THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, July 15, 1995 TAG: 9507130049
SECTION: TELEVISION WEEK PAGE: 01 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LARRY BONKO, TELEVISION COLUMNIST
DATELINE: LOS ANGELES LENGTH: Medium: 96 lines
THEY ARE BACK on Home Box Office Wednesday night, and they are better than ever. Garry Shandling again stars in ``The Larry Sanders Show'' at 10:30 p.m., after Brian Benben leads the ensemble cast of ``Dream On'' into its sixth and perhaps last season on HBO at 10.
Nowhere else on television is the writing crisper, wittier or funnier than on these two adult sitcoms. The dialogue often bites like sharks. Shandling, who as the show's creator cast himself as the neurotic talk-show host Sanders, begins his fourth season where season No. 3 ended.
Larry still isn't over his romance with Roseanne, who married her limo driver and became pregnant after she broke up with Sanders, but not before getting him off his addiction to prescription drugs.
When she is booked as a guest on his show, to talk about who dumped whom, Sanders is flustered at first, then takes control. Roseanne and Shandling are marvelous together, with Sanders kissing her off by telling Roseanne that she was the funniest guest since Janet Reno.
Then comes a shocker.
Roseanne, soon to be a mom for a fourth time, announces that her water broke. ``Surf's up!''
Sanders faints.
As in the past three seasons, the dialogue on ``The Larry Sanders Show'' is wickedly topical, with much of the script on Wednesday night's episode given over to the O.J. Simpson trial. While watching coverage on CNN, Sanders is reminded by his loyal assistant Beverly (Penny Johnson) that Simpson was booked as a guest months ago, then bumped for Faith Ford of ``Murphy Brown.''
To that, Sanders replies, ``Who knew he'd get so hot?''
Who, indeed?
After appearing on the Fox network in episodes that were edited for over-the-air television, ``Dream On'' begins a new season on HBO with plenty of breasts and butts showing - same as always. In the season's first new episode, Benben as book editor Martin Tupper consults a therapist (Louise Fletcher) after he isn't performing in the bedroom as well as usual.
The third new show is a gem. Annette O'Toole guests as an old friend of Martin's ex-wife Judith (played wonderfully by Wendie Malick) who re-enters Judith's life with a surprise announcement: She's a lesbian.
``Since this is likely our last season, we'll be doing things we've been dying to do for six years,'' said Malick, when she and fellow cast members Benben and Denny Dillon met with members of the Television Critics Association.
Benben said he never expected the series about a TV child of the 1950s trying to cope with life in the 1990s to last as long as it has.
``After every season in the past, we'd say, `This is it, the show won't get picked up again. So long. It's been swell.' Then they would ask us to come back again,'' said Benben.
This time around, the producers (John Landis, Ron Wolotzky and Stephen Engel) are saying nothing about a seventh season of ``Dream On.'' So, enjoy this creative and clever sitcom - love the film clips - while it lasts.
The HBO brass also uncorked a preview of ``Band of Gold'' for the TV press. It's a six-part British-made series about the prostitutes of Bradford, England, and a killer who is preying on them.
``Band of Gold'' begins its run on HBO Monday at 10 p.m. It has a bit of the feel of the ``Prime Suspect'' series which has been a smash on PBS.
Elsewhere from the cable folks who are previewing their new programming for TV writers comes ``Sherman Oaks,'' starting on Showtime Sunday night at 11. Here's a sitcom in cinema verite about the quirky Baker family of Sherman Oaks. The machine that drives the plot: A filmmaker played by Tyler Bearde chooses the Baker family including Nick Toth, Phyllis Katz and Heather-Elizabeth Parkhurst to star in a documentary about a typical 1990s' family. ``To expose all the cracks,'' the filmmaker says.
MTV, which recently launched a fourth edition of ``Real World'' in London, presses on with the let-it-all-hang-out-on-before-the-TV-cameras format in ``Road Rules,'' starting on Wednesday at 10:30 p.m. Five strangers heed a mysterious voice that sends them across America on a series of adventures.
Meet Carlos, Allison, Shelly, Kit and Mark. Kit's a recent graduate of the University of North Carolina.
On Comedy Central, Janeane Garofalo hosts a new series, ``Comedy Product,'' which will be a showcase for twentysomething comics looking for the big break. It starts Saturday at 10 p.m. Garofalo's big break came when Shandling put her on ``The Larry Sanders Show'' as Paula, the talent booker. As that character, it was Garofalo who told Simpson he was being dumped from Sanders' show.
As Larry says in the season premiere, who knew the man would get so hot? It's not cheap to subscribe to HBO - the cost is $11.50 per month where I live - but I'd pay twice that to see ``Dream On'' and ``The Larry Sanders Show'' every month. MEMO: Television columnist Larry Bonko is in Los Angeles for the twice-yearly
Television Critics Association.
ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photos]
Garry Shandling returns with "The Larry Sanders Show" at 10:30 p.m.
Wednesday. Roseanne guests.
"Dream On" begins its sixth season on HBO Wednesday night at 10.
by CNB