THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, September 11, 1995 TAG: 9509090064
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LARRY BONKO TELEVISION WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 276 lines
CONFESS. ADMIT IT. Tell the truth. Be straight with us. You've been counting the weeks, days, hours until tonight's return of ``Melrose Place'' on Fox at 8, haven't you?
Jerry Seinfeld came out of the closet on his show last season, admitting that he never misses ``Melrose Place.'' Never.
Now it's your turn. Tell it like it is. Testify to the fact that you are a ``Melrose Place'' fanatic who has waited through a long, hot summer to see if the spaced-out Kimberly goes through with her threat to blow the cast into the next county.
The question of who will survive on ``Melrose Place'' is just one of several dropped on viewers at the close of the 1994-95 season last Spring. Among the others: Will Lois accept Clark's marriage proposal on ``Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman,'' a proposal he made on bended knee? On ``The Simpsons,'' will the Springfield Police Dept. solve the shooting of Montgomery Burns? Even Krusty the Klown is a suspect. Will Ross and Rachel ever be more than friends on ``Friends''?
By the third week in September, most of the questions left dangling for four months will be answered as the commercial networks - there are now six of them, you know - pick up the storylines of returning shows and roll out the new series.
Tonight, you have a nice sampling of the new season as a hot established series (``Melrose Place'') starts its fourth season, and three new shows, ``Bless This House'' with Andrew Clay on CBS at 8:30, ``Partners'' at 9 and ``Ned and Stacey'' at 9:30 on Fox, premiere.
``Bless This House'' settles into its regular time slot Wednesday night at 8. Think of it as ``The Honeymooners'' of the 1990s.
CBS, trailing even fourth-place Fox in some ratings categories, breaks out 10 new series.
``Partners'' on Fox, starring Jon Cryer, is one of a handful of new shows that picks up on the ``Friends'' theme of single people bonding with each other. When ``Friends'' soared in the ratings on NBC, the wannabes came pouring out.
If ``Partners'' is not another ``Friends,'' that would be a surprise. Executive producers Jeff Greenstein, Jeff Strauss and director Jim Burrows came over from that show on NBC to create the series for Fox.
``It won't be another `Friends,' '' insisted Strauss when he met with TV writers in Los Angeles not long ago.
``This show is not about people hanging out,'' said Strauss. ``It's about a specific situation, a three-way relationship involving marriage, romance and friendship. It's an autobiographical thing.''
So, OK, if ``Partners'' isn't the new ``Friends,'' how about ``The Single Guy'' on NBC, which airs right after ``Friends'' on Thursday at 8:30 p.m.?
Jonathan Silverman plays a bachelor with great pals. Sounds friendsy to me.
``There is a difference in our show,'' said Silverman when he met with TV writers. ``We have Ernest Borgnine. And `Friends' doesn't.''
That's a cushy time slot they gave ``The Single Guy'' on NBC - almost as good as the Time Slot from God, which is 9:30 p.m. Thursday between ``Seinfeld'' and ``ER.''
That goes to ``Caroline in the City'' starring Lea Thompson.
She's also playing a character who is single.
Another ``Friends''? More like another ``Mary Tyler Moore Show,'' the producers say.
If ``Caroline in the City'' evolves into that, Thompson won't complain. ``Mary was my hero. Her show was brilliant. I still watch it in reruns. We aspire to be that great. To be honest, the Mary Richards character was a little more wholesome than Caroline.''
Just as Fox threw tons of money at Strauss and Greenstein to try to imitate the success of ``Friends'' on Fox, CBS also rushed to sign a producer who has a magic touch of his own. That would be Darren Star, who worked on ``Melrose Place'' and ``Beverly Hills 90210'' before joining CBS to create ``Central Park West,'' which starts Wednesday at 9 p.m.
The cast of ``Central Park West'' is just as attractive and unpredictable as the bunch on ``Melrose Place,'' but they have better jobs. When Starr met with TV writers, he revealed a formula for producing successful TV shows that sounds almost too simple.
