THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, November 8, 1994 TAG: 9411080031
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E2 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Larry Bonko
LENGTH: Medium: 73 lines
IF YOU'RE waiting for Alan Alda to do another TV series, forget it.
On ``M*A*S*H,'' he played Benjamin Franklin ``Hawkeye'' Pierce for 11 seasons. He won five Emmys.
Alda compares weekly TV to digging coal.
``I loved what I did when I did it, but it was like going down into the mines for 10 or 11 years and never seeing the light of day,'' Alda said when he met TV writers in Los Angeles not long ago.
At 58, he's too old to go down into the mines again.
But he's still in shape for a little heavy lifting, which is what he's doing on TV these days. Alda has played heavies with relish in two recent HBO films, and on five programs this season, he'll be seen as the host of a PBS series, ``Scientific American Frontiers.''
Tonight at 9 on WHRO, the subject is the food you and your pets eat.
Nice timing by PBS. Thanksgiving is fast approaching. PBS tonight revives the first big feast at ye olde Plimoth Plantation.
In January, Alda gives us an idea of how far the Leaning Tower of Pisa will lean before it finally falls or explodes. And later in 1995, he'll introduce viewers to primates that act very human.
Wonder what the creationists will think of that?
The executive producers of ``Scientific American Frontiers'' chose Alda to be the program's host because he asks dumb questions.
That's a good thing, said John Moeling, publisher of Scientific American Frontiers magazine.
``Alan's ability to ask dumb questions is second to none. Those questions are very important on a program about science because they help us communicate complex ideas to an audience not made up of scientists.
``Alan puts himself in the viewer's place.''
For a segment called ``Life's Big Questions,'' Alda was having trouble comprehending the birth of the universe.
Haven't we all?
He was told about the Big Bang theory. But what about before the Big Bang, he asked? ``Was the universe just floating in nothingness then. . . ?''
A dumb question. But a good question. Like Alda, I've yet to hear a 100 percent satisfactory explanation of how the universe came into being.
``This has been great fun for me. It's too much fun to stay home,'' said Alda of his work with ``Scientific American Frontiers.''
Fun shaking hands with an octopus? Definitely.
You have your choice of eight arms, said Alda, who appeared before the TV press looking tan, handsome, relaxed, and forever smiling, with just a bit of gray invading his hair.
There are ratings to achieve and money to be made in reviving popular TV series. Whenever a sweeps period rolls around, somebody out there in Hollywood gets the bright idea to bring back a Jim Rockford, Cagney and Lacey, or Perry Mason, with or without Raymond Burr.
There is talk these days of returning Archie Bunker back to prime time.
Surely there has been talk - serious offers - to reunite the cast of ``M*A*S*H'' one more time.
There has been talk, said Alda. But he's not interested.
```M*A*S*H' is over. We are all too old to do it again. It doesn't sound like an interesting program to me to see how we've all aged. In my career, I've never stopped and said to myself that I ought to do this or that at a particular time. I did `M*A*S*H' until I felt it was time to stop. I'm still acting. I'm still writing. I'm still doing things that are interesting and fun and offbeat.''
He'll be Hawkeye Pierce forever. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Alan Alda hosts PBS' new series on science
by CNB