THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, September 6, 1995 TAG: 9509060051
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: LARRY BONKO
LENGTH: Long : 123 lines
TIM REID, THE actor and producer who is a Norfolk State U. alumnus, fund-raiser and perhaps the school's biggest booster outside Hampton Roads, fussed a bit last spring when ABC canceled his sitcom, ``Sister, Sister.''
He thrashed the ABC executives, suggesting that they desperately want a version of NBC's ``Seinfeld'' or ``Friends'' instead of something as un-hip as ``Sister, Sister.''
Said Reid, ``These young guys running the networks look for a carbon copy of whatever else is working, what's hot. I felt that `Sister, Sister' wasn't coming back to ABC because the network is showing signs it wants to get out of family shows regardless of the quality and decent ratings of those shows.''
They don't think like that at the recently launched Warner Brothers network, obviously.
Just hours after ABC dropped ``Sister, Sister,'' Warner Brothers was in touch with producers Suzanne de Passe, Mert Rich and Brian Pollack to rescue the sitcom and commit to 22 new episodes. Reid was on his way to the Caribbean when the call came in.
``I was shocked and delighted,'' he said of hearing the good news from de Passe. ``I never turn down work. I would hate to be poor again.'' (Reid later this month stays busy hosting ``Save Our Streets,'' a syndicated series about people taking back their neighborhoods from criminals.)
Just as delighted as Reid about the rescue of ``Sister, Sister'' were the 17-year-old twins, Tamera and Tia Mowry, who star in the sitcom, which is about twins separated at birth and reunited in their teens. Warner Brothers welcomed the sisters by giving them a $15,000 gift certificate to their favorite store.
And that store would be?
``The Gap,'' the sisters said in unison when the cast met with TV writers in Los Angeles not long ago.
With the twins, Tim Reid and Jackee Harry signed for 22 episodes, Warner Brothers launches its second season tonight with ``Sister, Sister'' at 8 on the cable superstation WGN and Saturday at 8 p.m. on the local WB affiliate, WVBT.
The Virginia Beach station will air WB Network programming on Saturday and Sunday nights. On Saturday after ``Sister, Sister,'' WB continues with three sitcoms returning from last season - ``The Parent Hood,'' ``The Wayans Brothers'' and ``Unhappily Ever After.''
The WB Sunday night schedule begins Sunday at 7 p.m. with a new animated half hour from Steven Spielberg, ``Pinky and The Brain,'' followed by repeats of ``Sister, Sister'' from the series' run on ABC.
Then comes ``Kirk'' at 8 p.m., a sitcom that premiered in August, followed by three new sitcoms - ``Simon,'' ``First Time Out'' and ``Cleghorne.''
Spielberg's studios will also supply four hours of programming to the WB Network's Saturday morning kids' schedule. The WB brass is so high on Spielberg's cartoon factory that it chose ``Pinky and the Brain'' to start the WB Network schedule on Sundays.
WB will also run the show on Saturday mornings at 9:30.
It's about lab mice who are out to dominate the world. But will they be as much fun as Yakko, Wakko and Dot of Spielberg's ``Animaniacs''?
As for ``Simon,'' here's a prediction: You'll be about nine or 10 minutes into ``Simon'' when you'll say to yourself, ``Is this guy another Forrest Gump or what?''
Stand-up comic Harland Williams plays an innocent in Harlem who ends up programming a cable network. Jason Bateman co-stars.
``We expected you guys to say we ripped off the Gump character,'' producer Danny Jacobson told the TV writers. ``But the truth is that the original script was written in 1989 before the Gump film. We were working on `Roseanne' when a network came to us and said we'd like to do a show about the stupidest guy in the world.''
It took a while, but ``Simon'' finally made it to a network. Make that a mini-network. The show has a certain goofy charm to it.
``First Time Out,'' starring Jackie Guerra, is much better than ``Simon,'' and much better than at least a half dozen other new sitcoms on NBC, CBS, ABC and Fox. Guerra and two roommates (Mia Cottet and Leah Remini) face the single life in Los Angeles. Guerra's character works in a chic salon.
Yeah, it's another ``Friends'' wannabe, but with a difference. It's not so much an ensemble piece as a showcase for comic Guerra, who has the same edge you saw in the young Roseanne.
``We hope to show a side of the Latino culture you don't see on `Cops,' '' said Guerra when she talked to the TV press. ``The Mexican-American experience will be part of every story because that is who I am. We're aiming to bring Latino characters into mainstream television.''
Guerra is making quite a leap here from Yale to stand-up comedy to a sitcom.
Also making a leap in her career on the WB Network is Ellen Cleghorne, who first broke through on ``Saturday Night Live.'' Cleghorne told the TV writers that she regards starring in a sitcom as a new frontier.
``I know I can do sketch comedy and I know I can do stand-up comedy. Now I must create a character on a show that will bond with America.''
So, there it is, the WB Network. It's 10 shows in prime time plus three hours of animated children's programming on Saturdays starting at 8 a.m. this Saturday, plus, in some markets, an hour of, ``Looney Toons'' and ``Merry Melodies'' on weekdays.
The Saturday ``Kids WB'' lineup includes (at 9 a.m.) new episodes of ``Steven Spielberg Presents Animaniacs,'' which is just about the best half hour of animation on television. No, I haven't forgotten ``The Simpsons.''
``Kids WB'' begins at 8 Saturday mornings with repeats of the ``Animaniacs'' seen previously on some Fox stations including WTVZ here. At 8:30 it's ``The Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries'' and the new ``Adventures of the Animaniacs'' at 9. That's followed by ``Steven Spielberg Presents Pinky and the Brain'' at 9:30; ``Steven Spielberg Presents Freakazoid'' at 10; and ``Earthworm Jim'' at 10:30. This worm is stronger than Superman.
A family network. That's us, said the WB Network chief executive officer, Jamie Kellner to TV writers.
``Under the Warner Brothers brand name we are trying to create television that the whole family can enjoy together, especially between 8 and 9 in the evening now that the other networks are scheduling shows with adult themes at that hour.''
It would appear that Kellner and the other WB executives have learned what the folks at The Family Channel in Virginia Beach grasped a long time ago. You can make a lot of friends, and a lot of money, by putting shows on TV that Mom, Pop and the kids won't be sorry they watched together. ILLUSTRATION: Color photos
Warner Brothers launches its second season tonight with ``Sister,
Sister'' at 8 on WGN. The sitcom also airs Saturday at 8 on WVBT.
Returning from last season on the Warner Brothers network is
``Unhappily Ever After,'' which will air Saturday nights.
by CNB