THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, September 7, 1994 TAG: 9409020837
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
LENGTH: Long : 349 lines
Where have you gone, Roseanne?
From a Tuesday night time slot to a Wednesday night time slot.
That's where you'll find Roseanne on Sept. 20.
And where have you gone, Heather Locklear?
From a Wednesday night time slot to a Monday night time slot.
That's where you'll find Locklear next Monday.
The new television season - let's call it the Season of Shake-ups - begins in earnest this month with the premiere of 20 new shows. They will join five new series already rolled out by two networks.
The early arrivals were ``Fortune Hunter,'' ``Hardball'' and ``Wild Oats,'' seen on Fox Sunday night, ``M.A.N.T.I.S,'' another Fox show which is on the Friday night schedule, and ABC's gem about the angst of being 15, ``My So-Called Life,'' airing on Thursday.
The September launching continues with the hippest of cop shows, ``New York Undercover,'' on Fox tomorrow (Thursday) night at 9, and ends with the debut of two series on Sept. 24 that should appeal to viewers loved most by advertisers - young women in a buying mood.
The Sept. 24 premieres are a sitcom with sizzle on CBS, ``The Five Mrs. Buchanans,'' beginning at 9 p.m., and a drama about idealistic women practicing law in the deep South, ``Sweet Justice,'' which is scheduled opposite the Buchanan women on NBC at 9.
The new TV season in a nutshell:
Emerging trend - Orphans going it alone in a cold, cruel world. It's the theme of a Fox show, ``Party of Five,'' on Monday night, and the driving plot of a Sunday night ABC sitcom on Sunday night, ``On Our Own.''
Continuing trend - Old pros can't get enough of the series' grind. The new season brings back to weekly television Bill Cosby, Hal Linden, Suzanne Pleshette, Martin Short, E.G. Marshall, Della Reese, Judith Ivey, Melissa Gilbert, Dabney Coleman, Chad Everett and Dudley Moore. The interloper from the big screen is Dudley Moore.
No. 1 contender to succeed ``Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman,'' as a sneaky hit nobody predicted - ``The Five Mrs. Buchananans'' on CBS. It's ``The Golden Girls'' updated to the 1990s.
No. 2 contender to succeed ``Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman,'' as a sneaky hit nobody predicted - ``Due South,'' also on CBS. It's Paul Gross playing a Dudley Do-Right character in a buddy-cop series that's kind of cute.
Hunk most likely to succeed David Caruso of ``NYPD Blue'' as an overnight sensation - Mark Frankel of Fox's ``Fortune Hunter'' is the star of a silly James Bond ripoff. He's so charming that you almost forget what a dumb show you're watching.
Babe most likely to succeed Teri Hatcher of ``Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman'' as an overnight sensation - Newcomer Karen Silas stars as a big-city detective who has to solve crimes and deal with sexual harrassment every day on the job. She handles it nicely.
Best new show - You've already seen it if you've been watching ABC Thursday night at 8. ``My So-Called Life.''
Worst new show - ``The Martin Short Show'' on NBC Tuesday night. Short is the star of a TV show within a TV show. He makes Jerry Lewis look subtle.
Biggest losers - Viewers without VCRs. If you don't have a recorder, you'll have some big decisions to make.
When NBC decided to send the No. 3-rated show on TV, ``Frasier,'' against ABC's ``Roseanne'' on Tuesday night at 9, ABC moved quickly to protect ``Roseanne'' from being trampled by the ``Frasier'' steamroller.
The Conner family on ``Roseanne'' was packed up and moved to Wednesday at 9 p.m.
ABC then shifted ``Home Improvement,'' the No. 1-rated show, from Wednesday night at 9 to Tuesday night at 9 to butt heads with ``Frasier,'' and keep NBC from stealing the night away. So, now you will have to decide between two of the best sitcoms on television, ``Frasier'' and ``Home Improvement.''
``Grace Under Fire,'' the hottest new show on TV, follows ``Home Improvement'' to Tuesday night. ``Roseanne'' carries ``Ellen,'' the second hottest new show on TV, with it to Wednesday night.
Another dilemma for the VCR deprived: Two better-than-ordinary dramas about life in a big city hospital - neither is in the league with ``St. Elsewhere,'' however - go up against each other Thursday night at 10.
