." Christian censorship -- or did Family Channel just run more commercials per hour than WGN does? Pick the theory that best fits your ideology. (3/8)

Skip down to the wire stories

Monica mows 'em down

(March 5, 1999) Despite all of the pre-show publicity -- the promos, the excerpts, and an orchestrated campaign of leaks to the media worthy of the Clinton White House -- I was reluctant to believe that post-impeachment America would gather around their TV sets in large numbers to watch as this final chapter in the Monica Lewinsky saga was played out in a two-hour Barbara Walters interview. Read the story

Pick to click
Redhanded
UPN, 8:30 p.m.
Strange World
ABC, 10 p.m.
New Attitudes
Lifetime, 11 p.m. weeknights
New is the byword tonight as two midseason shows debut and a third gets a makeover. First up: "RedHanded," an MTV-ish knockoff of "Candid Camera" where ordinary folks play hidden-camera jokes on their friends as a way of scolding them for a bad habit. A young woman is tired of her boyfriend's stealing habit, so a visit to a fancy hotel is arranged, with lots of loot laid out in their room. Sure enough, he bags most of it, only to be apprehended by "security" (actually people hired by "RedHanded") in the lobby. He's left in a lockup to stew but ultimately gets off with a mild punishment -- which is knowing he's going to be on UPN. Well, what's the point of that? Is any lesson imparted here? And does anyone in the viewing audience seriously doubt that this boyfriend needs to be dumped ASAP? Add to that the show's choppy editing and incessant rhythm track and avoidance of anyone who looks to be over 25, and "RedHanded" has every sign of being stolen out of MTV's Dumpster. Throw it back!

Saundra Quarterman and Tim Gurnee star in "Strange World." (Photo: ABC) Also, if you loved "The X-Files," then you might just hate "Strange World," a patent knockoff of the popular Fox series. It debuts at 10 tonight, then settles into "NYPD Blue's" time slot Tuesday for a limited run. All the familiar "X-Files" elements are here: emotional male, scientific female (actually, two of them), the bluish, noirish camerawork, the indigestible conspiracy, the FBI agents in windbreakers, the mystery person identified in the credits only as "Asian Woman" (a la "Cigarette Smoking Man") -- and look, it's Kritschgau (John Finn) from the "X-Files"! Finn plays the baddie and frankly, was the only person who kept my interest through the series' first two hours. Finally, "New Attitudes," the surprisingly good women's newsmagazine airing weeknights on Lifetime, changes co-hosts as Kim Coles of "Living Single" replaces comedian Suzanne Whang. Former Miss America Leanza Cornett remains the other co-host.

Show du jour
Cosby
CBS, 8 p.m. Mondays

When Bill Cosby returned to weekly television in 1996 with this sitcom, his character was paired with a wife considerably younger than himself and at least half a generation behind Phylicia Rashad, Cosby's sitcom wife during the 1980's on NBC. But as the show began developing its pilot, Cosby concluded that the young actress and he made a terrible match. Later, explaining the last-minute casting change to reporters, he likened himself to a star baseball pitcher (say, temperamental Hall of Famer Steve Carlton) and his sidekick to a catcher who was used to anticipating his quirks (Carlton, for instance, relied on Tim McCarver, probably preserving the latter's career for two or three seasons). "I need someone who can catch," Cosby said. "Phylicia can catch." So the call went out once more to Rashad. Cosby and Rashad are a pleasure to watch--and it's even satisfying to watch them grow old on TV. But the casting of Rashad, and the fact the show airs on older-skewing CBS, means that "Cosby" will never have the intergenerational appeal of Cosby's NBC show. Also unlike the Huxtables, the supporting players here don't resemble family very much. Madeline Kahn may be an inspired addition to the cast, but one can hardly imagine her giving Hilton or Ruth the time of day in real life. And Doug E. Doug is a curious choice, since he seems not very far removed from those knuckleheads who show up on the WB every Thursday night, an element I thought Cosby wanted to keep out of his show. Cosby launches two nights of programming for CBS: this sitcom on Mondays and "Kids Say the Darndest Things" on Fridays.

In local news ...

We first brought you this story at 6 o'clock. New tonight: A Kansas City man has written a column about the television scene here. Aaron Barnhart is live downtown. But first -- good news for women with health problems. Read my recent "TVKC" columns:

On this date ...
In 1973, a shocking twist in the real life soap opera that is the PBS documentary "An American Family." On that night's episode of the "Real World" precursor, when her husband Bill returns from a business trip, Pat Loud hands him a card from her lawyer and says, "I'd like to have you move out." As the camera remains focused on Bill's face, he accepts the divorce: "Well, that's a fair deal." -- Tom Heald

Reader mail

Our old pal Andy Ihnatko writes that he tried watching the Lewinsky interview Wednesday, "but I reached my Buttafuoco limit on this thing months ago. Had a far better time watching 'Touched by an Angel,' which I actually taped. I don't think the show gets enough credit as entertainment. When it's firing on all cylinders like last night -- in which a country-western singer wearing $5,000 worth of makeup, $12,000 worth of hair and $9,000 worth of dental work portrays a hard-working single mom caring for a terminally sick child -- dammit, That's Good TV." Read the mail

Remembering Gene Siskel

He had been one of my longtime readers on the Internet and, in our occasional e-mail exchanges, mentioned more than once that he wanted to meet me in person. So when I came to Chicago last October, Gene Siskel invited me to accompany him and a few others to a screening and lunch. But I ran late filing a rewrite for my paper back in Kansas City and had to blow off the date. After I filed, I called Gene at home to say sorry, maybe we could hook up the next time I was in town. He cut me off. "Where are you?" he said. Read the full piece I also wrote this appreciation of Gene that appeared in the Kansas City Star.

Previously on TV Barn:

Previously posted dribs and drabs:

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>>> Aaron Barnhart's TVBARN.COM

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He felt the need for "Greed" by Stuart Shostak I've always loved game shows. When they started making a comeback in prime time last year, I got hooked, just as I had been watching daytime game shows as a child growing up in the '60s and as a teen in the early '70s. Now I wanted to play. In January I started playing the "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" telephone game aggressively. Once I got all three qualifying questions right, but no callback. Then I got all three questions correct and, after another hour waiting by the phone, someone called to say, "Congratulations! You have been selected to participate in a playoff game tomorrow between 1 and 2 p.m." But I only got three of the five questions right in the playoff. That ended my big-money game show aspirations -- or so I thought. About a week later, one of my friends called and told me to look in that day's L.A. Times classifieds. There was an ad looking for so-called "television experts" to try out to be contestants on a special TV trivia edition of "Greed," Fox's answer to "Millionaire." Since I own a television archive facility with almost 7,000 shows and have TV memories going back to the age of three (I remember seeing "The Flintstones" first run Friday nights in prime time on ABC!), I figured I qualified. Meeting Regis in New York would be nice, but "Greed" taped right in my own backyard in Hollywood and since I was so familiar with the subject matter, what harm could going to an audition be? (continued) Picks to click ... for the week of March 6 are here. The daily digest ... for March 9: In 1988, at this point in the presidential campaign, the three network nightly newscasts had aired about 800 minutes of coverage. That number has been sliced nearly in half, reports newscast analyst Andrew Tyndall in a new study for Mediachannel.org. Through last week, ABC, CBS and NBC had devoted just 465 minutes of their nightly news to campaign coverage, only slightly more than the dishwater-dull 1996 primary season had been given ... Pat Brown writes, "You've recently reported on movie studios creating web sites that appear to be independently produced to help promote their movies. So here's another non-movie-promoting-movie-promotional-site to add to the list, if you're still keeping track: www.mutantwatch.com for the Twentieth Century Fox movie "X-Men." (I would pity the folks, however, who might actually take that page seriously.) Coming up next:
Friday: Ratings roundup, Kansas city TV
Tuesday: Zippy's Sci-Fi Loft returns!
Previously on TV Barn:
8 March: The candidates and late-night
7 March: The $218,000 answer
3 March: "Contact"
2 March: Bush whacked
1 March: Reader mail
29 Feb: Kathie Lee quits
28 Feb: Kathie Lee triumphs
24 Feb: Reader mail
23 Feb: More games to come
22 Feb: "X-Files" meets "Cops"
21 Feb: Dave is back!
On this date... in 1969, CBS thinks the brothers Smothers doth protest too much and cancels "The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour" after Tommy and Dick refuse to delete Joan Baez's song dedication to her husband, David, who's headed to "the-ol'-Grey-Bar-Hotel" for objecting to the draft. -- Tom Heald On the wires:
(Stories open in a new window. Many links expire over time.)

Inevitably, here comes "If These Walls 3" [ Variety ]
Darva files for annulment [ The AP ]
QVC host gets her own talk show [ The AP ]
NBC bails from broadcast lobby [ The AP ]
Here comes your iBlast [ Mediaweek ]
Four more NBC affils nix "God" [ MediaCentral ]
"Dateline NBC" wins defamation case [ MediaCentral ]
More TV news from ZENtertainment [ Read it ]

>>> Aaron Barnhart's TVBARN.COM All times Eastern
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Contact TV Barn

(continued from front) I called the number listed in the ad and talked to someone who seemed to enjoy his job. He kept making little silly side comments while asking me to tell him why I felt I was a TV expert. After putting me on hold twice, he told me that an audition was going to be held that very night at the studio where the show taped, and I could go down and take a test at 7 p.m. if I wanted. He took down my name and phone number and told me that if I knew any other "experts" to bring them along, too. So along with a friend of mine named Bruce, we arrived at the studio 20 minutes early and joined a small line of people who were discussing the previous night's episode of "Millionaire." I knew I was in the right place. At exactly 7 p.m., we were escorted to an empty studio on the Hollywood Center lot where an array of desks and chairs were set up with tests and pens placed neatly alongside each other, looking very much like a college classroom. There were about 35 of us in the room. We were welcomed by one of the producers, Laura Chambers, a personable lady who used to host a morning show on Game Show Network and was also a veteran game show contestant booker. She had a couple of contestant coordinators and a few production assistants in tow. Laura told us to complete the test forms in front of us and raise our hands when we were finished (also like school). I was the second person to complete what I thought was a pretty easy multiple choice test that did not allow any cross-outs (also like school). I don't remember all of the questions, but some had to do with the breed of horse Mr. Ed was (Palomino), to name the four hosts (of six listed) of ABC's "The View" (everyone knows them), and the capacity of the bar on "Cheers" (that one I guessed at and found out I was right: 75). There were two that I wasn't sure about and it turned out I did indeed miss them. One was the type of doctor Richard Kimble was on "The Fugitive." Having never watched that show, I guessed at plastic surgeon. In fact, he was an obstetrician. The other question I know I missed was the name of the show Jane Pauley first hosted after leaving "Today." I thought she went right to "Dateline" but there was a forgettable short-lived show called "Real Life" that she did first. It wouldn't be the last time my loathing of TV newsmagazines would trip me up. The coordinators went off to grade our tests. Ten minutes later Laura returned and said, "I know this test was really hard, and we'd like you to come back and try out for a regular taping of 'Greed' if you want." I panicked slightly. She continued, "The following people we'd like to stay." She rattled off a few names "... and Stuart Shostak. The rest of you can leave. We're sorry again, but please come back." Bruce, whose name wasn't called, was my ride home, so he went off to do something until they were done with me. At this point, the show runner, Bob Boden, took over. He explained that we were now going to play a mock game, and depending upon how we did, we would either make it onto the show or not. I had been down this route before, having auditioned to be a contestant on "Scrabble" (another Chuck Woolery-hosted game show) back in 1985. I passed that test, too, but the producers considered me "too hyper" to play the game on TV. "Greed," as I knew from watching, was more forgiving of hyper people. Regular viewers of the show will recall a very energetic air-traffic controller named Curtis who I wouldn't want guiding my plane onto the tarmac even on a clear day. It was decided that we would play one complete mock game and take turns during the various rounds. I was among four chosen to play first, and my question was, "In a game of 'Jeopardy', how many answers are there on a standard game board?" I immediately told Bob, "There are six categories with five questions in each, and my elementary school math tells me that six times five is 30." I was right. Like "Millionaire," the first four questions are always pretty easy. Then it was time for the dreaded "terminator," the one element of the game that viewers far and wide have labeled as "sleazy" because of what it does: It gives one team member a chance to eliminate another and take his or her share of the cash. Whenever the terminator strikes -- and no one ever knows for sure when it will happen, except that it always does -- it chooses a contestant at random, who then has the option of challenging another contestant to a one-question showdown. The loser is off the team and gets no share of the eventual prize money. Even though we always have the option of passing up the terminator challenge, it just didn't seem right to play it safe during a mock game. So guess who the terminator landed on? Me. I duly challenged one of my fellow teammates, and the question was, "What does Mary Tyler Moore throw in the air at the end of the opening ..." At that I buzzed right in. "Her hat," I said. Correct, and the other contestant sat down. We continued on a bit until the terminator selected another of us, who chose to challenge the contestant next to him. Laura interrupted at this point with a bit of strategy. When the terminator lands on you, it's best to challenge either the captain, so you can control the team's destiny, or the "weak link" on the team, or the person with the most money. After that little talk, the guy picked me instead, since I had more money than the other team members. Thanks, Laura. The question: "Who did the voice of 'The Simpsons' baby the first time she spoke?" My expertise is in classic TV, well before "The Simpsons," and though I knew that Elizabeth Taylor was the answer, I hesitated. That was that -- I was out. I took a seat and watched everyone else play the mock game. When it was all over, Laura told us that we all played and bantered great, and most (if not all) of us would be on the taping of the show on February 12. She told us to expect a call either the following Wednesday or Thursday if we were going to be selected. She also said that there would be one or two more auditions and if we knew any other TV experts, especially women -- no women had passed the test that night -- to give them the number and have them phone to take part in another audition. Later, I called a couple of people and passed along the number; one of them, my friend Jeff, went to an audition the following Tuesday. Apparently he took a longer and more difficult test; or at least what I would consider more difficult, since he had a lot of questions about current (as opposed to vintage) shows. There was a question about "Jesse" (!) and one about "Law and Order"; I don't watch either show. Only 13 of the 100 or so there passed the test, including Jeff. I started to worry. What if they used the whole episode as a Fox promotional vehicle? All of the questions would be based on "World's Funniest Hidden Camera Bathroom Moments" or "When Former Child Actors Attack," stuff like that. Even if they asked us about "The Nanny" or "Felicity," we'd be fried. Jeff also pointed out that since this episode was in conjunction with the "TV Guide Awards," a lot of the harder, big-dollar-amount survey questions they could ask would have to do with TV Guide's top picks of classic TV characters and shows. That could pose a real problem because they chose Danny DeVito's "Taxi" character as tops over such obvious icons as Lucy Ricardo, Ralph Kramden or Rob Petrie. (Don't get me started on the editorial quality of TV Guide in the last 10 years.) We decided not to worry at this point because neither of us knew for sure if we were going to be on the show. The next day, I got a call from Jeff at about 5 p.m. Andrea from "Greed" had just called him and said they wanted him to be on the show. I hadn't heard anything at this point. Why in the hell did they call him first? I'd gone down there a week earlier! But then the phone rang about an hour later. It was Andrea. "Congratulations, sweetie!" she said. "You made it! We think you have a lot of personality and want you down here Saturday at 9:30 a.m." She then explained that it was their policy to "overbook" contestants to make sure they had enough for each taping and there was no guarantee that I would actually make it on the air -- but the odds were pretty good. I wasn't about to complain. But I did ask her about my wife, who I wanted to come and watch the show from the audience. Andrea said sorry, but unlike "Millionaire," where the "relationship seat" is located behind the hot seat, your actual position on the "Greed" set is not determined until you pass the qualifying question, and there's no way of knowing where to place her in the audience (which is situated like it is in "Millionaire") in a way that prevented her from possibly signalling me with answers. My wife happens to be from Russia and she knows zilch about American TV trivia, but nevertheless, those are the rules. Security is unbelievably tight, but I'll get to that later. In any case, Andrea did say that Anna could come to the show but would be secluded in a green room where she would have to watch the show on a monitor. Well, she could do that at home, so I said I wouldn't bring her. Andrea then gave me a few more instructions on dress. I should be upscale casual, coat and tie preferred, but nothing in black, white or red because they all interfere with the set and the Chyron (the machine that displays the text on the TV screen). I spent most of the next two days playing the TV Trivia game on the CD-ROM that was included with the last edition of Alex McNeil's "Total Television" book. On Friday, a production assistant named Chris called to get some personal information that Chuck Woolery could banter with me about should I make it on the show. I told Chris that I had a very large TV film library (without mentioning my business). He thought that was great since we were all supposed to be "experts," so I shared some tidbits about the collection. About an hour later, Andrea called to re-confirm me for Saturday. The only thing left to do now was to try to get some sleep before going to the studio the next morning. Saturday morning arrived, and on five hours' sleep I donned my tan-colored suit, packed two backup suits (as instructed) and headed for the Hollywood Center Studios. We were once again escorted into an empty studio somewhat different in layout than where we had taken our audition test, but this time our seats had actually been reserved with our names on them. We were told to help ourselves to coffee, juice, and doughnuts, but I was too keyed up to eat. On the desk next to our reserved seats was a pen and two 20-page contracts that we had to read, initial, and sign in various places. These contracts literally had us by the throat because for basically any reason Dick Clark Productions could forfeit a contestant's prize money, not least of all for revealing the outcome of our game before the air date or any behind-the-scenes "trade secrets" on how the show is operated. In other words, I can't go into full details here on how "Greed" functions, but I'll attempt to give a general overview of what took place from the moment I got to the studio until the time I walked onto the set. One of the provisions of the contract was to tell the producers immediately if we knew anyone else who was taking part as a contestant that day. Without any hesitation, Jeff and I went straight to Laura and Andrea and told them we knew each other. They acted slightly disappointed (perhaps because they might have considered having us play on the same team), but they thanked us for telling them. I read over the rest of the contract. I am a member of AFTRA because I do occasional audience warm-ups for sitcoms here in Hollywood, and I had to tell them that. Several years ago AFTRA ruled that it was OK for its members to appear on game shows as contestants, but that they would not be compensated scale if they did not win what would be considered the minimum amount to appear on a television program. Fair enough. After reading and signing what appeared to be the Constitution, I joined a line of about 15 people and turned my paperwork in to another assistant who checked to make sure I had signed everything. Then I handed over my driver's license and Social Security card to her and went back to my seat. Some other assistants walked around and confiscated any reading materials they thought would help us during the show -- entertainment magazines, trivia books, etc. Again, I felt like I was back in school. I was waiting for one of them to say, "You'll get this back at the end of the semester!" After about 20 minutes, the supervising producer, Jeff Mirkin, came out to brief us on the rules and also give the out-of-town contestants a chance to play a mock game similar to the one we played during our audition. My guess is that they had already decided on the teams for the TV trivia show, but were still finalizing who would play together in the regular episode. It appeared also that the out-of-towners were given a verbal test over the phone and if they passed, the show made arrangements to fly them out and put them up in a hotel, much the same way "Millionaire" does in New York. I didn't really talk to any of the out-of-towners to confirm this; but flying the out of towners in and putting them up is a real nice touch because I know for a fact that both "Wheel of Fortune" and "Jeopardy" make the contestant pay his or her own way out to California if they're selected. Mirkin was a very entertaining, funny and personable guy (he'd make a great standup comic if he opted for that), and was very accommodating in taking questions and making sure everyone knew the rules and was clear on everything. He treated everyone as if they were important, never talking down or making anyone feel intimidated. Then the question came up. "What's the cash payout like for the show?" It was bound to happen. The rumors are true, and there is a disclaimer at the end of each episode to prove them. "Cash amounts up to $200,000 are paid in full," Mirkin said. "From $500,000 on up, they're paid in annuities. If you win a portion of $500,000, depending on your final total, up to $200,000 is paid the first year, and the balance is paid over five years. If you split $1,000,000, it's paid over 10 years, and if you win $2,000,000, it's paid over 20. But there are companies out there that will buy out your annuity and pay you close to 66 percent. So if you win $2,000,000 you could get a little more than 1.3 million right away." (As TV Barn and others have reported, "Greed" changed its payout policies to save money.) Winners also have to wait 120 days following air date to receive their awards. That supposedly is standard for the industry ... but think of all the interest Fox is making on that money while it's sitting in a bank somewhere waiting to be awarded. Someone also asked about taxes. "Taxes are your responsibility," Mirkin said. We give you whatever you win and file a 1099, so it's a good idea that you report it. How you want to pay the taxes is your responsibility." Mirkin then explained that not all of the contestants in the room would make it on the air, especially the local ones. "If you don't get on the air today, chances are you will be asked back in the next few weeks for another shot, so don't worry. The worst scenario is that you'll have to listen to me all over again." Then Jeff drops *this* bomb: "Oh, the exception to this is you TV trivia people. If you don't make it on the show today, we don't know what'll happen with you because we don't have plans for another TV trivia show." Oh great. Next, Mirkin introduced us to Darlene, the standards and practices person, a sharp lady who just happened to also be a five-time undefeated champion on "Jeopardy" last December (she'll be in Atlanta later this month taping the show's "Tournament of Champions" that will air in May). Darlene was great because she had been a game show contestant and knew what we were all going through. She joked that she only won $35,000 and had to play five times to do it. Now we had the chance of winning that in five minutes on "Greed." She made us feel comfortable, then wished us luck and that was the end of our briefing. At this point, I headed for the john. Thanks to our good friends Stempel and Van Doren back in the '50s, security was unbelievably tight everywhere, and I actually had to take a number to use the bathroom. After being personally escorted in the men's room, I actually thought my "guard" was going to help me take it out of my pants. By the time I was escorted back to the contestant area, my name was called and I was on my way upstairs to my "holding room." I'd made it onto the show. They put three of us in each holding room, along with a security guard who sat with us to make sure we didn't leave or do anything that could disqualify us. Jeff and I ended up in the same room with another guy that Jeff knew, so we figured none of us would be on the same team because they certainly wouldn't want us to collaborate with one another while waiting to go on. We were right. Shortly after we were put in the room, Jeff was called in for makeup. He would be on the first team. About ten minutes after Jeff came back, he was taken down to get set on stage. Five minutes after that, it was my turn to be made up. By the time I got back to the holding room, they were ready for me to take the long walk down the stairs to the contestant "cage" on the stage. I say "cage" because we were placed behind an actual area enclosed by a chain link fence and gate. I imagine that it's probably used as a prop area for more expensive items when sitcoms are taped in the studio. Andrea was there, and the first thing she told us was not to talk to each other at all -- only to her. They really are concerned about collaborations between contestants prior to their appearances. She sensed I was a little freaked out, and asked if I was OK. When I told her I was, she pulled me aside. I should point out here that when I do an audience warm-up on a sitcom for the first time and the producers have not seen my act, I tend to get a lot of nervous energy before I go out. I usually deal with this by pacing back and forth, going over my timing, cast intros, etc., and once I get my first laugh from the crowd, I'm fine. But there was no room to pace in this enclosed area, and I wasn't going to do a first joke this time. I certainly wasn't going to tell Andrea at this point about my warm-up career, so I let her do the talking. She said, "Hey, come on. We're counting on you! You're really outgoing and have a great sense of humor ... You need to let that out when you go out there. We know you can do it!" She then had me take a couple of deep breaths, and it did seem to help. I went back to my seat in the cage and started watching Jeff's team play the game. While they played, a wardrobe person attached my name tag to my jacket, and an audio engineer set me up with a wireless microphone. Jeff's team actually did fine until they got to the $100,000 question, which was a "Bullwinkle" question: What is the last name of Boris Badenov's partner in evil, Natasha? Being a huge cartoon fan, I knew the answer was Fatale and even said it out loud to my fellow contestants, at which point Andrea shooshed me. But Jeff's team picked "Nogoodnik" instead and that was the end for them. It was now time for us to go to the set. My first impression of the set was that everything looked a lot closer in person than on TV (which is what everyone says about every TV show they attend). But the thing that really stuck out was the fact that the entire set was pure white. The colors you see on TV are all generated by gels affixed to the lights! Remember I said that we had pretty much assumed the show had our teams worked out before we arrived that morning? Well, not only did they have them worked out, but also the ORDER in which we were to stand at the qualifying question podium. I could only think of the first couple of seasons of "The Brady Bunch," when all six kids would race down the stairs all together in order from the oldest to the youngest. Anyway, I was in position No. 2. Once we were placed, Jeff Mirkin came out and asked us what we were going to say when we were introduced on camera. Since most of us were from the Los Angeles area, he said that since the show is seen nationally, we should use the town where we were born instead. He joked that there was nothing more boring than saying you were from Tarzana or Woodland Hills (although there's nothing wrong with that)! So, being born in San Francisco, I used that. I also decided that rather than brag that I was a TV archivist (especially if I bombed out; how would *that* look?), I would mention the other aspects of my business, which are post production services like transferring film to video, slides to video, duplication, editing, etc. That was fine with Jeff. After he left, the stage manager told us step-by-step what was going to happen. Chuck would ask a question. There was no time limit to answer it, but we must wait until Chuck says, "Your time starts now." Failure to do that would result in our answer not being locked in. He explained that we would be a given a question that could only be answered with a two or three-digit number and that we must enter the number exactly on the keypad, then press ENTER or it would not register. We could press CLEAR before pressing ENTER if we wanted to change the answer, but once ENTER was pressed, there was no way out. The stage manager wished us luck, and then Chuck came back to the stage. We all gave him a smattering of applause which he ignored. Chuck began to talk briefly to the audience and mentioned his web site, 2and2.com. I asked him how long he had the site, and he totally ignored me. So I asked him again. He ignored me again. I looked puzzled at one of my fellow contestants, who shrugged her shoulders and that was that. I asked a couple of assistants later why Chuck ignored me. One said that she thought it was a rule that the hosts are not allowed to acknowledge or speak to the contestants until the game gets under way; the other said that he knew Chuck pretty well, and that he tends to focus on only one aspect of something at a time and puts a "wall" up to everything else. In any case, tape started to roll and the question came up: "According to a 1999 Nielsen survey, what percentage of American homes are wired for cable? Your time starts now." Well, since the question said 1999, I figured pretty high - 85%. Turns out only 68% of the country is wired. Another guy was closer, guessing 81%, so I was finished, caput, finito. I went back into the "contestant pool," which means they can use you again for a future episode of the show if they want. Yeah, right, another TV trivia episode of "Greed." An assistant was waiting for me offstage. He told me that I would have to wait there until the commercial break, then I would be released to go home. I watched the team I would have played on climb to $100,000. They took a commercial break, I signed some papers and then was met by Andrea, who seemed a lot more upset than I was. "I'm so, so sorry this happened. Laura and I really wanted to see you play! If you want, you can take the regular 'Greed' test and if you pass it, we can have you back unless we decide to do another TV trivia show ... you'll be back for sure then." I was angry at myself for not thinking about the qualifying question more carefully. I thanked her and asked if I could stick around and watch the outcome of "my" team. She walked me back to the original contestant area and instructed me to tell the security guard when I was ready to leave; he would escort me to my car. The contestant area was filled with the people who were going to be on the second show (the regular episode). They were all watching the TV trivia episode on a monitor. Even my friend Jeff was there, separated from the others -- another security measure -- and I joined him at the "loser's table." There was a problem with the Chyron and the show was stopped for about 25 minutes. The contestants were removed from the set and taken back to the upstairs holding area until the problem was fixed. We were all watching a dark, empty set on the monitor. I helped myself to a sandwich and as I ate, the depressing reality started to sink in. The team I would have been on was running the table. After the break, "my" team opted to go for the $200,000 question. At that moment the horn sounded, announcing the infamous "terminator." The terminator landed on Melanie, who previously didn't know the answer to a question about Ben Stein. She challenged Marra, who previously missed an unbelievably easy question about "The Mary Tyler Moore Show." (Had the team captain not changed their answers, it would have been adios to "my" team, too.) Yes, it was going to be a real pitcher's duel here. (A question during our briefing came up about the terminator: What if neither contestant answers the question correctly? Mirkin said a second question would be substituted, then a third, and so forth until someone answered. Sure enough, it took three questions to get one of the ladies to answer. On the air, only the third question was shown. That's where the disclaimer, "This program has been edited for broadcast without affecting the outcome of the competition," comes in, I suppose. In fairness to the women, the first question was "What was the name of the college Reverend Jim attended on 'Taxi'?" Well, that's a really hard question; I certainly didn't know that. The second question was just as hard, but the third question I knew: "What two-time Academy Award winning director also directed the pilot to 'Columbo'?" Marra answered with Clint Eastwood, but I knew it was Steven Spielberg, and she was history. The rest of the team went on to win $200,000. Ah, what would have been! Jeff and I stayed and watched Mike strike out on the qualifying question, then watched in amazement as his team missed the VERY FIRST question they were asked, a very easy one -- and about Chuck Woolery no less! By that time I had enough with these TV "experts." That team set a record because up until then, nobody on any episode had ever missed the first question. (The funny thing was, I recognized a lot of the players on that team from my audition, where they'd all played brilliantly.). I got escorted to my car, and once on the freeway home, called my wife and told her what had happened. I told her that when I got home, I wanted to be alone for a little while, then I would join her and my in-laws and we could go out to dinner -- unfortunately not to celebrate. When I got home and walked through the door, nobody said anything. I kissed my wife and daughter, went to my office in the back of the house and closed the door. I noticed about five messages on my answering machine. It took about an hour for me to get around to listening to them. The first was from a friend sending me "good luck vibes." Thanks. The next two were from clients that needed some video work done. But then I got to the fourth message: "Hi Stuart, this is Sarah from 'Greed.' I just released you from the studio but the two teams that played after you were on and off faster than we had expected. They want you to come back and play another round. Call me as soon as you get this message and let me know if you can come back." That message was left at 4:45 p.m. It was followed at 5:00 by, "Stuart, it's Sarah again. I just talked to Laura and she said it's definitely worth the wait for you if you can come back. We've gone ahead and started our second show, and I know you live about 40 minutes from the studio. But if you can make it back here, we'll wait to play your round and put it in as part of the first show. Call us immediately. I know how disappointed you were, so I hope you can come back." Before that message was finished, I was on the phone with the show's receptionist, who got a hold of Laura, then came back on with me and said "Get down here!" It had turned into a rainy Saturday night, and I told her it would be 45 minutes to an hour before I could, and she said that would be fine. I raced upstairs to find the shirt I had just thrown in the hamper and put my suit back on. I ran into my wife on the staircase. "Did you hear the," I said. "Yes, I did," she said. "Go -- and good luck this time!" I arrived back in Hollywood at about 6:55 and Sarah came to the gate to let me back in. I knew that "Greed" had brought back previous non-qualifying contestants for its charmingly named "Tournament of Losers," but this was a first for them -- bringing one back on the same show. Andrea told me that they were able to get a hold of three of four of the non-qualifying people (counting me) from the previous rounds to come back. The fourth team (which was eventually edited out of the final broadcast for time purposes) only advanced as far as the $50,000 question before folding. Kris, who didn't qualify with them, would be on our team, as would Courtney from the first round. The one not back was Mike, who apparently left the studio and never checked his answering machine. (As a side note, just to show you what a terrific bunch the "Greed" people are, they did finally reach Mike and invited him back to be a contestant on one of the shows that taped last week. An assistant told me that they gave the "overbooked" contestants for the regular show the same TV trivia test they gave us during our audition. Luckily three of them passed, so the show had its six players for the fifth round. The security guard was surprised to see me again as I walked past her to the makeup room for a touch-up. Then I took that long walk downstairs to the contestant cage -- but there was no wait this time. We went back to the set, and the stage manager gave us the same instructions he gave earlier. This time, though, he emphasized that when Chuck calls our name after qualifying to wait a beat so the director could take a shot of us before we headed to the podium. I felt like saying that if I made the qualifying question this time, I'd give the director a miniseries. Mirkin came out again, at which time I thanked him tremendously for this second chance. He asked me not to make a big deal of it on the air, then the tape rolled. Chuck began with the qualifying question: "Since its debut, how many criminals has the TV series 'America's Most Wanted' help to capture? Your time starts now." Swell -- another show I don't watch, and a current Fox show to boot. I didn't have a clue, so I said 75. The answer was 599 -- but this time another guy was even more off, so I qualified for the team! I was so surprised I threw my arms up and screamed. Chuck said, "Stuart's really excited!" Well, Chuck had no idea of the day Stuart just had! At my podium, I realized that we weren't given anything like a desktop computer monitor to look at; rather, an LCD-looking display like you might find on a laptop, but with all the flashing lights and basic set lighting it was really hard to read. It was also difficult to know if we had our answers correct without listening to the "correct answer" sound, because the colors used for right and wrong answers on-screen (brown and green) were not distinguishable. My question, thankfully, was a piece of cake (see picture). Richard, next to me, who had come to play regular "Greed" but wound up on the TV trivia game, got an easy "Twilight Zone" question. That took us to $50,000. Courtney, next to Richard, got a question about "The Sopranos," of which I know nothing. She rattled off her answer like clockwork. We were up to $75,000. Kris (next to Courtney) was given a "Beavis and Butt-Head" question to which she quickly responded, and just like that we made it to $100,000. Chuck took a commercial break; I asked Laura for some water, and almost immediately we were taping again. Chuck asked our captain Samantha (also there to play regular "Greed") if she wanted to go on to the $200,000 question, the category of which was newsmagazines. Now for some strange reason, I started thinking "What the hell do Time and Newsweek have to do with TV?" Before I could really ponder this, she decided to go on, and all of a sudden we were playing for $200,000. But first -- time for a terminator! Guess where it landed? Uh-huh, right smack dab on yours truly. At first, I didn't know that, because the light comes on at the front of the podium. But Chuck announced, "Stuart! It's you! Do you want to challenge somebody for the opportunity of taking their money? I'll give you ten grand whatever happens." After the day I had watching some of the other teams play so poorly, listening to some of the previous terminator questions, then driving all the way home depressed, upset, and dejected knowing what it's like to be a loser -- but more importantly watching our team, especially the women, rattle off answers to questions that I didn't know ... I said, "Chuck, if this was a regular game of 'Greed' where it was general knowledge, I might have a different answer, but this is one heck of a good team, and I have got to leave it the way it is!" The audience (which I'd forgotten was there) burst into applause, and a huge sigh of relief came over everyone, especially Samantha the captain. It turned out afterward that she thought I would challenge her because up to that point she hadn't changed any of our answers. (This apparently singles out some captains as weak and, therefore, expendable.) Actually, had I made it onto that second team as originally planned, I would not have hesitated to bounce Marra or Melanie, but not this team. So now, the $200,000 question: "Which four of these six have been correspondents on the Sunday edition of '60 Minutes'?" Well, now I got it. Had Chuck said the category was television newsmagazines, I wouldn't have been so confused. Samantha chose to use the Freebie -- the "Greed" equivalent of the "Millionaire" 50-50 lifeline -- and one wrong answer went away (Chris Wallace). Well, I knew the other four answers. The remaining wrong answer was Bernard Shaw, who has always been with CNN and was never on "60 Minutes." I was confident my fellow team members knew this, too. Chuck started the guessing with me. Now here's a major difference between "Greed" and "Millionaire." As Darlene, the standards-and-practices woman, had told us during the briefing, we could not puzzle aloud with the question (e.g., "Well, I know Bernie Shaw wasn't"). We could only give our answer, and just one of the four total answers. When it was my turn I said, "This wasn't as hard as I thought it was going to be -- Diane Sawyer!" My cohorts were equally as confident, rattling off their answers quickly one by one. The captain didn't even have to supply an answer, because I had left the team intact. Nor did she challenge any of our answers (although once I saw the show on the air, she really didn't know for sure; funny how you don't notice those things right away.) Chuck offered her a bribe to split $20,000 and call it quits. She said no dice ... and our answers were right. We had our $200,000. Now it was time for the $500,000 question. The category was TV memorabilia. Well, that could be just about anything from lunch boxes to videos, and by that point, I had really had enough. The $500,000 questions are usually much tougher because they're more ambiguous and we'd also have to get four out of seven correct without the use of a freebie. Captain Samantha could not help but watch me out of the corner of her eye. I was practically banging my head on the podium, begging her to stop. She did. We each won $40,000. As we made our way to the center of the set, the first thing Samantha said to me was, "I was scared to death of you. I was afraid to make a move without looking to you first." I didn't understand why until I saw the show on the air. She really wasn't sure about a lot of the answers we gave, and throughout our game she did seem to be looking in my direction quite a bit. The other teammates also thanked me tremendously for not using the terminator on them. I just told them, "Guys, if you had a day like I just had, you would have done the same thing!" Stuart Shostak owns and operates Shokus Video and The TV Connection. (Check out his website; he's got about an hour's worth of vintage TV in streaming-video format.)

