THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, May 27, 1995 TAG: 9505260040
SECTION: TELEVISION WEEK PAGE: 1 EDITION: FINAL
LENGTH: Long : 137 lines
EVER WONDERED WHAT inspired Steven Spielberg to become a filmmaker? It's a cute story. When he met with television writers in Los Angeles not long ago, he talked about of growing up in Haddonfield, N.J., obsessed with model trains.
``I loved to see them crash into each other,'' he said. The head-on collisions, which turned new trains into wrecks, didn't please Spielberg's father, who threatened to take away the toys.
``I didn't want to lose my trains, but I didn't want to live without the exhilaration of the crashes. So I got out this little eight-millimeter Kodak movie camera and I filmed the last crash. After I got the film back from the lab, I looked at the crash over and over again, satisfying my horribly destructive urge,'' he said.
The kid with the trains grew up to become the man who gave the world some of its most popular films including ``E.T.,'' ``Schindler's List,'' ``Jurassic Park,'' ``Jaws'' and ``Close Encounters of the Third Kind.'' He's collaborated with George Lucas on the Indiana Jones trilogy, and in television, Spielberg's production company gave birth to ``ER.''
For all of this and more, the 47-year-old former boy genius will be honored Saturday at 10 p.m. on NBC in ``The American Film Institute Salute to Steven Spielberg.''
Tom Hanks will be the host.
What's the machine that fuels the dynamo Spielberg? Ideas. Good original ideas. ``The idea is the most important driving force in our business. I have always been very protective of my ideas,'' he said. They include the good ideas contained in such films such as ``Back to the Future,'' ``Who Framed Roger Rabbit?'' and let us not forget ``Gremlins.''
As the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II fast approaches, this year's Memorial Day observances are heavy with emotion. TV carries that emotion to viewers with lots of special programming.
PBS and WHRO in Hampton Roads have scheduled more than a dozen events starting on Sunday at 11 a.m. with ``From Nuremberg to Nuremberg,'' followed at 2 p.m. by a Channel 15-produced program, ``V-E Day Remembered.'' Sunday specials continue at 2:30 p.m. with ``The American Experience: D-Day, the Battle that Changed History,'' ``Soldier's Day'' at 3:30, the classic film, ``The Best Years of Our Lives'' at 4:30, ``The National Memorial Day Concert'' from the U.S. Capitol at 7:30, and, at 9, ``Iwo Jima: Red Blood, Black Sand.''
The PBS Memorial Day programming on Monday begins at 10 a.m. with ``Medal of Honor: True Stories of America's Greatest War Heroes,'' followed at 1 p.m. by ``Heroes Still: On the Journey from Bataan,'' featuring local men who survived the infamous death march. At 2 p.m. on Monday, WHRO will air ``Men Who Sailed the Liberty Ships,'' followed at 3 by ``Flight in Time, the Memphis Belle Story,'' ``The American Experience: Battle of the Bulge,'' ``USS Wisconsin: The Last Battleship,'' and from 8 to 11 p.m., Channel 15 will show ``Fighter Pilot's Story.''
``The Men Who Sailed the Liberty Ships'' pays tribute to the merchant seamen who delivered the tools of war at great risk. It wasn't until 1987 that the government finally recognized the seamen as World War II veterans entitled to full benefits.
Ossie Davis hosts the ``The National Memorial Day Concert,'' which will also feature appearances by John Denver, Melissa Manchester, Marilyn McCoo and the National Symphony Orchestra. Rod Steiger appears in a salute to the men who fought on Iwo Jima and Charles Durning remembers all those who died in World War II followed by ``Taps.'' It will likely bring America to tears.
Continuing with the Memorial Day programs, anchorman Jim Kincaid hosts a WVEC special, ``D-Day to V-E Day,'' on Saturday at 7 p.m. TNT on cable will observe the holiday weekend with a 20-movie marathon starting Sunday at 11 a.m. with ``The Dirty Dozen.''
Throughout the weekend, Turner Broadcasting will present ``Operation TNT: Offerings at the Wall,'' during which celebrities will read letters from viewers touched by the Vietnam war. TNT is inviting viewers to send offerings to be laid at ``The Wall,'' the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.