On NBC, it's ``ER,'' while the doctors and nurses on call at CBS are in a show called ``Chicago Hope.'' NBC and CBS said they will not blink.
The shows will stay where they are.
Fox thinks it can be a major player on Monday night by scheduling ``Melrose Place'' at 8 before a well-done family drama set in San Francisco, ``Party of Five.'' Everybody knows that ``Melrose Place,'' with landlord Locklear and her bed-hopping tenants, is too hot for 8.
Prediction: It will soon be back on Wednesday night at 9 when the show that has its old time period, ``Models Inc.,'' fades away. This summer, haven't we already seen all of ``Models Inc.'' that we ever want to see?
This is Year Two in which viewers in Hampton Roads will be held hostage by WVEC which refuses to air producer Steven Bochco's highly regarded (26 Emmy nominations) cop show, ``NYPD Blue.''
It is the season in which primetime television introduces the first sitcom that features an Asian-American family (``All-American Girl'' on ABC) and gives viewers in early prime an openly gay character played with a flourish by Harvey Fierstein on CBS in ``Daddy's Girls.''
Fierstein's character is having a horrible day. He can't get tickets to the Streisand concert, he's lost his ``Buns of Steel'' videotape and he's retaining water.
The new shows and their starting dates:
SUNDAY
``On Our Own,'' sitcom, ABC, 7:30 p.m., Sept. 11 - The Jerricos, a family of five brothers and two sisters, vows to stay together after being orphaned. But will the government agencies allow that? The kids try to outsmart the bureaucrats by turning big brother (Ralph Harris) into a long-lost aunt named Mama J. who will care for the brood. Six real life brothers and sister from the Smollett family (JoJo, Jacqui, Jussie, Jake, Jurnee and Jazz) co-star with Harris.
CAPSULE COMMENT - The kids are precious, but you have to wonder if this isn't a one-note comedy that will run out of laughs after three shows.
``Earth 2,'' drama, NBC, 7 p.m., starting date not yet announced - It's 200 years in the future and Earth is unhabitable. The smog! Adventurous folks led by Debrah (cq) Farentino, Clancy Brown, Antonio Sabato Jr. and Jessica Steen head for the stars where a new Earth awaits 22 light years away. Think of it as ``Wagon Train'' meets ``Star Trek.''
CAPSULE COMMENT - With ``SeaQuest DSV'' getting a so-so response from viewers, you'd think that NBC has had it with sci-fi. But the Peacock network decided to go exploring outer space in search if ratings.
``Fortune Hunter,'' drama, Fox, 7 p.m., Sept. 4 - Fox hopes to hold the testosterone gang watching NFL football doubleheaders with this James Bond-Indiana Jones-ish adventure starring hunkster Mark Frankel. The twist here is that some nerdy guy back in Control Central uses high-tech gadgets to help our hero, Carlton Dial, spy on people and rescue others in distress.
CAPSULE COMMENT - The gadgetry gets in the way of the action-adventure. If the producers fix that, they could have a series strong enough to shoot down ``60 Minutes.''
``Hardball,'' sitcom, Fox, 8:30 p.m., Sept. 4 - Boy, does baseball ever need a laugh these days, what with a strike depriving players and owners of millions in salaries and revenues. You've seen this kind of a show before in plenty of other places on TV and in films. Baseball team struggles to win. Locker room is loaded with guys with names like ``Happy.'' The star pitcher (or outfielder) is the one who gets romance. Dann Florek from ``Law & Order'' played the manager in the pilot, but will move to the front office in future episodes.
CAPSULE COMMENT - Out at home.
``Wild Oats,'' sitcom, Fox, 9:30 p.m., Sept. 4 - Tim Conlon, Jana Marie Hupp, Paula Marshall and Paul Stephen Rudd are among the twentysomethings obsessed with sex. Your latest ensemble comedy. Don't look now, but your best friend is out in the kitchen, making out with your best girl.
CAPSULE COMMENT - In comparison, ``Married With Children'' is ``Masterpiece Theater.''