New at the TV Barn ... Will TV be better than ever? ... Now it's Conan vs. Dave ... Parade commits huge Siskel gaffe ... We goofed too ... Overnight ratings ... Pick to Click ... Show du Jour ... and my photo!

Updated 3/9/99 at 11:43 AM CST CRASH! went the tvbarn.com server this morning. The Tuesday page was hastily reloaded onto my site, but then the geniuses at Digiweb simply re-loaded all of the old files back onto the server from their backup ... thus wiping out Tuesday's home page and replacing it with Monday's. I'm not recommending Digiweb this week ...

TV's coming golden age

Remember all those commentaries written toward the end of last year regarding the awful state of television today? Mine wasn't one of them. In fact, in an essay I wrote for the Kansas City Star, I argued that TV's future looks brighter than ever -- not because the content is any better overall but because technology is making a wider variety of TV content available to us and giving us more control over what we watch. Read the essay

Things that make you go (gasp)

How the hell far in advance do they publish Parade magazine anyway? The widely-circulated Sunday newspaper supplement printed a full-page profile of movie critic Roger Ebert in its March 7 edition -- and the article referred to his late former sidekick Gene Siskel as "taking a break" and "taking it easy," even though Siskel died two weeks ago. James Brady obviously wrote the piece after Siskel had announced he was taking indefinite leave from his movie-reviewing duties in early February. Siskel passed Feb. 20 of complications related to brain surgery in 1998, but Parade apparently went to press before anyone could remove the embarrassing references. Am I the only one who thinks it peculiar that a newspaper section should be set in stone two full weeks before insertion -- even one with a nationwide distribution like Parade? Thanks to reader Greg Gerke for pointing it out. (March 9, 1999)

The new late-night fight

Fresh Step keeps it unreal

Last Wednesday, the phony sensation that's poppin' the nation made their second appearance on "Late Show with David Letterman." They performed their alleged hit "Talk to the Hand," not to be confused with the companion hit, "Don't Talk to the Hand (Girl, Talk to the Heart)," which they performed recently on MTV's "Total Request," taped about 10 blocks away. The song ended with the most blatant website plug in TV history for http://www.fresh-step.com, their supposedly "official" website. Again Letterman introduced them as a legit act. Again he held up a CD that allegedly contained the group's work (soundtrack to the movie Talk to the Hand, allegedly starring Sarah Michelle Gellar and James Van Der Beek). As Tom Heald notes, "You gotta love 'Late Show's' strategic use of Fresh Step on Wednesday night. Think about it: on a night when 'Nightline' has the world's best lead-in (the Lewinsky interview), Letterman's bookers offer us Kid Turkey Callers, Mark Wahlberg, and Fresh Step ... i.e., only one real guest." Not to be outdone by the real parody, Marilyn Sargent and others have created their own Fresh Step parody fansites. Link to them all or go directly to the funniest one. (March 8, 1999) RELATED: Fresh Step returns to Letterman show

Entertainment Weekly rates us an "A"

That didn't take long: Time Warner's authoritative mag on everything showbiz (circ. 1 million) has already weighed in with a review of TV Barn. And guess what -- we got high score. "Aaron Barnhart morphs the site for LATE SHOW NEWS, his respected post-prime-time industry column, into a new page centered on general TV news ... Even more indispensable than the original. (Grade:) A" If you're here for the first time because you read that review, may I direct you to the "Previously on TV Barn" links, which will catch you up on most of the big pieces you've missed from the website's first month on the air. Speaking of indispensable, I've added two more must-have book titles to The TV Critic's Toolbox: Jeff Kisseloff's The Box and Joel Brinkley's Defining Vision. And I've added a few more links to Read Other TV Critics.

The "Greaseman" debacle

How sweep it is

So which of the big six broadcast networks won the February ratings sweep (Feb. 5 through March 3)? If you believe everything you read in PR, they all did! Read the story

The overnights: Paranoia overload

That was a pretty emphatic statement by ABC's viewers Monday night: After holding its own through two hours of news programming, the network saw its audience fall off sharply in the 10 o'clock hour with the premiere of "X-Files" knockoff "Strange World." Expect the show to do a little better tomorrow when ABC moves it into "NYPD Blue's" time slot Tuesday for a limited run. But if Monday is any indicator, Sipowicz and Sorenson have little to fear from "Strange World's" bizarre conspiracy.

Here's what we know:

That yours truly goofed on a couple of items this week. Craig Kilborn takes over at "Late, Late Show" one week earlier than I'd reported, on March 30, the day after the NCAA final. And there was more to the Fresh Step gag, which I reported but obviously did not see, than was in my account. Several readers wrote in -- I liked this one from an AOL'er named Jim: "You mentioned that Dave held up a copy of the soundtrack of TALK TO THE HAND and that it was actually a copy of the 200 CIGARETTES soundtrack. The CD was in fact a made-up copy for the fictional film TALK TO THE HAND. It even had Sarah Michelle Gellar and James Van Der Beek on the cover. According to the Fresh Step web site, they are the stars (they say the film is about a deaf girl falling in love or something). So, it seems that Dave went all out for the stunt, got the art department involved and everything."
Both errors have been fixed in the original stories posted to TV Barn. (3/9)
That so long as we're talking late-night numbers, "The Tonight Show" averaged a 4.4 rating and a 13 "share" five years ago and is not much higher today, 4.6 rating/14 share season-to-date. The difference is that 4.4 was only good enough for third place in 1993-94, while in 1999 it would be good enough for first. The similar-looking share points tell us something else: Despite claims that interest in late-night TV is declining, audience levels are about where they were at the zenith of the Letterman-Leno fight. (3/8)
That Electronic Media reported, and TV BARN confirmed independently, that former "Daily Show" smarties Lizz Winstead and Brian Unger are working with new Fox entertainment chief Doug Herzog to develop a news parody program for Fox. I also learned from a source that Unger would be the host of the pilot -- a position he had lobbied for, unsuccessfully, at "The Daily Show" last year following Craig Kilborn's departure. Herzog's first act upon arriving at Comedy Central in 1995 was to find a show to replace the departing "Politically Incorrect." He contracted with Winstead and Madeleine Smithberg to develop "The Daily Show." EM reported that Herzog is also developing a pilot for Fox that would star several members of The State, which had its own MTV show and then "Viva Variety" at Comedy Central, again under Herzog. (3/8)
That Washington, D.C.'s own Paul Harris wrote the funniest post mortem on the Monica Lewinskycast. Read it at http://www.HarrisOnline.com/plain/plain.htm (3/8)
That WGN isn't murdering repeats of "Hawaii Five-O" like The Family Channel did. You may recall that, in one of their last acts while in the employ of Pat Robertson, the geniuses at Family had acquired the library of the 1970's detective series starring Jack Lord and made it the heart of the channel's prime-time lineup. When Rupert Murdoch bought the network last year and relaunched it as Fox Family Channel, "Hawaii Five-O" was thrown back in the ocean, whereupon WGN picked it up. There a fan named "Carol S" began noticing some conspicuous differences in the way the same episode appeared on the two channels. She recently posted some of them to a fanlist for the show. Among them: "The WGN version includes the scene of Marge's funeral, which was completely cut out of the Family Channel's broadcast. This is the first acknowledgement that Steve doesn't believe Lonnie is the killer." Christian censorship -- or did Family Channel just run more commercials per hour than WGN does? Pick the theory that best fits your ideology. (3/8)

Click here for other stuff we've heard Skip down to the wire stories

Monica mows 'em down

Pick to click
The Teen Files: The Truth About Hate
syndicated special (check local listings)
This extraordinary hour confronts prejudice among teenagers by forcing them to see how it feels to be hated. This one-hour special with Leeza Gibbons starts out conventionally enough: Three teenagers, each of whom identify themselves as white supremacists, meet survivors of hate crimes. And they're read the riot act by a former skinhead who warns them to wise up -- or else. Hard to tell, but the message seems to get across. Then things get interesting: four L.A. teens -- two Latino, two Armenian -- agree to spend one day in the other persons' culture. Then they return to their high school, wracked by violence between the two groups, and propose a truce. Next, three teens who claim they're not prejudiced -- but don't like gays -- work at a soup kitchen in San Francisco frequented by other teenagers who were run out of their homes for their sexuality. Then it's off to Georgia where a gaggle of teens are sent off on a wild "diversity adventure." Watching these impressionable kids spurred to action, one can only hope a few of those watching at home will be too.

Show du jour
Win Ben Stein's Money
Comedy Central, 11:30 p.m. Mondays-Thursdays

The funniest game show on TV and the most original contribution to the genre since "Family Feud" pits the starchy know-it-all conservative against three "common contestants." At stake: his nightly paycheck. Ben Stein--actor and screenwriter, longtime contributor to the right-wing American Spectator and former speechwriter for Richard Nixon--reads the quiz cards during the show's first segment. But after that his sidekick (the very funny Kimmel) takes over and Stein competes directly with the two remaining contestants. Low finisher is eliminated at each commercial break, with Stein and the top finisher matching wits during a $5,000 lightning round. Stein may have worked for Nixon, but he plays like a Kennedy. Best known as the dull-as-dishwater professor in "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," here he gets completely absorbed in the game, much to the amusement of Kimmel, who is forever trying to get under his skin. ("Will you explain the rules, Jimmy?" "Only if you give me some tongue.") The questions, which tend to be of medium difficulty, are concealed behind hilarious titles. The lightning round can be an ordeal; Ben has been known to throw a minor tantrum on camera after losing. But repeated viewings attest that his reputation as a Hollywood smarty-pants is well earned. The show's creator said this was the easiest pitch he's ever made to a network and it consisted of four words: "Win Ben Stein's money."

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Remembering Gene Siskel

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"Raw" is (in bidding) war Vince McMahon and the World Wrestling Federation informed its investors Wednesday that it is cancelling its four hours of weekly programming on the top-rated USA cable channel. Do you smell what the Prez is cooking? The abrupt announcement comes as CBS/Viacom prepares to step up its bid to acquire rights to one of television's biggest franchises among 12-to-34-year-old males: "Raw is War," the WWF's mega-huge Monday night show. Variety reports that the most likely scenario involves "Raw" going to The Nashville Network (owned by CBS Cable), with "Smackdown" staying on UPN (of which Viacom is half-owner) and Viacom finding a home for McMahon's latest creation, the XFL football league. Ironically, it was the XFL that has proved a sticking point both in negotiations with Fox -- another WWF suitor -- and USA. Ironic, because as cable buffs know, the USA Network started out as the heavily sportsified MSG Network before Kay Koplovitz made it a general entertainment channel. More coverage on what could be the cable story of the year:

411wrestling.com News
WWF Entertainment's SEC filing dated 3/8/00 (see under "XFL" heading)
McMahon smacks down WWF documentary

"Camp" classic By Andy Ihnatko SpaceCamp (1986) [Three Stars]

Sci-Fi Channel, 7 p.m. Saturday
(repeats 5 p.m. Sunday)
Full IMDb listing I love this movie. And there's no irony whatsoever in that statement. I saw "SpaceCamp" for the first time a couple of years after its initial release, and that still counts as one of the very best times I've had in a theater. It's not up there with the first time I saw "Star Wars" but it's definitely in the same league as the Saturday afternoon when my then-sweetie and I were in Harvard Square and, desperate for someplace dark to make out immediately, dashed to the Loews eight-plex and unwittingly bought tickets to a gay sex comedy. (continued) Picks to click ... for the week of March 6 are here. The daily digest ... for March 10: No surprise here, but say goodbye to "The Martin Short Show." The low-rated talker will be out of production within a month, an industry source familiar with the show told TV Barn ... Here are ratings highlights from February for Kansas City's TV stations ... I was intrigued to read that Don Ohlmeyer, departed about a year from NBC, is returning to his old stomping ground at ABC. He's going to produce "Monday Night Football" (begin speaking in Howard Cosell voice), a program with which he was associated for the better part of five years in his capacity with ABC Sports. He won five Emmys with the network, including his production of the Olympic Games in 1972 and 1976. And let the record show that he -- and not this announcer -- was chiefly responsible for the selection of "Halftime Highlights" ... I guess that with former entertainment executive Jamie Tarses gone from ABC, it was safe for old Don to grace its halls again ... Speaking of old stomping grounds, the alt.fan.letterman Usenet group spearheaded a campaign to raise money for heart research. They came up with $2,384.40 and CBS matched that with 5,000 clams of its own for the American Heart Association ... If you've been wondering if that www.whoaooonellie.com site mentioned in the mock "Late Show" ads for heart bypass surgery really exists, take a look for yourself ... "Late Show" ratings leaped 30 percent in February and reversed a four-year slide in season-to-date ratings. Quoting the CBS publicity verbatim: In the February 2000 survey, LATE SHOW with DAVID LETTERMAN was up +28% in households (3.7/11 vs. 2.9/9), +34% in viewers (4.75m vs. 3.53m), +27% in adults 18-49 (1.9/9 vs. 1.5/8) and +31% in adults 25-54 (2.1/10 vs. 1.6/8) compared to last February. Compared to last year, "The Tonight Show" was up +2% in viewers (6.11m vs. 6.02m), flat in both households (4.7/14) and adults 25-54 (2.8/13) and down -7% in adults 18-49 (2.5/12 vs. 2.7/13). Season-to-date, LATE SHOW with DAVID LETTERMAN is up +10% in households (3.2/9 vs. 2.9/9), +16% in viewers (4.11m vs. 3.55m) and +6% in both adults 18-49 (1.7/8 vs. 1.6/8) and adults 25-54 (1.8/8 vs. 1.7/8) compared to last season. "The Tonight Show" season-to-date is down -2% in households (4.5/13 vs. 4.6/14), -4% in both adults 18-49 (2.5/12 vs. 2.6/12) and adults 25-54 (2.7/12 vs. 2.8/13) and even in viewers (5.96m) from last season. Got all that? ... By the way, Craig Kilborn is up significantly, too, while Conan is down. Coming up next:
Monday: Reader mail
Tuesday: Zippy's Sci-Fi Loft returns!
Previously on TV Barn:
9 March: He felt the need for "Greed"
8 March: The candidates and late-night
7 March: The $218,000 answer
3 March: "Contact"
2 March: Bush whacked
1 March: Reader mail
29 Feb: Kathie Lee quits
On this date... in 1980, there'll be hell toupee as NBC's "Today Show" welcomes new wacky weather watcher (and former Ronald McDonald) Willard Scott, whose arrival finally gives 99-year-old-women something to live for. March 11: in 1998, "Ellen's" coming out of her timeslot as ABC decides to try out a new show about "An Architect And A Med Student Trying to Pay For Grad School By Working At Beacon Street Pizza, And The Spokeswoman For A Chemical Company Who Hangs Out With Them Even Though They're Not Too Bright." Fortunately, the network shortens the title to "Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place." March 12: in 1987, the normally self-assured Alex P. Keaton questions his own existence in "'A' My Name Is Alex," a truly Very Special Episode of "Family Ties." Having passed on a joy ride with friends "because it wasn't convenient," Alex is now guilt-ridden when the trip results in a fatal car crash for his childhood pal Greg. After being confronted by his friend's ghost, he finally seeks help from an unseen therapist and comes to terms with "his selfishness." The performance will help earn Michael J. Fox his third consecutive Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series, and the episode also wins Gary Unger and series creator Gary David Goldberg a pair of Emmys for Outstanding Writing. -- Tom Heald On the wires:
(Stories open in a new window. Many links expire over time.)

NBC reups "Third Watch," "West Wing," "L&O SVU" [ Variety ]
Ratings: NBC wins Weds. on "Dateline" strength [ Mediaweek ]
Try again, Carol Leifer [ Variety ]
Cable pioneer Daniels dies [ MediaCentral ]
Yet another record month for DirecTV [ PR release ]
Restructure at ABC News [ Mediaweek ]
Senate passes rural TV loan bill [ SkyReport ]
More TV news from ZENtertainment [ Read it ]

>>> Aaron Barnhart's TVBARN.COM All times Eastern
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(continued from front) Of course, as a point of cold, dry fact, the movie really does suck. Roundly. But it's a well-executed sucky movie. It even has a John Williams score. Unlike movies directed by Roger Corman or which star Mexican wrestlers, the only thing wrong with "SpaceCamp" is every single page of the screenplay. It still looks like a good flick. It doesn't have that spasmotic effect on the retinas that causes your nervous system to involuntarily jerk your head away from the screen as a self-defensive measure. There really is a U.S. Space Camp in Huntsville, Alabama. Kids (and even adults) can sign up for a week of astronaut-ish training which culminates in a shuttle-ish mission simulation. If the real Space Camp were anything like the one in this movie, however, the kids' parents would have to sign a waiver thick enough to choke a horse who downs Donald Trump prenuptial agreements like Tic Tacs. You've got five plucky kids assigned as the crew of the mock-shuttle, and as Space Campers they're given the run of the entire Camp and the adjoining NASA facility. This includes access to JINX, an adorable little robot with an autonomous AI and a personality even more annoying than the severely-underaged camper he befriends...no mean feat, considering that the little brat (played by an embryonic Joachin Phoenix) speaks solely in "Star Wars" references. The robot gets toasted by the other campers (hey, that's why NASA let them play with the $20,000,000 robot and not the one that cost them real money) and the kid fixes it up again, leading it to pledge "Max and JINX friends forever!" Jinx says this frequently enough that if this were a made-for-the-Lifetime-Channel movie, JINX would probably add "I want us to die together, Max!" after it. Alas, JINX and Max are apart when the robot tries to kill him, the rest of his crew of campers, and their astronaut instructor, Kate Capshaw. She's an actual NASA shuttle astronaut, by the way. She's got Sally Ride's hairdo and she wears stretchy little spaghetti-strap tank tops when she's working with teenaged boys in confined shuttle cockpit-mockups. Near the end of the campers' week of geeky fun in Huntsville, NASA figures that the kids are here to get a taste of what it's like to be astronauts, and they've had nearly a whole week of Space Camp training...so what the hell? Why not let them strap into a real, actual, fully-fueled shuttle so they can experience all that way-cool rumbling that real astronauts feel during liftoff? Fortunately, this is just a scheduled test of the Shuttle's engines, so nothing can possibly go wrong. But JINX, the robot prototype that has a higher NASA security clearance than even a Space Camper, has overheard Max's fervent wish to one day fly into space, so he chats with the one room-sized talking supercomputer that controls every single piece of NASA hardware on the planet. JINX cheerfully tells the supercomputer to create a fault in one of the Shuttle's two booster rockets which will force NASA to launch the mutha, unless it blows up first and kills everyone aboard. See, I bet you're probably enjoying this already. Even just now, watching the scene on video, I laughed and laughed and laughed. Genuine stuff, too, not the forced form of mockery you'd normally pull out when faced with a scene like this. Have you ever stood under a set of shuttle SRB's? I have. Each one is a tube about the size of three school buses, and at launch it's filled to the brim with one of the most volatile liquids we know of that's safe enough to manufacture and transport. Then there's the external fuel tank, itself like an entire 747 fuselage, again filled to the brim with explosives. You think about NASA putting five kids in chairs on top of all of that and lighting the other end, and by the time you've caught your breath, wiped your eyes, and picked yourself up off the floor, you realize that there's still at least 11 hysterically impossible aspects to this scene that you haven't even touched upon yet. The great thing about "SpaceCamp," though, is the fact that its technical absurdity is very egalitarian and appeals to all levels of expertise. Take the nail-biting scene in which Kate Capshaw has to spacewalk to a spacestation-under-construction to replenish the Shuttle's dwindling air supply. Alas, the air tank is within a tight network of structural lattices and she's too big to get at it. So the kids scrunch a second EVA suit down so it can fit the crew's tiniest member -- 9-year-old Max -- and then (no doubt eliciting cheers from the audience) they blast the little worm out the airlock. The avid space-geeks in the audience will laugh because they know that a spacesuit is a damned complicated item, and even if you forget about its yards of plumbing and integrated hardware, when the suit is pressurized with air it's about as squooshy and flexible as a fully-inflated steel-belted radial tire. If you're not a space geek but are still on the ball, you'll wonder just what exactly NASA intended those tanks to be used for, if they've installed them in a spot where no adult-sized astronaut can possibly get at them. And even the kids will watch and wonder how the campers got a three-foot belt -- even an elastic one -- to stretch some thirty feet around the arms and legs and torso of Max's spacesuit. Regardless, "SpaceCamp" still stands as one of the most treasured theater experiences of my life. I first saw it in the student union of my college: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. About a half an hour into the film someone in the audience couldn't take it any more and, after seeing yet another scene in which an 8-year-old kid was able to stroll into any NASA building or lab at any hour of the day or night, he grumbled "Jesus! Doesn't NASA lock anything?" The comment was intended for his roomate, seated right next to him, but evidently his voice carried because the complaint was met with a rousing wave of enthusiastic laughter and applause. (I'd identify this brash student, but modesty forbids.) The ice was broken and an audience of 200 science and engineering students then proceeded to take apart this film as no film ever had or ever will be again. I wish you too could see this film with 200 scientists and engineers. That's the only way to see "SpaceCamp" and walk away convinced that you've had a three-star filmgoing experience. So just be warned that Your Mileage May Vary.

Copyright © 2000 Andy Ihnatko. May not be redistributed without permission. Studio PR types wishing to send Andy tapes, promotional clothing, or high-end video gear in hopes of securing a positive review are advised that such efforts are futile, but they're free to try to determine how high Andy's price actually is. Mail any and all pelft to Box 279, Norwood, MA 02062. He could use a new subwoofer for his home-theater setup.

New at the TV Barn ... Comedy Central comes of age ... Cable continues to gain ... Is TV entering a new renaissance? ... Another major Brokaw blunder? ... Parade and TV Guide commit Siskel gaffes ... Overnight ratings ... Pick to Click ... Show du Jour ... and my photo!

Updated 3/10/99 at 8:38 AM CST CRASH! went the tvbarn.com server Tuesday morning. Those of you who visited later in the day may have seen Monday's page up instead -- that's because the geniuses at Digiweb simply re-loaded all of the old files back onto the server from their backup ... thus wiping out Tuesday's home page, which I'd uploaded myself. I'm not recommending Digiweb this week ...

