THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, January 11, 1995 TAG: 9501110029
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: LARRY BONKO
LENGTH: Long : 145 lines
IN A CHANNEL surfer's dream come true, television in America grows by two networks in the next six days. It starts tonight when the Warner Brothers Television Network signs on locally at 8.
The Warner Brothers' affiliate in Hampton Roads is a station you probably never paid much attention to in the past - WVBT, Channel 43, in Virginia Beach. (It is carried on cable in Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Portsmouth, Chesapeake and Newport News.)
Then come Monday at 8 p.m. on WGNT, Channel 27, the United Paramount Network launches with the premiere of the third ``Star Trek'' spinoff, ``Star Trek: Voyager,'' in which a woman (Kate Mulgrew) commands a starship.
Where there were only three networks a few years ago - four if you counted the Public Broadcasting System - the number expands to seven now that Paramount and Warner Brothers are in the game.
Fox has already proved it can play with broadcasting's big boys.
Sounding as if he had borrowed a line of dialogue from a ``Star Trek'' script, a UPB executive gushed to reporters in a closed-circuit briefing that United and Paramount this month ``give birth to a powerful new force in the universe.''
That may be overstating things for a network that will have only five programs and a Saturday afternoon movie when it is hatched this month.
At Warner Brothers, they are not shooting off as many fireworks nor sending aloft as many balloons as UPN. There are several reasons for that.
The WB Television Network rolls out modestly with four half-hour shows in one night of programming. UPN has affiliates in the top 100 markets, including Hampton Roads, which is the 40th largest in the U.S. The WB Television Network begins with fewer than 50 stations, including WVBT here, which had been programming the Home Shopping Club until Jan. 1.
Both Paramount and Warner Brothers have supplied hundreds of hours of programming to CBS, ABC and NBC in the past, and continue to do so in 1995. The NBC smash hospital drama, ``ER,'' is a Warner Brothers production. Paramount has earned millions from its ``Star Trek'' franchise alone.
Now both these companies, giants in the production and distribution of motion pictures and television shows, have decided that what this country needs are more networks. More sitcoms. More fantasy.
And more voyages into an uncertain future by another starship.
Tonight at 8, the WB Television Network introduces itself to viewers with a sitcom starring the youngest brothers in the show biz Wayans family, Shawn and Marlon. After ``The Wayans Brothers,'' Warner Brothers airs a sitcom from the creator of ``Married With Children.'' Standup comic Bobcat Goldthwait is among the cast members in ``Unhappily Ever After.''
On Jan. 18, the Warner Brothers Network begins its regular Wednesday night lineup with ``The Wayans Brothers'' at 8 followed by more laughs on ``The Parent 'Hood'' at 8:30, ``Unhappily Ever After'' at 9 and ``Muscle'' at 9:30.
The Warner Brothers studio, long known for its animated shorts and films, was true to form in choosing a cartoon character named Michigan J. Frog to promote the network. United Paramount's signature is three symbols in one - the circle, pyramid and cube.
But will they ever be as recognizable as the CBS eye?
When Lucie S. Salhany, president and chief executive officer of UPN, talked long-distance with TV reporters a few weeks ago, she was confident that her network would be up and running ahead of Warner Brothers.
But Warner Brothers put its TV network together quickly in the last weeks of 1994, signing up stations in 80 percent of the U.S. markets, including the WGN superstation in Chicago. It beats UPN to the punch by five nights (UPN is also lined up with a cable superstation, WWOR in Secaucus, N.J.).
Sulhany's edge over Warner Brothers: more affiliates in more markets, plus the ``Star Trek'' franchise that will guarantee a large look-see when UPN cranks up next Monday. In ``Star Trek: Voyager,'' the Voyager crew and a race considered outlaws by the Federation find themselves swept up and carried to a far corner of the galaxy.
This new series begins with ``Star Trek'' continuity - the Starship Voyager stationed at Deep Space Nine.
``From there,'' said executive producer Michael Piller, ``the crewmen come aboard to go forth on their mission.''
