Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, April 27, 1995 TAG: 9504270028
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: TOM JICHA FORT LAUDERDALE SUN-SENTINEL
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Several solid ratings performances later, this thinking has changed. For the May sweeps, which continue through May 24, Hollywood dinosaurs are THE attraction.
``Jurassic Park'' has its television premiere on NBC May 7, and Steven Spielberg's dinosaurs have proven as terrifying to rival programmers as they were to the film's rubbernecking park visitors. Head-to-head confrontations of ultra-hyped blockbusters, especially on viewer-rich Sundays, are the rule during TV sweeps months - but ABC and CBS are running away from ``Jurassic Park'' like tourists from a T rex.
ABC originally had a new ``Columbo'' movie penciled in for May 7. Rather than squander a valuable property against the TV debut of the highest-grossing film in history, ABC shifted ``Columbo'' to the following night and inserted a ``Matlock'' movie, four days after another ``Matlock'' movie. CBS will try to cut its losses with another showing of ``Ghost,'' the schmaltzy romantic drama that seems to have a bottomless reservoir of appeal.
``Jurassic Park's'' domination of one of the four sweeps Sundays has set up a miniseries showdown the following week, on May 14-15. ABC will keep the goosebump level elevated with Stephen King's ``The Langoliers,'' while NBC counters with the weepy two-part Judds biography, ``Naomi and Wynonna: Love Can Build a Bridge.''
Tales of famous women also are the basis for the month's other two-parters. On Sunday and Monday, Angelica Houston stars as Calamity Jane, Melanie Griffith plays her notorious friend Dora DuFran and Reba McEntire is Annie Oakley in CBS' ``Buffalo Girls.'' On May 21-22, Sherilyn Fenn of ``Twin Peaks'' and ``Boxing Helena'' has the title role in ``Liz: The Elizabeth Taylor Story,'' an unauthorized biography NBC commissioned despite Taylor's pleas and threats of legal action.
``Columbo'' and ``Matlock'' are just two of the popular series heroes who will resurface in May sweeps films. ``The Return of Hunter'' occurs on NBC April 30. ``Cagney & Lacey'' are ``Together Again'' on CBS Tuesday . CBS also has new editions of ``The Rockford Files'' on May 14 and ``In the Heat of the Night'' on May 16.
In addition to the two ``Matlock'' movies, Andy Griffith has a starring role in ``Gramps'' on NBC May 20. Griffith steps out against type as an evil force in the home of his son, played by John Ritter.
Kellie Martin also has a big sweeps month. The ``Christy'' star plays a woman who takes drastic action against her abusive husband in ``If Someone Had Known'' on NBC Monday . Then on CBS May 25, she stars as a young woman who recognizes herself as ``The Face on the Milk Carton.''
Ripped-from-the-headlines dramas seem to be falling out of favor. Only two are scheduled. Tony Danza plays a father who becomes the prime suspect in the murder of one of his daughters in ``Deadly Whispers'' on CBS Wednesday. ``Tailhook,'' on ABC May 22, dramatizes the sexual harassment scandal that took place at a convention of Naval airmen.
Actual events reported by a former Miami Herald crime specialist are the basis for the second installment of ``Deadline for Murder: From the Files of Edna Buchanan'' on CBS May 9. Elizabeth Montgomery reprises her role as Buchanan. Barbara Eden plays a fictional investigative journalist embroiled in a murder conspiracy at a tropical resort in ``Dead Man's Island'' on CBS May 23.
ABC has remakes of a couple of kiddie favorites on consecutive Saturdays: ``Escape to Witch Mountain'' this weekend and ``Freaky Friday'' on May 6.
Fox, the network of ``The X-Files,'' ``VR.5'' and ``Sliders,'' pushes a genre that is working for it with three sweeps movies. The descriptively titled ``Possession of Michael D.'' airs Tuesday. ``Deadlocked: Escape from Zone 14,'' on May 9, is a yarn about escaped convicts linked together by an electronically controlled explosive device. Possibly the strangest feature of all, as well as being a potential series, is ``White Dwarf'' on May 23.
Francis Ford Coppola produced the fable set hundreds of years into the future on a distant planet. Half the planet lies in perennial darkness and the other half is bathed in a white light from a dwarf star system.
NBC will take a shot at scaring viewers on May 8 with ``Robin Cook's Virus,'' a drama that sounds very similar to the current theatrical feature ``Outbreak.''
Getting back to theatrical features, another sign of their return to TV favor is the sweeps presence of almost a dozen other Hollywood titles beyond ``Jurassic Park'' and ``Ghost.''
ABC showcases Clint Eastwood's Oscar-winning performance in ``Unforgiven'' on Sunday. The following night, also on ABC, Kevin Costner is ``The Bodyguard'' for Whitney Houston.
Mel Gibson is ``Forever Young'' on CBS May 6. ``A League of Their Own'' is back on CBS May 10. ``Three Men and a Little Lady'' cavort on ABC on May 13.
Fox's only major theatrical feature of the sweeps is ``Point of No Return'' on May 16.
The quiet ``A River Runs Through It'' airs May 17 on CBS, where the raucous ``Die Hard 2'' airs the following night.
Rick Moranis has to confess ``Honey, I Blew Up the Kid'' on ABC May 20. Wesley Snipes is ``Passenger 57'' on ABC May 21.
by CNB