Broadcast TV slips again in February

It may have been a great month for blockbuster specials and movies like NBC's "Alice in Wonderland" and ABC's exclusive with Monica Lewinsky. But the February ratings sweep overall saw yet more disappointing losses for the six broadcast networks versus cable. In this analysis that appears in Wednesday's Kansas City Star, we examine why. PLUS: What's behind NBC's success in late night? Read the story

Comedy Central comes of age

Last year I wrote a story for Broadcasting & Cable about the then-rocket-ship-like ascent of Comedy Central. The prediction embedded in this article (55 million subscribers by year-end) came true but the network has since lost its CEO Doug Herzog and "Daily Show" anchor Craig Kilborn. Nonetheless, I found the article holds up pretty well and, in honor of the annual Aspen Comedy Arts Festival going on this week, I share it with you now. Read the story

TV's coming renaissance

Things that make you go (gasp)

How the hell far in advance do they publish Parade magazine anyway? The widely-circulated Sunday newspaper supplement printed a full-page profile of movie critic Roger Ebert in its March 7 edition -- and the article referred to his late former sidekick Gene Siskel as "taking a break" and "taking it easy," even though Siskel died two weeks ago. James Brady obviously wrote the piece after Siskel had announced he was taking indefinite leave from his movie-reviewing duties in early February. Siskel passed Feb. 20 of complications related to brain surgery in 1998, but Parade apparently went to press before anyone could remove the embarrassing references. Am I the only one who thinks it peculiar that a newspaper section should be set in stone two full weeks before insertion -- even one with a nationwide distribution like Parade? AND THERE'S THIS from reader Chris Friedrich: "Parade magazine isn't the only mag that doesn't read the papers. This week's TV Guide just published a note about Siskel taking a break for awhile." Thanks to reader Greg Gerke for pointing out the Parade gaffe. (March 9, 1999)

The new late-night fight

Fresh Step keeps it unreal

Last Wednesday, the phony sensation that's poppin' the nation made their second appearance on "Late Show with David Letterman." They performed their alleged hit "Talk to the Hand," not to be confused with the companion hit, "Don't Talk to the Hand (Girl, Talk to the Heart)," which they performed recently on MTV's "Total Request," taped about 10 blocks away. The song ended with the most blatant website plug in TV history for http://www.fresh-step.com, their supposedly "official" website. Again Letterman introduced them as a legit act. Again he held up a CD that allegedly contained the group's work (soundtrack to the movie Talk to the Hand, allegedly starring Sarah Michelle Gellar and James Van Der Beek). As Tom Heald notes, "You gotta love 'Late Show's' strategic use of Fresh Step on Wednesday night. Think about it: on a night when 'Nightline' has the world's best lead-in (the Lewinsky interview), Letterman's bookers offer us Kid Turkey Callers, Mark Wahlberg, and Fresh Step ... i.e., only one real guest." Not to be outdone by the real parody, Marilyn Sargent and others have created their own Fresh Step parody fansites. Link to them all or go directly to the funniest one. (March 8, 1999) RELATED: Fresh Step returns to Letterman show

Entertainment Weekly rates us an "A"

That didn't take long: Time Warner's authoritative mag on everything showbiz (circ. 1 million) has already weighed in with a review of TV Barn. And guess what -- we got high score. "Aaron Barnhart morphs the site for LATE SHOW NEWS, his respected post-prime-time industry column, into a new page centered on general TV news ... Even more indispensable than the original. (Grade:) A" If you're here for the first time because you read that review, may I direct you to the "Previously on TV Barn" links, which will catch you up on most of the big pieces you've missed from the website's first month on the air. Speaking of indispensable, I've added two more must-have book titles to The TV Critic's Toolbox: Jeff Kisseloff's The Box and Joel Brinkley's Defining Vision. And I've added a few more links to Read Other TV Critics.

The "Greaseman" debacle

How sweep it is

So which of the big six broadcast networks won the February ratings sweep (Feb. 5 through March 3)? If you believe everything you read in PR, they all did! Read the story

The overnights: Goodbye, "Strange World"

"X-Files" knockoff "Strange World" is off to a pretty inauspicious start, losing most of its well-earned lead-in two nights in a row on ABC. Tuesday's overnight ratings were no better than Monday's -- and remember on Tuesdays the show occupies a coveted time period, that of "NYPD Blue," where it was expected to be for the next few weeks. But if "Strange World" should vanish in the next several days, well, don't blame John Finn's twisted FBI guy for it.

Here's what we know:

The industry faxsheet TV Business Confidential is reporting that while filling in this week for Matt Lauer on the "Today" show, NBC news anchor Tom Brokaw told Katie Couric and Al Roker on the air about passing homeless people en route to Rockefeller Center that morning. Brokaw said he felt jealous of the homeless because they get to sleep in an hour later than him. A stunned Couric quickly steered the conversation onto safer ground, but by then it was too late. The NBC switchboard soon lit up with calls from mortified viewers. If the report is confirmed -- and we should stress that we did not see the broadcast first-hand -- then it will be the second on-air doozy for Brokaw in three years. The first came during NBC's coverage of the Atlanta Games, in which he stated matter-of-factly that authorities just about had all the evidence needed to charge Richard Jewell in the Centennial Park bombing. That remark reportedly cost NBC an eight-figure settlement. (3/10)
That yours truly goofed on a couple of items this week. Craig Kilborn takes over at "Late, Late Show" one week earlier than I'd reported, on March 30, the day after the NCAA final. And there was more to the Fresh Step gag, which I reported but obviously did not see, than was in my account. Several readers wrote in -- I liked this one from an AOL'er named Jim: "You mentioned that Dave held up a copy of the soundtrack of TALK TO THE HAND and that it was actually a copy of the 200 CIGARETTES soundtrack. The CD was in fact a made-up copy for the fictional film TALK TO THE HAND. It even had Sarah Michelle Gellar and James Van Der Beek on the cover. According to the Fresh Step web site, they are the stars (they say the film is about a deaf girl falling in love or something). So, it seems that Dave went all out for the stunt, got the art department involved and everything."
Both errors have been fixed in the original stories posted to TV Barn. (3/9)
That so long as we're talking late-night numbers, "The Tonight Show" averaged a 4.4 rating and a 13 "share" five years ago and is not much higher today, 4.6 rating/14 share season-to-date. The difference is that 4.4 was only good enough for third place in 1993-94, while in 1999 it would be good enough for first. The similar-looking share points tell us something else: Despite claims that interest in late-night TV is declining, audience levels are about where they were at the zenith of the Letterman-Leno fight. (3/8)
That Electronic Media reported, and TV BARN confirmed independently, that former "Daily Show" smarties Lizz Winstead and Brian Unger are working with new Fox entertainment chief Doug Herzog to develop a news parody program for Fox. I also learned from a source that Unger would be the host of the pilot -- a position he had lobbied for, unsuccessfully, at "The Daily Show" last year following Craig Kilborn's departure. Herzog's first act upon arriving at Comedy Central in 1995 was to find a show to replace the departing "Politically Incorrect." He contracted with Winstead and Madeleine Smithberg to develop "The Daily Show." EM reported that Herzog is also developing a pilot for Fox that would star several members of The State, which had its own MTV show and then "Viva Variety" at Comedy Central, again under Herzog. (3/8)
That Washington, D.C.'s own Paul Harris wrote the funniest post mortem on the Monica Lewinskycast. Read it at http://www.HarrisOnline.com/plain/plain.htm (3/8)
That WGN isn't murdering repeats of "Hawaii Five-O" like The Family Channel did. You may recall that, in one of their last acts while in the employ of Pat Robertson, the geniuses at Family had acquired the library of the 1970's detective series starring Jack Lord and made it the heart of the channel's prime-time lineup. When Rupert Murdoch bought the network last year and relaunched it as Fox Family Channel, "Hawaii Five-O" was thrown back in the ocean, whereupon WGN picked it up. There a fan named "Carol S" began noticing some conspicuous differences in the way the same episode appeared on the two channels. She recently posted some of them to a fanlist for the show. Among them: "The WGN version includes the scene of Marge's funeral, which was completely cut out of the Family Channel's broadcast. This is the first acknowledgement that Steve doesn't believe Lonnie is the killer." Christian censorship -- or did Family Channel just run more commercials per hour than WGN does? Pick the theory that best fits your ideology. (3/8)

Click here for other stuff we've heard Skip down to the wire stories

Pick to click
Dharma & Greg
ABC, 8 p.m. Wednesdays
This endearing treatment of true love in an age of romantic indifference features smart writing and a young couple with obvious on-screen chemistry. "Dharma & Greg" was created as a vehicle for Jenna Elfman, who had shined in an otherwise miserable ABC sitcom, "Townies," in 1996. Given a favorable time placement on ABC's strongest night, the show became TV's most popular new sitcom after "Veronica's Closet" in the 1997-98 season. Elfman was touted by her network as the breakout star of the year, though most critics agreed that honor really belonged to "Ally McBeal's" Calista Flockhart. The story of Dharma, a flower child born to flower children, and husband Greg, an attorney born to upper-crust parents, "Dharma & Greg" is, in the astute observation of ZENtertainment's Sean Jordan, "the 'Bridget Loves Bernie' for the '90s," although by the '90s you would think the wife could be the breadwinner in the family. The larger ensemble included Dharma's hippy-dippy folks Abby, still curiously stuck in their Haight-Ashbury ways, and Greg's parents Kitty and Edward, who in the fine British tradition have a kinky streak under their conservative guise. Greg's buddy Pete and next door neighbor Jane are also regulars and have been turned into a couple as well (even, briefly, a married couple). At the end of each show series co-creator Chuck Lorre puts up a vanity plate filled with lines and lines of whimsical observations set in agate type. (It's on screen for all of two seconds, so you need a VCR to read it.) The Teen Files: The Truth About Hate
syndicated special (check local listings)
This extraordinary hour confronts prejudice among teenagers by forcing them to see how it feels to be hated. This one-hour special with Leeza Gibbons starts out conventionally enough: Three teenagers, each of whom identify themselves as white supremacists, meet survivors of hate crimes. And they're read the riot act by a former skinhead who warns them to wise up -- or else. Hard to tell, but the message seems to get across. Then things get interesting: four L.A. teens -- two Latino, two Armenian -- agree to spend one day in the other persons' culture. Then they return to their high school, wracked by violence between the two groups, and propose a truce. Next, three teens who claim they're not prejudiced -- but don't like gays -- work at a soup kitchen in San Francisco frequented by other teenagers who were run out of their homes for their sexuality. Then it's off to Georgia where a gaggle of teens are sent off on a wild "diversity adventure." Watching these impressionable kids spurred to action, one can only hope a few of those watching at home will be too.

Show du jour
Chicago Hope
CBS, 10 p.m. Wednesdays
"Chicago Hope" is a once-decent drama series that's been hexed by the Fates. It debuted in 1994 up against another new--but very different--medical drama, NBC's "ER," at 10 p.m. Thursdays in 1994. "ER" blew away all competition, including "Chicago Hope," which scurried off to Mondays before shifting to its current time in the fall of 1997. The show has picked up Emmys for best actor (former regular Mandy Patinkin), best actress (Christine Lahti) and best supporting actor (Hector Elizondo) and is the first success CBS has had at 10 on Wednesdays since "Wiseguy" in 1988. But being no longer in the daily care of the show's creator, David E. Kelley (who's too busy writing most episodes of "Ally McBeal" and "The Practice"), "Chicago Hope" has little creatively to offer anymore, just the usual familiar fireworks between its ensemble of archetypal characters: Dr. Watters, the gruff but fair chief of staff; Aaron Shutt, the idealistic, caring surgeon married to his job; Kate Austin, the driven single mom who tries to juggle career and family; and so on. Perhaps the most interesting characters are the orthopod McNeil and chief of trauma Wilkes (Rocky Carroll)--because they're both insufferable twits. The storylines are making their second or third trip around the block, including the "old friend" who materializes on the scene with a fatal condition that will remove them from the scene in an hour's time. We've also seen the doctor-in-a-coma routine more than once, although using the coma as a premise for staging a musical number did get my attention.

In local news ...

On this date ...
In 1978, Bill Bixby stars as scientist David Bruce Banner, who when angered turns into the jade- jawed Lou Ferrigno, as "The Incredible Hulk" leaps onto the airwaves of CBS, in the first of four timeslots in four seasons. -- Tom Heald (Here's Tuesday's installment: "In 1954, Edward R. Murrow's "See It Now" shines the spotlight upon Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy, using his own comments and speeches to reveal him as a blustering demagogue. The broadcast is a devastating blow to McCarthy and in 1999 is voted one of the top 100 moments in journalism.)

Reader mail

Remembering Gene Siskel

Previously on TV Barn:

Previously posted dribs and drabs:

On the wires:

Copyright © 1999 Aaron Barnhart. Reproduction prohibited. E-mail aaron@tvbarn.com with comments and bug notices.

>>> Aaron Barnhart's TVBARN.COM [logo]

New at the TV Barn ... Brokaw's in hot soup with homeless ... The NCAAs ... Cable continues to gain ... Is TV entering a new renaissance? ... Overnight ratings ... Pick to Click ... Show du Jour ... and my photo!

Updated 3/11/99 at 9:46 AM CST

Why I love March Madness

The second Thursday and Friday of March remain a special time to me -- and trust me, it doesn't have that much to do with college basketball. Oh sure, I can get behind an underdog team like Valpo, or just as easily sit back and admire the commitment to athletic and academic excellence that is Duke. But those sentiments are really reserved for later in the month, when the field is narrowing to manageable numbers that come with their own alliteratives: Sweet Sixteen, Elite Eight, Final Four. No, what makes these first two days special is that it remains one of the singular events in broadcast television: ten hours each day covering all 32 first-round games, no matter how seemingly insignificant, a flurry of cutaways, "live look-ins" and highlights unmatched on this scale anywhere else on broadcast. (Here's the complete CBS schedule.) Yes, this kind of coverage is old hat at ESPN and Fox -- but they don't have anything on this scale to match what CBS has. For now. ALSO: As perhaps a counterpoint to the above, I've also read -- and highly recommend -- the Kansas City Star's investigation into the NCAA, led by our Pulitzer- and Polk-award-winning projects chief Mike McGraw. The NCAA series won a Polk Award in 1997. Read the series I also recommend Rick Telander's updated classic on why he quit the Sports Illustrated college football beat, The Hundred Yard Lie. A printable NCAA tourney bracket from CBS SportsLine

Brokaw in hot soup with homeless

After TV Barn reported Tom Brokaw's whopper of a comment about the homeless earlier this week on the "Today" show, the New York Post got on the case -- and god love 'em, they cited the website like the good netizens they are. Read the story Skip down to the original piece

Broadcast TV slips again in February

Comedy Central comes of age

TV's coming renaissance

Things that make you go (gasp)

How the hell far in advance do they publish Parade magazine anyway? The widely-circulated Sunday newspaper supplement printed a full-page profile of movie critic Roger Ebert in its March 7 edition -- and the article referred to his late former sidekick Gene Siskel as "taking a break" and "taking it easy," even though Siskel died two weeks ago. James Brady obviously wrote the piece after Siskel had announced he was taking indefinite leave from his movie-reviewing duties in early February. Siskel passed Feb. 20 of complications related to brain surgery in 1998, but Parade apparently went to press before anyone could remove the embarrassing references. Am I the only one who thinks it peculiar that a newspaper section should be set in stone two full weeks before insertion -- even one with a nationwide distribution like Parade? AND THERE'S THIS from reader Chris Friedrich: "Parade magazine isn't the only mag that doesn't read the papers. This week's TV Guide just published a note about Siskel taking a break for awhile." Thanks to reader Greg Gerke for pointing out the Parade gaffe. (March 9, 1999)

The new late-night fight

Fresh Step keeps it unreal

Last Wednesday, the phony sensation that's poppin' the nation made their second appearance on "Late Show with David Letterman." They performed their alleged hit "Talk to the Hand," not to be confused with the companion hit, "Don't Talk to the Hand (Girl, Talk to the Heart)," which they performed recently on MTV's "Total Request," taped about 10 blocks away. The song ended with the most blatant website plug in TV history for http://www.fresh-step.com, their supposedly "official" website. Again Letterman introduced them as a legit act. Again he held up a CD that allegedly contained the group's work (soundtrack to the movie Talk to the Hand, allegedly starring Sarah Michelle Gellar and James Van Der Beek). As Tom Heald notes, "You gotta love 'Late Show's' strategic use of Fresh Step on Wednesday night. Think about it: on a night when 'Nightline' has the world's best lead-in (the Lewinsky interview), Letterman's bookers offer us Kid Turkey Callers, Mark Wahlberg, and Fresh Step ... i.e., only one real guest." Not to be outdone by the real parody, Marilyn Sargent and others have created their own Fresh Step parody fansites. Link to them all or go directly to the funniest one. (March 8, 1999) RELATED: Fresh Step returns to Letterman show

Entertainment Weekly rates us an "A"

That didn't take long: Time Warner's authoritative mag on everything showbiz (circ. 1 million) has already weighed in with a review of TV Barn. And guess what -- we got high score. "Aaron Barnhart morphs the site for LATE SHOW NEWS, his respected post-prime-time industry column, into a new page centered on general TV news ... Even more indispensable than the original. (Grade:) A" If you're here for the first time because you read that review, may I direct you to the "Previously on TV Barn" links, which will catch you up on most of the big pieces you've missed from the website's first month on the air. Speaking of indispensable, I've added two more must-have book titles to The TV Critic's Toolbox: Jeff Kisseloff's The Box and Joel Brinkley's Defining Vision. And I've added a few more links to Read Other TV Critics.

The "Greaseman" debacle

How sweep it is

So which of the big six broadcast networks won the February ratings sweep (Feb. 5 through March 3)? If you believe everything you read in PR, they all did! Read the story

The overnights: Goodbye, "Strange World"

Here's what we know:

Remember when I wrote a few days ago that the WB should just give the Mowry kids their own 2-hour block on Saturday mornings? Well, the Hollywood Reporter is reporting that Kids WB! will unveil "Detention," an animated comedy from Warner Bros. Television Animation that features the voices of Tia and Tamera Mowry ("Sister, Sister"). (3/11)
The industry faxsheet TV Business Confidential is reporting that while filling in this week for Matt Lauer on the "Today" show, NBC news anchor Tom Brokaw told Katie Couric and Al Roker on the air about passing homeless people en route to Rockefeller Center that morning. Brokaw said he felt jealous of the homeless because they get to sleep in an hour later than him. A stunned Couric quickly steered the conversation onto safer ground, but by then it was too late. The NBC switchboard soon lit up with calls from mortified viewers. If the report is confirmed -- and we should stress that we did not see the broadcast first-hand -- then it will be the second on-air doozy for Brokaw in three years. The first came during NBC's coverage of the Atlanta Games, in which he stated matter-of-factly that authorities just about had all the evidence needed to charge Richard Jewell in the Centennial Park bombing. That remark reportedly cost NBC an eight-figure settlement. (3/10) A reader confirms the above: "I wasn't in the room but I clearly heard Brokaw saying that he'd seen the homeless riding in and he envied them the extra hour of sleep," writes Michele Lellouche. "Katie immediately said something about 5th Avenue being strange at that hour -- anything to get them out of that one. I remember thinking Brokaw must've lost his mind to say something like that."
That yours truly goofed on a couple of items this week. Craig Kilborn takes over at "Late, Late Show" one week earlier than I'd reported, on March 30, the day after the NCAA final. And there was more to the Fresh Step gag, which I reported but obviously did not see, than was in my account. Several readers wrote in -- I liked this one from an AOL'er named Jim: "You mentioned that Dave held up a copy of the soundtrack of TALK TO THE HAND and that it was actually a copy of the 200 CIGARETTES soundtrack. The CD was in fact a made-up copy for the fictional film TALK TO THE HAND. It even had Sarah Michelle Gellar and James Van Der Beek on the cover. According to the Fresh Step web site, they are the stars (they say the film is about a deaf girl falling in love or something). So, it seems that Dave went all out for the stunt, got the art department involved and everything."
Both errors have been fixed in the original stories posted to TV Barn. (3/9)
That so long as we're talking late-night numbers, "The Tonight Show" averaged a 4.4 rating and a 13 "share" five years ago and is not much higher today, 4.6 rating/14 share season-to-date. The difference is that 4.4 was only good enough for third place in 1993-94, while in 1999 it would be good enough for first. The similar-looking share points tell us something else: Despite claims that interest in late-night TV is declining, audience levels are about where they were at the zenith of the Letterman-Leno fight. (3/8)
That Electronic Media reported, and TV BARN confirmed independently, that former "Daily Show" smarties Lizz Winstead and Brian Unger are working with new Fox entertainment chief Doug Herzog to develop a news parody program for Fox. I also learned from a source that Unger would be the host of the pilot -- a position he had lobbied for, unsuccessfully, at "The Daily Show" last year following Craig Kilborn's departure. Herzog's first act upon arriving at Comedy Central in 1995 was to find a show to replace the departing "Politically Incorrect." He contracted with Winstead and Madeleine Smithberg to develop "The Daily Show." EM reported that Herzog is also developing a pilot for Fox that would star several members of The State, which had its own MTV show and then "Viva Variety" at Comedy Central, again under Herzog. (3/8)
That Washington, D.C.'s own Paul Harris wrote the funniest post mortem on the Monica Lewinskycast. Read it at http://www.HarrisOnline.com/plain/plain.htm (3/8)
That WGN isn't murdering repeats of "Hawaii Five-O" like The Family Channel did. You may recall that, in one of their last acts while in the employ of Pat Robertson, the geniuses at Family had acquired the library of the 1970's detective series starring Jack Lord and made it the heart of the channel's prime-time lineup. When Rupert Murdoch bought the network last year and relaunched it as Fox Family Channel, "Hawaii Five-O" was thrown back in the ocean, whereupon WGN picked it up. There a fan named "Carol S" began noticing some conspicuous differences in the way the same episode appeared on the two channels. She recently posted some of them to a fanlist for the show. Among them: "The WGN version includes the scene of Marge's funeral, which was completely cut out of the Family Channel's broadcast. This is the first acknowledgement that Steve doesn't believe Lonnie is the killer." Christian censorship -- or did Family Channel just run more commercials per hour than WGN does? Pick the theory that best fits your ideology. (3/8)

Click here for other stuff we've heard Skip down to the wire stories

Pick to click
TV Academy Hall of Fame Awards
UPN, 8 p.m.
Tonight the biggest spectacle on television can be found on the smallest network, UPN. Eight TV giants were recently honored at the annual "TV Academy Hall of Fame Awards." A 2-hour edited version airs tonight. Inducted are Carl Reiner, Fred Rogers, Lorne Michaels, producer-director Herb Brodkin, executives Ethel Winant and Fred Silverman and anchors Jim Lehrer and Robert MacNeil. Among the highlights: Sid Caesar and Mel Brooks doing their classic routines, a rare show of emotion from Lehrer and a recap of Winant's remarkable career as casting director and supervising producer of nearly every hit show on CBS for three decades. The Teen Files: The Truth About Hate
syndicated special (check local listings)
This extraordinary hour confronts prejudice among teenagers by forcing them to see how it feels to be hated. This one-hour special with Leeza Gibbons starts out conventionally enough: Three teenagers, each of whom identify themselves as white supremacists, meet survivors of hate crimes. And they're read the riot act by a former skinhead who warns them to wise up -- or else. Hard to tell, but the message seems to get across. Then things get interesting: four L.A. teens -- two Latino, two Armenian -- agree to spend one day in the other persons' culture. Then they return to their high school, wracked by violence between the two groups, and propose a truce. Next, three teens who claim they're not prejudiced -- but don't like gays -- work at a soup kitchen in San Francisco frequented by other teenagers who were run out of their homes for their sexuality. Then it's off to Georgia where a gaggle of teens are sent off on a wild "diversity adventure." Watching these impressionable kids spurred to action, one can only hope a few of those watching at home will be too.

Show du jour
ER
NBC, 10 p.m. Thursdays
On my count--one, two, three--let's all switch to "ER." The film critic Stanley Kauffmann said it long ago: Some future culture someday will look back and be amazed at our obsession with technical realism. When that happens, I'm sure "ER" will be held up as a prime example. This megahit falls into a category of programs that strive so mightily to achieve realism, they might fool us into thinking we are seeing reality. (So much medical jargon is thrown around, it's beyond me how anybody can follow it without the closed-captioning turned on.) Where it actually succeeds, however, is in dramatizing for us, through real-time simulation, both the functionality and dysfunctionality of our medical system. It captures our fears and our hopes, but mostly our fears: of being assigned to an egomaniac, of arriving in the ER at the exact moment an ambulance rolls in from a gang bang, of catching the head nurse on a bad day, of being turned into someone's research project--any time when the doctor's objectivity toward the patient is taken one step too far into objectification. On the other hand, an episode from last November that revolved two doctors' mad chase around Chicago for a man who could give his daughter a blood transfusion captured the ethos of "ER" at its most idealistic: Fight the good fight regardless of the outcome. The question being asked now about "ER" is: Can it survive the loss of its two most sympathetic characters--George Clooney's Ross (who left the show in February) and Julianna Marguiles' Hathaway (whose contract will be up next season)? These, after all, are the two who wear their hearts on their sleeves and formed the show's most heartwarming romantic couple. I don't see why not. Anthony Edwards was underestimated from the day he was cast as Dr. Mark Greene and things haven't changed much since. Besides, this ain't "General Hospital": relationships are handled on the side on this program. Clooney's departure took up an economical 12 minutes.

In local news ...

On this date ...
In 1958, Answer : "the game show '21.'" Question: "What is rigged?" Charles Van Doren is finally dethroned (or perhaps written out) of the after "winning" $129,000. Although the game's most popular contestant Van Doren, was actually not the show's biggest winner. That title belongs to Elfrida Von Nardroff, who was not found to be a participant in the show's fixed era, and walked off with $220,500.-- Tom Heald

Reader mail

Remembering Gene Siskel

Previously on TV Barn:

Previously posted dribs and drabs:

On the wires:

Copyright © 1999 Aaron Barnhart. Reproduction prohibited. E-mail aaron@tvbarn.com with comments and bug notices.

>>> Aaron Barnhart's TVBARN.COM [logo]

New at the TV Barn ... Brokaw's in hot soup with homeless ... Kilborn signs on, briefly, at CBS ... The NCAAs ... Cable continues to gain ... The final LATE SHOW NEWS is out ... Overnight ratings ... Pick to Click ... Show du Jour ... and my photo!

Updated 3/12/99 at 12:01 AM CST

At last! The final issue of LATE SHOW NEWS

It started five years ago as a David Letterman fansheet, then was reborn a few days later as LATE SHOW NEWS. Back then, I put the lineups in the front, the news and commentary in the back. Now I'm putting LSN to rest with this long-overdue coda. Read the whole issue (3/12)

Whaddya mean, the dog doesn't have a non-compete?

Two months ago, a popular weather guy on the top-rated local morning TV program in Kansas City went across town to another station. As is common with on-air talent, his contract with the former employer contained a "non-compete" clause which obliged him to stay off the air for six months. But the contract didn't say anything about the weatherman's popular dog, Windy. So a few tongue-in-cheek promos were made starring the dog -- much to the displeasure of her master's former employer, which got a lawyer on the case. Here's the whole kit and kibble, from Kansas City Star features writer Jim Fussell. Read the story (3/12)

Why I love March Madness

The second Thursday and Friday of March remain a special time to me -- and trust me, it doesn't have that much to do with college basketball. Oh sure, I can get behind an underdog team like Weber State, or just as easily sit back and admire the commitment to athletic and academic excellence that is Duke. But those sentiments are really reserved for later in the month, when the field is narrowing to manageable numbers that come with their own alliteratives: Sweet Sixteen, Elite Eight, Final Four. No, what makes these first two days special is that it remains one of the singular events in broadcast television: ten hours each day covering all 32 first-round games, no matter how seemingly insignificant, a flurry of cutaways, "live look-ins" and highlights unmatched on this scale anywhere else on broadcast. (Here's the complete CBS schedule.) Yes, this kind of coverage is old hat at ESPN and Fox -- but they don't have anything on this scale to match what CBS has. For now. ALSO: As perhaps a counterpoint to the above, I've also read -- and highly recommend -- the Kansas City Star's investigation into the NCAA, led by our Pulitzer- and Polk-award-winning projects chief Mike McGraw. The NCAA series won a Polk Award in 1997. In particular, have a look at Part 6 which spells out, in chilling black and white, just how it was Miles Simon's academic eligibility was held together with chewing gum and Q-tips while he led the Arizona Wildcats to the NCAA men's basketball championship in 1997. That story prompted an angry, petulant note from his coach, Lute Olson, that McGraw used to display proudly above his desk. For McGraw -- one of the truly nice guys in all of journalism -- it was a badge of honor. Read the series I also recommend Rick Telander's updated classic on why he quit the Sports Illustrated college football beat, The Hundred Yard Lie. A printable NCAA tourney bracket from CBS SportsLine (3/11)

Brokaw in hot soup with homeless

Broadcast TV slips again in February

Comedy Central comes of age

TV's coming renaissance

Things that make you go (gasp)

How the hell far in advance do they publish Parade magazine anyway? The widely-circulated Sunday newspaper supplement printed a full-page profile of movie critic Roger Ebert in its March 7 edition -- and the article referred to his late former sidekick Gene Siskel as "taking a break" and "taking it easy," even though Siskel died two weeks ago. James Brady obviously wrote the piece after Siskel had announced he was taking indefinite leave from his movie-reviewing duties in early February. Siskel passed Feb. 20 of complications related to brain surgery in 1998, but Parade apparently went to press before anyone could remove the embarrassing references. Am I the only one who thinks it peculiar that a newspaper section should be set in stone two full weeks before insertion -- even one with a nationwide distribution like Parade? AND THERE'S THIS from reader Chris Friedrich: "Parade magazine isn't the only mag that doesn't read the papers. This week's TV Guide just published a note about Siskel taking a break for awhile." Thanks to reader Greg Gerke for pointing out the Parade gaffe. (3/9)

The new late-night fight

Entertainment Weekly rates us an "A"

That didn't take long: Time Warner's authoritative mag on everything showbiz (circ. 1 million) has already weighed in with a review of TV Barn. And guess what -- we got high score. "Aaron Barnhart morphs the site for LATE SHOW NEWS, his respected post-prime-time industry column, into a new page centered on general TV news ... Even more indispensable than the original. (Grade:) A" If you're here for the first time because you read that review, may I direct you to the "Previously on TV Barn" links, which will catch you up on most of the big pieces you've missed from the website's first month on the air. Speaking of indispensable, I've added two more must-have book titles to The TV Critic's Toolbox: Jeff Kisseloff's The Box and Joel Brinkley's Defining Vision. And I've added a few more links to Read Other TV Critics.

