THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, June 24, 1994 TAG: 9406230028
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: Larry Bonko
DATELINE: 940624 LENGTH: Medium
Robert J. Thompson, an associate professor with the university's department of television, radio and film, said the poll of critics is part of the research he is doing for a book about the second golden age of television.
{REST} I forgot to ask him when the first golden age of TV ended and the second began. I suppose Golden Age I included such shows as ``Playhouse 90,'' ``Kraft TV Theater,'' ``The GE Theater'' and ``Armstrong Circle Theater.''
It's my guess that Golden Age II began when ``Bonanza'' showed up in color on NBC.
I'm always making TV lists - my 10 favorite shows, 10 best all-time series, 10 worst commercials. So it was no strain for me to fax off my 10 all-time favorite prime-time series to Thompson at the Newhouse School of Public Communications in Syracuse.
No. 1 on my list is ``Upstairs, Downstairs,'' the series about life above and below stairs in the Bellamy household at a fashionable London address, 165 Eaton Place. It came on PBS about 20 years ago. I read recently where the PBS station in Manhattan uncovered 13 episodes that never before appeared on TV in America.
In one of those episodes, the head of the Bellamy household, Lady Marjorie, has an affair with a young stud. I wish and wish hard that somebody at WHRO in Norfolk would find these lost episodes and put them on the air here.
Other series on my list include ``The Twilight Zone,'' ``L.A. Law,'' ``The Dick Van Dyke Show,'' ``M*A*S*H,'' ``St. Elsewhere,'' ``Gunsmoke,'' ``Columbo,'' ``Hill Street Blues'' and ``Cheers.''
Even before I heard from Thompson in Syracuse, I polled the people who call me on Infoline (640-5555, Category 3333), asking them to name their all-time favorite series. The winner was ``Twilight Zone'' by a large margin.
Another series that finished high in the Infoline poll was ``The Mary Tyler Moore Show.'' It was hard for me to leave that show off my list of the 10 best. I also had a strong urge to include the original black-and-white Perry Mason.
What series would Thompson put at No.1 on his list?
``St. Elsewhere.''
He's also working on a book about that series.
``It was an interesting, emotional, complex series that worked on many levels,'' said the professor in a telephone interview.
That was the show in which Ed Flanders starred as Dr. Don Westphall, William Daniels as Dr. Mark Craig, and a Norfolk actor, Stephen Furst, did his best work as Dr. Elliott Axelrod.
``St. Elsewhere'' ended in a curious and controversial manner. Creator Tom Fontana decided that the entire series was something that had been a dream, a fantasy, of Flanders' autistic son. What a letdown. I hated the finish.
Didn't you?
It's wrong to think that TV's golden moments ended with ``Playhouse 90'' and the other dramas of the 1950s, or the death of Rod Serling, Thompson said. There is a shiny second golden age, and it embraces ``Moonlighting,'' ``Twin Peaks,'' ``China Beach,'' ``Cagney and Lacey,'' ``I Love Lucy,'' and among shows now on the air, Thompson includes ``Picket Fences.''
If Thompson asked you to name the 10 best prime series of all time, what shows would you pick? Mail your list to me at 150 W. Brambleton Ave. in Norfolk 23510 or fax it to 446-2963. I'll pass the tally on to Thompson.
Before I do that, however, I'll put all your cards, letters and faxes into a box, pick one at random and send that reader a tape of the new TNT movie about the life of Amelia Earhart starring Diane Keaton. It's an OK flick.
by CNB