``I create the kind of a show that would keep me watching from week to week. Beyond that, I can't really say why some shows work and others do not.''
Everyone is talking about ``Murder One,'' the ABC series from producer Steven Bochco who is, to quote a headline in this week's Broadcasting & Cable Magazine, at the top of his game.
In ``Murder One,'' scheduled to go up against ``ER'' on Thursday nights at 10, Bochco will bring one court case and one case only to viewers. He'll carry it through the season. ``Murder One'' opens with the death of a 15-year-old girl.
The police arrest a millionaire who dated the dead girl's sister, a stunning model. And the series takes off from there.
Saying that they will not concede Thursday night to NBC again this year, the ABC bosses scheduled ``Murder One'' at 10 to pull away some of that young, free-spending audience that latched on to ``ER.''
``This is not the best hour on the schedule for us,'' Bochco said when he talked to members of the Television Critics Association. ``There are other time slots we prefer. But when you do as ABC did, which was to order 23 shows from us, you can put the show anywhere you want. ABC has made an enormous financial commitment to this show.''
``ER'' and ``Murder One.'' Two great shows. Watch one. Tape the others. Thursday night at 10 is why God created VCRs.
You'll likely be giving the VCR another workout on Sunday night, too, now that CBS has done the unthinkable by moving ``Murder, She Wrote'' to Thursday at 8 p.m. and thereby creating a Nielsen free-for-all on Sunday at 8.
Starting on Sept. 17, it will be ``Lois & Clark'' on ABC, ``Cybill'' on CBS, ``Mad About You'' on NBC and ``The Simpsons'' on Fox all on the air at the same time.
Am I ever glad I bought a third VCR.
Here's a name to remember as the new season gets going: Daniel Benzali. In ``Murder One,'' he plays the lawyer who is hired to defend the accused in the 15-year-old's murder.
Prediction: This series will make this bald, fiftysomething actor who has worked for Bochco on ``NYPD Blue'' in the past a star overnight.
``If I become a sex symbol, so be it,'' said Benzali. ``I figure it goes with the territory.''
While Benzali has made a good living in the past as a character actor, he is relatively unknown to most viewers. Not so with Betty White, Mark Harmon, Joey Lawrence, William Devane, Tony Danza and Mary Tyler Moore.
They'll all be back in series TV this season.
No introductions needed.
Moore is part of an ensemble cast on CBS in ``New York News'' Thursday night at 9. Danza is back on familiar ground, in a sitcom, ``Hudson Street,'' on ABC Tuesday night at 8:30. Lawrence and his two brothers co-star in ``Brotherly Love'' on NBC Sunday at 7 p.m. White, who had an eight-year run on ``Golden Girls,'' plays Marie Osmond's mom in ``Maybe This Time,'' Saturday at 8 on ABC.
Devane fancies himself as a Joe Kennedy-type character on the ABC soap, ``The Monroes,'' which ABC has scheduled for Thursday night at 9 as part of its all-new Thursday night lineup. That lineup also includes Harmon in ``Charlie Grace'' at 8 and ``Murder One'' at 10.
The producer of ``Charlie Grace,'' Robert Singer, is asking ABC to stick with the show, which goes up against ``Friends,'' ``Murder, She Wrote'' and ``Living Single.''
Said Singer, ``I don't expect we'll get out of the box real fast because Thursday at 8 is a really tough time period. But we plan to do great shows and hope and pray the audience will find us.''
Harmon plays a divorced, $300-a-day private eye in Los Angeles who drives a 1960s Mustang, has an office in a pool hall and is late with his child support payments. His ex-wife likes him anyway, reminding him to avoid shootings.
It's 1950s private-eye stuff. Far less conventional on CBS Friday night at 10 is ``American Gothic.'' Gary Cole stars as a hellish sheriff who breaks the law instead of upholding it.
