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

DATE: SATURDAY, May 22, 1993                   TAG: 9305220282
SECTION: SPECTATOR                    PAGE: S-13   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: DANIEL CERONE LOS ANGELES TIMES
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

A DIFFERENT `DOVE' TAKES FLIGHT AT CBS

In the nearly two years since CBS Entertainment President Jeff Sagansky told a news conference that the network had signed the original cast of the smash miniseries "Lonesome Dove" to star in a sequel for 1992, word about the project has been quieter than a tumbleweed blowing through a ghost town.

Finally, however, cameras are scheduled to roll in June, most likely in Montana, on "Return to Lonesome Dove," to air on CBS in November.

But not with the original cast.

What's more, the TV sequel will not be based on anything written by Larry McMurtry, whose Pulitzer Prize-winning novel was the source of the original 1989 miniseries - even though Simon and Schuster will publish McMurtry's "Lonesome Dove" sequel, "Streets of Laredo," in August.

In fact, the two sequels tell completely different stories set almost 20 years apart. And McMurtry thinks CBS may be setting itself up for criticism from disappointed fans, once they discover what he says are inconsistencies in the two stories.

"The stories have absolutely no relation to one another. None," McMurtry said. "I have to emphasize that. I wrote one, John Wilder the other. And mine will come out first. So if America loves the book, and then sees the discrepancies between the two stories, too bad. The onus is on them, not me."

Veteran TV writer Wilder's "Return to Lonesome Dove" picks up where the original miniseries left off. After bringing the cattle safely from the Rio Grande to Montana, the retired Texas Rangers become embroiled in a range war over wild mustangs.

McMurtry's novel "Streets of Laredo," on the other hand, takes place nearly two decades later, in Mexico. Capt. Woodrow Call (the character played on TV by Tommy Lee Jones), now an aging bounty hunter, is hired by a railroad baron to capture a crafty Mexican boy who robs trains.

At this point, the only original cast member who appears to be doing "Return to Lonesome Dove" is Rick Schroder. Last year, Anjelica Huston was considering coming back if the script were strong enough. Now, her spokeswoman said, Huston simply does not want to do another sequel after filming "Addams Family Values." Diane Lane, meanwhile, is pregnant and will not return.

New cast members include Jon Voight, to replace Jones, and Louis Gossett Jr. in a new role, with a promise of more high-profile cast members still to be announced. Robert Duvall's character, in case anyone forgot, died in the first miniseries.

by CNB