The "Greaseman" debacle

How sweep it is

So which of the big six broadcast networks won the February ratings sweep (Feb. 5 through March 3)? If you believe everything you read in PR, they all did! Read the story

The overnights: Goodbye, "Strange World"

Here's what we know:

That Craig Kilborn was officially launched at CBS when he appeared late Thursday night as the network was wrapping up its first day of NCAA tournament coverage. Kilborn, live via satellite from Denver, bantered with lead anchor Greg Gumbel, who was back at CBS headquarters in New York. The bespectacled future host of "The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn" worked in the inevitable reference to the year he led the Big Sky Conference in turnovers, but also made a funny reference to Gumbel's sidekick Clark Kellogg as somebody he watched in college "when I was about six." One sensed Kilby really was winging it -- and if so, his career away from the TelePrompTer and staged comedy bits got off on the right foot. (3/12)
Remember when I wrote a few days ago that the WB should just give the Mowry kids their own 2-hour block on Saturday mornings? Well, the Hollywood Reporter is reporting that Kids WB! will unveil "Detention," an animated comedy from Warner Bros. Television Animation that features the voices of Tia and Tamera Mowry ("Sister, Sister"). (3/11)
The industry faxsheet TV Business Confidential is reporting that while filling in this week for Matt Lauer on the "Today" show, NBC news anchor Tom Brokaw told Katie Couric and Al Roker on the air about passing homeless people en route to Rockefeller Center that morning. Brokaw said he felt jealous of the homeless because they get to sleep in an hour later than him. A stunned Couric quickly steered the conversation onto safer ground, but by then it was too late. The NBC switchboard soon lit up with calls from mortified viewers. If the report is confirmed -- and we should stress that we did not see the broadcast first-hand -- then it will be the second on-air doozy for Brokaw in three years. The first came during NBC's coverage of the Atlanta Games, in which he stated matter-of-factly that authorities just about had all the evidence needed to charge Richard Jewell in the Centennial Park bombing. That remark reportedly cost NBC an eight-figure settlement. (3/10) A reader confirms the above: "I wasn't in the room but I clearly heard Brokaw saying that he'd seen the homeless riding in and he envied them the extra hour of sleep," writes Michele Lellouche. "Katie immediately said something about 5th Avenue being strange at that hour -- anything to get them out of that one. I remember thinking Brokaw must've lost his mind to say something like that."
That yours truly goofed on a couple of items this week. Craig Kilborn takes over at "Late, Late Show" one week earlier than I'd reported, on March 30, the day after the NCAA final. And there was more to the Fresh Step gag, which I reported but obviously did not see, than was in my account. Several readers wrote in -- I liked this one from an AOL'er named Jim: "You mentioned that Dave held up a copy of the soundtrack of TALK TO THE HAND and that it was actually a copy of the 200 CIGARETTES soundtrack. The CD was in fact a made-up copy for the fictional film TALK TO THE HAND. It even had Sarah Michelle Gellar and James Van Der Beek on the cover. According to the Fresh Step web site, they are the stars (they say the film is about a deaf girl falling in love or something). So, it seems that Dave went all out for the stunt, got the art department involved and everything."
Both errors have been fixed in the original stories posted to TV Barn. (3/9)
That so long as we're talking late-night numbers, "The Tonight Show" averaged a 4.4 rating and a 13 "share" five years ago and is not much higher today, 4.6 rating/14 share season-to-date. The difference is that 4.4 was only good enough for third place in 1993-94, while in 1999 it would be good enough for first. The similar-looking share points tell us something else: Despite claims that interest in late-night TV is declining, audience levels are about where they were at the zenith of the Letterman-Leno fight. (3/8)
That Electronic Media reported, and TV BARN confirmed independently, that former "Daily Show" smarties Lizz Winstead and Brian Unger are working with new Fox entertainment chief Doug Herzog to develop a news parody program for Fox. I also learned from a source that Unger would be the host of the pilot -- a position he had lobbied for, unsuccessfully, at "The Daily Show" last year following Craig Kilborn's departure. Herzog's first act upon arriving at Comedy Central in 1995 was to find a show to replace the departing "Politically Incorrect." He contracted with Winstead and Madeleine Smithberg to develop "The Daily Show." EM reported that Herzog is also developing a pilot for Fox that would star several members of The State, which had its own MTV show and then "Viva Variety" at Comedy Central, again under Herzog. (3/8)
That Washington, D.C.'s own Paul Harris wrote the funniest post mortem on the Monica Lewinskycast. Read it at http://www.HarrisOnline.com/plain/plain.htm (3/8)
That WGN isn't murdering repeats of "Hawaii Five-O" like The Family Channel did. You may recall that, in one of their last acts while in the employ of Pat Robertson, the geniuses at Family had acquired the library of the 1970's detective series starring Jack Lord and made it the heart of the channel's prime-time lineup. When Rupert Murdoch bought the network last year and relaunched it as Fox Family Channel, "Hawaii Five-O" was thrown back in the ocean, whereupon WGN picked it up. There a fan named "Carol S" began noticing some conspicuous differences in the way the same episode appeared on the two channels. She recently posted some of them to a fanlist for the show. Among them: "The WGN version includes the scene of Marge's funeral, which was completely cut out of the Family Channel's broadcast. This is the first acknowledgement that Steve doesn't believe Lonnie is the killer." Christian censorship -- or did Family Channel just run more commercials per hour than WGN does? Pick the theory that best fits your ideology. (3/8)

Click here for other stuff we've heard Skip down to the wire stories

Pick to click
Back to Bedlam?
NBC, 9 p.m.
In the early 1970s a young New York TV reporter named Geraldo Rivera took cameras into the Willowbrook state mental hospital and blew the lid off its abominable conditions. Now Rivera returns to the subject in this one-hour special and discovers that, while the venues have changed, the care of mentally ill people remains as appalling as ever. In fact, as this well-researched, passionately told program makes clear, Americans have remained indifferent most of this century toward the plight of their fellow citizens who have schizophrenia, manic depression and related diseases. Remember the man who killed two guards at the U.S. Capitol last year? We learn he was a paranoid schizophrenic recently released from a hospital, as an expert puts it, "with a few pills and no follow-up." The horrifying new twist in the '90s is that with most state hospitals now shuttered or tightly restricted, many of the 5 million Americans with serious mental illness now bounce between the streets and the jails. With increasing frequency the criminal justice system is becoming their caretaker -- and a lousy caretaker it is. We go inside a Louisiana hellhole where one out of four incarcerated persons is mentally ill and where, in Rivera's words, "treatment is rare but violence is not." We see video of guards in a Nashville jail giving a humiliating chemical bath to a delusional man, then dragging him back naked to his cell. Their boss, looking at the tape, tells Rivera, "I would give our men an A." I give NBC News an "A" for its contributions to our understanding of mental illness. A recent "Dateline" was devoted to the heartbreaking story of Margaret Ray, notorious for posing as "Mrs. David Letterman" but a schizophrenic who eventually killed herself, as her brothers had, rather than be tormented further by the voices in her head. Perhaps the most depressing moment of this worthy program comes when we see a 40-year-old clip of JFK decrying our abandonment of the mentally ill -- and realizing how true his words ring today. Cleopatra's Palace: In Search of a Legend
Discovery, 9 p.m. Sunday
For the second time in two weeks, a worldwide TV audience will be able to watch an excavation project from the ruins of ancient Egypt unfold. But unlike the earlier one on Fox, this one won't be live, it won't insult your intelligence with phony-baloney spontaneity and your guides will be the explorers themselves -- not some tabloid TV host. "Cleopatra's Palace: In Search of a Legend" tells in one expertly paced hour the story of a unique underwater dig last fall in the harbor surrounding modern-day Alexandria. A team of 30 divers led by archaeologist Franck Goddio sought the remains of an island where Egypt's last great monarch, Cleopatra, looked out over the largest port in antiquity. Her palace, and a majestic Greek gateway that greeted all incoming ships, were toppled by earthquakes 400 years after her death. They sunk in the shallow harbor, where centuries of sewage dumping obscured them from sight. But Goddio's team penetrated the muck and located the major artifacts (which are shown here with remarkable clarity, considering). Using cutting-edge tracking equipment, scholars reassembled the pieces on a computer and created a detailed rendition of the queen's embarcadero. Omar Sharif narrates "Cleopatra's Palace," which will debut in 142 countries and 23 languages on the same night. That's a first for Discovery, which helped fund the expedition. The special is followed by a one-hour backgrounder, "The Real Cleopatra," at 9. Both shows repeat later that night. Also Sunday, Steven Spielberg rewinds his career in a new two-hour edition of "Inside the Actors Studio," at 8 p.m. on Bravo. And Mick Fleetwood plays a washed-up guitarist whose record label is saved by a 15-year-old wunderkind (Jonathan Tucker) in the all-ages movie "Mr. Music" at 8 p.m. Sunday on Showtime. It's saying something that even playing a washed-up guitarist, Fleetwood is not that convincing.

Show du jour
Acapulco H.E.A.T.
Syndicated, weekly
This action series about a group of so-called beachside detectives manages to take a dumbed-down genre and dumb it down even further. Unlike most badly written, ineptly acted shows on TV today, there is seemingly nothing to recommend "Acapulco H.E.A.T." to viewers except scene after scene of big-breasted women in bikinis. Since about half the syndicated shows on TV today seem to feature big-breasted women in bikinis, one is hard pressed to determine what exactly keeps this show on the air. The stars aren't all that attractive to look at--they appear more like people trying to look pretty. The camp factor is surprisingly low, and humor in general is a scarce item here. Production-wise, no effort is made at realism; any scene that involves using a computer looks like something you'd see in a 1970s sci-fi flick. And even I could choreograph better fight scenes. Someone ought to sit the producers down and make them watch "Martial Law," a show that has raised the bar for all comic hand-to-hand combat scenes. Actually, someone ought to bring back "Mystery Science Theater 3000" and have Mike and the robots sit around heckling shows like this instead of 40-year-old movies. "Acapulco H.E.A.T." is filmed in Puerto Vallarta and edited in Toronto.

In local news ...

On this date ...
In 1983, Lloyd Dobyns, of the great "Overnight," serves as host of NBC's latest newsmagazine, "Monitor." In September 1983, the show has both its title and timeslot changed, when NBC sends "First Person" off to certain doom against "60 Minutes." On March 13, 1960, "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" presents "Man From the South," one of the show's finest episodes. Steve McQueen stars as a desperate gambler, faced with the ultimate bet. If he can ignite his cigarette lighter to light ten times in a row, he wins a stranger's convertible. If he fails, he forfeits the little finger on his left hand. A plot later recreated poorly by Quentin Tarantino at the end of the anthology film "Four Rooms." On March 14, 1968, "Batman" faces his final TV villain -- "Minerva," played by Zsa Zsa Gabor. Also on this day in 1975, Frank Blair leaves the "Today" show after 22 years as the show's newscaster.-- Tom Heald

Reader mail

Remembering Gene Siskel

Previously on TV Barn:

Previously posted dribs and drabs:

On the wires:

Copyright © 1999 Aaron Barnhart. Reproduction prohibited. E-mail aaron@tvbarn.com with comments and bug notices.

>>> Aaron Barnhart's TVBARN.COM

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Hey, don't forget Rick Ludwin (below). (NBC photos)

There's something about Gary Reader Paul Tate writes, "I've never laughed so hard as I did Friday night when the 'Late Show' treated us to that strange sponsorship by NBC Studios executive Gary Considine. I don't know whether it was the odd background music, or Considine's plasticine mug, or the fact that it stayed on the screen way beyond comfortable, but whatever the case it had me rolling. Now, Aaron, you have to tell me -- who is Gary Considine, and how does he relate to Dave and the Show?" You're not the only one asking that question. Here is the word from no less an authority than Michael McIntee, author of the "Late Show's" daily behind-the-scenes recap, The Wahoo Gazette: "Who is Gary Considine? I have no idea. Every staff member I talked to has no idea either. I don't know why Gary Considine was used but I have a feeling there are 6 people laughing their asses off somewhere. We do that a lot here at The Late Show. Often times we'll do a joke aimed at a very select few, so be patient, your turn is coming." Oh, poo. Surely Worldwide Pants staff can do better than that. Haven't they read Bill Carter's book "The Late Shift," or at least caught the HBO adaptation of it on cable? Carter addresses a similar matter on page 58. The year is 1991, and two NBC executives have just cajoled David Letterman, against his wishes, into allowing reruns of "Late Night" to air on the A&E network. Now it's time for Mr. Passive Aggressive to seek revenge on his turf: Carter writes: It was then that John Agoglia's picture (he was, at the time, executive VP of NBC) started turning up on "Late Night" as "GE Employee of the Week." Later Warren Littlefield (then No. 2 in NBC Entertainment behind Don Ohlmeyer) was similarly honored -- and mocked. Even some of Dave's defenders inside NBC believed Letterman was pushing the hostility too far. "The guy is so funny and great and always had the rhetoric, but that was really, really mean," one NBC executive with ties to Letterman said. "That wasn't funny to me. That was offensive. These are behind-the-scenes people. It was sort of unfair for Dave to trot them out like that." See, this is the difference between television and radio. In radio, it's a longstanding tradition to mock your station execs on the air. Radio personalities Howard Stern in New York and Steve Dahl in Chicago considered everyone fair game, including their bosses, starting in the early 1980s. In fact, some of their best programs involved confrontations with their employers, Dahl and Stern using their power as listener magnets to bully and threaten the class of people that had bullied and threatened them during the years they were climbing the ladder. But in television, where everybody is supposed to make nice with everybody, a little on-screen mockery becomes "mean" and "offensive." The same complaints arose a few years later when Letterman's writers brought on their favorite bald-headed maniac, Leonard Tepper, and had him play Washington Post TV critic Tom Shales. My thought, then as now -- what's the big deal? Shales has been treated a lot worse in print, and wouldn't you think those NBC compensation packages would be cushy enough to absorb a few blows from a late-night comedian? Anyway, to solve the mystery of Gary Considine: As longtime TV Barn readers know, Considine is the head of NBC Studios, the network's in-house production unit, which produces (among other things) NBC late night. He is also married to comedian Rita Sever, who (as numerous readers have noted) is especially active in NBC late night, having served many times as host of "Friday Night" and "Later." I have no idea why Considine's being featured now. But something tells me a photo of NBC late-night executive Rick Ludwin is next. ("Late Show" is dark this week.) Picks to click ... for the week of March 13 are here. The daily digest ... for March 11: Confirming the item that ran in TV Barn on Friday, Variety reports today that "The Martin Short Show" is toast -- as is "Roseanne," which has been toast in dozens of markets for most of this season ... Speaking of Dandy Don Ohlmeyer, the man who fired Norm Macdonald from his "Weekend Update" duties on "Saturday Night Live" -- and is now running "Monday Night Football" at ABC -- may or may not have behind last week's decision to drop Boomer Esiason from the "MNF" crew. But it's hard to believe that the decision happened independent of Ohlmeyer, whose hiring was also announced last week. That, one presumes, leaves the door open for ABC to hire a real "personality," somebody who will bring a semblance of orneriness and didja-hear-what-Howard-said back into the "MNF" booth. And while there will never be another Howard, there are only two national talents on the next rung down: Fox's Matt Millen and the guy ABC let go last year, Dan Dierdorf, who made a remarkable comeback as part of the No. 2 team on CBS. I can't imagine Dierdorf would rule out a reunion with Al Michaels -- provided, that is, he hasn't formed the same opinion of Michaels that Cosell and Esiason did ... The most popular story on the prime-time TV newsmagazines in February was the Fox broadcast "Who Wants to Marry a Multi-Millionaire?" and its fallout. Which is pretty incredible, says research firm NewsTV of Lawrence, Kan., compiler of the monthly reports, because that show didn't air until the month was half over ... Speaking of which, kudos to the shameless Jay Thomas for showing up in a hilarious "Marry" spoof on "Late Show with David Letterman" Tuesday night. Thomas married off comedians Bob Odenkirk and David Cross, who were guest host Janeane Garofalo's guests ... Kansas City's market-leading ABC affiliate KMBC-TV is getting a helicopter. That and other revelations from my look at the February ratings in this article from Friday's Kansas City Star. Coming up next ... subject to last-minute changes:
Tuesday: Zippy's Sci-Fi Loft returns!
Wednesday:: Guest hosts
Thursday: Reader mail
Friday: ReplayTV and TiVo -- why they're so great
Previously on TV Barn:
10 March: WWF bolts USA deal
9 March: He felt the need for "Greed"
8 March: The candidates and late-night
7 March: The $218,000 answer
3 March: "Contact"
2 March: Bush whacked
1 March: Reader mail
29 Feb: Kathie Lee quits
On this date... March 13: in 1979, having sold their business, America's favorite wacky neighbors are muumuu-ving on up to the East side to deeeeeluxe condo in Cheviot Hills. And now "The Ropers" are the sex-crazed nuisances to their frustrated realtor Jeffrey P. Brooks III (Jeffrey Tambor). "The Ropers" debuts at midseason, just like the show from which it is spun off, "Three's Company." -- Tom Heald On the wires:
(Stories open in a new window. Many links expire over time.)

Great debut for "God, the Devil and Bob" [ Variety ]
Carter harshes on Fox for killing "Realm" [ The AP ]
You're a great crowd! My name's Rick! [ The AP ]
Here are your 16 contestants for "Survivor" [ CBS PR ]
New PBS series experiments with video diaries [ Current ]
More TV news from ZENtertainment [ Read it ]

New at the TV Barn ... The full Nicky! Unedited film clip on British (and some American) TV ... Brokaw's latest gaffe ... The final LATE SHOW NEWS ... Kilborn signs on, briefly, at CBS ... Overnight ratings ... Pick to Click ... Show du Jour ... and my photo!

Updated 3/13/99 at 11:12 AM CST

At last! The final issue of LATE SHOW NEWS

Whaddya mean, the dog doesn't have a non-compete?

Why I love March Madness

The second Thursday and Friday of March remain a special time to me -- and trust me, it doesn't have that much to do with college basketball. Oh sure, I can get behind an underdog team like Weber State, or just as easily sit back and admire the commitment to athletic and academic excellence that is Duke. But those sentiments are really reserved for later in the month, when the field is narrowing to manageable numbers that come with their own alliteratives: Sweet Sixteen, Elite Eight, Final Four. No, what makes these first two days special is that it remains one of the singular events in broadcast television: ten hours each day covering all 32 first-round games, no matter how seemingly insignificant, a flurry of cutaways, "live look-ins" and highlights unmatched on this scale anywhere else on broadcast. (Here's the complete CBS schedule.) Yes, this kind of coverage is old hat at ESPN and Fox -- but they don't have anything on this scale to match what CBS has. For now. ALSO: As perhaps a counterpoint to the above, I've also read -- and highly recommend -- the Kansas City Star's investigation into the NCAA, led by our Pulitzer- and Polk-award-winning projects chief Mike McGraw. The NCAA series won a Polk Award in 1997. Read the series I also recommend Rick Telander's updated classic on why he quit the Sports Illustrated college football beat, The Hundred Yard Lie. A printable NCAA tourney bracket from CBS SportsLine (3/11)

Brokaw in hot soup with homeless

Broadcast TV slips again in February

Comedy Central comes of age

TV's coming renaissance

Things that make you go (gasp)

How the hell far in advance do they publish Parade magazine anyway? The widely-circulated Sunday newspaper supplement printed a full-page profile of movie critic Roger Ebert in its March 7 edition -- and the article referred to his late former sidekick Gene Siskel as "taking a break" and "taking it easy," even though Siskel died two weeks ago. James Brady obviously wrote the piece after Siskel had announced he was taking indefinite leave from his movie-reviewing duties in early February. Siskel passed Feb. 20 of complications related to brain surgery in 1998, but Parade apparently went to press before anyone could remove the embarrassing references. Am I the only one who thinks it peculiar that a newspaper section should be set in stone two full weeks before insertion -- even one with a nationwide distribution like Parade? AND THERE'S THIS from reader Chris Friedrich: "Parade magazine isn't the only mag that doesn't read the papers. This week's TV Guide just published a note about Siskel taking a break for awhile." Thanks to reader Greg Gerke for pointing out the Parade gaffe. (3/9)

The new late-night fight

Entertainment Weekly rates us an "A"

That didn't take long: Time Warner's authoritative mag on everything showbiz (circ. 1 million) has already weighed in with a review of TV Barn. And guess what -- we got high score. "Aaron Barnhart morphs the site for LATE SHOW NEWS, his respected post-prime-time industry column, into a new page centered on general TV news ... Even more indispensable than the original. (Grade:) A" If you're here for the first time because you read that review, may I direct you to the "Previously on TV Barn" links, which will catch you up on most of the big pieces you've missed from the website's first month on the air. Speaking of indispensable, I've added two more must-have book titles to The TV Critic's Toolbox: Jeff Kisseloff's The Box and Joel Brinkley's Defining Vision. And I've added a few more links to Read Other TV Critics.

The "Greaseman" debacle

How sweep it is

So which of the big six broadcast networks won the February ratings sweep (Feb. 5 through March 3)? If you believe everything you read in PR, they all did! Read the story

The overnights: Goodbye, "Strange World"

Here's what we know:

That viewers of Britain's "ITN News" -- including certain Americans whose public-TV stations carry "ITN News" -- got to see the full Nicky when ITV Thursday showed an unedited nude scene between Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise in Stanley Kubrick's forthcoming "Eyes Wide Shut." Tom Roche, who was watching WPBA, the PBS affiliate in Atlanta, writes, "Halfway into the newscast they were billboarding the second half and they mentioned the release to exhibitors of that 90 seconds of the new Kubrick film -- the clip ABC had played that a.m. for just 10 seconds saying, 'That's all we can show you.' The video ITN used for this bumper was Kidman completely nude from the back and, through a large mirror, nude from the front too. Then 10 minutes later ITN ran it again as part of the piece -- for a long time, with Cruise, also naked, entering frame and kissing and pawing Kidman. Some raw-assed blues playing in the background. Entertaining over-the-air dinner-hour fare." (3/13)
That Craig Kilborn was officially launched at CBS when he appeared late Thursday night as the network was wrapping up its first day of NCAA tournament coverage. Kilborn, live via satellite from Denver, bantered with lead anchor Greg Gumbel, who was back at CBS headquarters in New York. The bespectacled future host of "The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn" worked in the inevitable reference to the year he led the Big Sky Conference in turnovers, but also made a funny reference to Gumbel's sidekick Clark Kellogg as somebody he watched in college "when I was about six." One sensed Kilby really was winging it -- and if so, his career away from the TelePrompTer and staged comedy bits got off on the right foot. (3/12)
Remember when I wrote a few days ago that the WB should just give the Mowry kids their own 2-hour block on Saturday mornings? Well, the Hollywood Reporter is reporting that Kids WB! will unveil "Detention," an animated comedy from Warner Bros. Television Animation that features the voices of Tia and Tamera Mowry ("Sister, Sister"). (3/11)
The industry faxsheet TV Business Confidential is reporting that while filling in this week for Matt Lauer on the "Today" show, NBC news anchor Tom Brokaw told Katie Couric and Al Roker on the air about passing homeless people en route to Rockefeller Center that morning. Brokaw said he felt jealous of the homeless because they get to sleep in an hour later than him. A stunned Couric quickly steered the conversation onto safer ground, but by then it was too late. The NBC switchboard soon lit up with calls from mortified viewers. If the report is confirmed -- and we should stress that we did not see the broadcast first-hand -- then it will be the second on-air doozy for Brokaw in three years. The first came during NBC's coverage of the Atlanta Games, in which he stated matter-of-factly that authorities just about had all the evidence needed to charge Richard Jewell in the Centennial Park bombing. That remark reportedly cost NBC an eight-figure settlement. (3/10) A reader confirms the above: "I wasn't in the room but I clearly heard Brokaw saying that he'd seen the homeless riding in and he envied them the extra hour of sleep," writes Michele Lellouche. "Katie immediately said something about 5th Avenue being strange at that hour -- anything to get them out of that one. I remember thinking Brokaw must've lost his mind to say something like that."
That yours truly goofed on a couple of items this week. Craig Kilborn takes over at "Late, Late Show" one week earlier than I'd reported, on March 30, the day after the NCAA final. And there was more to the Fresh Step gag, which I reported but obviously did not see, than was in my account. Several readers wrote in -- I liked this one from an AOL'er named Jim: "You mentioned that Dave held up a copy of the soundtrack of TALK TO THE HAND and that it was actually a copy of the 200 CIGARETTES soundtrack. The CD was in fact a made-up copy for the fictional film TALK TO THE HAND. It even had Sarah Michelle Gellar and James Van Der Beek on the cover. According to the Fresh Step web site, they are the stars (they say the film is about a deaf girl falling in love or something). So, it seems that Dave went all out for the stunt, got the art department involved and everything."
Both errors have been fixed in the original stories posted to TV Barn. (3/9)
That so long as we're talking late-night numbers, "The Tonight Show" averaged a 4.4 rating and a 13 "share" five years ago and is not much higher today, 4.6 rating/14 share season-to-date. The difference is that 4.4 was only good enough for third place in 1993-94, while in 1999 it would be good enough for first. The similar-looking share points tell us something else: Despite claims that interest in late-night TV is declining, audience levels are about where they were at the zenith of the Letterman-Leno fight. (3/8)
That Electronic Media reported, and TV BARN confirmed independently, that former "Daily Show" smarties Lizz Winstead and Brian Unger are working with new Fox entertainment chief Doug Herzog to develop a news parody program for Fox. I also learned from a source that Unger would be the host of the pilot -- a position he had lobbied for, unsuccessfully, at "The Daily Show" last year following Craig Kilborn's departure. Herzog's first act upon arriving at Comedy Central in 1995 was to find a show to replace the departing "Politically Incorrect." He contracted with Winstead and Madeleine Smithberg to develop "The Daily Show." EM reported that Herzog is also developing a pilot for Fox that would star several members of The State, which had its own MTV show and then "Viva Variety" at Comedy Central, again under Herzog. (3/8)
That Washington, D.C.'s own Paul Harris wrote the funniest post mortem on the Monica Lewinskycast. Read it at http://www.HarrisOnline.com/plain/plain.htm (3/8)
That WGN isn't murdering repeats of "Hawaii Five-O" like The Family Channel did. You may recall that, in one of their last acts while in the employ of Pat Robertson, the geniuses at Family had acquired the library of the 1970's detective series starring Jack Lord and made it the heart of the channel's prime-time lineup. When Rupert Murdoch bought the network last year and relaunched it as Fox Family Channel, "Hawaii Five-O" was thrown back in the ocean, whereupon WGN picked it up. There a fan named "Carol S" began noticing some conspicuous differences in the way the same episode appeared on the two channels. She recently posted some of them to a fanlist for the show. Among them: "The WGN version includes the scene of Marge's funeral, which was completely cut out of the Family Channel's broadcast. This is the first acknowledgement that Steve doesn't believe Lonnie is the killer." Christian censorship -- or did Family Channel just run more commercials per hour than WGN does? Pick the theory that best fits your ideology. (3/8)

Click here for other stuff we've heard Skip down to the wire stories

In local news ...

Reader mail

Remembering Gene Siskel

Previously on TV Barn:

Previously posted dribs and drabs:

On the wires:

Copyright © 1999 Aaron Barnhart. Reproduction prohibited. E-mail aaron@tvbarn.com with comments and bug notices.