This is the show that Stephen King might produce if he had a mind to do a weekly series. People go after each other with shovels. Children are victimized. You've seen the hype for this show on CBS, I'm sure.
``Someone's at the door.''
Who would that be?
Viewers upset with CBS for airing such a disturbing hour, perhaps. The new TV season at a glance:
Shows that may raise as many goose bumps as ``The X-Files'' - CBS on Friday night at 10 has a series that should frighten just about all the baby sitters. It's ``American Gothic'' with Gary Cole lording over a small town where ghosts and blood appear in the strangest places.
Fox's ``Strange Luck,'' Friday at 8 p.m. isn't as spooky as ``American Gothic,'' but there are a few unsettling moments in the story about a guy who invites catastrophes just by showing up.
``Nowhere Man'' on UPN Monday nights at 9 is about a photographer whose identity is wiped out. Also from UPN is ``Deadly Games'' on Tuesday at 8 p.m. A video game comes to life and delivers Christopher Lloyd as the bad guy.
Here comes the judge - Remember last year's film ``The Client,'' which earned an Oscar nomination for Susan Sarandon? CBS has turned John Grisham's novel into a series starring JoBeth Williams Tuesday at 8 p.m. ``Courthouse,'' which airs on CBS Wednesday night at 10, opens with a stunning murder inside a courtroom. CBS is intent on shocking the heck out of viewers this year. Patricia Wettig and Robin Givens, Mike Tyson's ex, star as public defenders in this grim little drama.
In contrast, ``The Home Court'' on NBC Saturday at 9:30 is a sitcom with Pamela Reed playing judge and parent.
``Murder One,'' ABC Thursday night at 10, will spend 23 episodes showing how the cops and courts deal with a single homicide case.
Show that dares to go boldly where ``Star Trek'' has gone for the last 30 years - Fox thinks it has the show to hold the after-football viewers Sunday at 7 in ``Space: Above and Beyond.'' Producers still haven't learned what ``Star Trek'' creator Gene Roddenberry discovered a long time ago - you must create characters the audience cares about.
Shows with macho guys who have feelings, too - Mark Harmon is back on the tube as a two-fisted private eye and considerate parent in ``Charlie Grace'' on ABC Thursday night at 8. It's the leadoff show in a completely revamped ABC Thursday lineup.
In ``JAG'' on NBC Saturday night at 8, hunky David James Elliott looks great in Navy whites playing a lawyer in the Judge Advocate General's office. Navy folks hereabout will spot plenty of Navy goofs in this series.
Fighter, lover Tony Danza plays a cop in Hoboken, N.J., in his new ABC sitcom, ``Hudson Street,'' which has a great time slot on Tuesday at 8:30, right after ``Roseanne'' and before ``Home Improvement.''
It's nice to know that buddy-buddy sitcoms haven't displaced all the soap operas - William Devane, who knows a thing or two about holding an audience week after week after starring in ``Knots Landing'' for years, is back in a nighttime soap in ``The Monroes'' on ABC Thursday at 9 p.m. He's head of a clan high on power. (It shows up on ABC Tuesday at 10 p.m. in a sneak preview.)
``Central Park West'' on CBS Wednesday at 9 p.m. is the first show produced by Darren Starr since he left Spelling productions where he helped to create ``Beverly Hills 90210'' and ``Melrose Place.'' Both those shows needed smoothing out before they caught on. ``Central Park West'' starts out with all the pieces in place. Mariel Hemingway is the marquee name here.
In ``New York News,'' on CBS Thursday at 9 p.m., Mary Tyler Moore plays a tabloid editor they call The Dragon.
