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

DATE: SATURDAY, March 16, 1991                   TAG: 9103160399
SECTION: SPECTATOR                    PAGE: S-15   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

THE LAST EPISODE FOR `CHINA BEACH'?

As U.S. soldiers concluded fighting in America's first war since 1975, filming ended on what figures to be the final episode of television's only prime-time dramatic series about war.

"China Beach," ABC's much-honored drama about the women and men who served at a hospital and recreation center during the Vietnam War, wound up production in mid-February at Washington's Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

ABC has not decided whether to renew the series for another season, so "we are doing this as if it could be the last show," executive producer John Sacret Young said.

Now its in third full season, "China Beach" is not on the air at the moment, having been pulled following its Dec. 8 broadcast because of low ratings. ABC has promised to show the seven remaining episodes but has yet to set a date for the series to return. Ted Harbert, executive vice president for prime time at ABC, declined to be interviewed to explain "China Beach's" status.

Dana Delany, who stars as nurse Colleen McMurphy, thinks the series will be canceled.

"I'd be very surprised if we came back [next fall], which is fine with me," said Delany, who won an Emmy Award in 1989 for her work on the series. "I'm looking forward to getting on to something else. [My character] has been on a quest [this season]. I feel like she's now at the end of the search and it's a good time to end it."

Young said that there still is a chance ABC could renew the series.

"We won't know until May what the exact situation is."

by CNB