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"Farscape" launches season No. 2 By John Zipperer Few shows are able to maintain real quality from one year to the next. "The X-Files" has been hit or miss each of the past three seasons (this year, it's a hit); some TV Barn readers have complained that "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" has gone off-track this year; and don't even ask about "Lexx." There are exceptions, thank goodness, and "Farscape" joins the ranks with the premiere of its second season 8 p.m. Friday on the Sci-Fi Channel. (continued) Picks to click ... for the week of March 13 are here. The daily digest ... for March 14: Paul Harris of the Big 550, KTRS-AM in St. Louis, sensibly points out why Dan Dierdorf would not be in the running for a "Monday Night Football" spot next season, a notion I'd entertained in this space yesterday: "He has already signed to do NFL-on-CBS games this fall with Dick Enberg and, of course, continues to co-host our morning show at The Big 550 KTRS! Too bad for ABC that Mike Ditka was grabbed up by CBS, too -- he would have a been a great addition to the MNF booth, bringing the kind of personality that you'll never get out of Parcells, Elway, or Marino." Okay, then, now that we've had 24 hours to think about it, how about graduating Joe Theismann and Paul Maguire from their current place in the ESPN Sunday-night booth and putting them alongside Al Michaels on Monday nights? They wouldn't take any crap from Michaels -- who heaped it on hapless Boomer Esiason last season -- and if the game got dull, they could always milk their offense-v.-defense Fric-n-Frac routine for all it's worth ... Here's what new "MNF" honcho Don Ohlmeyer told Mediaweek ... FX has renewed "The X Show" for a second season ... Lifetime TV announced a raft of new series and specials, including another stab at a game show (remember "Debt"?). This time it's called "Who Knows You Best?" hosted by Gina St. John (E!) and scheduled for a June launch. The show would test girlfriends on their knowledge of each other's personal traits. In August, the movie "Jane's Coming Out Party" stars Stockard Channing as mom of a 15-year-old daughter who declares herself a lesbian ... "Moesha" spinoff "The Parkers" on UPN is this year's highest-rated show among African Americans, according to Nielsen Media Research. Coincidentally, we understand it also just beat out "Providence" as the show least likely to be watched by fans of "WWF Smackdown!" on UPN. Coming up next ... subject to last-minute changes:
Wednesday:: Guest hosts
Thursday: Reader mail
Friday: ReplayTV and TiVo -- why they're so great
Previously on TV Barn:
13 March: There's something about Gary Considine
10 March: WWF bolts USA deal
9 March: He felt the need for "Greed"
8 March: The candidates and late-night
7 March: The $218,000 answer
3 March: "Contact"
2 March: Bush whacked
1 March: Reader mail
29 Feb: Kathie Lee quits
On this date... in 1980, who's the tan private dog who saves lots of lives and chews on logs? "Here's Boomer" on NBC. He's one bad mongrel! Shut yo' mouth! Hey, I'm just talking about Boomer! Holes, can he dig'em? -- Tom Heald On the wires:
(Stories open in a new window. Many links expire over time.)

Sunday win for ABC [ Mediaweek ]
JonBenet's parents yak on [ Mediaweek ]
"Millionaire" no boon for late newscasts [ Mediaweek ]
Details of Times Mirror-Tribune merger [ MediaCentral ]
Chris-Craft weighing UPN buy [ MediaCentral ]
More TV news from ZENtertainment [ Read it ]

>>> Aaron Barnhart's TVBARN.COM

TV Barn redesigned

So you can cut through the clutter like a hot knife in butter Today at the TV Barn:

Pick to click

Show du jour

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On this date

On the wires

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March 14, 1999 | Last updated 12:01 AM CST | All times Eastern

The full Nicky

Viewers of Britain's "ITN News" -- including certain Americans whose public-TV stations carry "ITN News" -- Thursday saw an unedited nude scene between Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise from Stanley Kubrick's forthcoming "Eyes Wide Shut." Tom Roche, who was watching WPBA, the PBS affiliate in Atlanta, writes, "Halfway into the newscast they were billboarding the second half and they mentioned the release to exhibitors of that 90 seconds of the new Kubrick film -- the clip ABC had played that a.m. for just 10 seconds saying, 'That's all we can show you.' The video ITN used for this bumper was Kidman completely nude from the back and, through a large mirror, nude from the front too. Then 10 minutes later ITN ran it again as part of the piece -- for a long time, with Cruise, also naked, entering frame and kissing and pawing Kidman. Some raw-assed blues playing in the background. Entertaining over-the-air dinner-hour fare." (3/13) Previous news items

The overnights

Friday: "Providence" storms on; Geraldo special does OK
Click here for the latest overnight
Overnight ratings explained

On the wires:

KISS me: TV Barn gets a rewrite

A reader, Lee Aronsohn, sends along this love letter: "Your site is fast becoming an ungodly mess! New stuff at the top, new stuff at the bottom, new stuff in the middle -- wait a sec, haven't I already read this? What's the diff between Show du Jour and Pick to Click? Which one changes every day? Why are they both at the bottom of the page? What are all these links? Anything new there?" So many questions! But the message is received: keep it simple, stupid. In an effort to do just that, I've taken these actions; if you think I should do more, by all means, don't hesitate to write me with more suggestions:

I've moved the departments to the top of the page, since they're all updated daily. Those include the latest news item, the overnights, Pick to Click, Show du Jour, On This Date and the 25 latest wire stories.
The features are now in the back of the Barn, under their own heading. The freshest stories will always be at the top of the list and will decline chronologically as you scroll down the page -- no more surprises.
The yellow alert box at the top of the page will function more like a "refer" at the top of a newspaper page, alerting you to one or two breaking stories or updates rather than the seven or eight links that collected up there by week's end.
I've added departmental links to the left-hand sidebar.

At last! The final issue of LATE SHOW NEWS

Whaddya mean, the dog doesn't have a non-compete?

Why I love March Madness

The second Thursday and Friday of March remain a special time to me -- and trust me, it doesn't have that much to do with college basketball. Oh sure, I can get behind an underdog team like Weber State, or just as easily sit back and admire the commitment to athletic and academic excellence that is Duke. But those sentiments are really reserved for later in the month, when the field is narrowing to manageable numbers that come with their own alliteratives: Sweet Sixteen, Elite Eight, Final Four. No, what makes these first two days special is that it remains one of the singular events in broadcast television: ten hours each day covering all 32 first-round games, no matter how seemingly insignificant, a flurry of cutaways, "live look-ins" and highlights unmatched on this scale anywhere else on broadcast. (Here's the complete CBS schedule.) Yes, this kind of coverage is old hat at ESPN and Fox -- but they don't have anything on this scale to match what CBS has. For now. ALSO: As perhaps a counterpoint to the above, I've also read -- and highly recommend -- the Kansas City Star's investigation into the NCAA, led by our Pulitzer- and Polk-award-winning projects chief Mike McGraw. The NCAA series won a Polk Award in 1997. Read the series I also recommend Rick Telander's updated classic on why he quit the Sports Illustrated college football beat, The Hundred Yard Lie. A printable NCAA tourney bracket from CBS SportsLine (3/11)

Brokaw in hot soup with homeless

Broadcast TV slips again in February

Comedy Central comes of age

Things that make you go (gasp)

How the hell far in advance do they publish Parade magazine anyway? The widely-circulated Sunday newspaper supplement printed a full-page profile of movie critic Roger Ebert in its March 7 edition -- and the article referred to his late former sidekick Gene Siskel as "taking a break" and "taking it easy," even though Siskel died two weeks ago. James Brady obviously wrote the piece after Siskel had announced he was taking indefinite leave from his movie-reviewing duties in early February. Siskel passed Feb. 20 of complications related to brain surgery in 1998, but Parade apparently went to press before anyone could remove the embarrassing references. Am I the only one who thinks it peculiar that a newspaper section should be set in stone two full weeks before insertion -- even one with a nationwide distribution like Parade? AND THERE'S THIS from reader Chris Friedrich: "Parade magazine isn't the only mag that doesn't read the papers. This week's TV Guide just published a note about Siskel taking a break for awhile." Thanks to reader Greg Gerke for pointing out the Parade gaffe. (3/9)

TV's coming renaissance

Entertainment Weekly rates us an "A"

That didn't take long: Time Warner's authoritative mag on everything showbiz (circ. 1 million) has already weighed in with a review of TV Barn. And guess what -- we got high score. "Aaron Barnhart morphs the site for LATE SHOW NEWS, his respected post-prime-time industry column, into a new page centered on general TV news ... Even more indispensable than the original. (Grade:) A" If you're here for the first time because you read that review, may I direct you to the "Previously on TV Barn" links, which will catch you up on most of the big pieces you've missed from the website's first month on the air. Speaking of indispensable, I've added two more must-have book titles to The TV Critic's Toolbox: Jeff Kisseloff's The Box and Joel Brinkley's Defining Vision. And I've added a few more links to Read Other TV Critics.

Reader mail

Remembering Gene Siskel

In local news ...

We first brought you this story at 6 o'clock. New tonight: A Kansas City man has written a column about the television scene here. Aaron Barnhart is live downtown. But first -- your kids may be in danger! Read my recent "TVKC" columns:

Previously on TV Barn:

Previously posted dribs and drabs:

Copyright © 1999 Aaron Barnhart. Reproduction prohibited. E-mail me with comments and bug notices.

>>> Aaron Barnhart's TVBARN.COM

All times Eastern
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With Sophia Loren: Would a man who really cared chug-a-lug on TV? (CBS/Worldwide Pants) Reader mail All the way from Limerick, Ireland, Gary Clifford writes, "Is David Letterman mellowing out in his old age? Does this explain his recent mentioning of Jay Leno and Ted Koppel (and even ratings) on his show? Do you agree with me that this is refreshing and welcome?" Yes and yes to the last two, but I'm undecided on whether this means Dave is "mellowing" or if, as Paul Shaffer has noted, he just doesn't give a damn anymore ... (continued) Picks to click ... for the week of March 13 are here. The daily digest ... for March 15: Congratulations to Jim Romenesko, whose Mediagossip.com -- er, I mean MediaNews at Poynter.org -- was nominated for a 2000 Webby Award in the print/zines category. He'll have to compete with two sex magazines, Nerve.com and Salon.com, as well as Slashdot and Feed ... Bravo is launching season two of Michael Moore's "The Awful Truth" six weeks later than it did last year, on May 17. Hey, at least he's getting a second season on the same network! ... And Steve Beverly reports that "Twenty One" is toast after May 1. NBC has been telling managers that since the Maury Povich gamer doesn't get "Millionaire"-sized ratings, there's no point bothering with it. Coming up next ... subject to last-minute changes:
Thursday: TBA
Friday: Guest hosts
Previously on TV Barn:
14 March: "Farscape" season no. 2
13 March: There's something about Gary Considine
10 March: WWF bolts USA deal
9 March: He felt the need for "Greed"
8 March: The candidates and late-night
7 March: The $218,000 answer
3 March: "Contact"
2 March: Bush whacked
1 March: Reader mail
29 Feb: Kathie Lee quits
On this date... in 1977, Americans prove themselves intelligent enough to grasp one of Britain's most intelligent farces. While two pillars of the community bid farewell to one of their flatmates, they are stymied as to how they'll survive on just two incomes. The morning after the grand bon voyage celebration, they find their solution in the loo -- an aspiring master of the culinary arts. While the young maidens are charmed by this rogue, they do worry about the societal scandal that might ensue if they allow him to share their home (platonically, of course). But the trio do find hope in the idea that if they pretend their chef is a fancy lad, all their problems are solved. And so, Jack Tripper becomes A Man About The House in ABC's jigglefest "Three's Company." -- Tom Heald On the wires:
(Stories open in a new window. Many links expire over time.)

James Ellroy developing pilot for NBC [ Variety ]
Carson Daly re-ups with MTV ... and CBS [ Variety ]
Whew! German "Big Brother" gets green light [ The AP ]
Now the viewers talk back to "God" [ Reuters ]
More TV news from ZENtertainment [ Read it ]

>>> Aaron Barnhart's TVBARN.COM All times Eastern
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Ben Bragg wondered, as did I, about the DWEEBS FOR BUSH T-shirt George W. Bush held up during his now-infamous appearance on "Late Show." Ben writes, "When did Dave ever refer to Bush as a dweeb? I only recall Letterman referring to the governor as a 'colossal boob.' My guess is that Bush's staff didn't want the governor to hold up a t-shirt that says 'Boobs for Bush.' It would probably remind viewers of the current president." John Carney writes, "Your reference to 'The Nashville Network' in the WWF story sounds a little quaint. Since the CBS purchase, the network has steadfastly avoided using anything but the initials TNN, not unlike the decision a few years back to turn 'Kentucky Fried Chicken' into the more heart-healthy 'KFC.' Country music, with a few high-profile exceptions, seems to be in one of its periodic declines; on top of that, the Nashville entertainment community has seen what used to be hours and hours each day of original programming produced in Nashville dwindle further and further away, replaced by reruns of 'Matt Houston' and original episodes of that trucker show with G. Gordon Liddy in it. It's a similar demographic to the one attracted by the old country music programming, I suppose" ... Lex Kuhne has ideas about the next team that should occupy the "Monday Night Football" booth: "The thing about Cosell and Meredith was that Cosell's background was from serious journalism. Both he and Meredith had opinions on the same topic, but from different perspectives. That tension is what made those years of 'MNF' great. So, instead of just mining what Cosell called 'the jockocracy' for both slots, Ohlmeyer should think out of the box for one of them and find someone with an edge (just off the top of my head, like an Armen Kateyan) with, say, Steve Young. In one fell swoop, the show gets edgier, smarter, and younger." Dave Wasser adds, "How about a female sportscaster in the booth? It would be good for football and good for our society. Of course, a woman in that position would have to be very talented. I hope they pick a woman, but more important, I hope they pick the right woman." Laurence Bier writes, "On the old 'Later' (when it was good, with Bob Costas), a few weeks before taking over 'The Tonight Show,' Leno was Costas' guest for two nights. Bill Clinton had just made his now-famous appearance on Arsenio Hall's show, so Costas asked Leno whether he would ever have a presidential candidate on 'Tonight.' Leno responded (this is a rough memory) that he wouldn't have anyone come on as a candidate - that if Clinton wanted to come on after he was out of office and jam with the band, fine, but he couldn't come on saying what he would do if he were elected. Of course, in the past few months we've seen Bill Bradley and John McCain (and on Monday Bush) do just that - after telling some humorous anecdotes they talk about their plans and why they should be elected. Has Leno ever said why he shifted on this issue?" In fairness to Jay, what hasn't he changed about "The Tonight Show" since that first season? David Burke of the Quad City Times in Davenport, Iowa, was reading through his new edition of the Brooks-Marsh guide to prime time TV. He writes, "I realized that when ABC put on the Tuesday version of 'Who Wants to Be a Millionaire' in January it marked the end of an era. It was the first time since 1975 (when 'Happy Days' was matched with 'Welcome Back Kotter') that ABC hasn't programmed back-to-back sitcoms in the first hour of prime on Tuesdays. I almost thought it had been the first time ABC had broken up back-to-back-to-back-to-back sitcoms on Tuesday in 25 years ... but then I noticed 'Rich Man, Poor Man Book II,' the soap 'Paper Dolls' and 'Moonlighting,' the latter of which was almost a sitcom anyway." And Michael Jones has felt Will Durst's pain. He writes with a few words of encouragement for ole Will, who cost his pal Rudy Reber $218,000 with a bad answer on "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" two weeks ago: "I'm sure this will be short-lived, if that's any consolation to Durst. It's the American nature to forgive and forget. I mean I'm a baseball fan, and to this day I can barely remember the name of that Red Sox first baseman, playing with black high-top shoes in Game 6 of the World Series, Oct. 26, 1986, who let a potential Series-ending 10th inning grounder hit by Mookie Wilson of the Mets go under his legs into the right field area, scoring Ray Knight with the game winning run and ultimately costing the Sox their first championship since 1918. And on a personal level, I barely remember the air ball I heaved from the free throw line with 9 seconds left on the clock that cost our junior high basketball team the 1970 city championship with my parents and friends watching incredulously from the stands. I didn't dream about it at all this week."

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EW Online names TV Barn "Site of the Week"

NBC, Sony reportedly discussing mega-alliance...

DirectTV and broadcasters avoid a blackout...

"Laugh-In's" Schlatter cranking out another special...

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March 15, 1999 | Last updated 10:00 AM CST | All times Eastern

Oops! NBC station's bonehead call shuts down airport

March 15--Mary Schiavo, a former inspector general and outspoken critic of the Federal Aviation Administration, has been lending herself to local TV stations across the country in an attempt to drum up public support for reforming the airline industry. So NBC-owned WCMH-TV in Columbus decided to bring her along to test the readiness of Port Columbus airport inspectors by trying to bring a bag of suspicious items through the security check. There's nothing new about this kind of story; KCBS's investigative ace Joel Grover did it recently at LAX airport, which a newsletter that offers ideas to local TV news directors then featured. But this has got to be the first time the station called ahead to warn officials they were coming. The feds don't like Schiavo anyway, and so as soon as they got WCMH's call, they shut down the airport. Read the story (Thanks to Mike James at Newsblues.com for the tip!)

Ray Forrest, RIP

March 15--A real television pioneer died last week. Nobody else seems to want to pay homage, but I will, and so will Jeff Kisseloff, author of one of the truly great books on TV, The Box, who broke the news to me this weekend. On the cover of Jeff's book is a single photograph, circa 1940. It's of a handsome young announcer positioned in front of an NBC microphone -- only it appears the announcer is looking past the mic at something else. In fact, the young man isn't announcing on the radio, he's addressing a camera. He's the on-air personality at RCA's experimental TV station W2XBS, broadcasting from Rockefeller Center to 2,500 households in the greater New York area. His name is Ray Forrest. Born Ray Feuerstein in 1916, he started out at NBC at age 20 in the mailroom. From there he was hired as a tour guide and then as junior radio announcer for the network. (He took the name Forrest because no one at the network could pronounce Feuerstein.) The very first person to announce on American TV was NBC's Betty Goodwin Baker in 1936. But by 1939 she was gone and there was enough programming going on in Studio 3H that a regular announcer was needed. Forrest auditioned for and got the job. NBC had also talked Lowell Thomas into simulcasting his newscast for TV; Forrest was his makeup man. When Thomas, who mostly ignored the camera, decided to broadcast from his home, Forrest ripped and read the news for the W2XBS viewers. In 1941 the FCC issued its first commercial TV license to NBC, which renamed its station WNBT (later WNBC) and signed on July 1 with these words read by Forrest: "Tonight is the night we have been waiting for ..." Forrest was a natural for the job, Kisseloff writes in The Box -- "good-looking, friendly, and remarkably informal, compared to the stentorian announcers who [filled] the radio waves." As the television universe in New York grew to several thousand sets, Forrest began to get fan mail. People would stare at him in public. Forrest would do live remotes from boxing matches and hockey games. In 1940 a crew of 12, including Forrest, covered the Republican convention from Philadelphia. "It was the first network show. It went from Philly to New York to Schenectady. We had three cameras there, and I did everything," Forrest recalled later in an interview with Kisseloff. "We didn't have any reporters on the floor. There was just me with a printed schedule of who was going to talk. When it got quiet on the floor, I would go downstairs and interview anybody who was available. Of course there were no fancy sets. We tallied the votes for the nomination on a big piece of cardboard that was leaning against the back of a chair." Forrest was on duty Dec. 7, 1941, and announced the Pearl Harbor bombings; the following year he was drafted into the Army. When he returned after the war, as he put it, "everything was different." Television was now big time, and Forrest was no longer the only one doing it. Yet people remembered him and he had a successful career in television, hosting variety shows and later the award-winning local program "Children Television Theater." Jeff wrote me this about Forrest in an e-mail: "He was the first person to understand that as a TV personality you are being projected into people's living rooms, and that you should see yourself as a guest in people's homes, that a direct but warm manner comes across best on a TV screen. He was also a great guy." Jeff's book is a featured selection of The TV Critic's Toolbox. Previous news items

The overnights

Sunday: "Schindler's" repeat triumphs over CBS weeper
Friday: "Providence" storms on; Geraldo special does OK
Click here for the latest overnight
Overnight ratings explained

Pick to click
Rescue 77
WB, 9 p.m.

Seven must be a lucky number for TV auteur Aaron Spelling. The producer of the WB's biggest hit, "7th Heaven," now brings us "Rescue 77," another idea taken from his favorite decade -- yup -- the '70s. This action drama about paramedics in L.A. is patterned on "Emergency!" the Jack Webb series that aired 1972-77. Only now the stakes have been upped: While the "Emergency!" crew wouldn't have flinched at helping a guy stuck in his waterbed, these intense young medics have an appetite for mayhem and disaster. When called to rescue a cat up a tree, they're personally insulted. (What they do next is a high point of tonight's episode.) Compared with "ER," the pacing on "Rescue 77" is slower and the camerawork not quite so dizzying. The WB and Spelling especially are awfully good at roping in teen and young adult viewers, and the life-and-death struggles of a few hunky paramedics may just do it. ALSO: Shales pans "Payne"

Show du jour
Talk Soup
E!, daily and weekends
Since its debut as a cheaper-than-dirt original programming for the then-fledgling E! network in the early 1990s, this repurposing of the week's talk show clips has undergone a strange transformation. Under host Greg Kinnear, "Talk Soup" reveled in its campiness. Kinnear signaled he had a brilliant acting career in front of him whenever he raised that single eyebrow in response to the latest "Jenny Jones" absurdity or "Ricki" revelation. But irony can be a bit ... subtle for the E! audience. Remember, this is the network that offers a program called "Fashion Emergency," which does not involve paramedics but does advance the belief, in all seriousness, that the examined life is not complete without an aggressive makeup strategy. Under host John Henson, who has now been at the helm much longer than Kinnear was, "Talk Soup" jumped on the "Jerry Springer" craze, never missing an episode and even devoting special segments to this admittedly singular program. But clips from "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" also became a staple, as well as Penn & Teller's "Sin City Spectacular" on FX. These are comedy shows, not talk shows, and what they have in common with Springer is an intentionality that "Talk Soup" in previous years would've avoided.

On this date ...
In 1954, Following the lead of NBC's "Today" show, CBS Television unveils the "Morning Show." Walter Cronkite is "host, ring-master and coordinator" of the program which is later handed over to Jack Paar before being replaced entirely by the program "Captain Kangaroo." -- Tom Heald

On the wires:

The full Nicky

KISS me: TV Barn gets a rewrite

I've moved the departments to the top of the page, since they're all updated daily. Those include the latest news item, the overnights, Pick to Click, Show du Jour, On This Date and the 25 latest wire stories.
The features are now in the back of the Barn, under their own heading. The freshest stories will always be at the top of the list and will decline chronologically as you scroll down the page -- no more surprises.
The yellow alert box at the top of the page will function more like a "refer" at the top of a newspaper page, alerting you to one or two breaking stories or updates rather than the seven or eight links that collected up there by week's end.
I've added departmental links to the left-hand sidebar.

At last! The final issue of LATE SHOW NEWS

Whaddya mean, the dog doesn't have a non-compete?

Why I love March Madness

The second Thursday and Friday of March remain a special time to me -- and trust me, it doesn't have that much to do with college basketball. Oh sure, I can get behind an underdog team like Weber State, or just as easily sit back and admire the commitment to athletic and academic excellence that is Duke. But those sentiments are really reserved for later in the month, when the field is narrowing to manageable numbers that come with their own alliteratives: Sweet Sixteen, Elite Eight, Final Four. No, what makes these first two days special is that it remains one of the singular events in broadcast television: ten hours each day covering all 32 first-round games, no matter how seemingly insignificant, a flurry of cutaways, "live look-ins" and highlights unmatched on this scale anywhere else on broadcast. (Here's the complete CBS schedule.) Yes, this kind of coverage is old hat at ESPN and Fox -- but they don't have anything on this scale to match what CBS has. For now. ALSO: As perhaps a counterpoint to the above, I've also read -- and highly recommend -- the Kansas City Star's investigation into the NCAA, led by our Pulitzer- and Polk-award-winning projects chief Mike McGraw. The NCAA series won a Polk Award in 1997. Read the series I also recommend Rick Telander's updated classic on why he quit the Sports Illustrated college football beat, The Hundred Yard Lie. A printable NCAA tourney bracket from CBS SportsLine (3/11)

Brokaw in hot soup with homeless

Broadcast TV slips again in February

Comedy Central comes of age

Things that make you go (gasp)

How the hell far in advance do they publish Parade magazine anyway? The widely-circulated Sunday newspaper supplement printed a full-page profile of movie critic Roger Ebert in its March 7 edition -- and the article referred to his late former sidekick Gene Siskel as "taking a break" and "taking it easy," even though Siskel died two weeks ago. James Brady obviously wrote the piece after Siskel had announced he was taking indefinite leave from his movie-reviewing duties in early February. Siskel passed Feb. 20 of complications related to brain surgery in 1998, but Parade apparently went to press before anyone could remove the embarrassing references. Am I the only one who thinks it peculiar that a newspaper section should be set in stone two full weeks before insertion -- even one with a nationwide distribution like Parade? AND THERE'S THIS from reader Chris Friedrich: "Parade magazine isn't the only mag that doesn't read the papers. This week's TV Guide just published a note about Siskel taking a break for awhile." Thanks to reader Greg Gerke for pointing out the Parade gaffe. (3/9)

TV's coming renaissance

Entertainment Weekly rates us an "A"

That didn't take long: Time Warner's authoritative mag on everything showbiz (circ. 1 million) has already weighed in with a review of TV Barn. And guess what -- we got high score. "Aaron Barnhart morphs the site for LATE SHOW NEWS, his respected post-prime-time industry column, into a new page centered on general TV news ... Even more indispensable than the original. (Grade:) A" If you're here for the first time because you read that review, may I direct you to the "Previously on TV Barn" links, which will catch you up on most of the big pieces you've missed from the website's first month on the air. Speaking of indispensable, I've added two more must-have book titles to The TV Critic's Toolbox: Jeff Kisseloff's The Box and Joel Brinkley's Defining Vision. And I've added a few more links to Read Other TV Critics.

Reader mail

Remembering Gene Siskel

In local news ...

Previously on TV Barn:

Previously posted dribs and drabs:

Copyright © 1999 Aaron Barnhart. Reproduction prohibited. E-mail me with comments and bug notices.

>>> Aaron Barnhart's TVBARN.COM

TV Barn redesigned

So you can cut through the clutter like a hot knife in butter This just in!

EW Online names TV Barn "Site of the Week"...

Former WB boss Ancier named NBC Entertainment prez...

Now they want Heather Locklear on "90210"...

DirectTV and broadcasters avoid a blackout...

More wire stories Today at the TV Barn:

Pick to click

Show du jour

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March 16, 1999 | Last updated 10:00 AM CST | All times Eastern

Reader mail

Ralph in NYC writes, "The lackluster music guests on Dave's show put me to sleep. There are tons of great R & B acts from the '60s and '70s that are still performing and would make great guests. Bettye LaVette of Detroit is one. She just gave a great, sold-out concert at Columbia University (which I videotaped) and got standing ovations. Today's "artists" are weak and untalented. I sometimes wonder HOW they ever got signed to a record contract!" Read this week's mail

The people's channel

Public-access TV. It's a dead letter in Kansas City and other metropolitan areas around the country, while enjoying a renaissance in other towns. I looked into this topic for the Kansas City Star recently and found that while public access may be dead, it's not for want of trying -- or a shortage of people willing to continue doing it. Read the story

Monday: ABC movie strong; "Rescue 77" loses viewers
Sunday: "Schindler's" repeat triumphs over CBS weeper
Friday: "Providence" storms on; Geraldo special does OK
Click here for the latest overnight
Overnight ratings explained

Pick to click
Investigative Reports
9 p.m., A&E (repeating 1 a.m.)
Even if the thought of watching one more minute of political partisanship makes you ill, tonight's "Investigative Reports" is still worth your while. Bill Kurtis traces the roots of President Clinton's impeachment back to the advent of C-SPAN and the insidious effect of television on the political process. Kurtis also compares 1998 to the tumult of 1968, assuring us (as only a newsman can) that we will recover from this mess.
The McCourts of New York
6:30 p.m., Cinemax
This documentary picks up where Frank McCourt's Pulitzer Prize-winning memoir Angela's Ashes leaves off. This very personal film by Conor McCourt, Frank's nephew, traces the four McCourt brothers' trajectories as each arrives in New York and begins to leave behind the bitter poverty of their years growing up in Limerick, Ireland.
Lateline
NBC, 8:30 p.m.
This on-again, off-again sitcom returns after yet another hiatus -- but maybe it shouldn't have. Al Franken's and John Markus' project is showing signs of network meddling, as it starts looking less like "Larry Sanders" meets "Nightline" and more like Just Another NBC Sitcom.

On this date ...
In 1966, "Batman" and Robin are finally caught by a villain. Julie Newmar's "Catwoman" makes her debut stealing the Caped Crusader's heart and a pair of priceless gold cat statues in "The Purr-Fect Crime." -- Tom Heald

On the wires:

Oops! NBC station's bonehead call shuts down airport

Ray Forrest, RIP

The full Nicky

KISS me: TV Barn gets a rewrite

I've moved the departments to the top of the page, since they're all updated daily. Those include the latest news item, the overnights, Pick to Click, Show du Jour, On This Date and the 25 latest wire stories.
The features are now in the back of the Barn, under their own heading. The freshest stories will always be at the top of the list and will decline chronologically as you scroll down the page -- no more surprises.
The yellow alert box at the top of the page will function more like a "refer" at the top of a newspaper page, alerting you to one or two breaking stories or updates rather than the seven or eight links that collected up there by week's end.
I've added departmental links to the left-hand sidebar.

At last! The final issue of LATE SHOW NEWS

Whaddya mean, the dog doesn't have a non-compete?

