THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, September 23, 1995 TAG: 9509210073
SECTION: TELEVISION WEEK PAGE: 01 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: Larry Bonko, Television columnist
LENGTH: Medium: 99 lines
COME THURSDAY AT 9 p.m., Mary Tyler Moore returns to weekly television as part of the ensemble cast of ``New York News'' on CBS, playing a character she describes as ``a crusty old broad who's been around.''
This crusty old broad is Louise ``The Dragon'' Felcott, editor-in-chief of a fictional New York City tabloid. After starring or co-starring in five sitcoms and variety shows since 1961, Moore flat out refuses to have a show built around her ever again.
``I've worked too hard for too many years carrying television shows on my shoulders. All of that is out of my system now,'' she said when meeting with members of the Television Critics Association in Los Angeles recently.
When it comes to a timeslot, CBS fed ``New York News'' to the lions by scheduling it opposite ``Seinfeld'' on NBC. Other than that, it's a great gig, said Moore. The series is shot in Manhattan where she has a home.
Moore works two, maybe three days a week, and that's it.
``And I'm challenged by not playing a likable character,'' said the woman who has won seven Emmys for being eminently likable on screen. Moore's had it with likable.
Is her part in ``New York News'' anything like the role of publisher Margaret Pinchon that Nancy Marchand played so well on ``Lou Grant,'' a show produced by the company once owned by Moore?
``She is just as rich in character,'' said Moore. ``But a few years removed in age from Mrs. Pinchon.''
Moore will soon be seen on The Family Channel in ``Stolen Memories: Secrets from the Rose Garden,'' in which she plays a childlike woman traumatized by an event that took place 50 years in her past. Mary Richards she isn't.
(The Family Channel's big daddy, International Family Entertainment in Virginia Beach, owns MTM, the company named for Moore. Small world.)
Taking on a deep, complex role in ``Rose Garden'' frightened her a bit, which is a good thing for an actor, said Moore. ``I like to enter into a project scared. I want to be challenged, and at this stage in life, I can choose the parts I want. I'm fortunate in that I don't have to take roles to pay the rent.''
Moore's co-stars in ``New York News'' include Madeline Kahn, who is a gas as gossip columnist Nan Chase, Melina Kanakaredes, Gregory Harrison, Anthony DeSandro, Kevin Chamberlin and Joe Morton, recently added to the cast. Meet reporters who would kill to have their stories on Page One - same as on the staff that puts out this newspaper.
Two other network premieres of note: NBC, thinking that a vast prime-time audience will be interested in the workings of Navy lawyers, rolls out ``JAG'' Saturday at 8 p.m. On Sunday at 7 p.m., Fox goes boldly where the ``Star Trek'' spinoffs have gone for years now - into the cosmos - with ``Space: Above and Beyond.'' Will this clunky show hold the macho audience delivered to it on Fox by the National Football League? The football geeks will flee it at warp speed.
With the networks' fall season up and running, and with the reruns just about a thing of the past, TV is a festival of choices here in September.
So you like ``Friends'' on NBC, and who doesn't?
E! Entertainment Television on Sunday takes viewers behind the scenes on the hottest of the hot shows at 9 p.m. on ``Inside `Friends.' '' See Lisa Kudrow revisit the comedy troupe where her career was launched.
So you like music, and who doesn't?
A&E on Thursday night at 9 p.m. features performances by B.B. King and Joe Cocker as part of its ``Stage'' series. Portsmouth's Ruth Brown is among the performers in King's ``The Blues Summit'' hour at 9. Cocker's stormy private life is dealt with in ``Have a Little Faith'' at 10.
PBS and WHRO go one step beyond the blues with ``Rock & Roll,'' a 10-part series that begins its run on Sunday at 9 p.m. ``What began as the music of outsiders,'' said executive producer Elizabeth Deane, ``has emerged as music that dominates our culture.''
Start me up!
Also on PBS, on Wednesday at 8 p.m., Kathy Mattea, Alison Kraus and Suzy Bogguss whoop it up on Pennsylvania Avenue with ``Women of Country: In Performance at the White House.'' Chet Atkins also appears.
So you like comedy, and who doesn't?
Bill Maher, who was nominated for an Emmy as host of ``Politically Incorrect'' on Comedy Central, returns to stand-up on Home Box Office tonight at 10 p.m. with ``Bill Maher: Stuff That Struck Me Funny.''
So you like hurricanes, and who doesn't?
The Learning Channel on Wednesday includes the mighty storms in its ``Wonders of Weather'' series at 8 p.m. You know it's been a busy hurricane season when forecasters are scratching to come up with names for storms X, Y and Z. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
Mary Tyler Moore, center, Joe Morton and Madeline Kahn star in "New
York News"...
by CNB