If ``Friends'' can hit big with nothing more than six unmarried pals sitting around talking, how about lots more shows about singles? - The producers deny it, but the following new shows borrow from ``Friends'' in introducing characters who are looking for work, dates, a direction in life or are coping with friends getting married and friends getting divorced: ``The Single Guy,'' NBC Thursday night at 8:30; ``Misery Loves Company'' with Norfolk actor Stephen Furst on Fox Sunday night at 9:30; ``Caroline in the City,'' NBC Thursday night at 9:30; ``First Time Out'' on Warner Brothers Sunday at 9:30; ``The Drew Carey Show,'' ABC Wednesday at 8:30; ``Dweebs,'' CBS Friday night at 8; ``Can't Hurry Love,'' CBS Monday night at 8:30; ``Too Something'' on Fox, Sunday night at 8:30; ``Partners,'' Fox Monday night at 9; ``If Not For You,'' on CBS Monday at 9:30; ``Almost Perfect,'' CBS Sunday night at 8:30; ``Ned and Stacey,'' on Fox Monday night at 9:30; ``The Crew,'' on Fox Thursday night at 8:30. That's about singles who are flight attendants.
When actors get to play the reporters and photographers who follow them around all the time - In addition to ``New York News'' and ``Central Park West,'' which is about magazine publishing, shows about the media include ``The Bonnie Hunt Show'' on CBS Friday at 8:30. She works at a Chicago TV station.
In ``The Naked Truth,'' ABC on Wednesday at 9:30, Tea Leoni joins the Manhattan paparazzi.
``Live Shot,'' on UPN Tuesday at 9 p.m., is about life in a Los Angeles TV station.
David Alan Grier plays a former college professor and ``serious'' writer who needs a paycheck, so he writes for a mag called ``Fluff,'' on Saturday at 8:30 p.m. in ``The Preston Episodes.''
There is so still family life on TV even with all the single people on the loose - Stand-up comic Jeff Foxworthy stars as a struggling small businessman - he has to borrow from the in-laws to stay afloat - in ``The Jeff Foxworthy Show'' on ABC Saturday at 8:30 p.m. (ABC introduces Foxworthy Tuesday night at 8:30.)
Before that, at 8 on ABC, Betty White and Marie Osmond are mother and daughter in ``Maybe This Time.'' They flirt with the landlord to keep the rent low. It works.
Andrew Clay has cleaned up his act and now co-stars in a family show with Cathy Moriarty in CBS' ``Bless This House'' on Wednesday night at 8.
In ``Minor Adjustments'' (Sunday at 8:30 on NBC), Rondell Sheridan plays a child psychologist who tries to practice at home what he preaches at the office.
At 8 on Sunday, NBC gathers three Lawrence brothers for ``Brotherly Love.''
Ellen Cleghorne plays a single working mom in ``Cleghorne'' on WB Sunday night at 9. Her parents move in next door. What could be worse? They need hip replacements.
On ``Kirk,'' which airs Sunday at 8 p.m. on WB, Kirk Cameron finds his two brothers and sister on his doorstep when the nanny takes off.
In ``Pursuit of Happiness'' on NBC Tuesday at 9:30, Tom Amandes plays a lawyer who has a brother-in-law (Larry Miller) drop in for a long stay. And the roof just fell in, too.
``Simon'' is about two white guys, a smart brother and a brother thicker than Forrest Gump, who try to make it in Harlem. It airs Sunday night at 8:30 on WB.
Warner Brothers also has the only new animated series in prime time - ``Pinky and the Brain'' from Steven Spielberg. Lab mice try to conquer the world. It leads Sunday's WB schedule at 7 p.m.
Viewers have 41 new shows from which to choose. ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photos]
ABC
"Murder One"
Stephen Bochco's drama series, on ABC Thursday nights at 10, will
follow one court case for the entire season.
FOX
"Partners"
This comedy starring, from left, Catherine Lloyd Burns, Tate Donovan
and Jon Cryer, airs tonight at 9 on Fox.
FOX
"Ned and Stacey"
This "Friends" takeoff, starring Thomas Haden Church and Debra
Messing, airs tonight at 9:30 on Fox.
Nancy McKeon stars in CBS' ``Can't Hurry Love'' on Monday nights at
8:30, and Tony Danza stars in ABC's ``Hudson Street,'' Tuesday
nights at 8:30.
by CNB