THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, October 1, 1994 TAG: 9409290084
SECTION: TELEVISION WEEKLY PAGE: 01 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LARRY BONKO, TELEVISION COLUMNIST
LENGTH: Long : 114 lines
HELLO, GENE. Adios, Clarissa.
If your kids have been moping around the house lately, I'm not surprised. It's probably because they can't handle the news about one of their heroines, Clarissa Darling, played by the very cool Melissa Joan Hart, of ``Clarissa Explains It All.''
This series about the thoughtful teen queen who has amused us by searching the classifieds for a '76 Gremlin and coping with blind dates, completes a three-year run on Nickelodeon tonight at 8.
But as ``Clarissa'' ends, ``Something Wilder'' begins. Airing tonight at 8 on NBC and starring Gene Wilder, ``Something'' is a sitcom from the Hollywood sitcom mill with the usual children (annoying twins in this case), kooky neighbors, intolerable co-workers and jokes about boogers. Hillary B. Smith is miscast as Wilder's wife. She's irascible. You'll hate her.
Wilder, who in the past resisted many offers to work in weekly television, said he came around this time because he feels comfortable with the format of ``Something Wilder.'' A successful businessman becomes a father late in life.
``With the kids in the cast, we can be free as birds as far as things happening. I see a situation comedy as the chance to do a half-hour play on television every week and to be as romantic and funny as you want to be,'' Wilder said when he met with TV critics in Los Angeles.
``Clarissa Explains It All'' lasted three years on TV. I give ``Something Wilder'' about a month and a half.
But not to worry about Clarissa. The series will be seen in back-to-back reruns Monday through Friday at 5 p.m. on Nickelodeon.
Here's your chance to catch up with all the past episodes. On Monday at 5, Clarissa hatches a plan to send her annoying brother, Ferguson, into outer space with helium-filled balloons.
When I talked with Hart, who is 19, on the phone not long ago, she confirmed the buzz that CBS is thinking about developing a sitcom about the grown-up Clarissa. Northing definite. She's aware of her responsibility as the star of a program watched by scads of kids.
To them, Hart says, ``Don't allow yourself to be swallowed up by television. Don't sit in front of the set for hours. Read more. Remember that most of what you see on television is entertainment, and not real life. It's not meant to be imitated.'' The kids will miss Clarissa/Hart, and so will this big kid. COMING UP
Big doins' on the tube in the days to come.
Now it's Larry King's turn to look into the story that won't die - the story which alleges the government is lying about UFOs and visitors from space because the truth would be too much for us mortals to bear.
If we can handle Al Bundy, we can handle anything. ``The UFO Cover-up Live from Area 51 - A TNT Larry King Special'' will be seen tonight at 8 in a two-hour special. ``Area 51'' is a strictly off-limits location in Nevada. Didn't I just see all of this on ``The X-Files''?
The Family Channel's ``Snowy River: The McGregor Saga'' returns for a second season tonight at 6 with Olivia Newton-John joining the cast of the series set in Australia. Her character (Joanna Walker) sets out to find her lost father. I don't think she sings in this one.
Now that ``Baseball'' has concluded its run on PBS - didn't it seem to go on forever? - it's time to concentrate on public television's regular season of fall programming. That means a new year for ``Masterpiece Theater,'' its 24th on PBS, and the premiere Sunday night at 9 is a corker: ``The Blue Boy'' is a ghost story starring Emma Thompson. Is the boy a sleep walker or a long dead drowning victim?
Just because you can act in movies doesn't mean you can be a director, too.
You'll probably be saying that to yourself if you catch Showtime's sometimes-good, sometimes-awful anthology series, ``Directed By,'' which signs on Sunday at 10 p.m. First up, Treat Williams directs Dabney Coleman and Dana Delany in ``Texan.'' That will be followed by ``On Hope,'' with Mercedes Reuhl and Annette O'Toole in a story directed by JoBeth Williams.
Other stars in the director's chair include Danny Glover, Kathleen Turner and Laura Dern.
On Monday at 7 p.m., The Family Channel starts a run of four Peter Rabbit specials with ``The Tale of Pigling Bland.'' The critics love these specials. Parents love them. And the kids are wild about them.
Taking a cue from The Family Channel, the folks at Disney also hitched up with Australian producers to develop a series for young viewers, ``Ocean Girl,'' which begins Monday night at 7:30. Think of it as ``The Blue Lagoon'' meets ``seaQuest DSV.''
Biologists doing research on the Great Barrier Reef encounter a young girl named Neri who practically lives under water and can talk to humpback whales telepathically. Marzena Godecki plays Ocean Girl who - get ready to be shocked - is not human. You'll like her anyway.
A&E's excellent ``Biography'' series covers the career of comedian Steve Martin on Monday night at 8. That wild and crazy guy is an accomplished actor
Are you ready for a young, sexy, hip detective on television? She's here.
The A&E network, which showed that offbeat characters in the ``Cracker'' and ``Lovejoy'' series can be just as good at solving crimes as Sherlock Holmes, has a winner in ``Anna Lee,'' which signs on Tuesday at 9 p.m.
Imogene Stubbs is highly watchable as a cool, punky detective in short skirts shaking up the Brits' establishment.
Vince Gill will host the ``The 28th Annual Country Music Association Awards'' on CBS Wednesday night at 8. It just so happens that Gill is also nominated for Entertainer of the Year. What's your pick for song of the year? ``Chattahoochee''? ``Little Rock''? ``He Thinks He'll Keep Her''?
Don't you just love eating in diners? I do. On Wednesday at 9, PBS takes a long, loving look at the homey eateries in ``Pennsylvania Diners and Other Roadside Restaurants.''
I'll have the blue plate special with a slice of peach pie, please.
Nineteen Pennsylvania diners including The Cup in Pottstown and the Garfield Diner in Pottsville will be featured. I've noticed that Virginia is short in the roadside diners' department. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
Comedian Gene Wilder plays a successful businessman who becomes a
father late in life on ``Something Wilder,'' premiering Saturday
night at 8 on NBC.
by CNB