ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, August 10, 1996 TAG: 9608130036
SECTION: SPECTATOR PAGE: S-24 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JAMES ENDRST THE HARTFORD COURANT
Looks like prime-time television is in a movie-making mood again.
So if you couldn't get enough of ``Clueless,'' were motivated by Michelle Pfeiffer in ``Dangerous Minds,'' or were one of the handful of people who saw ``Party Girl,'' this could be your kind of fall season.
All three feature films have been turned into prime-time series.
Not that that's a good thing.
If preview episodes and experience are any indications, these shows aren't likely to be around for long.
Rachel Blanchard (``Are You Afraid of the Dark?'') is stepping into Alicia Silverstone's sumptuous satin shoes as Cher in ABC's ``Clueless'' (Fridays) and mimics her well. But even with Stacey Dash, Donald Adeosun Faison and Elisa Donovan reprising their big-screen roles as Dionne, Murray and Amber, and even with Amy Heckerling, who created ``Clueless,'' working as executive producer, many fans of the movie will take one look, turn up their noses and say, ``As if!''
As for ``Dangerous Minds,'' an ABC drama scheduled for Monday nights - well, it was tough enough buying Pfeiffer as an ex-Marine turned schoolteacher, but Annie Potts? A woman best known for her comedic work in ``Designing Women''? We don't think so.
Not week after week, anyway.
Maybe ``Party Girl'' (coming to Fox Monday nights) will have a better chance because it's not so known.
Or maybe not.
Looking back through my TV history books, I don't find a lot of movie-to-series success stories.
Yes, there have been notable but few exceptions.
Robert Altman's brash film ``M*A*S*H,'' starring Elliott Gould and Donald Sutherland, was turned into an all-time sitcom classic by CBS in 1972 and ran for 11 years.
Ten years after ``M*A*S*H'' came to television, there was ``Fame,'' a hip drama that lasted less than two years on NBC but then moved into syndication, where new episodes ran until the fall of 1987.
Martin Scorsese's ``Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore'' became CBS' ``Alice'' with Linda Lavin. The sitcom ran from 1976-1985.
And, of course, there was ``The Paper Chase,'' with John Houseman starring in both the 1973 feature film with Timothy Bottoms and the 1978-79 CBS series with James Stephens. (The series ran for a few years in reruns on PBS before moving to Showtime, which produced original episodes, from 1983-1986.)
There have been other success stories: ``Flipper'' (1964-68 on NBC, based on the 1963 film starring Chuck Connors), ``Hotel'' (1983-88 on ABC, gleaned from the 1967 feature with Rod Taylor).
The failures, however, far outnumber them.
For instance:
Did you know that television tried not once but twice to bring ``Casablanca'' to the small screen? In 1955, 13 years after Humphrey Bogart made movie history with Ingrid Bergman, ABC tried to play it again for television with Charles McGraw as Rick. NBC gave it a shot, too, in the '80s, this time with David Soul of ``Starsky and Hutch'' fame doing Bogart-redux.
NBC's ``Born Free,'' based on the wildly popular 1966 movie, bombed right out of the gate in 1974 even though the adventure show, starring Gary Collins and Diana Muldaur, was filmed entirely on location in East Africa.
NBC's ``Serpico'' with David Birney stepping in for Al Pacino?
Busted!
And when TV went on a virtual movie binge in 1990, with its versions of ``Bagdad Cafe,'' ``Ferris Bueller's Day Off,'' ``Parenthood,'' ``Swamp Thing,'' ``Uncle Buck,'' ``The Black Stallion,'' ``The Outsiders,'' and ``Working Girl'' ...
CBS' ``Bagdad Cafe,'' with Whoopi Goldberg and Jean Stapleton, went down in nine months. Fox's ``Ferris Bueller'' didn't make it into the new year. ``The Outsiders,'' also on Fox, got a quick heave-ho. NBC's ``Parenthood,'' born in August, was abandoned in November. ``Uncle Buck'' brought CBS a lot of flak for its rude behavior in the family hour and was canceled after one season. USA Network's ``Swamp Thing'' and the Family Channel's ``The Adventures of the Black Stallion'' did well but they did so on cable (which kind of doesn't count).
And NBC's ``Working Girl,'' which made its debut in April 1990, got its pink slip in July.
The star of that show?
Sandra Bullock, who went on, with great ``Speed,'' to a successful career in the movies.
Go figure.
LENGTH: Medium: 88 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: Annie Potts, best known for her comedic work, willby CNBswitch to drama this fall with her role in ABC's ``Dangerous
Minds.''