The Monday night United Paramount Network lineup:
``Star Trek: Voyager,'' 8 p.m. - A woman, Capt. Kathryn Janeway, commands the Starship Voyager and leads her crew in the 24th century on a journey back to Federation space from a distant part of the galaxy. Also along for the ride is a former enemy clan, the Marquis. The two-hour pilot is smashing.
``Platypus Man,'' 9 p.m. - This is a sitcom starring stand-up comic Richard Jeni, a talented storyteller and mimic who is overdue for stardom. He plays the host of a TV cooking show. This pilot is the sharpest sitcom to come along since ``Seinfeld'' and ``Home Improvement.''
``Pig Sty,'' 9:30 p.m. - Five bachelors with nothing in common share an old two-room apartment in New York City. Their superintendent is a knockout (Liz Vassey) who is strapping on the tool belt only because Hollywood is late discovering that she's the next great movie star.
The Tuesday night United Paramount Network lineup:
``Marker,'' 8 p.m. - This drama brings back to TV Richard Grieco from ``21 Jump Street.'' The setting is great. Hawaii. Grieco plays the son of a wealthy businessman who dies but not before willing that Grieco help and protect people who need it. These needy folk were given markers by the late industrialist. If you have a marker, Grieco works for you.
``The Watcher,'' 9 p.m. - This is another try to forge a successful TV series set in Las Vegas. ``Vega$'' with Robert Urich was an almost-hit on ABC, but for some reason, TV just can't capture all the fun and decadence of Vegas. UPN tries with this darkly drawn drama about The Watcher (played by rap artist Sir Mix-A-Lot) who finds the good and evil in the neon canyons.
``UPN Saturday Afternoon Movie,'' noon to 2 p.m. starting Jan. 21 - These flicks are skewed toward young males, says UPN. Will they lure the dudes away from sports on the other channels? First up on Jan. 21 is ``Call to Glory,'' about tough going for an Air Force family in the 1960s.
The Wednesday Night Warner Brothers Television Network:
``The Wayans Brothers,'' 8 p.m. - The youngest of a hip, successful show biz family (``In Living Color''), Shawn and Marlon co-star in a sitcom that WB describes as heavy on physical comedy with sketches included. (The Warner Brothers Television Network has not made preview tapes available.) Slim plot revolves around Marlon working in his father's diner.
``The Parent 'Hood,'' 8:30 p.m. - Actor, director and producer Robert Townsend put this show together. It's about Townsend, a university professor, and his law student wife, coping with demanding work schedules while trying to navigate their children through the minefields of growing up in the 1990s. I mean. . . Rob and Laura Petrie never had to fret about AIDs and gangsta rap.
``Unhappily Ever After,'' 9 p.m. - Guess what. Another network sitcom. In this one, you get to see an unhappy couple going through divorce after 16 years of marriage. Sounds hilarious. When hubby moves out, his mother-in-law moves in with his estranged wife. Stephanie Hodge, who showed great timing and delivery in roles on ``Nurses'' and ``Muddling Through,'' co-stars with Geoff Pierson. Bobcat Goldthwait is in the cast. Is prime time ready for the frantic Bobcat?
``Muscle,'' 9:30 p.m. - Shannon Kenny stars as the ex-wife of Adam West - Batman lives! - who runs Survival Gyms where the most colorful people in Manhattan gather at the stair climbers and treadmills. Bet it'll never have as many laughs as the ``Seinfeld'' episode set in a gym - the one when Elaine gets the hots for John F. Kennedy Jr. ILLUSTRATION: Color photos
THE WARNER BROS. NETWORK:
Top: ``The Wayans Brothers'' airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m.
Above: ``Unhappily Ever After'' airs Wednesday at 9 p.m.
Right: Michael J. Frog will promote the new Warner Brothers
Network.
UNITED PARAMOUNT NETWORK:
Top: ``Marker,'' an hour-long drama, airs Tuesday night at 8.
Right: ``Star Trek: Voyager'' launches Monday nights at 8 with a
two-hour premiere.
Below: ``The Watcher'' premieres Tuesday at 9 p.m.
by CNB