THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, January 28, 1995 TAG: 9501270520
SECTION: TELEVISION WEEK PAGE: 1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LARRY BONKO, TELEVISION COLUMNIST
DATELINE: LOS ANGELES LENGTH: Medium: 90 lines
IT IS A TIME slot that producers drool over. This year, the programming slot immediately after the Super Bowl goes to James Brolin's new skiing, ice-climbing, kayaking series, ``Extreme.''
ABC has scheduled the premiere to follow Super Bowl XXIX, thereby guaranteeing that tens of millions of viewers will be around for at least the start of Brolin's adventures as the leader of the Steep Mountain Rescue Group in Utah.
As January winds down, so does the second season of network television. A good number of new programming, including the TV comebacks of Cybill Shepherd and Delta Burke, plus two new networks have been introduced this month.
Here come two other new shows. ``Extreme'' with Brolin, and ``The Marshal'' premieres Tuesday at 10 p.m. on ABC.
This show, starring Jeff Fahey and produced by Don Johnson, has been on the ABC shelf for months waiting for the network to show it off. It gets maximum exposure in the ``NYPD Blue'' time slot.
Fahey has what it takes to be a big star - rugged good looks, talent and sparks that appear on-screen when he's around women - but he still hasn't made it to the top of the flesh heap. ``The Marshal'' could do it for him because it's a well-done, action-adventure show with a little humor, a little heart and Fahey acts as cool as, well, Johnson's famous character on ``Miami Vice.''
They always get their man, these U.S. marshals. Almost always.
``They are relentless about that. They are loners. They live on the road. And they go after the guys they want even if it takes 20 years to land them,'' Fahey told TV writers in Los Angeles not long ago.
Brolin, by contrast, doesn't need much of an introduction. He established himself as a strong TV personality on ``Hotel,'' and has worked in seven TV movies, eight big-screen productions and was last seen in the ``Angel Falls'' series.
And what couch potato could forget him as Dr. Steve Kiley on ``Marcus Welby, M.D.''?
If his description of the series is sincere, ``Extreme'' may run for 10 years. Brolin told TV writers to think of it as ``Northern Exposure'' and ``Beverly Hills, 90210'' with a lot of that skiing and avalanche stuff you see in the old James Bond films.
His co-star, Julie Bowen, thinks the timing is perfect for the premiere of ``Extreme.'' She believes that watching hospital shows set in confining spaces has viewers looking for breathing room. ``With so many shows on TV now in urban settings,'' she said, ``I think people want to see things happening in the great outdoors.''
The show in a nutshell: A bunch of attractive people with the guts and skill to kayak over waterfalls and ski from helicopters also save people who get into trouble in the Crater Peak Mountains of Utah.
Filming in that setting was like a paid vacation for Brolin, who flies, sails, climbs mountains, and fishes in salt and freshwater. ``I know a river up there with 10,000 trout to the mile.''
``Angel Falls'' came and went quickly when other ensemble shows were doing well. The network never gave the series a chance, Brolin said. ``If they had given us three more weeks on the air, the network would have had a hit on its hands.''
Elsewhere in Tubetown in the days to come:
Fahey, who waited a long time for his crack at network TV, is in danger of being overexposed. Saturday at 8 p.m., he'll co-star with Courteney Cox of ``Friends'' in a film on Showtime about a blind woman and her husband who are stalked by a serial killer. Sound familiar? It should. ``Sketch Artist II'' is sequel to a 1992 film.
If you haven't had enough of the Frankenstein monster after Hollywood's recent updating of the Mary Shelley classic, ABC Saturday night at 9 goes back to the Frankenstein castle in ``The Real Frankenstein: An Untold Story.'' Case in point: Shelley was ahead of the rest of the world in envisioning genetic engineering. Yes, the Mel Brooks' treatment of the Frankenstein legend is included here. David Frost is the host.
The Discovery Channel turns over virtually all of its weekend schedule to sharks in ``Shark Bowl '95.'' The festival of great whites, the sharks of Polynesia and their cousins runs from Saturday at 5 p.m. through 2 a.m. Sunday, and resumes Sunday from 2 p.m. to 2 a.m. Monday. Sharks are not all bad. They play a key role in the evolution of the living sea. ILLUSTRATION: Bob D'Amico
The premiere of ABC's new series "Extreme," starring James Brolin,
was awarded perhaps the most coveted time slot of the year. It
follows Sunday's Super Bowl (approximately 10 p.m.).
Bob D'Amico
Jeff Fahey stars as Deputy Marshal Winston MacBride in "The
marshal," which previews Sunday night on ABC after the Super Bowl.
by CNB