MONDAY
``Blue Skies,'' sitcom, ABC, 8:30 p.m., Sept. 12 - A buddy show with Matt Roth and Corey Parker teaming up to run a catalog business for people who like the rugged outdoors - hiking and stuff like that. Another Generation X show. Pilot episode stopped dead until Julia Campbell arrived as overqualified Harvard MBA who helps the boys get rich. They both want her.
CAPSULE COMMENT - Northern overexposure.
``Party of Five,'' drama, Fox, 9 p.m., Sept. 12 - After their parents die in an automobile accident, the Salinger kids try to go on with their lives as if nothing happened. The producers came up with a well-crafted pilot that made you care about these kids. Orphan TV is hot this year. Kid actors are great, especially 15-year-old Neve Campbell and 11-year-old Lacey Chabert, who has to pawn her violin to help the family meet expenses.
CAPSULE COMMENT - If ``Eight is Enough'' was your kind of show, pull up a La-Z-Boy and enjoy the Salingers.
TUESDAY
``Me and the Boys,'' sitcom, ABC, 8:30 p.m., Sept. 20 - Stand-up comic Steve Harvey, who played Norfolk recently, stars as father of three boys who don't like the celery snacks their grandmother (Madge Sinclair) pushes on them, and ask tough questions of Pop. Such as? Such as, ``Does God have 20/20 vision?''
CAPSULE COMMENT - It used to be Chip, Robbie and Mike on ``My Three Sons.'' Now it's Artis, William and Andrew on ``Me and the Boys.'' Harvey's cool.
``The Martin Short Show,'' sitcom, NBC, 8:30, Sept. 20 - This show is a lead in to ``Frasier.'' It will need all the help it can get. Short's character stars in a TV variety show, which gives the comic a whale of an opportunity to do all the schtick he never got around to doing on ``Saturday Night Live.'' His supporting cast, including Jan Hooks is talented, but nobody can help Short save this show. The man is out of control and painful to watch.
CAPSULE COMMENT - Between ``Wings'' and ``Frasier,'' NBC has Short-circuited Tuesday night's schedule.
WEDNESDAY
``All-American Girl,'' sitcom, ABC, 8:30 p.m., Sept. 14 - A breakthrough show. First network sitcom to feature Asian-Amercans. As star Margaret Cho and her supporting cast proves, they do just as many goofy things as the rest of us. Cho as Margaret Kim has a mother (played by Jodi Long) who wants her to marry a nice Korean boy. ``All others wrong for you,'' she says. This is supposed to be a family of Korean immigrants. Cho is Korean. Others in the cast are not. Will this offend Korean-Americans?
CAPSULE COMMENT - Ordinary sitcom that might survive on Cho's charm and savvy.
``The Boys are Back,'' sitcom, CBS, 8 p.m., Sept. 14 - Independence Day for Hal Linden and Suzanne Pleshette is when their kids leave home. But the kids can't make it by themselves in the 1990s, and want to return to the nest. Expect plenty of hardening of the arteries jokes from Linden and Pleshette. Best line: It's from Pleshette who sees the boys arriving, and tells Linden, ``Assume they'll-be-asking-for-money stance.''
CAPSULE COMMENT - Nothing going for it except the charm of Linden and Pleshette.
``Daddy's Girls,'' sitcom, CBS, 8:30, Sept. 14 - Dudley Moore, who was once married to a Portsmouth model and actress named Brogan Lane, tries again to succeed on the TV. Is he too, uh, British for American viewers? This is a pretty good show with Harvey Fierstein a riot as he enters a scene and departs quickly after dropping one-liners. Designer Moore's three daughters attempt to help him run his business. After Moore's cheating wife leaves him, Fierstein asks how many women he'll have to sleep with to get even with her. ``All of them,'' says Moore.
CAPSULE COMMENT - Fierstein's performance will help give this series the edge over ``All-American Girl.''
``Touched by an Angel,'' drama, CBS, 9 p.m. Sept. 14 - The last link in CBS all-new look for the first two hours of it's Wednesday night schedule. Stop me if you've heard this plot before. An angel is sent down from heaven to help people at the crossroads in their lives. (The syndicated ``Heaven Help Us'' is a similar ripoff of films made in 1943 and 1978 named ``Heaven Can Wait.'') Della Reese plays the supervising angel. Roma Downey co-stars.