Why I love March Madness

The second Thursday and Friday of March remain a special time to me -- and trust me, it doesn't have that much to do with college basketball. Oh sure, I can get behind an underdog team like Weber State, or just as easily sit back and admire the commitment to athletic and academic excellence that is Duke. But those sentiments are really reserved for later in the month, when the field is narrowing to manageable numbers that come with their own alliteratives: Sweet Sixteen, Elite Eight, Final Four. No, what makes these first two days special is that it remains one of the singular events in broadcast television: ten hours each day covering all 32 first-round games, no matter how seemingly insignificant, a flurry of cutaways, "live look-ins" and highlights unmatched on this scale anywhere else on broadcast. (Here's the complete CBS schedule.) Yes, this kind of coverage is old hat at ESPN and Fox -- but they don't have anything on this scale to match what CBS has. For now. ALSO: As perhaps a counterpoint to the above, I've also read -- and highly recommend -- the Kansas City Star's investigation into the NCAA, led by our Pulitzer- and Polk-award-winning projects chief Mike McGraw. The NCAA series won a Polk Award in 1997. Read the series I also recommend Rick Telander's updated classic on why he quit the Sports Illustrated college football beat, The Hundred Yard Lie. A printable NCAA tourney bracket from CBS SportsLine (3/11)

Brokaw in hot soup with homeless

Broadcast TV slips again in February

Things that make you go (gasp)

How the hell far in advance do they publish Parade magazine anyway? The widely-circulated Sunday newspaper supplement printed a full-page profile of movie critic Roger Ebert in its March 7 edition -- and the article referred to his late former sidekick Gene Siskel as "taking a break" and "taking it easy," even though Siskel died two weeks ago. James Brady obviously wrote the piece after Siskel had announced he was taking indefinite leave from his movie-reviewing duties in early February. Siskel passed Feb. 20 of complications related to brain surgery in 1998, but Parade apparently went to press before anyone could remove the embarrassing references. Am I the only one who thinks it peculiar that a newspaper section should be set in stone two full weeks before insertion -- even one with a nationwide distribution like Parade? AND THERE'S THIS from reader Chris Friedrich: "Parade magazine isn't the only mag that doesn't read the papers. This week's TV Guide just published a note about Siskel taking a break for awhile." Thanks to reader Greg Gerke for pointing out the Parade gaffe. (3/9)

Entertainment Weekly rates us an "A"

That didn't take long: Time Warner's authoritative mag on everything showbiz (circ. 1 million) has already weighed in with a review of TV Barn. And guess what -- we got high score. "Aaron Barnhart morphs the site for LATE SHOW NEWS, his respected post-prime-time industry column, into a new page centered on general TV news ... Even more indispensable than the original. (Grade:) A" If you're here for the first time because you read that review, may I direct you to the "Previously on TV Barn" links, which will catch you up on most of the big pieces you've missed from the website's first month on the air. Speaking of indispensable, I've added two more must-have book titles to The TV Critic's Toolbox: Jeff Kisseloff's The Box and Joel Brinkley's Defining Vision. And I've added a few more links to Read Other TV Critics.

Remembering Gene Siskel

In local news ...

Previously on TV Barn:

Previously posted dribs and drabs:

Previous news items Copyright © 1999 Aaron Barnhart. Reproduction prohibited. E-mail me with comments and bug notices.

>>> Aaron Barnhart's TVBARN.COM

All times Eastern
TV Barn archives
About TV Barn
Contact TV Barn

Dan Cortese and Paula Marshall will co-star in the latest creation from "Cupid" creator Rob Thomas on NBC. (Cortese photo: NBC/Warner Bros.) Pilots of the airwaves Pilot season is in full swing as we are just about two months away from the annual upfront presentations. (Yes, TV Barn will be attending again this year, and yes, I plan on filing a log sheet like last year's.) In fact, CBS couldn't wait till May; it held a pre-upfront presentation Thursday at the Ed Sullivan Theatre. Among other things, prexy Leslie Moonves announced that next month's live presentation of "Fail Safe" will be followed by next year's live staging of "On Golden Pond," starring Julie Andrews; that Craig T. Nelson will make a new drama for CBS; and David Letterman's Worldwide Pants will create a vehicle for comic Jim Gaffigan -- about an Indiana weatherman who gets his big break in New York. Hmmmmmmm. Wonder how they're planning to promote that. On the NBC front, all good Letterman fans should by now realize that "Late Show" exec producer Rob Burnett is in Vancouver, shooting a new version of the "Stuckeyville"/"Ed" project he shot last year for CBS. Burnett told TV Barn that the cast and crew are the same as the last time we reported on it, and Letterman writer Jon Beckerman is still a co-everything on the project. But now with NBC offering to air it, the show will naturally be a "must-see," provided, of course, that the pilot lives to see the light of day. Elsewhere at NBC, the Hollywood Reporter reports that "Married ... With Children" star Katey Sagal has been cast in NBC's single-camera comedy pilot "Tucker," about a teenage boy and his mom who move in with their aunt (Sagal) and cousin. (By the way, I always take "single-camera" to be virtually the same as "shot on film," or rather, because several three-camera sitcoms are also shot on film, the more precise description might be "filmic.") And Paula Marshall and producer Rob Thomas, both freshly liberated from ABC, will create an hourlong romantic drama for the Peacock, also co-starring Dan Cortese, which tells you all you need to know about the future of "Veronica's Closet." The WB is planning to sink a ton of money into a futuristic action-adventure show entitled "Day One," reports Variety. Picks to click ... for the week of March 13 are here. The daily digest ... for March 17: Letterman wins again ... if only for one night. CBS crowed in its latest ratings release that Dave's chat with Kathie Lee Gifford March 6 topped Leno's panel with George W. Bush. Quoth the PR: For the week ending March 10, the LATE SHOW posted a 3.2/10 in households with 4.10m average viewers. The LATE SHOW was up +28% in households and +37% in viewers compared to the same week last year (which were rebroadcasts). The LATE SHOW was up +23% in adults 18-49 (1.6/8 vs. 1.3/7) and +31% in adults 25-54 (1.7/8 vs. 1.3/6) compared to the same week last year. Compared to last year, "The Tonight Show" was down -15% each in households (4.1/12 vs. 4.8/14), adults 18-49 (2.2/11 vs. 2.6/13) and adults 25-54 (2.3/11 vs. 2.7/13) and -14% in viewers (5.23m vs. 6.05m). ... And I can't help but share this tidbit I stumbled across: For its upcoming May miniseries "The 70's," NBC has cast former "Mod Squad" star Peggy Lipton to play feminist Gloria Steinem. Perfect! But who will play Peggy Lipton? Coming up next ... subject to last-minute changes:
Monday: Guest hosts
Tuesday: Replay/TiVo Previously on TV Barn:
15 March: Reader mail
14 March: "Farscape" season no. 2
13 March: There's something about Gary Considine
10 March: WWF bolts USA deal
9 March: He felt the need for "Greed"
8 March: The candidates and late-night
7 March: The $218,000 answer
3 March: "Contact"
2 March: Bush whacked
1 March: Reader mail
29 Feb: Kathie Lee quits
On this date... March 17: In 1978, Dennis Dugan is chosen by noted alien James Garner to save young damsels in distress from themselves or their boyfriends, with the help of his good looks and a magic polyester suit as "Richie Brockelman, Private Eye," an actual spin-off from "The Rockford Files." March 18: in 1981, Ralph Hinkley, a white guy with an afro, is chosen by The Aliens to save the planet Earth from destroying itself, with the help of an FBI agent, and a magic pair of red and black pajamas, and the suit's lost instruction manual. DC Comics threatens to sue the creators of "The Greatest American Hero" because -- believe it or not -- they consider it too similar in concept to "Superman." March 19: in 1984, Jane Curtin and Susan Saint James are chosen by CBS executives (also noted aliens) to save the lives of their children wish the help of flannel pajamas and lots of lovin' as divorcees "Kate & Allie." -- Tom Heald On the wires:
(Stories open in a new window. Many links expire over time.)

Now the Oscar statuettes are missing! [ The AP ]
Court OKs Viacom's UPN gambit [ Variety ]
Cops nab fugitive seen on "Millionaire" [ ABCNews.com ]
Another contestant with a rap sheet [ Reuters ]
In related news, Springer to host game show [ NY Post ]
Neighbors to TV station: Turn down your chopper! [ PittCityPpr ]
Grrl power cartoon slated for fall [ Variety ]
Durward Kirby dies; was Garry Moore's sidekick [ The AP ]
Scribes sue Bochco over "City of Angels" [ Variety ]
Court TV pumping $120 mil into originals [ Mediaweek ]
Bellows replaced on "Ally" [ E! Online ]
More TV news from ZENtertainment [ Read it ]

>>> Aaron Barnhart's TVBARN.COM

TV Barn redesigned

So you can cut through the clutter like a hot knife in butter This just in!

"SportsNight," "Felicity" renewed!...

But curtains for "NewsRadio" and "Homicide"?...

Robert Pastorelli's girlfriend dies of gunshot wound...

EW Online names TV Barn "Site of the Week"...

More wire stories Today at the TV Barn:

Pick to click

Show du jour

The overnights

On this date

Features

Prev. features

Local TV column

NBC Commissary menu

About TV Barn

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The TV Critic's Toolbox Read Other TV Critics Late Night Line-ups The LATE SHOW NEWS Archive Contact TV Barn

March 17, 1999 | Last updated 10:35 AM CST | All times Eastern

"edTV"

Matthew McConaughey and Jenna Elfman find the camera an unwelcome eyewitness to their attempts at romance in "edTV" (Photo: Universal Studios). March 17--We have been to see "edTV," the Ron Howard movie that is supposed to be nothing like "The Truman Show," the 1998 movie that starred Jim Carrey as a man whose life has been turned into a television show. I'm told, in fact, that Universal Pictures decided to give "edTV" -- which stars Matthew McConaughey as a man whose life has been turned into a television show -- a nationwide sneak preview on Saturday, so confident was the studio that audiences would tell their friends to check out "edTV" when it returns March 26, because it's nothing like "The Truman Show." Read the full review

Even a seasoned TV observer can be thrown off by an innocuous looking fact. When the overnight ratings came in a week ago for UPN's new reality-based series "RedHanded," featuring the voice of Adam Carolla and hidden-camera hijinks with an MTV flavor, I wasn't impressed. (See for yourself.) But as it turns out, UPN has a hit: According to this week's Broadcasting & Cable magazine, "RedHanded" scored UPN's "highest household ratings in the Monday 8:30 time period in 40 weeks" and boosted its young male demographic ratings 75%. This week, its performance improved dramatically on the first-week number (click the Monday link below). By the way, MTV, where Carolla's "Loveline" airs, and UPN are sister networks; both are owned by Viacom, which finally appears to be responding after the shellacking of the last year at the hands of the WB.

Monday: ABC movie strong; "Rescue 77" loses viewers
Sunday: "Schindler's" repeat triumphs over CBS weeper
Friday: "Providence" storms on; Geraldo special does OK
Click here for the latest overnight
Overnight ratings explained

Pick to click
Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony
9 and 11:30 p.m., VH1

Fourteen years later, they're finally letting Paul McCartney into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. And Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel, Bob Wills (above) and his Texas Playboys, Curtis Mayfield, Del Shannon, Dusty Springfield, the Staples Singers (below), Charles Brown and -- speaking of McCartney -- producer George Martin.

VH1, which has exclusive rights to the induction ceremonies for the next four years, airs an edited version of this year's bash tonight, repeating at 9 p.m Saturday and noon Sunday. In addition, VH1's ubiquitous "Pop-Up Video" unveils annotated versions of selected inductees' old videos, including Mayfield's "New World Order" and the Boss's "Streets of Philadelphia," 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, repeating at 9:30 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. Saturday.(Bob Wills photo: Texas Music Museum/Leon Rausch) Payne
CBS, 8:30 p.m.
So CBS' revival of the 1970s hit British farce "Fawlty Towers" didn't do much for you on Monday? Me neither. But don't let that deter you from tonight's much more promising episode of "Payne." John Larroquette stars as the less-than-scrupulous innkeeper Royal Payne. He certainly can be a royal pain, but in Monday's debut he was worse than that; it left me wondering why his charming wife, Connie (JoBeth Williams), didn't leave him and start her own hotel. Tonight's episode, and the one that airs next Wednesday, find Royal and Connie on more equal footing. Tonight, after Connie flirts with a guest, then insists to Royal that it's "harmless," he intends to prove her wrong -- with the usual unintended results. "Payne" also features a parade of wacky guests, as well as slapstick from the language-challenged bellhop Mo (Rick Batalla), who does a step-for-step imitation of Manuel from "Fawlty Towers," except that his full name is Mohammed. (Arabs aren't the only ones pigeonholed for laughs on "Payne": so are Latinos, Chinese, pro-family advocates and cross-dressers. The only thing sacred on this show is a high Nielsen rating.)

Show du jour The Jerry Springer Show
Syndicated, weekdays (Sat. nights some markets)
The last word in lowbrow talk shows, "The Jerry Springer Show" is the latest development in a trend in on-air self-revelation that started 20 years ago with Phil Donahue, although there is also an element of campy confrontationalism that owes a debt to "The Morton Downey Jr. Show" of the late 80's. "Springer" had an exceptional run in 1997 and 1998, coming out of nowhere to become the number-one-rated daytime talk show. It's a favorite of teenagers who watch the show after school (although some stations did move "Springer's" air time in response to angry parents). A former TV news anchor and politician in Cincinnati, Springer started out doing a typical talk show, but when told to turn his ratings around or else, Springer shifted to the current format. A typical program features some degree of unfaithfulness (boy dumps girl for girl, boy dumps girl for boy, girl dumps girl because she's actually a boy, etc.), with the occasional exotic topic thrown in (a 1,000-pound man, people considering careers in strip clubs and porno). Regardless of the set up, tempers invariably flare between panelists, curses are spoken (and bleeped--sometimes it seems half the dialogue is edited from some shows), and fists fly. By the time the fight breaks out, the crowd is in a pro-wrestling frenzy and they begin chanting "Jer-ry! Jer-ry!", although it's unclear why they do. Do they want Springer to join the fray? Forget it: Springer keeps a safe distance from his guests, leaving the dirty work of separate hostile panelists to the show's bouncer, whose frequent presences on stage has made him a crowd favorite as well. While many parents feel the problem with "Jerry Springer" is that it presents violence in an approving light, its real danger may be in offering such bizarre clues to kids about negotiating their imminent sexual-relational futures. It makes you wonder why Springer even bothers with his fatuous "closing thought" and his signoff, "Be good to yourself--and each other."

On this date ...
In 1982, Both Dean Jones and Herbie reprise their movie roles as CBS launches weekly sitcom "Herbie, the Love Bug," based on their popular series of Disney movies. The entire road trip lasts a month. -- Tom Heald

On the wires:

Reader mail

The people's channel

March 16--Public-access TV. It's a dead letter in Kansas City and other metropolitan areas around the country, while enjoying a renaissance in other towns. I looked into this topic for the Kansas City Star recently and found that while public access may be dead, it's not for want of trying -- or a shortage of people willing to continue doing it. Read the story

Oops! NBC station's bonehead call shuts down airport

Ray Forrest, RIP

The full Nicky

March 13--Viewers of Britain's "ITN News" -- including certain Americans whose public-TV stations carry "ITN News" -- Thursday saw an unedited nude scene between Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise from Stanley Kubrick's forthcoming "Eyes Wide Shut." Tom Roche, who was watching WPBA, the PBS affiliate in Atlanta, writes, "Halfway into the newscast they were billboarding the second half and they mentioned the release to exhibitors of that 90 seconds of the new Kubrick film -- the clip ABC had played that a.m. for just 10 seconds saying, 'That's all we can show you.' The video ITN used for this bumper was Kidman completely nude from the back and, through a large mirror, nude from the front too. Then 10 minutes later ITN ran it again as part of the piece -- for a long time, with Cruise, also naked, entering frame and kissing and pawing Kidman. Some raw-assed blues playing in the background. Entertaining over-the-air dinner-hour fare." Read other recent short news items

KISS me: TV Barn gets a rewrite

March 13--A reader, Lee Aronsohn, sends along this love letter: "Your site is fast becoming an ungodly mess! New stuff at the top, new stuff at the bottom, new stuff in the middle -- wait a sec, haven't I already read this? What's the diff between Show du Jour and Pick to Click? Which one changes every day? Why are they both at the bottom of the page? What are all these links? Anything new there?" So many questions! But the message is received: keep it simple, stupid. In an effort to do just that, I've taken these actions; if you think I should do more, by all means, don't hesitate to write me with more suggestions:

I've moved the departments to the top of the page, since they're all updated daily. Those include the latest news item, the overnights, Pick to Click, Show du Jour, On This Date and the 25 latest wire stories.
The features are now in the back of the Barn, under their own heading. The freshest stories will always be at the top of the list and will decline chronologically as you scroll down the page -- no more surprises.
The yellow alert box at the top of the page will function more like a "refer" at the top of a newspaper page, alerting you to one or two breaking stories or updates rather than the seven or eight links that collected up there by week's end.
I've added departmental links to the left-hand sidebar.

At last! The final issue of LATE SHOW NEWS

March 12--It started five years ago as a David Letterman fansheet, then was reborn a few days later as LATE SHOW NEWS. Back then, I put the lineups in the front, the news and commentary in the back. Now I'm putting LSN to rest with this long-overdue coda. Read the whole issue

Whaddya mean, the dog doesn't have a non-compete?

March 12--Two months ago, a popular weather guy on the top-rated local morning TV program in Kansas City went across town to another station. As is common with on-air talent, his contract with the former employer contained a "non-compete" clause which obliged him to stay off the air for six months. But the contract didn't say anything about the weatherman's popular dog, Windy. So a few tongue-in-cheek promos were made starring the dog -- much to the displeasure of her master's former employer, which got a lawyer on the case. Here's the whole kit and kibble, from Kansas City Star features writer Jim Fussell. Read the story

Why I love March Madness

March 11--The second Thursday and Friday of March remain a special time to me -- and trust me, it doesn't have that much to do with college basketball. Oh sure, I can get behind an underdog team like Weber State, or just as easily sit back and admire the commitment to athletic and academic excellence that is Duke. But those sentiments are really reserved for later in the month, when the field is narrowing to manageable numbers that come with their own alliteratives: Sweet Sixteen, Elite Eight, Final Four. No, what makes these first two days special is that it remains one of the singular events in broadcast television: ten hours each day covering all 32 first-round games, no matter how seemingly insignificant, a flurry of cutaways, "live look-ins" and highlights unmatched on this scale anywhere else on broadcast. (Here's the complete CBS schedule.) Yes, this kind of coverage is old hat at ESPN and Fox -- but they don't have anything on this scale to match what CBS has. For now. ALSO: As perhaps a counterpoint to the above, I've also read -- and highly recommend -- the Kansas City Star's investigation into the NCAA, led by our Pulitzer- and Polk-award-winning projects chief Mike McGraw. The NCAA series won a Polk Award in 1997. Read the series I also recommend Rick Telander's updated classic on why he quit the Sports Illustrated college football beat, The Hundred Yard Lie. A printable NCAA tourney bracket from CBS SportsLine (3/11)

Brokaw in hot soup with homeless

March 11--After TV Barn reported Tom Brokaw's whopper of a comment about the homeless earlier this week on the "Today" show, the New York Post got on the case -- and god love 'em, they cited the website like the good netizens they are. Read the story Skip down to the original piece

Broadcast TV slips again in February

March 10--It may have been a great month for blockbuster specials and movies like NBC's "Alice in Wonderland" and ABC's exclusive with Monica Lewinsky. But the February ratings sweep overall saw yet more disappointing losses for the six broadcast networks versus cable. In this analysis that appears in Wednesday's Kansas City Star, we examine why. PLUS: What's behind NBC's success in late night? Read the story

Entertainment Weekly rates us an "A"

Remembering Gene Siskel

He had been one of my longtime readers on the Internet and, in our occasional e-mail exchanges, mentioned more than once that he wanted to meet me in person. So when I came to Chicagocame to Chicago last October, Gene Siskel invited me to accompany him and a few others to a screening and lunch. But I ran late filing a rewrite for my paper back in Kansas City and had to blow off the date. After I filed, I called Gene at home to say sorry, maybe we could hook up the next time I was in town. He cut me off. "Where are you?" he said. Read the full piece I also wrote this appreciation of Gene that appeared in the Kansas City Star.

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March 18, 1999 | Last updated 9:34 AM CST | All times Eastern

Why "Lateline" lost and "SportsNight" succeeded

March 18--Fan as I am of Al Franken's work, I should be saddened by the announcement that his "Lateline" is now "really most sincerely dead." And I might actually be sad were it not for the other announcement of the week -- ABC's "SportsNight" has been renewed. For "SportsNight" manages to be everything "Lateline" never could quite become -- a relatively believable behind-the-scenes look at a live broadcast. Given its origin in Franken's topical humor, you'd think a "Nightline" parody would be a natural for him. But most of the sitcom's first season, which aired in the winter of '98, had been in the can for weeks by the time the Monica Lewinsky scandal broke. Compared with the chaos that had overtaken Washington, "Lateline" seemed almost anti-political, even with the stunt castings of G. Gordon Liddy, Ralph Reed and Chastity Bono. "Lateline" already seemed more like a companion to other NBC office sitcoms, and would only become more so in each of its next two incarnations (episodes from the third go-round had just started airing Tuesday). Where both "Lateline" and "Sports Night" share some of the same stock characters -- the gruff boss, the pompous anchor(s), the office geek -- "Sports Night" is allowed to be its own self-contained "Broadcast News" dramedy each week, while "Lateline" was forced to play it all for laughs every minute and a half. Only when it accidentally "killed" Buddy Hackett did "Lateline" really live up to its source material. (That episode masterfully re-enacted the politics of "Nightline's" decision to honor the death of John Belushi, against Koppel's better judgment. That program will be best remembered for guest Milton Berle telling Koppel he had no idea why the hell he'd been booked on the show). Perhaps "Lateline" could have thrived better on ABC where it could have been more a cross between "Spin City" and "Sports Night," instead of an increasingly tinkered-with ensemble workplace comedy. -- Tom Heald

Update to the story that follows:

The industry faxsheet TV Business Confidential reports that Fox TV chairman/CEO Chase Carey has been making the rounds of Capitol Hill, urging the ownership cap be raised as well. Carey is willing to settle for 50 percent but what he'd really like is the abolition of all broadcast ownership regulations, freeing up Fox to own stations in every market. If lawmakers don't help him out, Carey said "it wasn't out of the question for the Fox broadcast network to become the Fox cable network," reports TVBizCon.

What's happening to the independent stations?

Wednesday: "60 Minutes II" wins with foreign-policy-free Oprah episode
Tuesday: "Strange World" practically vanishes from sight
Monday: ABC movie strong; "Rescue 77" loses viewers
Sunday: "Schindler's" repeat triumphs over CBS weeper
Friday: "Providence" storms on; Geraldo special does OK
Click here for the latest overnight
Overnight ratings explained

Pick to click
ABC
Thursday nights

After years of prime-time disappointment on Thursdays, ABC seems to have stumbled onto a formula that works: Two half-hours of "America's Funniest Home Videos," followed by repeats of "The Drew Carey Show" and "Spin City," followed by a one-hour news program. ABC got decent numbers when it unveiled this patchwork quilt two weeks ago, so it's back. Tonight the ABC news special at 9 takes a look at Sunday's Academy Awards. Also worth catching tonight if you missed it the first time is A&E's thorough "Investigative Reports" into the Church of Scientology (9 p.m., repeating 1 a.m.)

Show du jour The Jamie Foxx Show
WB, 8:30 p.m. Thursdays

"The Jamie Foxx Show" stars the very good-looking comedian in a variation on "The Wayans Bros." that has Foxx playing the ambitious young comer who is in L.A. seeking fame and fortune but above all, a job. He gets one with his Aunt Helen and Uncle Junior at their hotel, where he and the hotel's uptight accountant Braxton compete for the affections of the unavailable Fancy. "The Jamie Foxx Show" lacks the family appeal of "The Steve Harvey Show" and isn't as bust-out funny as "The Wayans Bros.," choosing instead to be a pleasant and relatively inoffensive sex comedy. Foxx once told me he tries to shoot his show like a live, 23-minute play--meaning he only has to tape Mondays through Thursdays, which frees him up for standup gigs on the weekends. "'It doesn't take too long to be funny' is our slogan," said Foxx. (If Garrett Morris, who plays Junior, seems to have aged unnaturally since the last time you saw him on TV, bear in mind that when he got the "Saturday Night Live" gig in 1975, he was already approaching 40.)

On this date ...
In 1975, on "M*A*S*H," Lt. Col. Henry Blake heads home to his family in Ft. Wayne, Indiana, but is shot down over the Sea of Japan. -- Tom Heald

On the wires:

"edTV"

Reader mail

The people's channel

Oops! NBC station's bonehead call shuts down airport

Ray Forrest, RIP

The full Nicky

KISS me: TV Barn gets a rewrite

I've moved the departments to the top of the page, since they're all updated daily. Those include the latest news item, the overnights, Pick to Click, Show du Jour, On This Date and the 25 latest wire stories.
The features are now in the back of the Barn, under their own heading. The freshest stories will always be at the top of the list and will decline chronologically as you scroll down the page -- no more surprises.
The yellow alert box at the top of the page will function more like a "refer" at the top of a newspaper page, alerting you to one or two breaking stories or updates rather than the seven or eight links that collected up there by week's end.
I've added departmental links to the left-hand sidebar.

At last! The final issue of LATE SHOW NEWS

Whaddya mean, the dog doesn't have a non-compete?

Why I love March Madness

Brokaw in hot soup with homeless

Entertainment Weekly rates us an "A"

Remembering Gene Siskel

In local news ...

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Previously posted dribs and drabs:

edTV

More sneak previews Saturday; read our review This just in!

Master hoaxer rooks HBO!...

Weekend talk show lineups...

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March 21, 1999 | Last updated 12:01 AM CST | All times Eastern JUST ADDED: A link to my Sunday A-1 article on who's writing the Oscars. Read the story

Whoopi Goldberg and friend. (Photo: ABC/A.M.P.A.S./Timothy White) Heeeeeere's Oscar!

If it seems the Oscars are becoming more outsized with each passing year, that may have less to do with the event than with the media coverage surrounding the Academy Awards telecast. Here in one convenient place, TV Barn guides you through Super-Bowl-for-Women Sunday.Read the story

Why "Lateline" lost and "SportsNight" succeeded

Pick to click
Farscape
Sci-Fi, 8 p.m. and midnight

Wow! That seems the only appropriate response to "Farscape," the spellbinding new series from the Sci-Fi Channel that blends intelligent writing, seamless special effects and more wonderful creations from Jim Henson's Creature Shop. Here's the premise: Astronaut John Crichton (Ben Browder) is on an experimental flight in space when a wormhole sucks him into a galaxy far, far away. Within moments his ship is taken aboard a giant vessel where he finds several other alien forms in fierce battle with -- the bad guys? the good guys? It's hard to tell. In time Crichton realizes these aliens (which include a couple of Muppetlike creatures) are living an uneasy coexistence; but events will soon force them to depend on each other for survival. In coming weeks they will battle a military superpower, be invaded by giant DNA-stealing cockroaches and crash-land on a planet that's never had extraterrestrial visitors. Reasons to watch: superior production values and storytelling that turns the screws on conventional sci-fi plots. Probably the most predictable aspect of "Farscape" is its constant celebration of good old-fashioned American ingenuity, even over superior life forms a million miles away. Besides Browder, the regulars include three Australians ("Farscape" is filmed in Sydney). Claudia Black plays a soldier ostracized from the misnamed "peacekeeper" corps that ruthlessly polices the galaxy; Anthony Simcoe is a bellowing warrior driven by testosterone and little else; and Virginia Hey (pictured above) is a gentle priestess. Sci-Fi Channel is putting its money behind Friday nights: Besides "Farscape," former syndicated show "Poltergeist: The Legacy," new series "First Wave" and Sci-Fi staple "Sliders" all debut in their new times tonight. Sci-Fi is also simulcasting the shows on the Web: Click here to visit
American Presidents: Life Portraits
C-SPAN, Fridays, 8 p.m.
To mark its 20th anniversary, cable pioneer C-SPAN this week launched a 41-week series on the personal lives of the 41 U.S. presidents. Live vignettes will air during the week, with a recap every Friday night. There will be related presidential fare on C-SPAN2's BookTV programming on weekends. The vignettes will be classic C-SPAN fare -- interviews with leading historians, biographers and presidential museum curators -- including old footage pulled from the network's archive. C-SPAN's familiar yellow Winnebago will visit various presidents' birthplaces, final resting places and museums, such as the Harry S. Truman library in Independence. Complete program information, including a video archive of previous programs, is online at http://www.americanpresidents.org.

Show du jour Martial Law
CBS, 9 p.m. Saturdays
Perfect fare for a Saturday night, this martial-arts action comedy done up in the Jackie Chan tradition is a solid companion to the popular "Walker: Texas Ranger" on CBS. "Martial Law" presents an improbable action hero, Sammo Hung, a portly but charismatic actor who has starred in, directed or choreographed more than 100 films in his native Hong Kong. Under the guidance of Carlton Cuse (producer of "Nash Bridges"), "Martial Law" puts a premium on comedic, highly choreographed fight scenes, which are sewn together by some pretty awful dialogue. At 5-7 or 5-8, 220 pounds, with some gray hair, Hung doesn't look very imposing. But he makes inventive use of everything around him--a chalkboard eraser, a 5-gallon bucket, a rubber hose--to beat his opponents into submission, and constantly preaches the importance of mind over muscle. He also does all of his own stunts (as is evident from the outtakes that are shown at the end of each episode). Hung is accompanied by a multiracial Mod Squad; actors Louis Mandylor and Tom Wright are boxers and Kelly Hu is trained in karate. Tammy Lauren left the show early into the first season and was replaced by former talk-show host Arsenio Hall. "Martial Law" was pitched to CBS by Stanley Tong, who directed Jackie Chan in several films including his breakthrough U.S. feature "Rumble in the Bronx."

