THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 29, 1994 TAG: 9406300813
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LARRY BONKO, TELEVISION COLUMNIST
DATELINE: 940629 LENGTH: Long
Don't look for Heather Locklear to drift in from the set of ``Melrose Place,'' the Fox show from which ``Models Inc.'' emerged - not even to bump up the ratings for the 90-minute ``Models'' premiere.
{REST} ``We've done a half dozen shows and Heather is nowhere in sight,'' said series star Linda Gray, speaking from the ``Models'' set in Hollywood.
Spelling, who will have four network shows on the air after tonight and is producing two others for syndication on cable's Spelling Premiere Network, cast Gray as Locklear's mother on ``Melrose Place'' with the idea of giving her the lead in ``Models.''
That time has come for the fiftysomething Gray, once the long-suffering Sue Ellen on ``Dallas.'' Other actresses lobbied hard for the role of a model agency head - the buzz in Hollywood is that Raquel Welch is really steamed about being passed over - but Spelling chose Gray after she ordered her agents to pursue the job for her.
``Aaron said I was his first choice,'' said Gray. ``But I know I wasn't.''
Two of the four ``Models'' executive producers, Frank South and Charles Pratt Jr., told me on the phone they were hoping to arrange an appearance by Locklear in the premiere, but it didn't happen.
But with so many other babes and male bods on ``Models,'' who will even notice that Locklear isn't around? Gray as Hilary Michaels runs a high-powered, high-fashion (and, dare I say, high-passion?) modeling agency in Southern California.
Cassidy Rae, a Little Miss Innocent who was introduced to ``Melrose Place'' viewers at the same time as Gray, moves over to ``Models'' with Gray. Others in the cast include Cameron Daddo, Brian Gaskill, David Goldsmith, Teresa Hill, Carrie-Anne Moss, Kylie Travis and Stephanie Romanov, the only one to have earned a living as a model.
Fox didn't send out preview tapes, so I have no idea if ``Models'' is Grade A good, campy bad or, worst of all, just plain mediocre.
``Models'' begins as a summer series and will continue on Fox when the new TV season rolls out in September. Now that is what I call a network vote of confidence. But if Spelling doesn't deserve such a show of faith, who does?
Fox Broadcasting is building its summer around ``Models,'' while not cutting loose with much more in original warm-weather programming. Already launched as a Friday summer series is ``Encounters: The Hidden Truth,'' which appears to be a retelling of all the old stories of unexplained phenomena such as crop circles and abductions by aliens.
Starting July 25, Fox begins a four-hour miniseries, ``Loyalty and Betrayal: The Story of the American Mob.'' Just think of all the money Fox would have saved if one producer had come up with a story combining all three new shows - leggy supermodels being abducted by mobsters disguised as aliens.
On CBS, stand-up comic Stephanie Hodge, who was once in the cast of ``Nurses,'' stars in a new sitcom, ``Muddling Through,'' starting Saturday, July 9, at 9 p.m. The pilot was a hoot with Hodge playing a role you don't see very often in sictoms - female parolee.
The hub of activity is a cafe-motel-gas station. The producers gave Hodge two young daughters for swapping one-liners. It's ``Roseanne'' meets ``Cheers.''
CBS on Thursday, Aug. 4, will air ``Hotel Malibu'' from the people who gave you ``Homefront.'' And Cheryl Ladd stars in ``One West Waikiki,'' also beginning Aug. 4. on CBS. Ladd plays a forensics expert. ``Hotel Malibu'' is a prime-time soap set in - surprise! - Malibu.
ABC's big show for the summer has a title that will get your attention: ``The Better Sex Show.'' It's not a how-to show but a series about women being the better sex. ABC will also give viewers a sneak peek at ``My So-Called Life'' in August. The series about going to high school and coping with parents, teachers and geeks while you grow up less than beautiful has a very familiar theme, but don't let that scare you off.
Of the networks' new shows, it's the best one I've seen so far.
NBC on July 19 at 8 p.m. will air another magazine show, ``TV Nation,'' but this one has a twist. You won't see Jane Pauley or Tom Brokaw on it.
``TV Nation'' is being produced for laughs by Michael Moore, who made that devastating documentary about General Motors, ``Roger & Me.''
In mid-August, WGNT will be hitching up with the Spelling Premiere Network for two shows, ``Robin's Hoods'' and ``Heaven Help Us.'' In the latter, Ricardo Montalban plays an angel, and in ``Hoods,'' Linda Purl is cast as an ex-district attorney who gets involved with a bunch of parolees.
Getting back to ``Models, Inc.,'' Spelling promised that the series won't be exclusively about ``bikini-ed models on beaches'' but about the inside workings of a big-time model agency. Of her role in ``Models,'' Gray said, ``I told the writers that I didn't want to be a one-note character, that I didn't want to be labeled `The Bitch.' It can be boring to be nasty all the time.''
Gray has seen her name up in lights before. But for Rae and the others in the cast, this is their first opportunity for Spelling Stardom. The man has the knack for casting unknowns - do the names Luke Perry, Andrew Shue and Courtney Thorne-Smith ring a bell? - in a series that makes them overnight stars.
Out in Hollywood, they have a name for Spelling. The Wizard. by CNB