CAPSULE COMMENT - Producers fought to make the September deadline with this show. No preview tape available. Can Reese do this better than Michael Landon?
``The Cosby Mysteries,'' drama, NBC, 8 p.m., Sept. 21 - Bill Cosby surrounded himself with star power (Rita Moreno and Lynn Whitfield) in setting up a series about a retired criminologist who can't stay retired. Cosby said he was too busy to meet with TV reporters in Los Angeles recently, and still hasn't delivered a pilot to be previewed. We'll have to wait and see how good Cosby will be on weekly TV without the Cosby kids.
CAPSULE COMMENT - NBC didn't care who or what Cosby played in his new series. The network just wanted him back on the schedule.
THURSDAY
``My So-Called Life,'' drama, ABC, 8 p.m., Aug. 25 - This series has been on long enough for viewers to be getting attached to Angela Chase (played marvelously by Claire Danes) and her high school buds, Brian, Rayanne and Rickie. A giant leap from ``Saved by the Bell,'' this dark, intense series dwells on the little things in a teen's life such as how much fun it is watching a cute boy slouching at his locker.
CAPSULE COMMENT - Life as it really is in high school. No?
``McKenna,'' drama, ABC, 9 p.m., Sept. 15 - It's nice to see Chad Everett back on the tube in a weekly series. He wears well, like James Garner. In this show, he has a strong horse to ride. Everett lives in the Pacific Northwest where he introduces vacationers to the Great Outdoors. There's action - the pilot episode has a nifty high-altitude rescue in it - to go with the family stuff that involves Everett's prodigal son, Eric Close. No Hollywood sound stage here. Filming takes pace in Oregon.
CAPSULE COMMENT - How long will it take the producers to run out of wilderness-rescue ideas?
``Due South,'' drama, CBS, 8 p.m., Sept. 15 - The TV movie which gave birth to this series was a hoot. Paul Gross plays a Canadian constable who tracks a criminal to Chicago where he meets up with a wiseguy cop played by David Marciano. They set off sparks! It's fun. Gross is the cop from the Canadian wilderness trying to adjust to the mean streets. You can't help but like the guy.
CAPSULE COMMENT - Who says the Canadians don't have a sense of humor? It's the new ``Northern Exposure.''
``Chicago Hope,'' drama, CBS, 10 p.m., Sept. 22 - Big cast here. Mandy Patinkin, Adam Arkin, E.G. Marshall, Hector Elizondro, to name a few. In contrast to the blue-collar medics on ``ER.,'' this is a doctor show with a mod, rich, sleek look to it. Trouble is, I can't buy anybody in the cast as a doctor. It's time for Marshall's character to give up surgery. He's too old to cut on people. But who will tell the man who used to be the world's greatest surgeon?
CAPSULE COMMENT - Too much about the doctors' personal lives, not enough about what really goes on behind the scenes in a big-city hospital.
``Friends,'' sitcom, NBC, 8:30 p.m., Sept. 22 - If ``Seinfeld'' and ``Ellen'' made it as shows about a bunch of young adults just hanging out, why not another series about nothing? Courteney Cox, who did a turn on ``Seinfeld,'' stars with five other actors as apartment dwellers searching for success, security and sex. The women are so desperate for a night out, they'd be willing to date guys who have hairpieces, humps and eat chalk.
CAPSULE COMMENT - Meet women who don't always expect sex after their dates spring for a dinner and a movie.
``Madman of the People,'' sitcom, NBC, 9:30 p.m., Sept. 22 - He's back! I mean Dabney Coleman, a talented actor and VMI grad who just can't find the right sitcom to make him a big TV star. This isn't it either, Dabney, old boy. He plays a gruff but loveable (as always) magazine columnist who has troubles with a boss who just happpens to be his daughter (Cynthia Gibb).
CAPSULE COMMENT - Even when he's being nice, Coleman appears threatening and sinister. Sitcom viewers hate threatening, sinister actors.
``ER,'' drama, NBC, 10 p.m., Sept. 22 - ``The roof of a building on The Loop has collapsed. Notify the trauma unit. We need help. Get us everybody you can.'' Another new medical show set in Chicago. This is grittier than it's CBS rival. Michael Crichton, who wrote the script for ``Jurassic Park,'' created the series starring Anthony Edwards and Sherry Springfield, who left a good gig on ``NYPD Blue'' for a role as emergency-room doctor.