On this date ...
In 1977, Ted Baxter remains the sole employee retained by the new ownership of Minneapolis's WJM-TV, as "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" shuffles off the airwaves following a group hug. On March 20, 1987, for some reason ABC decides to explore the comedic possibilities of Snow White and her husband -- had they been displaced to modern-day California. Unfortunately, the surreal sitcom "The Charmings" is nowhere near as funny as it sounds. On March 21, 1980, cold-hearted J.R. Ewing sits alone in his office, having managed to infuriate just about everyone he's ever met. A door in the outer office opens. "Who's there?" J.R. asks. And neither he nor the viewers finds out who pulled the trigger on him until November. -- Tom Heald

On the wires:

What's happening to the independent stations?

March 18--The biggest of the big broadcasters would like to get even bigger. NBC's president Bob Wright last week asked Vice President Gore to consider raising the limit on TV stations that a single entity may own from those covering 35 percent of the country to 50 percent of the country. Gore turned him down, but increasingly noises are being made by the broadcast lobby -- protector of tens of billions of dollars in free spectrum space and considered by many the most powerful lobby on Capitol Hill -- to raise the ownership cap to 50 percent. Bear that in mind as you read Brian Lowry's report from Tuesday's Los Angeles Times about the changing nature of Los Angeles television. Once known for its robust independent stations like KCOP and KTLA -- Jeff Kisseloff's book The Box devotes an entire chapter to KTLA's golden years -- now the TV scene there is becoming increasingly corporatized. And when even a sixth-place weblet like UPN can add millions of dollars in value to a station, being known as an "independent" has become a liability, not a strength. Read the story (LA Times) Update: The industry faxsheet TV Business Confidential reports that Fox TV chairman/CEO Chase Carey has been making the rounds of Capitol Hill, urging the ownership cap be raised as well. Carey is willing to settle for 50 percent but what he'd really like is the abolition of all broadcast ownership regulations, freeing up Fox to own stations in every market. If lawmakers don't help him out, Carey said "it wasn't out of the question for the Fox broadcast network to become the Fox cable network," reports TVBizCon.

"edTV"

Reader mail

The people's channel

Oops! NBC station's bonehead call shuts down airport

Ray Forrest, RIP

The full Nicky

KISS me: TV Barn gets a rewrite

I've moved the departments to the top of the page, since they're all updated daily. Those include the latest news item, the overnights, Pick to Click, Show du Jour, On This Date and the 25 latest wire stories.
The features are now in the back of the Barn, under their own heading. The freshest stories will always be at the top of the list and will decline chronologically as you scroll down the page -- no more surprises.
The yellow alert box at the top of the page will function more like a "refer" at the top of a newspaper page, alerting you to one or two breaking stories or updates rather than the seven or eight links that collected up there by week's end.
I've added departmental links to the left-hand sidebar.

At last! The final issue of LATE SHOW NEWS

Whaddya mean, the dog doesn't have a non-compete?

Brokaw in hot soup with homeless

Entertainment Weekly rates us an "A"

In local news ...

We first brought you this story at 6 o'clock. New tonight: A Kansas City man has written a column about the television scene here. Aaron Barnhart is live downtown. What'll the weather be like tonight? Who cares -- you'll be inside watching TV! Read my recent "TVKC" columns:

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The cast of "Battery Park," this week's bright spot among new midseason shows. (NBC) For a limited time only You asked for fewer reruns, and now you're getting them -- in the form of new TV shows. Television's "midseason," an elastic term to describe those shows that debut between Christmas and Memorial Day, resumes this week when six new series air in five days on four networks. Instead of repeats of "Jesse" and "Stark Raving Mad" -- two less-than-must-see sitcoms -- NBC is serving up "Daddio" and "Battery Park" on Thursday. The four other shows won't get nearly that good a window, although ABC probably will draw a large teen crowd Friday for its newest "TGIF" addition, "Making the Band." This reality series follows the evolution of an actual boy band as it is put together by boy-band impresario Lou Pearlman (he put together Backstreet Boys and 'N Sync). As for Fox, which didn't have a hit show until January with "Malcolm in the Middle," it introduces another boundary-pushing comedy tonight that it hopes scores with audiences. "Titus" mixes the dysfunctional monologues of comic Christopher Titus with the herky-jerky sitcom style of the show's lead-in, "That '70s Show." UPN, which redefined itself this season as the network of aggressive young males with its pro-wrestling hit "WWF Smackdown," introduces a young-male cop show Tuesday, "The Beat." It's from the shop of Tom Fontana and Barry Levinson, the producers of "Homicide" and "Oz." Read reviews of this week's shows The daily digest ... for March 20: This won't be on my shopping list: an ashtray with David Letterman's chewed gum purportedly in it, circa 1980, taken from the Playboy Club in Lake Geneva, Wisc., where Dave was performing, supposedly as part of his stage act. It's yours now on eBay ... More "Late Show" questions on our readers' minds: Tom Snee writes, "Today's Gary Considine item got me wondering about an appearance last week by Jon Polito as a smarmy CBS publicist trying to convince Dave he should have a leg amputated to boost ratings. I haven't seen Polito since Det. Crosetti threw himself in the drink on 'Homicide' six years ago (except for his disppointingly brief return in last month's reunion movie). I thought Polito was great and the sketch funny, but it strangely fell dead on the studio audience. I was wondering if you had any inkling why Polito would turn up on Letterman's show--is there an inside story here, or did he just happen to be the person Actor's Equity sent over that day when 'Late Show's' people called for someone?" Coming up next ... subject to last-minute changes:
Tuesday: Zippy's Sci-Fi Loft Wednesday: TBA Previously on TV Barn:
17 March: Pilots of the airwaves
15 March: Reader mail
14 March: "Farscape" season no. 2
13 March: There's something about Gary Considine
10 March: WWF bolts USA deal
On this date... in 1992, a jury decides that the "Price is Right" of $1.3 million for "Barker's Beauty" Janice Pennington, who sued after accidentally being used as a human "Plinko" by one of the show's camera operators on June 20, 1988. (NOTE: I have no idea what this means -- AB) -- Tom Heald On the wires:
(Stories open in a new window. Many links expire over time.)

Junkman finds missing Oscars [ The AP ]
$100 question: Is "Jeopardy" tougher than "Millionaire"? [ The AP ]
NBC wants $500 mil from DISH Network [ SkyReport ]
NBA ratings slammed in post-Jordan era [ NYT/Reut. ]
"Austin City Limits" turns 25 [ Read it ]
DirecTV customers, your rates are going up ... [ DirecTV ]
... but look on the bright side: You've got Oxygen! [ More PR ]
Tavis Smiley, Tom Joyner to stump for Census 2000 [ PR ]
More TV news from ZENtertainment [ Read it ]

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All times Central Monday, 3/20 Add the name of Christopher Titus to the pile of stand-up comedians whose stage act has become a sitcom. But in adapting his bleak autobiographical one-man play, "Norman Rockwell Is Bleeding," for television, Fox may have lightened up too much in making "Titus," which has its debut at 7:30 tonight on Channel 4. Carrying over the one-man-play motif, Titus often speaks directly to the came ra in black-and-white cutaways. (We've already seen this gimmick on ABC's "Once and Again," but at least this time it doesn't feel like a soap commercial.) Titus runs a custom car shop, because as he tells us in one of the asides, "What most people want is a normal life and a cool car. Most people settle for the car." Stacy Keach plays his dad, a mean old hombre who seems to have stepped out of a Johnny Cash song. Married five times, he rides his boys sadistically so they won't be "wussies." Along the way he's pulled down their pants (yep, there's male nudity), beaten them and insulted them at seemingly every chance. Yet tonight's episode goes to extremes to convince us he's just a lovable lunk. If this had been HBO, we would've learned what Titus really thought of his old man. Now that might've been worth watching. Tuesday, 3/21 Even if I hadn't known that it was coming from the production shop of Tom Fo ntana and Barry Levinson, whose previous hits include "Homicide" and "Oz," I still would have found "The Beat" a big disappointment. The new UPN cop show (8 tonight on Channel 29) tells the story of two young, impossibly good- looking members of New York's finest whose personal lives may be in as much disarray as the mopes they haul in. It looked promising in the promos, but almost from the get-go it's one downer after the next. Certainly it raises, or rather lowers, the bar for the number of times the cops say words you couldn't say even in late night five years ago. Worse, every one of the four leads -- the screwed-up cops and their mismatched girlfriends -- has something to hate about them. Wednesday, 3/22 "Then Came You" (7:30 p.m., Channel 9) was scheduled to be on ABC' s fall schedule in a dreaded Thursday-night time slot. But then it was pulled in favor of a second airing of "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" Through that lucky break, this mediocre comedy about a hotel romance has wound up on Wednesday nights, where it's perfectly matched with "Two Guys and a Girl," another so-so sitcom that's fared far better than it deserves. Susan Floyd plays the 30-something divorcee who falls for the 20-something Thomas Newton, her room-service waiter. She does a lot of worrying over the age gap between herself and her beau. Which is odd, since she plays such a dithering ding-dong here that you start to wonder why she worries. It's not like there's a maturity gap between them. Thursday, 3/23 Tonight NBC tries out two new sitcoms in its Thursday "hammocks" (a word to describe anything scheduled among "Friends," "Frasier" and "ER," where even a cooking show could probably get a 20 share). "Daddio" (7:30 p.m., Channel 41) features four cute kids, a grumpy neighbor and a Mr. Mom. It's an NBC sitcom that feels like an NBC sitcom. So why didn't I hate this show? Maybe it has something to do with Michael Chiklis (aka "The Commish") as the stay-at-home father. And because the kids didn't fulfill my worst expectations of them. They're actually seen a lot more than heard. But the real pleasure, and the best thing so far this midseason, is "Battery Park" (8:30 p.m., Channel 41), which brings the punchy joke writing of "Spin City" into a loopy police precinct reminiscent of "Barney Miller." Not only do all of the regulars begin clicking in the first episode, but by the second episode -- in which one of the cops begins dating a mobster's daughter -- even the guest stars are reeling off pitch-perfect lines. Friday, 3/24 In the next few weeks, "Making the Band" will show the real-life evolution of a new "boy band" -- those post-teen sensations that sing in 5-part harmony. Tonight's episode, airing at 8 p.m. on ABC (Channel 9), shows highlights from a nationwide search and the selection of 25 finalists, who are whittled down by show's end to just eight. Judging from the first episode, "Making the Band" appears to be the latest in a disturbing trend of so-called "reality TV" shows that don't play fair wit h the viewer. The band is being put together by impresario Lou Pearlman, who created the Backstreet Boys and 'N Sync out of his studios in Orlando. But it's clear Pearlman laid down some terms in exchange for letting the cameras in. Though he is a constant presence on the show, the focus is never really on Pearlman. Instead, the camera has an endless fascination with these young men talking about their hopes and dreams. I was hoping for a lot more insight into Pearlman: why he thinks the world needs yet another boy band and what he thinks about having so much power over these aspiring crooners. "Making the Band" is co-produced by MTV, noted for celebrity-worshipping programs like "TRL" and "Fanatic" -- and it certainly shows here.

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Revolving doors on "Earth" By John Zipperer

It may be "Earth: Final Paycheck" for Richard Chevolleau (left) and Lisa Howard (right), the actors who play Augur and Lili Marquette, respectively, on the syndicated "Earth: Final Conflict." According to Syfy World, rumors are swirling that neither of them will return for the fourth season of the SF drama series from Tribune Entertainment. Though the reports are being denied officially, it's undeniable that sci-fi producers in recent years have had to be flexible when dealing with the revolving door for actors at every step in the pecking order. This is not the first time "E:FC" has had major talent upheaval. The show, after all, dumped its star, Kevin Kilner, after the first season. Kilner was less than gracious concerning the increased free time this afforded him, and he complained publicly that he was treated shabbily by the producers when they let him go. The producers went out, recast the lead role, wrote in a new character, and delivered a well-received second season (in particular, the first half of the season was very strong). If you can survive the replacement of your lead actor, you can certainly expect to remain happy and healthy when you lose two supporting actors (one of whom, Howard, reportedly lost out to the popular Jayne Heitmeyer). (continued) The daily digest ... for March 21: "Entertainment Tonight" is reporting that MTV's Tom Green has cancer and will suspend production of his show so he can seek treatment. I am persuaded by this earnest-looking press release that Green is not making this up as a prank ... Speaking of press releases, my favorite of the day came over the fax, courtesy of FX. "FX Presents an All New Episode of Its Critically Acclaimed New Original Series Son of the Beach Tuesday, March 21 ..." Well, one would hope FX would present an "all new episode" of a series that is exactly one week old; even USA extended "GvsE" that much credit. But having Ken Tucker compare your show favorably to MAD Magazine is not exactly what I would call "critical acclaim" ... Not to be one-upped by the pregnancy announcement of pal Madonna, Rosie O'Donnell is devoting Tuesday's broadcast to adoption. It will be a veritable how-to for women and men thinking of adopting, although bear in mind that men are optional ... "The Steve Harvey Show," a truly decent sitcom, will get another year on the WB, where it is the network's highest-rated comedy, which unfortunately ain't sayin' much ... And here's a New York Post article with possibly far more than you'd ever care to know about how an actor choreographed his character's on-screen killing. Note: It's a "Sopranos" character rubbed out in Sunday's episode, so if you haven't seen that one yet, don't click the link. Previously on TV Barn:
20 March: Midseason shows
17 March: Pilots of the airwaves
15 March: Reader mail
14 March: "Farscape" season no. 2
13 March: There's something about Gary Considine
10 March: WWF bolts USA deal
Coming up next ... subject to last-minute changes:
Wednesday: TBA
Thursday: "Nightline" at 20
Friday: Oscars!
On this date... in 1991, "L.A. Law's" Rosalind Shays gets dumped twice. First by senior partner Leland McKenzie and moments later by writer David E. Kelley, who has her character get off the elevator on the wrong floor -- the hard way -- in the episode "Good to the Last Drop." -- Tom Heald On the wires:
(Stories open in a new window. Many links expire over time.)

UPN battle ends; Chris-Craft to sell [ Reuters ] [ Company PR ]
"Star Trek Voyager" ending; what's next? [ Reuters ]
Orbach sues eBay for posting his SSN [ Reuters ]
Ratings: CBS wins Sunday despite Regis [ Mediaweek ]
Shockwave.com signs James L. Brooks [ Variety ]
My fave Oedekerk seals 3-yr deal [ Variety ]
Please god, what did we do to deserve the Pets.Com sock puppet? [ Go.com PR ]
More TV news from ZENtertainment [ Read it ]

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Here's one way to put that famed fiery temper to good use. (AP Photo)

Unfinished business Now that Sen. John McCain has some time on his hands, he should use his newly-acquired national celebrity status for some good. He should take "Law & Order" producer Dick Wolf up on his nearly three-year-old challenge to debate him on the V-chip. If he did his homework and was true to his reputation for "straight talk," McCain would wipe the floor with Wolf. It started in the summer of '97 at the TCA critics' tour in Pasadena. Somebody asked Wolf about the TV Parental Guidelines ratings system, which had just been amended to include "content ratings" -- V for violence, D for adult descriptions and so on. Wolf tried to brush off the issue, but once he got started ... "I wish you people -- This is the greatest gathering of television journalists every year ever assembled," said Wolf. "How come none of you has talked about the irony of Senator McCain leading the charge on protecting children from those murderous 30-inch Sonys out there, when this is a man who voted against the five-day waiting period and voted against the Brady Bill? Don't you think you see any kind of dichotomy here?" The senator fired back a few hours later with a fax saying he was "flattered" by the attention paid to him by Wolf. Then he pointed out that content ratings have "absolutely nothing to do with gun control and everything to do with providing parents with information they may or may not choose to use to determine what programs their children watch." McCain added, "Perhaps Mr. Wolf is afraid to give parents this information because it may lead them to find his programs objectionable." Wolf responded with his own fax and that's when he laid down the gauntlet. "I would be happy to debate the Senator at any time about the glaring contradiction between his taking on the mantly of being a protector of children, while doing nothing to protect children from handguns." Unfortunately, that's where the discussion ended. In the meantime, we've had Columbine -- a gruesome convergence of guns, media violence and sick kids -- we've seen the V-chip become standard equipment, in what has to be* the least-publicized product enhancement in consumer history. And we've seen the nation's leading gun maker, Smith & Wesson, agree to install simple trigger-locks on its products and pledge to step up development of "smart guns" that fire only for their owners -- a G-chip if there ever was one. In my book, these three events -- Columbine, the V-chip, and Smith & Wesson's capitulation -- have shifted the balance in the Wolf-McCain debate. I don't think there's any doubt that the Senator could seize such a public forum and give the V-chip discussion unprecedented exposure. And the timing couldn't be better, with his visibility at an all-time high and with Congress currently mulling over violent video games.

"A content-based system is just another word for censorship," says producer Dick Wolf. (PBS/WETA) Nor could McCain possibly find pick a better foil than Wolf, an abrasive personality whose rhetoric embodies many Americans' stereotypes about arrogant, out-of-touch entertainment types. Wolf is part of a breed I call the "Hollywood Firsters." It's a double-edged term: Nobody is as peculiarly rabid about the First Amendment as a Hollywood entertainment type; and a simple analysis of their position makes clear that these people put Hollywood's interest first -- ahead of the public interest. Using his bully pulpit, McCain could point out that the tobacco and gun industries are now less in denial about the public health hazards their products pose than the TV industry is about theirs. After all, as I noted in this story last year, there is no more demonstrable fact in child psychology than the link between television and aggressive behavior. Wolf can bluster all he wants about McCain's Brady Bill votes, but that's all ancient history now. The largest gun maker, Smith & Wesson, has agreed to put an inexpensive lock on its goods; meanwhile the largest broadcaster, NBC, has still not agreed to fully comply with the simple trigger-lock on the TV set known as the V-chip. (NBC is the only major network still resisting content ratings.) "A content-based system is just another word for censorship," harrumphed Wolf. "What you have now is people deciding what is appropriate content ... there is not going to be any continuity ... nobody is going to be satisfied with it." Yeah, well, when was the last time you heard anybody say they were satisfied with everything they saw on TV? It's a ludicrous position to put the V-chip advocates into and Wolf knows it. The point is, no one -- not Joe Lieberman, not Sam Brownback, not John McCain and certainly not the President -- no one wants to legislate the entertainment industry. They just want to shame the industry into doing what's right: accepting the fact that there will be filters on their content and telling parents they exist. Anything less than that is irresponsible. It's about time somebody with some clout stood up to the Hollywood Firsters on these matters. Go on, Senator. Call up Dick Wolf and Judy Woodruff and let's get this thing on CNN. Victim's mom: "Americans addicted to violence" Dick Wolf on the "NewsHour with Jim Lehrer," July 1997 Visit the TV Parental Guidelines site Still more resources in the freshly updated "TV Critic's Toolbox" The daily digest ... for March 22: This gets my vote for streaming-media event of the year so far: "Demolition Day: Seattle Kingdome," in which the world can watch as the 24-year-old sports complex is turned to rubble in about 15 seconds. The live webcast of the demolition will happen starting at 8 a.m. Sunday on Discovery's Web page; ESPN Classic will be airing the blast live as well. A video of the kaboom will air 10 p.m. next Wednesday as part of a TLC special on professional detonation ... Justin and Eric Stangel are the new head writers of "Late Show with David Letterman," replacing Rodney Rothman, reports the behind-the-scenes Wahoo Gazette. Previously on TV Barn:
21 March: Sci-fi cast turnover
20 March: Midseason shows
17 March: Pilots of the airwaves
15 March: Reader mail
14 March: "Farscape" season no. 2
13 March: There's something about Gary Considine
10 March: WWF bolts USA deal
Coming up next ... subject to last-minute changes:
Thursday: "Nightline" at 20
Friday: Oscars!
On this date... in 1994, Roseanne and Tom Arnold continue on their world tour, destroying everyone else's movies and television shows, landing today in the city of Port Charles for a three-day stint on "General Hospital" as Jennifer Smith and Billy "Baggs" Boggs. -- Tom Heald On the wires:
(Stories open in a new window. Many links expire over time.)

So long, "Freaks and Geeks" [ Mediaweek ]
Tom Green treated for testicular cancer [ CBC ]
"Titus" bows strong [ Variety ]
No letup in protests of Dr. Laura show [ Variety ]
Ex-NFLer Taylor also in trouble over "queer" remark [ NY Post ]
Sorkin: "West Wing" is a Western [ Dallas ]
Next gameshow: "Smartest Person in America" [ Variety ]
David Lynch signs with Shockwave.com [ Read the PR ]
Enhanced "Millionaire" 'cast next Tuesday [ Read the PR ]
More TV news from ZENtertainment [ Read it ]

>>> Aaron Barnhart's TVBARN.COM

edTV

More sneak previews Saturday; read our review This just in!

President roasted at correspondents' dinner...

Master hoaxer rooks HBO!...

EW Online names TV Barn "Site of the Week"...

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March 22, 1999 | Last updated 12:01 AM CST | All times Eastern Read the AP's account and visit the Mercury News' complete Oscars site. TV Barn on the radios Hear Aaron Barnhart on the radio -- wherever you are! Sounds frightening when I put it *that* way, but it's true. Kansas City's top-rated newsradio station KMBZ is now on the Web, which means you can tune in at 7:20 a.m. Central time every Tuesday morning to hear Mr. TV Barn gabbing with the KMBZ anchors. Come to the link, and be on time as the segment only lasts three minutes: http://www.broadcast.com/radio/news/kmbz JUST ADDED: A link to my Sunday A-1 article on who's writing the Oscars.

Whoopi Goldberg and friend. (Photo: ABC/A.M.P.A.S./Timothy White) Heeeeeere's Oscar!

Why "Lateline" lost and "SportsNight" succeeded

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Farscape
Sci-Fi, 8 p.m. and midnight

On the wires:

Behind the Oscarcast

Every year, a small brain trust of seasoned pros gets together to script nearly every word of the most-watched non-sporting TV event of the year. One of them has been doing this since 1954 -- the first year the Oscars were televised. In this Sunday Page 1 feature, I talked with the head of "Team Whoopi," Bruce Vilanch, who dished details on the oral tradition that's as integral to the Academy Awards as the Bill Conti orchestra. Read the story

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I've moved the departments to the top of the page, since they're all updated daily. Those include the latest news item, the overnights, Pick to Click, Show du Jour, On This Date and the 25 latest wire stories.
The features are now in the back of the Barn, under their own heading. The freshest stories will always be at the top of the list and will decline chronologically as you scroll down the page -- no more surprises.
The yellow alert box at the top of the page will function more like a "refer" at the top of a newspaper page, alerting you to one or two breaking stories or updates rather than the seven or eight links that collected up there by week's end.
I've added departmental links to the left-hand sidebar.

At last! The final issue of LATE SHOW NEWS

Whaddya mean, the dog doesn't have a non-compete?

Brokaw in hot soup with homeless

Entertainment Weekly rates us an "A"

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Previously posted dribs and drabs:

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Updated 9:15 a.m. Thursday

Here's one way to put that famed fiery temper to good use. (AP Photo) Unfinished business Now that Sen. John McCain has some time on his hands, he should use his newly-acquired national celebrity status for some good. He should take "Law & Order" producer Dick Wolf up on his nearly three-year-old challenge to debate him on the V-chip. If he did his homework and was true to his reputation for "straight talk," McCain would wipe the floor with Wolf. It started in the summer of '97 at the TCA critics' tour in Pasadena. Somebody asked Wolf about the TV Parental Guidelines ratings system, which had just been amended to include "content ratings" -- V for violence, D for adult descriptions and so on. Wolf tried to brush off the issue, but once he got started ... "I wish you people -- This is the greatest gathering of television journalists every year ever assembled," said Wolf. "How come none of you has talked about the irony of Senator McCain leading the charge on protecting children from those murderous 30-inch Sonys out there, when this is a man who voted against the five-day waiting period and voted against the Brady Bill? Don't you think you see any kind of dichotomy here?" The senator fired back a few hours later with a fax saying he was "flattered" by the attention paid to him by Wolf. Then he pointed out that content ratings have "absolutely nothing to do with gun control and everything to do with providing parents with information they may or may not choose to use to determine what programs their children watch." McCain added, "Perhaps Mr. Wolf is afraid to give parents this information because it may lead them to find his programs objectionable." Wolf responded with his own fax and that's when he laid down the gauntlet. "I would be happy to debate the Senator at any time about the glaring contradiction between his taking on the mantle of being a protector of children, while doing nothing to protect children from handguns." Unfortunately, that's where the discussion ended. In the meantime, we've had Columbine -- a gruesome convergence of guns, media violence and sick kids -- we've seen the V-chip become standard equipment, in what has to be* the least-publicized product enhancement in consumer history. And we've seen the nation's leading gun maker, Smith & Wesson, agree to install simple trigger-locks on its products and pledge to step up development of "smart guns" that fire only for their owners -- a G-chip if there ever was one. In my book, these three events -- Columbine, the V-chip, and Smith & Wesson's capitulation -- have shifted the balance in the Wolf-McCain debate. I don't think there's any doubt that the Senator could seize such a public forum and give the V-chip discussion unprecedented exposure. And the timing couldn't be better, with his visibility at an all-time high and with Congress currently mulling over violent video games.

The daily digest ... for March 23: I'll be posting my 20-year look back at "Nightline" later this evening. I've got a few irons in the fire today, including a very interesting piece about one of the 16 contestants on that castaway game show "Survivor" that is being shot, as we speak, off the coast of Borneo ... Did you catch that very sweet panel on "Late Show" Wednesday between David Letterman and Linda Cardellini (left), who had learned the night before that her show, "Freaks and Geeks," had been cancelled? According to Tom Heald, this isn't the first time NBC has left one of its stars out to dry: "On October 29, 1992, Roger Kabler was booked on 'The Arsenio Hall Show' to promote his sitcom 'Rhythm & Blues.' (Brief synopsis: White DJ named Bobby Soul is hired by a black radio station.) Only, NBC cancelled his sitcom just one hour before the show's taping. So Kabler spent the entire interview telling Arsenio what bastards the Peacock executives were" ... Some of you may be wondering if Cardellini made up that little story about Letterman looking into the TV camera one night in the 1980s, as though speaking directly to her, and said, "Whatever you do, don't move to New York, Linda." In fact, it probably happened; fans of the old "Late Night" show on NBC will recall Dave's ongoing penchant for that name, which he pronounced "Leeeeeenda." Digest for March 22: This gets my vote for streaming-media event of the year so far: "Demolition Day: Seattle Kingdome," in which the world can watch as the 24-year-old sports complex is turned to rubble in about 15 seconds. The live webcast of the demolition will happen starting at 8 a.m. Sunday on Discovery's Web page; ESPN Classic will be airing the blast live as well. A video of the kaboom will air 10 p.m. next Wednesday as part of a TLC special on professional detonation ... Justin and Eric Stangel are the new head writers of "Late Show with David Letterman," replacing Rodney Rothman, reports the behind-the-scenes Wahoo Gazette. Previously on TV Barn:
21 March: Sci-fi cast turnover
20 March: Midseason shows
17 March: Pilots of the airwaves
15 March: Reader mail
14 March: "Farscape" season no. 2
13 March: There's something about Gary Considine
10 March: WWF bolts USA deal
Coming up next ... subject to last-minute changes:
Later Thursday: "Nightline" at 20
Friday: We I.D. a "Survivor" contestant; also, Oscarcast preview
On this date... in 1982, because America can't get enough of Erin Moran and Scott Baio (and they can't get enough of one another), ABC moves "Joanie Loves Chachi" into its own timeslot and 90 miles south-by-southeast to Chicago, where the couple's band manages to play a few numbers each episode in (his new stepfather) Al's restaurant. And while audiences love the show Tuesday nights right after "Happy Days," they aren't able to find the show when it moves a month later to Thursday nights, and its ratings plummet. In May 1983, America's sweethearts move back behind Fonzie, but by September ABC cancels their gig. March 22: in 1994, Roseanne and Tom Arnold continue on their world tour, destroying everyone else's movies and television shows, landing today in the city of Port Charles for a three-day stint on "General Hospital" as Jennifer Smith and Billy "Baggs" Boggs. -- Tom Heald On the wires:
(Stories open in a new window. Many links expire over time.)

Herzog to Fox: I'm outta here [ Variety ]
Will Sorkin take "Sports Night" elsewhere? [ NY Post ]
Disney lobbying against AOL/Time Warner merger [ Fool.com ] (2d item)
AOL to Feds: Let us keep our dish stake [ Reuters ]
Nielsen to start fall season Oct. 2 [ Variety ]
"Greed" lives on [ dick clark PR ]
Behind that new WWF documentary [ KC Star ]
Kuralt's mistress awarded Mont. cabin [ The AP ]
Jordan phasing out his endorsements [ The AP ]
Big bucks back ReplayTV [ Mediaweek ]
Replay changes name, announces upgrades [ Cahners ]
Dennehy to make "McMullen"-like sitcom [ Mediaweek ]
Heart surgery for Dangerfield [ E! Online ]
Belo to offer free airtime to candidates [ Read the PR ]
So long, "Freaks and Geeks" [ Mediaweek ]
Tom Green treated for testicular cancer [ CBC ]
"Titus" bows strong [ Variety ]
No letup in protests of Dr. Laura show [ Variety ]
Ex-NFLer Taylor also in trouble over "queer" remark [ NY Post ]
Sorkin: "West Wing" is a Western [ Dallas ]
Next gameshow: "Smartest Person in America" [ Variety ]
David Lynch signs with Shockwave.com [ Read the PR ]
Enhanced "Millionaire" 'cast next Tuesday [ Read the PR ]
More TV news from ZENtertainment [ Read it ]

>>> Aaron Barnhart's TVBARN.COM

edTV

In theaters Wednesday; read our review first! This just in!

