THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, December 19, 1994 TAG: 9412170035
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E2 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Larry Bonko
LENGTH: Medium: 81 lines
I COULD LIE to you and say the only television I care to watch is ``Masterpiece Theater'' on PBS and the dramatic dance vignettes on Bravo.
The truth is I have my guilty pleasures.
First on my list of TV Twinkies is ``Silk Stalkings,'' a cop show on the USA network that's a combination of ``Miami Vice'' and ``Charlie's Angels.''
My four other guiltiest TV pleasures:
``Love Connection.'' When WTKR dropped the show, I was in a panic. But I settled down when I saw that WGN in Chicago was picking it up weeknights at 7.
``Live With Regis and Kathie Lee.'' OK, these two magpies who show up on ABC every morning at 9 are hokey. So what? I like getting wrapped up in their opening segment, which they wing for 10 or 12 minutes.
``Baywatch.'' WGNT carries it Sunday night at 7. I watch this show mainly because I am interested in David Hasselhoff's lifesaving techniques. I've been told there is an actress named Pamela Anderson on this series. I haven't noticed.
``Melrose Place.'' The plot is out of control with a mad doctor on the loose snatching babies, an Aussie tycoon blowing Jane's $500,000 bankroll in Vegas and poor Alison lost in a vodka bottle. This show is so outrageous. But I can't stop watching. Can't . . . can't . . . can't.
The great thing about ``Silk Stalkings'' is it's on the tube more than once a week. USA shows original episodes Monday night at 10, and then airs reruns Sunday nights.
On the series, Mitzi Kapture plays a detective named Rita Lance, who, in slit skirts and high heels, chases down perps with hunky partner Rob Estes. There have been times when the script called for Kapture to work undercover as a hooker, phone-sex operator, beauty pageant contestant and a bored wife looking to perk up her libido at a sex-therapy clinic.
But Kapture said no when the producers asked to put her in a bikini.
``I want the viewers to take my character seriously,'' she said.
We do. We do.
Estes and Kapture work together as Palm Beach homicide detectives without mucking up the relationship with sex. Oh, they've been tempted once or twice. Cooler heads prevailed.
``I expect we'll stay just friends,'' Kapture said. Estes recently appeared on CBS as the 1990s reincarnation of Mike Hammer and was darn good at it.
Be advised that Kapture looks sharper than ever this season with a new off-the-face 'do and makeup that brings out her cheekbones. Sorry, guys. She's married, as is Estes, whose bride is Josie Bissett of ``Melrose Place.''
The stars of two of my guilty TV pleasures in one household. Wow.
I know that I am not alone in admitting that I watch junk on TV and enjoy it immensely. Callers by the dozens rang my number on Infoline (640-5555, press 2486) to list their guilty pleasures.
Sean Cox, an 18-year-old senior at Wilson High School in Portsmouth, said he watches cartoons whenever he can. Mom does, too, he said.
Bryan Foster Gray in Chesapeake confesses to watching shows ``which rot my brain,'' but doesn't apologize for loading up on ``Jeopardy!''
Tory S., Suffolk, says she can't wait for 5 p.m. when the Ricki Lake talk show pops up on WGNT and the social misfits share their miserable lives with viewers.
``My mom threw me out of the house just because I quit school, got pregnant, was picked up for shoplifting and ran her car off the road.''
Michele G., a wife and mother in Chesapeake, has been watching ``The Brady Bunch'' since she was in high school and continues to watch it in reruns on cable. ``Got to have my Brady fix,'' she said.
Tonight is a big night for me: a new episode of ``Silk Stalkings.'' The show is in its fourth season on USA. I hope it runs for as long as ``60 Minutes.'' by CNB