CAPSULE COMMENT - We do not need another series about young residents who don't get enough sleep.
``New York Undercover,'' drama, Fox, 9 p.m., Sept. 8 - The kind of a cop show MTV would do. Malik Yoba is the black cop, Michael DeLorenzo the Hispanic- American cop. They're partners who talk the street talk, walk the street walk, move in and out of the down-and-dirty side of the city. Dick Wolf, who knows a thing or two about producing cop shows, has the series moving faster than a runaway subway car. The kids will like this show. Me? I couldn't understand half of what these street-wise cops were talking about.
CAPSULE COMMENT - The gangs of America will pick this as their favorite new show.
FRIDAY
``Under Suspicion,'' drama, CBS, 9 p.m. Sept. l6 - Who ever heard of a total unknown being cast as the lead in a network series? Hear it now because that is what happened to Karen Silas. She stars as Rose ``Phil'' Phillips, the first female cop in a macho precinct. Do they give her a street job? Naw. They make her the department's woman's coordinator - a desk job. But she still goes after the bad guys. Series has a film noir quality. Silas is a compelling figure as she dashes about in black outfits and heels.
CAPSULE COMMENT - This is not ``Charlie's Angels.''
``M.A.N.T.I.S.,'' drama, Fox, 8 p.m., Aug. 26 - This show has been on the air only a couple of weeks and already the novelty has worn off. We've seen Carl Lumbly go from wheelchair-bound paraplegic to superhero when he slips into a high-tech ``exoskeleton.'' Trouble is, the adventures of this guy in the bug suit aren't as interesting as his transformation into a superhero.
CAPSULE COMMENT - How about giving our hero a sidekick?
SATURDAY
``The Five Mrs. Buchanans,'' sitcom, CBS, 9 p.m., Sept. 24 - Who wouldn't like a sitcom in which one of the characters plays a former stripper who marries a preacher and then scandalizes the congregation because she won't wear underwear in church? Eileen Heckart plays the overbearing mom to her three daughters-in-law (Judith Ivey, Beth Broderick and Harriet Sansom Harris). Inspired casting here. Ivey is tough. Broderick is sweet. Harris is snobby. They let loose juicy one-liners all over the place.
CAPSULE COMMENT - Could be a big hit thanks to nifty lead-in provided by ``Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman.''
``Something Wilder,'' sitcom, NBC, 8 p.m., Oct. 1 - Wilder tries for the first time to make it in a TV series, and he has good shot here. He plays a guy who becomes a father late in life and must cope with raising twin sons plus members of his wife's family, who are eccentric. The setting is the Berkshires - Norman Rockwell country. Wilder fits right in.
CAPSULE COMMENT - Nothing special about this sitcom but Wilder makes it work because he is so darn engaging.
``Sweet Justice,'' drama, NBC, 9 p.m., Sept. 24 - Melissa Gilbert plays a Wall Street lawyer who returns to her Southern roots for a visit, and is persuaded to stick around by another lawyer, the crusading Cicely Tyson. She doesn't join her father's genteel firm, but instead marches off to Tyson's upstart outfit. Gilbert and Tyson click on camera. The underdogs of the world have their champions in these two women.
CAPSULE COMMENT - I like the show, but all those phony Southern accents! ILLUSTRATION: Color photos
RIGHT: Heather Locklear and the rest of the ``Melrose Place'' cast
will be moving to Monday night at 8 on Fox.
NEW ARRIVALS
Photos
Margaret Cho plays a Korean-American college student in
``All-American Girl'' on ABC.
NBC's new medical series ``ER'' features a group of young emergency
room doctors, including, from left, Eriq LaSalle, George Clooney,
Anthony Edwards, Sherry Stringfield and Noah Wyle.
Dabney Coleman stars as irreverent magazine columnist Jack Buckner
in the sitcom ``Madman of the People,'' also featuring Concetta
Tomei on NBC.
Claire Danes stars in ABC's ``May So-Called Life,'' which offers a
revealing look at teens' lives.
by CNB