
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, July 2, 1990                   TAG: 9006300270
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: E-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: LOS ANGELES                                LENGTH: Short

ACTION SHOWS TO REPLACE SAJAK

The long-awaited replacement for CBS' canceled Pat Sajak show will be not one, but five programs, all part of a mammoth restructuring of the network's late-night fare, it was announced Thursday.

Beginning in January, CBS will launch five new action series in the 11:30 p.m. time slot dominated by NBC's venerable talk show host, Johnny Carson.

The programs, to run Monday through Friday, are:

"Judgment Night," about a judge who sheds his robe after hours and dispenses "an entirely different kind of justice"; "Paris Steele," about an American operative in Paris; "Sweating Bullets," which concerns a former Drug Enforcement Agency officer turned cheap gumshoe; "Slick," about a jet pilot and former jungle mercenary, and "Scene of the Crime," a mystery anthology produced by "Rockford Files" creator Stephen Cannell.

CBS also announced a new, late-night show by "All in the Family" producer Norman Lear. "Jody Gordon and the News" will take on NBC's David Letterman in the 12:30 a.m. time period beginning late October, said Rod Perth, the network's vice president of late-night programs.

The Lear program, which has been in development for at least four months, will revolve around a news producer who fantasizes while watching television.

Revamping the CBS late-night schedule is crucial to the bottom-rated network. The Pat Sajak Show, which was yanked in March, failed miserably against heavy hitters such as Carson and Ted Koppel's "Nightline" on ABC.

by CNB