American Movie Classics gives over its entire day of programming to war films on Sunday starting at 6 a.m. with ``The Glory Brigade.'' At 9 a.m., AMC shows a World War II flick shot in and around Norfolk, ``Away All Boats.'' The Learning Channel on Monday at noon begins reeling off ``Battles to Remember.'' TLC's televised battles continue until 3 a.m. and include at 9 p.m. the premiere of ``D-Day, Parts 1 and 2.''
And now for a change of pace-. . . the holiday weekend also brings ``Welcome Back Kotter'' to the tube on Nick at Nite. The series that made John Travolta a household name starts up on Nick at Nite Monday at 8 p.m. with a three-hour burst. This is the series that gave us that lilting phrase, ``Up your nose with a rubber hose.'' Welcome back, Arnold Horshack. . . E! Entertainment Television celebrates its fifth anniversary in the next few days. . . Cox Cable, gearing up to offer the five-channel ``Cox Select'' package, puts on a sneak preview on Channel 68 from now until June 5. Turner Classic Movies takes a turn Saturday and Sunday followed by The History Channel, ESPN2, The Cartoon Network and Home and Garden TV.
Neat special on the TBS Superstation Tuesday night at 8:05. ``Driving Passion'' recalls America's 100-mile love affair with the automobile. Watch for the segment on Alice Ramsey, who in 1909 drove across the U.S. in a Maxwell. It took her and three women companions 59 days to make it from New York to California. Ramsey made some engine repairs with chewing gum. Richard Crenna narrates. . . Here comes summer. Want proof? MTV on Tuesday at noon launches ``Beach TV,'' starting in Key West, Fla. Daisy Fuentes takes the role as MTV beach bunny. On the list of beaches, I see Key West, Miami, Negril in Jamaica and Cancun in Mexico, but no Sandbridge, no Buckroe. What gives? . . CNN. That's a cue for the A&E ``Biography'' series to present a King profile on Friday at 8 p.m. King's daughter, brother and one of his ex-wives appear on camera. Maybe we'll get to see him kiss Marlon Brando again.
Emmy-winner Tracey Ullman hosts a new comedy special on HBO, ``Women of the Night IV,'' which premieres Saturday at 10 p.m. HBO says this is a showcase for future stars, which explains why the average viewer won't recognize the lineup of Kathy Buckley, Diana Jordan, Wendy Liebman, Henriette Mantel, Carolina Rhea and Linda Smith. . . The National Geography Bee lives! PBS carries the final round of competition Wednesday night at 8. Alex Trebek of ``Jeopardy!'' tosses out questions to the kids.
A&E's ``Investigative Reports'' zeroes in on the man accused of being the mad bomber of Oklahoma City on Friday. ``Who is Timothy McVeigh?'' will be seen at 9 p.m. A neighbor tells how McVeigh blew up soda bottles for fun when he was a kid. . . Like cutting-edge cartoons? Comedy Central has one in ``Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist,'' which premieres Sunday night at 10:30. Comedy Central never plunged into animated fun before this. . . One of the best offbeat series on cable, ``World of Wonder'' on The Discovery Channel, has another winner Thursday at 11 p.m. with a show about, gulp, snake hunters . . Thing Marathon'' Monday starting at 9 a.m. It's 18 hours of the half-man, half-plant lovable superhero. . . ``Cagney and Lacey,'' the old CBS series which has made a strong comeback in two-hour specials of late, pops up on Lifetime beginning Tuesday at 5 p.m. . .ABC persuaded that famous Aussie dude, Mel Gibson, to narrate ``Australia's Outback: The Vanishing Frontier'' on ABC Thursday night at 9. It's part of ABC's excellent ``World of Discovery'' series. ILLUSTRATION: Color photos
"Jurassic Park"...
The American Film Institute will honor Spielberg Saturday on NBC
HBO photo
HBO's "Women of the Night IV"...
Photo by Pete Souza
A young contestant responds...on the National Geography Bee...
by CNB