Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, December 31, 1993 TAG: 9401050177
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Tom Shales
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
It happens every year, really, but in 1993, it happened more so. Television was castigated, lambasted and derided, especially for its violent content. The movement to ``clean up TV'' gained momentum, with congressional committees investigating and Attorney General Janet Reno even threatening ``government action.''
Everybody was mad at TV for something, whether it was bare butts and bawdy barbs on ABC's ``NYPD Blue'' or the hip stupidity of MTV's ``Beavis and Butt-head'' or the faked truck fire that besmirched the reputation of ``Dateline NBC'' and forced the resignation of NBC News President Michael Gartner.
Here now is a quick look back at the year in television - highs, not-so-highs and bottom-scraping lows:
Guns Don't Kill People; TV Shows Kill People - Sen. Fritz Hollings (D-S.C.) pontificated about the deadly menace of TV violence, then voted against the Brady bill and its minimal restrictions on the purchase of handguns.
Belly Up at the Bar - ``Cheers'' ended its 11-year run with class and style on NBC in May, but some of the cast members showed up later the same evening dead drunk on a live ``Tonight Show'' from Boston.
Fun Couples - Elizabeth Taylor and Michael Jackson on Oprah Winfrey's ABC interview special (Liz: ``He is the least `weird' man I've ever known''); Ross Perot and Al Gore on a ``Larry King Live'' debate over NAFTA; and Dan Rather and Connie Chung ``teamed to bring you the world,'' and apparently to bring down the ratings of ``The CBS Evening News.''
Noble Failures - ``The Building'' with Bonnie Hunt, on CBS; Oliver Stone's nutty ``Wild Palms'' on ABC; and Robert De Niro's earnest ``Tribeca'' on Fox.
Failures About Which There Was Nothing Even Remotely Noble - ``Key West'' on Fox; ``Dudley,'' with Dudley Moore, on CBS; ``Bad Movies We Love,'' on TNT; ``Moon Over Miami'' on ABC; ``Late Night with Conan O'Brien'' on NBC; and the floppo de tutti floppos, ABC's instantly infamous ``Paula Poundstone Show.''
Third Runner-Up in the Annual Sleaze Stakes - USA Network's ``Marilyn & Bobby: Her Final Affair.''
We Have Some Good News, Mr. Tisch, and Some Bad News - On Jan. 14, CBS officially signed the great David Letterman and entered the late-night race big-time. On Dec. 17, CBS lost its contract to televise NFL football games to Fox.
Best New Show Treated Most Shabbily by the Network That Aired It - Barry Levinson's ``Homicide: Life on the Street,'' given short shrift and bad time periods by NBC.
Second Runner-up in the Annual Sleaze Stakes - ABC's ``Murder in the Heartland,'' a miniseries that glamorized homicidal maniac Charles Starkweather's 1958 killing spree.
Brief Encounters - CBS canceled ``South of Sunset'' after only one episode; Fox canceled ``The Chevy Chase Show'' after six weeks; CBS killed its new fall series ``The Trouble with Larry'' before the new fall season officially began.
The Handshake that Handshook the World - Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat, live from the White House lawn.
Who Says There's No Creativity in Broadcasting? - FCC documents revealed that in filings with the commission, some stations cited such programs as ``The Jetsons,'' ``G.I. Joe,'' and ``Super Mario Brothers IV'' as ``educational and informational'' fare.
Weasliest Weasels - Bureaucrats at PBS censored England's ``Prime Suspect 2'' for American audiences, leaving once-salty heroine Helen Mirren uttering such expletives as ``Oh shoot'' and ``baloney.''
First Runner-up in the Annual Sleaze Stakes - Comedy Central's ``Drive-in Reviews,'' on which two would-be film critics chuckle over exploding heads, severed limbs, gouged eyes and other atrocities from gory horror movies.
Finest Hours and Half-Hours - ``Laurel Avenue,'' three-hour saga of a middle-class black family, on HBO; ``NYPD Blue,'' Steven Bochco's second re-invention of the cop show, on ABC; ``The Nanny,'' thanks to Fran Drescher's brash and witty performance, on CBS; and Bette Midler in ``Gypsy'' on CBS.
\ Washington Post Writers Group
Keywords:
YEAR 1993
by CNB