THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, November 12, 1994 TAG: 9411100060
SECTION: TELEVISION WEEKLY PAGE: 01 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LARRY BONKO, TELEVISION COLUMNIST
LENGTH: Long : 113 lines
THERE'S AN eight-hour saga on television this weekend in which a large cast experiences joy, sorrow, hope, despair, love and hate.
I'm not talking about ``Scarlett,'' starting Sunday at 9 p.m. on CBS, although, fiddle-dee-dee, there is a large serving of despair in that miniseries.
The TV epic to which I refer is on MTV, the hip and irreverent network that says it's OK to wear whipped cream for clothes.
Starting at noon today, MTV reels off eight episodes of ``The Real World III,'' including the first episode when six roomies arrive in San Francisco to meet roomie No. 7, the gross-out king himself - Puck the bicycle messenger.
On Sunday, MTV begins ``The Real World III'' marathon at 9:30 a.m. and tacks on four more episodes - 20 in all. That means you'll have lots more time to see Puck picking on his scabs before his roommates vote to kick him out.
The first ``Real World'' was cool. I liked everybody selected by MTV to live in a Manhattan loft with cameras pointed at them all through the day. ``Real World II'' was a bummer because just about everybody in the Southern California beach house was bad news.
The series perked up with ``Real World III'' because of compelling characters. It became something extraordinary from the opening episode because Pedro Zamora revealed that he had AIDS and wasn't likely to live to see his 30s. (Zamora, 22, is seriously ill and has been hospitalized in Miami). Would his illness create tension among his roommates?
Yes and no.
MTV showed the final new episode of ``Real World III'' on Thursday night. Maybe you caught it and want to know more about the San Francisco Seven.
Assuming that many viewers are interested in catching up with the group and learning more about the other adventures, MTV delivers the ``Real World III'' marathon this weekend.
I'll miss Puck. How about you?
There are more spectaculars on the tube in the days to come other than the ``Real World III'' festival and the ``Scarlett'' miniseries, which concludes Nov. 17. The frolicking royals, the Windsors, continue to pop up on PBS this month in a four-part miniseries which premiered on WHRO last week.
Channel 15 repeats the first episode Saturday at 9 p.m. and wraps up ``The Windsors: A Royal Family'' Monday at 9 p.m. with a lengthy profile on Elizabeth II. She was only 25 when she ascended to the throne.
PBS traces the Windsor dynasty through four generations. See the Windsor castle in flames in 1992. Could that scene be symbolic of a monarchy in disarray for a decade? The royals are as vulnerable as their castles, one historian suggests.
The Discovery Channel focuses Sunday on one of the great events in the history of human endeavor - sending an 11-million pound spacecraft hurling into space and returning it safely.
``Space Shuttle,'' which runs for two hours starting at 9 p.m., begins with scenes that few outside NASA get to see. TLC shows the beating that the shuttle Columbia and its crew took while descending from space.
Launch trivia: Everyone on the NASA team eats beans for good luck.
(``Space Shuttle'' will be seen again Nov. 19 at 8 p.m., Nov. 20 at noon and Nov. 26 at 4 p.m.)
More TV spectaculars from TLC: The channel's ``Archaeology'' series, which is produced in Virginia Beach, will occupy all of prime time on Friday starting at 8 p.m. with an episode of more than passing interest in Hampton Roads: ``Search for the Merrimac.''
And speaking of TV spectaculars, let us not forget that ``Frasier'' on Tuesday night at 9 begins a two-parter in which BeBe Neuwirth returns.
Elsewhere on the tube in the next seven days, Whitney Houston sings from the heart in ``Whitney: The Concert for a New South Africa'' (9 Saturday night on HBO).
MTV shows it cares about the people who watch its music videos by putting on a special about the gloomy job market for young people, ``Help Not Wanted: An MTV News Special Report'' at 10 p.m. Wednesday. Hampton's very own hip newsperson, Tabitha Soren, hosts. See trainees at work at McDonald's Hamburger U. Meet people in their 20s who say they've been overeducated.
There has been a lot of back slapping going on at The Family Channel headquarters in Virginia Beach of late because the channel's programmers were nominated for eight CableAce awards. In that group were the producers of the excellent Peter Rabbit animated series.
You can see how well The Family Channel brings the work of Beatrix Potter to television on Monday at 6 p.m. when ``The Tale of Peter Rabbit and Benjamin Bunny'' is shown. (New Dominion Pictures also picked up a CableAce nomination for its ``Archaeology'' series).
Brett Butler, a great big TV star who no longer needs to do stand-up gigs, is still at it in a Showtime special, ``Brett Butler: Sold Out,'' Saturday night at 9:30.
Ever wonder what Hillary Rodham Clinton was like when she was a co-ed at Wellesley College? You'll learn about the pre-Hollywood chic Hillary at 10:30 p.m. Tuesday on a ``Frontline'' episode, ``Hillary's Class.'' She attends her class' 25th reunion.
HBO provides viewers with an update on the species of animals and birds such as tigers, gorillas and parrots that are in danger of being extinct. ``Going, Going, Almost Gone!'' premieres Sunday at 7:30 p.m. This special is a little too light, too fluffy, for such a serious subject. Jim Fyfe hosts.
The story that will not die, the assassination of John F. Kennedy in Dallas, will be reviewed in depth by Mike Wallace on A&E Wednesday night at 10 in the channel's ``20th Century'' series, ``Assassination and Aftermath: The Death of JFK and the Warren Report.'' Marksmen test the type of rifle used in the Dallas shooting.
On the same theme, Oliver Stone's ``JFK'' will air Sunday night at 9 on NBC. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by KEN PROBST
MTV's ``The Real World III'' cast includes (top left) Coryn, Pam,
Judd, (bottom left) Rachel, Mohammed and Pedro.
Photo
``The Windsors: A royal Family'' documents the changing fortunes of
england's monarchy, including Charles and Diana in happier days.
by CNB