Judge Judy contract resolved...

"Suddenly Susan's" Strickland suicide...

Ice-T in new pilot...

Everyone but TV Barn skewers the Oscarcast...

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March 23, 1999 | Last updated 10:00 AM CST | All times Eastern

"Two Guys" I.F. (or T.G. no more Olsen twins)

The dismantling of ABC's durable "T.G.I.F." franchise appears to be underway. With neither of its two new Friday-night sitcoms lighting up the Nielsens this year, the network has announced it will replace the Olsen twins showcase "Two of a Kind" with repeats of its surprising success, "Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place," beginning April 9. TV Barn is waiting for the other shoe to drop -- namely the yanking of "Brother's Keeper," the other Friday freshman. Throughout the Nineties "T.G.I.F." has been a magnet for teen viewers. The loss of its two long-running sitcoms, "Family Matters" and "Step by Step," to CBS in 1997 didn't hurt ABC's fortunes; in fact, CBS was forced to cancel its two acquisitions after just one season of head-to-head competition with "T.G.I.F." But in truth, ABC hadn't fared much better, cancelling "Teen Angel" and "You Wish" last season. And teen tastes have clearly shifted away from comedy and toward the dramatic quasi-soaps offered on the WB. If the adult-oriented "Two Guys" proves a hit in repeats, look for "Sabrina the Teenage Witch" and possibly "Boy Meets World" to survive as standalone shows. With this move, "Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place" gets to stay on the air while the new Peter Mehlman show "It's like, you know..." takes over its time slot starting Wednesday. It will also be a good test of "Two Guys," which has been accused of being a classic "hammock" show, filling the gap between two more critically liked sitcoms "Dharma & Greg" and "Drew Carey" on ABC's highly-rated Wednesday night schedule. The network recently ordered 22 episodes of "Two Guys" for 1999-2000 and may be using this Friday-night trial to see if the show can go it alone without relying on one of its more famous siblings. Read the news about the "Two Guys" move

Reader mail

I got a letter last week that begins, "You state that 'edTV' is uncannily like 'The Truman Show.' Perhaps, but that's not the whole story ... 'edTV' is the Americanized version of 'Louis 19, le roi des ondes' ('Louis 19, King of the Airwaves'), a Quebec movie produced in 1994." And it gets better from there. Read the mail

TV Barn on the radio

Hear Aaron Barnhart on the radio -- wherever you are! Sounds frightening when I put it that way, but it's true. Kansas City's top-rated newsradio station KMBZ is now on the Web, which means you can tune in at 7:20 a.m. Central time every Tuesday morning to hear Mr. TV Barn gabbing with the KMBZ anchors. Come to the link, and be on time as the segment only lasts three minutes: http://www.broadcast.com/radio/news/kmbz

Pick to click
SportsNight
ABC, 9:30

Hurray! Despite less than stellar ratings, ABC last week announced it is renewing "Sports Night" for the 1999-2000 season. This innovative half-hour comedy about life behind the scenes at a sports-TV program may not inspire a raft of imitators, but given the mind-numbing sameness of most sitcoms today, ABC's vote of confidence is reassuring. It helped that Ron Howard's production company is behind it and that the show's ensemble has sparkled all season long. But ]Ultimate credit for its success goes to the show's creator and chief writer, Aaron Sorkin (who also wrote ``The American President" and "A Few Good Men"). Sorkin has tilted at the ABC windmill all season. He created a show that proved hard to promote (ABC wanted a sister show for "Spin City"). Then Sorkin fought the network tooth and nail on that ridiculous laugh track. When he refused to write a blizzard-related episode to promote ABC's "Storm of the Century," the network yanked "Sports Night" off the schedule that week. In the larger scope of life, these principled stands seem piddling. But in the TV business, one is always amazed that they happen at all. (Photo credit: ABC/Bob D'Amico) Also tonight, "Quantrill's Raiders" are the focus of a new documentary at 8 p.m. on the History Channel.

On this date ...
In 1973, Home Box Office unveils its first blockbuster original entertainment special, "The Pennsylvania Polka Festival." -- Tom Heald

On the wires:

Rock on

March 22--The 14th annual "Rock and Roll Hall of Fame" induction ceremony was held in New York City Monday night and originally broadcast Wednesday night (it will repeat often). VH1's special featured Bruce Springsteen, Paul McCartney, The Staple Singers, Billy Joel and the late Dusty Springfield and Del Shannon among the inductees. There were moving moments and joyful ones too. If you ever get into a hall of fame, have Ray Charles give your induction speech, as he did for Billy Joel. The center of the show was not the ceremony but the all-star jam session that followed. "Late Show with David Letterman" bandleader Paul Shaffer was the musical director, although with so much talent on stage he was more of a air traffic controller than conductor. The music was a little ragged but made up in emotional punch what it lacked in polish. The high point was a rendition of Curtis Mayfield's "People Get Ready" with an improvised opening lyric by Bono. When Paul McCartney stood at the microphone to sing "Let it Be," you could feel the passage of time, the ache of loss and the hope and renewal that music brings. -- Harrison Wyman

Bravissimo!

March 22--They really should've cut it by 40 minutes or so, but Sunday night's four-hour-plus Academy Awards telecast otherwise sparkled and shined and for once, delivered on the pre-show hype of uncertainty in the major categories. In the end, Roberto Benigni and Steven Spielberg were rewarded for their visions, Judi Dench and James Coburn were recognized for films they'd made in the past, and Harvey Weinstein's $6 million promotional push for "Shakespeare in Love" paid some very handsome dividends. Clearly the high point of the telecast was Benigni's Oscar for best foreign film. It's not often that the best actor award is considered an anticlimax; Benigni not only used up all of his English in the joyous aftermath of his first Oscar win, he used up most of the crowd's enthusiasm. (That less than exuberant look on the face of his wife and co-star, one assumes, has something to do with a language barrier. That, and she probably sees Benigni behave like this ten times a day.) So many other moments nearly justified the telecast's unforgivable (and record) length: Whoopi Goldberg's ongoing parade of can-you-top-this fashions. Ed Harris and Nick Nolte sitting on their hands for Elia Kazan. Genuinely touching tributes from two winners, best actress Gwyneth Paltrow and best short-documentary filmmaker Keiko Ibi. Chris Rock and Robin Williams. And Jim Carrey. And I never thought anything sung by Celine Dion would move me, but I was wrong. Still, perhaps you're more cynical than I am, in which case you'll definitely want to read Paul Harris' instant take on the Oscars at http://www.harrisonline.com (it begins: "Does anyone in the world think Whoopi Goldberg is as funny as she obviously does?"). Read the AP's account and visit the Mercury News' complete Oscars site. A link to my Sunday A-1 article on who's writing the Oscars.

Why "Lateline" lost and "SportsNight" succeeded

What's happening to the independent stations?

"edTV"

The people's channel

Oops! NBC station's bonehead call shuts down airport

At last! The final issue of LATE SHOW NEWS

Entertainment Weekly rates us an "A"

In local news ...

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British viewers see the full Nicky and other recent brief items

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ABC "Nightline" at 20 Forget how Ted Koppel has or hasn't changed in the 20 years since he started doing "Nightline." All you need do is turn back the clock six years. The year was 1994. We hadn't fathomed how addictive "live, breaking news" would become to the country's news organizations, who were soon covering the bejeezus out of a single news story, then swarming on to another story, and so on ad nauseam. And none of us had a clue what role the rapidly expanding Internet would play in reporting and disseminating the news. Heck, we hadn't even fully realized that the O.J. Simpson case would prove to be the TV journalistic equivalent of crack. What we did know was this: Ted Koppel was a fan neither of live news coverage nor new technology. He thought both would be disasters for the TV news industry. Today, Koppel still hasn't changed his tune on live news coverage. But it's instructive to see, from his recent interview with the Washington Post's Howard Kurtz, that he has done a 180 on technology. And as he prepares to punch "30" on a long and illustrious broadcast career -- he told Kurtz he's leaving "Nightline" in three to five years -- the Internet could very well be the last hope for the kind of serious and thoughtful journalism Koppel strives to do on his program. (continued) He survived, for a while

When CBS released the names and mug shots of the 16 persons who'd been flown off to the South China Sea for a six-week treasure hunt called "Survivor," they included "B.B., Mission Hills, KS." Within a few hours a reporter in one of my newspaper's suburban bureaus had identified the face as that of B.B. Andersen, a tall, meaty, thrill-seeking retired contractor. So I started making some phone calls, and discovered that CBS had chosen quite a character to balance its pool of mostly younger contestants. But before we could get my story into the paper, some unexpected news: Andersen came back to town, obviously having been eliminated early from the game. Read all about it in my story from Friday's Kansas City Star Picks to click ... for the week of March 20 are here. The daily digest ... for March 24: I'll post information about the Oscars later this weekend. Also look for my overnight review of the Oscarcast on Monday ... Not exactly a stellar debut for "The Beat" on Tuesday for UPN. The show from "Homicide" creators Barry Levinson and Tom Fontana registered only a slight gain in viewers ages 18-49 ... And Variety reports that while "Family Guy" on Fox and "God, the Devil and Bob" on NBC both lost ground to ABC's "Millionaire" on Tuesday, the gap between the two cartoons is closing. This week "God" made up for its disastrous Tuesday debut of last week -- in which it hit a record low in viewership for that time period on NBC -- by cutting "Guy's" advantage in key demos in half ... Amazing that with all the trouble it has had finding an audience, "Family Guy" still managed to outlive Fox entertainment chief Doug Herzog ... Like the guy isn't on TV enough, NBC White House correspondent David Bloom is the new co-anchor of the weekend edition of "Today" ... L.A.'s long nightmare is over as CBS-owned KCBS-TV announced it is moving "The Price Is Right" back to its rightful 10 a.m. air time, reports Variety. Previously on TV Barn:
22-23 March: Let's have a V-chip debate
21 March: Sci-fi cast turnover
20 March: Midseason shows
17 March: Pilots of the airwaves
15 March: Reader mail
14 March: "Farscape" season no. 2
13 March: There's something about Gary Considine
10 March: WWF bolts USA deal
Coming up next ... subject to last-minute changes:
Monday: Oscar post-mortem
Tuesday: ReplayTV and TiVo
Wednesday: Sci-Fi
On this date... in 1985, as if a detective show starring a glaring Italian stereotype wouldn't be nearly offensive enough, NBC decides to play up the fact that their star is short, too. Joe Pesci is "Half Nelson." Also along for the show's brief 2-month run: Dick Butkus and Bubba Smith as dumb guys, Victoria Jackson as a bimbo, and Dean Martin as Dean Martin. March 25: in 1986, Balki Bartokomous and his stuffed lamb Dimitri travel from the Mediterranean island of Mypos to the doorstep of his "Cousin" Larry Appleton, to try sheepherding in Chicago. Can ABC think of an odder couple than these "Perfect Strangers"? "Don't be ridiculous!" March 26: in 1973, Rob Reiner and his teammate are the first people ever to reach the summit on the "The $10,000 Pyramid," getting there ahead of June Lockhart. His winning clue? Donuts, aka "Things With A Hole." After the taping of this premiere show in the Ed Sullivan Theater, Reiner complains to host Dick Clark that the game is too easy, and he doubts the pyramid scheme will last very long. -- Tom Heald On the wires:
(Stories open in a new window. Many links expire over time.)

Dot-com demand drives Oscar ad prices up [ Variety ]
Here are the WSJ's Oscar predix [ DowJones ]
"Then Came You" debuts strong [ Variety ]
Whazzah? The film behind the Budweiser ads [ On2 PR ]
"Wendy the Witch" cartoon in works [ Harvey PR ]
HDTV cable tested in Omaha [ TWICE ]
Trebek sued over airport flap [ SJMerc ]
"Jeopardy" reject goes all the way on "Millionaire" [ The AP ]
Balto. stations flirted w/disaster in covering standoff [ BaltSun ]
Letterman returning to five nights [ The AP ]
MTV announces six new series [ Viacom PR ][ Variety]
NBC wins Wednesdays again [ Mediaweek ]
More TV news from ZENtertainment [ Read it ]

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Return to front Just six years ago, Koppel gave an address at Harvard in which he decried the future of television news, which he saw moving away from an advertising-supported model to one where viewers could, a la carte, order up the type of news they wanted. That trend, Koppel said, "will winnow out the well-to-do, well-educated viewers," who can pay for information as they wish, and leave behind "the less well-to-do and the less well-educated among us." And what they get, predicted Koppel, "will truly be television of the lowest common denominator: a National Enquirer of the air, sponsored by those products for whom demographics are irrelevant." He concluded: "Television, which for so many years has been the great homogenizer in this country, seems poised to go the way of radio stations and newspapers and magazines. And since you were nice enough to ask, I'll tell you: I think it's a lousy idea." Well, not any more, he doesn't. Kurtz reports that Koppel is now "fascinated by the new TiVo machines -- no, he doesn't have one -- that allow a viewer to pause a show in real time while the device keeps recording it. He envisions a wired environment in which you're watching a two-minute report on Kosovo and a question pops up on the screen, asking if you want more information. If you click yes, the original show is paused while you get a seven-minute report on Kosovo, and if you click yes again, perhaps a discussion about Kosovo, until you've had your fill and go back to the original show." What's changed? Certainly not Ted's techno habits -- he still only checks his e-mail once a month, and he still pines for the days when correspondents had to file their reports on film, when there was a built-in delay between shooting and airing that allowed the reporter some time to think and write. But Koppel has certainly turned off his former pessimism about the possibilities of technology. He has seen the development of new media along the advertising-supported model and he's seen his own network's heavy investment in the Internet. The result is that now Koppel, as he told Kurtz, can see himself retiring from "Nightline" and going to work making news deeper and richer on this new medium than he ever was able to on TV. (If you haven't checked it out lately, the "Nightline" Web site at ABCNews.com is already chock full of video from previous nights' episodes and other extras.) I'd like to see Koppel do that -- and if he has to quit tomorrow to make it happen, then clean out your desk, Ted. This is an infinitely better way for Koppel to spend his post-ABC career than the way he'd originally planned, which was making documentaries. You may recall that low period in the 1980's. Having grown bored with the talking-heads format, and feeling unsupported by ABC management, Koppel opened an independent production shop. At one point he dropped down to three days per week, a truly Carsonesque grind, and it seemed he would give up "Nightline" altogether. But then Koppel became re-energized, and with the arrival of a new executive producer, Tom Bettag from the "CBS Evening News," in 1991, Koppel started turning those ideas for outside work into "Nightline" broadcasts. His ongoing interest in the American justice system, and his reports from Russia this week, are recent examples. And for those who may think it odd that "Nightline" would mark its 20th anniversary 10,000 miles from home, bear in mind that on the night of the show's 15th anniversary five years ago, Koppel did a broadcast on the political and economic crisis in Mexico. No sentimentalist, he. Over the years, Koppel's finest hours have come from these thematic shows. They have always been timely without seemingly breathlessly urgent -- a pervasive form of hype Koppel appears immune to. The thematic approach is a perfect one for the Internet, and I hope he's serious about one day pursuing it. For example: Koppel has never hid his disdain for the shortcomings of the American criminal justice system. That's probably why he's devoted so much airtime to the subject. On the Web, he could offer a deeper, richer accounting of the way American justice works -- and doesn't -- by tying together his various reports over the years, as well as patching together a national narrative of some of the hot-button issues like the death penalty and juvenile sentencing. A great deal of reporting on these topics is done locally, not nationally; Koppel's site could be the glue that gives viewers a complete picture and detects trends across the states. The Internet has also muted Koppel's harsh words about live news coverage. In 1994 he wrote in a New York Times op-ed piece: "Putting someone on the air while an event is unfolding is clearly a technological tour de force, but it is an impediment, not an aid to good journalism." He's been proven right hundreds of times since then, but now the point seems less interesting. If Americans are going to be able to turn to the Internet, or their interactive TVs, and demand news when they want it, then "live" and "as it happens" will take on new meanings for most of us. Interactive sites will be constantly updated, and we'll feel like we're getting the latest, but this time without all the static, confusion and hypothesizing that goes on during typical TV livecasts. There's still a lot of uncertainty in the future of electronic news. But I must say it's heartening to know that one of the best of the old school isn't planning on leaving it anytime soon. In the meantime, I'll keep setting my ReplayTV to "Nightline." (Oh yeah, that's another 20-year tradition: Since 1980 the ABC affiliate in Kansas City has delayed "Nightline" by an hour and a half so it can show syndicated programs. We're the largest market that's still delaying "Nightline"; read what Ted Koppel had to say about it in this 1998 article.) Read my three-parter from 1994 on Koppel: Part 1 ... Part 2 ... Part 3 Read my rant on Koppel's 1997 Food Lion "town hall" Return to front

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Return to front NO MAN IS AN ISLAND
But area man could've won a million by surviving on one By AARON BARNHART
The Kansas City Star Whoever emerges as the $1 million winner on CBS' bizarre new reality show "Survivor" will likely need the coping skills of a mountain man and the political savvy of a party boss. It won't be retired contractor B.B. Andersen of Mission Hills -- though he came tantalizingly close. Andersen survived a battery of interviews, psychological exams and the all-important screen test and was one of 16 finalists flown earlier this month to a remote tropical island off the coast of Borneo. Among thousands of applicants, Andersen was among the elite who got to play the game that's been described as MTV's "Real World" meets "Lord of the Flies." The castaways were dropped off on the island March 13 with little more than the clothes on their backs. Their assignment: stay alive and find a way to live together for nearly seven weeks. With well-fed TV crews shadowing their every move, the contestants relied on one another for shelter and food. But the winds shifted from cooperative to cutthroat as they competed against one another in beach games and other challenges. The winners got to enjoy such desert-island luxuries as a pillow or a cold beer; the losers looked on enviously. But those are picnic games compared with "Survivor's" ultimate test. Every three days the competitors form a "council" and, by secret ballot, vote one of their group off the island. The last person left -- no doubt someone gifted with a combination of strength and schmooze -- will collect the million-dollar prize when the ordeal ends, sometime at the end of April. CBS won't like us telling you this, but it's not going to be Andersen. He arrived back in town Wednesday night, according to a source close to Andersen. The network, which made all contestants sign agreements promising to keep the outcome of "Survivor" a secret, wouldn't grant interviews even with family members. (Jan Andersen, B.B.'s wife, politely declined comment Thursday to the reporter who knocked at their High Drive home in Mission Hills.) We'll all get to see what happened to Andersen and the 15 other contestants beginning in late May or early June, when "Survivor" starts its 13-week run on CBS. What CBS will say is this: B.B. Andersen was among eight men and eight women chosen from more than 6,000 people who applied last fall to be contestants on "Survivor." He was the second-oldest competitor, behind a 72-year-old ex-Navy SEAL. He is also tall and rugged. The record shows that Andersen was a successful commercial contractor in Topeka. His B.B. Andersen Cos. worked on the library at the University of Kansas Medical Center and the executive park at Tiffany Springs. Some of Andersen's friends and acquaintances were thrilled about his island adventure, but others questioned his sanity. Why would a man with a wife and young daughter want to risk his neck in the tropical heat, eating nuts and berries and dodging poisonous snakes? Does a man with a $700,000 house need a million dollars this badly? We put those questions to Bill Fromm, head of Barkley Evergreen & Partners advertising agency and a longtime friend of Andersen's, who helped him put together his "Survivor" application. Fromm answered with a rhetorical question of his own: "Why did he sail across the Atlantic Ocean in a sailboat? If you know B.B., it's because it was just something to do." Whatever his motivation, B.B. Andersen must have seemed like a dream come true to the show's producers, who were under orders from CBS to find a contestant pool that was diverse in age as well as race and gender. They must have pinched themselves when they learned that Andersen still skis regularly, takes off-road motorcycle trips and just finished building a log cabin in Colorado. By himself. "B.B. is one of the true characters of our time," said Kansas Senate President Dick Bond, who met him in the 1980s, when Andersen was an active Republican fund-raiser. "He's probably suited for this kind of unique experience." Of those friends and acquaintances The Star interviewed, none had any trouble believing Andersen wouldn't do well in the contests, held about every day, that involved physical skill or strength. Over and over they mentioned Andersen's toughness, his love of the outdoors and his macho pursuit of new challenges. CBS wasn't about to give away any details about the taping of "Survivor." But The Star contacted several viewers of another version of the show, called "Expedition Robinson," which has been airing for three years on Swedish TV. The Swedish version featured an "island Olympics" with events such as the long jump and 50-meter hurdles; obstacle-course runs; and "crab races" not unlike a Calaveras County jumping-frog contest. One year the show made three remaining finalists undergo an excruciating "standoff" atop a balance beam in the scorching midday heat. The one that fell off first was eliminated. The prizes for these games are either simple luxuries, like food or drink; or an "immunity reward," which ensures that your peers can't remove you from the island on the next secret ballot. The show's producers insist, however, that "Survivor" is only "two parts physical endurance" but "eight parts social politics." A contestant who does well in the beach games, yet fails to share his spoils with others, could be ousted. Someone with mediocre talents and a winning personality, however, could end up the last survivor. That may have been Andersen's stumbling block. Friends and critics agreed that B.B. is a man unafraid to speak his mind or go his own way. "If he thinks he's right on something, or that someone else is wrong, he can be firm and outspoken, sometimes brutally outspoken," says former Kansas Gov. Bob Bennett, a longtime friend and fishing partner. "You would not want to hire him as secretary of state." But they also say Andersen is adaptable, even charming. He proved that when CBS began promoting the "Survivor" contestant search last October. Knowing that thousands would apply, Andersen wanted an eye-catching presentation that would land him an interview with the show's producers. So he enlisted a friend in the media. Andersen and Fromm put together a fancy "survival kit" that looked like something Barkley & Evergreen would pitch to a potential client. Into the colorful-looking box went Andersen's application and questionnaire, cased in a professional three-ring binder; the three-minute videotape applicants were to make of themselves, but done with real TV equipment, not a camcorder; and three survival tools. Fromm said, "There was a question: `If you could take only three items, what would they be?' So we actually put those items in." (Before departure, the producers chose one of the three for Andersen to take with him: a beach towel.) Andersen made the cut of 800 applicants, then talked his way into the round of 48 semi-finalists who were flown to Los Angeles. There, CBS says the hopefuls all took lengthy physical and psychological exams, as well as another important checkup on their criminal and civil backgrounds. The network didn't want to have the next Rick Rockwell on its hands. When Andersen got the call informing him he'd made finalist, friends gave him a suitable send-off. About 40 of them held a bon voyage party at -- of all places -- the chimp house at the Kansas City Zoo. The party site was a sly reference to the exotic monkeys said to live on the island, set in the Malaysian state of Sabah. But some of Andersen's friends said they had heard that the primates there are dangerous. They've also heard stories about poisonous snakes. And then there's the story of a contestant on the Swedish version who killed himself not long after being voted off the island. But a CBS spokesman said medical crews are on standby at all times, and the TV crew won't hesitate to step in at the first sign of danger. Also, mental health professionals visited with the finalists, and everyone was trained in island safety before the contest started. Besides, the name of the show is "Survivor," not "Deliverance." Staff writers Laura Hockaday and Dan Margolies contributed to this article. Return to front

>>> Aaron Barnhart's TVBARN.COM

edTV

In theaters Wednesday; read our review first! This just in!

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"Dawson's," "Practice" stars team up for Western...

Judge Judy contract resolved...

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March 24, 1999 | Last updated 12:01 AM CST | All times Eastern

What made "The Pretender" a contender

It wasn't one of the most eye-catching stories of the week. Most who read about it probably failed to grasp its importance. It was just another TV industry trade story about a cable show. But the more I thought about it, the more it told me about television and how the economic cycles of TV are very much like the creative cycles. Yes, there's always something new to report on, there are always new players on camera and behind the scenes. But the story is almost always the same. Read the story

Pick to click
It's like, you know...
ABC, 8:30

(Pictured L-R) Steven Eckholdt, Jennifer Grey, Evan Handler, Chris Eigeman, A.J. Langer (Photo: ABC/Bob D'Amico) Peter Mehlman, who was involved in every aspect of "Seinfeld" for nearly its entire run, now brings us "It's like, you know ..." and already they're calling it "Seinfeld Moves to L.A." Mind you, that's no slight: One could do a lot worse than setting Jerry loose in southern California to point out the little absurdities around him (and some of the big ones, too). But judging from the first three episodes of this terrific new series, which debuts tonight in the "Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place" space, there's more going on than that. Yes, the show does open with Arthur (Chris Eigeman), a diehard New Yorker, dealing with culture shock on arriving in L.A. for a short-term writing assignment. Pretty soon, however, the four other members of this ensemble are introduced and it becomes clear Mehlman has designs for each of them. I scanned the first episode for quotable punchlines; there are none. Mehlman doesn't write that way. But you'll have a great time anyway as this show laconically works its way through the peculiar pop culture of L.A. ALSO: Tom Shales pans "It's like, you know..."
(but he didn't care much for "Seinfeld" toward the end, either!) Meanwhile in L.A., a mixed review from Howard Rosenberg
(who somehow found something to like in "The Norm Show"!)

On this date ...
In 1949, "Roller Derby" makes its debut on ABC, for a whole fifteen minutes a night. In 1980, "Alice" waitress Flo Castleberry (Polly Holiday) quits Mel's Diner to run her own greasy spoon "Flo's Yellow Rose" in the spinoff "Flo." -- Tom Heald

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Who'll steal them this weekend? The Oscar statuettes may have been safely returned to their rightful keepers last week ... but you know that come Sunday night, they'll be carried out of the Shrine Auditorium clutched in people's hot little hands. And no doubt some of those making off with Oscars will be, shall we say, the unlikeliest of suspects. TV Barn is proud to serve as exclusive home of this year's edition of Andy Ihnatko Picks on Oscar, a comprehensive, one-of-a-kind review of the 2000 Academy Awards from TV Barn's itinerant movie critic and unofficial Mac consultant. Besides being a regular contributor to this Web site, Andy writes a column for MacCentral and is responsible for about half of all the items that have appeared in Roger Ebert's Little Movie Glossary and Bigger Little Movie Glossary. Go to "Andy Ihnatko Picks on Oscar" Go to Knight-Ridder's complete Oscar site CHAT WITH TV BARN: I'm going to be hanging out in Yahoo! Chat during Sunday's Oscarcast. Please join me there and help keep things interesting. Look for aaronbarnhart in the Academy Awards chat room. AND DON'T FORGET: Aaron Barnhart's overnight review of Oscarcast 2000 will be posted to TV Barn early on Monday morning. Picks to click ... for the week of March 20 are here. The daily digest ... returns Monday. Previously on TV Barn:
24 March: "Nightline" at 20; local man on "Survivor"
22-23 March: Let's have a V-chip debate
21 March: Sci-fi cast turnover
20 March: Midseason shows
17 March: Pilots of the airwaves
15 March: Reader mail
14 March: "Farscape" season no. 2
13 March: There's something about Gary Considine
10 March: WWF bolts USA deal
Coming up next ... subject to last-minute changes:
Monday: Oscar post-mortem
Tuesday: ReplayTV and TiVo
Wednesday: Sci-Fi
On this date... in 1986, Balki Bartokomous and his stuffed lamb Dimitri travel from the Mediterranean island of Mypos to the doorstep of his "Cousin" Larry Appleton, to try sheepherding in Chicago. Can ABC think of an odder couple than these "Perfect Strangers"? "Don't be ridiculous!" March 26: in 1973, Rob Reiner and his teammate are the first people ever to reach the summit on the "The $10,000 Pyramid," getting there ahead of June Lockhart. His winning clue? Donuts, aka "Things With A Hole." After the taping of this premiere show in the Ed Sullivan Theater, Reiner complains to host Dick Clark that the game is too easy, and he doubts the pyramid scheme will last very long. -- Tom Heald On the wires:
(Stories open in a new window. Many links expire over time.)

"Cosby" canned by CBS [ Variety ]
Academy shackles Joan Rivers [ The AP ]
NBC invests in Lou Dobbs dot-com [ The AP ]
Demand drives Oscar ad prices up [ Variety ]
Here are the WSJ's Oscar predix [ DowJones ]
"Then Came You" debuts strong [ Variety ]
Whazzah? The film behind the Budweiser ads [ On2 PR ]
"Wendy the Witch" cartoon in works [ Harvey PR ]
HDTV cable tested in Omaha [ TWICE ]
Trebek sued over airport flap [ SJMerc ]
"Jeopardy" reject goes all the way on "Millionaire" [ The AP ]
Balto. stations flirted w/disaster in covering standoff [ BaltSun ]
Letterman returning to five nights [ The AP ]
MTV announces six new series [ Viacom PR ][ Variety]
NBC wins Wednesdays again [ Mediaweek ]
More TV news from ZENtertainment [ Read it ]

>>> Aaron Barnhart's TVBARN.COM

"Ta-ta to Tom"

Friday's show brings Snyder era to an end This just in!

Fox News soars; Roger Ailes beams...

CBS buying "Oprah"?

Howdy Doody focus of court battle...

"Wild Thornberrys" movie planned...

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