THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, September 30, 1995 TAG: 9509290083
SECTION: TELEVISION WEEK PAGE: 01 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: By Larry Bonko, Television Writer
LENGTH: Long : 120 lines
STEPHEN FURST, Lake Taylor High School Class of 1972, and a time traveler with the cast of ``Babylon 5,'' slips back into the 20th century Sunday night at 9:30 on Fox.
He's a co-star in the sitcom ``Misery Loves Company,'' which isn't the same show previewed for TV critics in Los Angeles three months ago.
The sitcom started out as ``Friends'' with a twist - three male buddies whose marriages recently crashed and burned. Now a fourth friend who isn't even married has been added - he's Christopher Meloni - to join Furst, Dennis Boutsikaris and Julius Carry.
And in the revised premiere, the Furst character, Lewis, is only on the brink of divorce. His therapist tells him that he has the worst marriage in the world. Furst again plays a tortured soul.
``We've decided to take the show in a new direction,'' co-creator and co-executive producer Bob Young told TV writers in Los Angeles last summer when the original version of ``Misery Loves Company'' was previewed and rejected by the Fox brass.
The TV critics were told to forget what we saw then because a new ``Misery Loves Company'' was in the works.
Come Sunday night at 9:30, it arrives on Fox. This critic liked the original much better in which Furst, Boutsikaris and Carry were three recently divorced musketeers who worshipped ESPN and ate more junk food than a 10-year-old left home alone.
It was funnier.
(Furst will advance to the year 2255 to continue to play the part of Vir, aide to the Centuari ambassador, on the syndicated science-fiction drama ``Babylon 5,'' when he isn't shooting ``Misery Loves Company.'')
Also on the the tube this Sunday: Buck, the loveable but lazy pooch on ``Married . . . With Children'' appears on the Fox sitcom (9 p.m.) for the last time.
Buck's in good health, says trainer Steven Ritt, but his eyesight is so poor that he can't pick up off-camera hand signals and cues. In his finale, Buck heads for the big kennel in the sky.
``It's time for Buck to stop and eat the roses,'' says his trainer.
``The Home Court,'' an NBC sitcom in which Pamela Reed plays a divorced judge with three children, premieres Sunday at 9:30 p.m. As with ``Misery Loves Company'' on Fox, there were some last-minute changes ordered by NBC for this series.
Among the changes: Charles Rocket was added to the cast as a judge who shares chambers with Reed's character, Sydney J. Solomon.
What's the big, big special on the tube in the week to come? It's ``The 19th Annual Country Music Association Awards'' to air on CBS Wednesday at 8 p.m. Vince Gill returns to host the three-hour telecast for a fourth time.
Alan Jackson is up for six CMA awards, including entertainer of the year. The telecast originates from the Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville.
(E! Entertainment Television will put on the ``Live Country Music Awards Pre-Show'' on Sunday at 6 p.m. As a companion piece, the network has scheduled ``E! Goes Country'' with comic Jeff Foxworthy Sunday at 3 p.m. Then on Thursday at 11 a.m. and 8 p.m., E! wraps up the big night in Nashville with ``The Country Music Awards Highlight Show '95.'')
TV is a festival of specials, and darn good ones, in the days ahead. I recommend that you watch or tape for future viewing these programs with my highest recommendation for the Lincoln documentary:
James Dean was in real life very much the character he played in films such as ``Giant'' and ``Rebel Without a Cause.'' So says narrator Rip Torn in the Dean profile on The Disney Channel. Like Miranda, Dean 40 years ago died way before his time, and at the height of his popularity.
The Disney Channel on Saturday at 9 p.m. tells the story of his rise from farmboy to movie star in 24 years in ``James Dean: A Portrait.'' Dean's home movies are included.
``The Lincoln Assassination,'' which premieres on The History Channel Sunday at 9 p.m., holds a parcel of facts about this ``stain on American history'' that are probably new to you. Did you know that Lincoln's life had been threatened approximately 80 times before John Wilkes Booth fired the fatal shot on April 14, 1865? That a sniper in 1861 put a hole through his famous stovepipe hat? That because grave robbers tried to snatch his body several times, his casket was eventually buried in two tons of concrete?
Roger Mudd narrates, which is a bit of irony. A relative of his, Dr. Samuel A. Mudd, was tried and convicted as a conspirator in the assassination and served four years of hard labor.
While she never achieved the fame of Lincoln, Dean or Miranda, Heidi Fleiss has had more than 15 minutes on the nation's stage as a convicted Hollywood madam. Showtime on Wednesday at 8 p.m. goes behind the TV tabloids for ``Heidi Fleiss Hollywood Madam,'' as part of the cable channel's ``Reel Life'' series.
And a note for the sci-fi crowd: The Sci-Fi Channel on Saturday at 6 p.m. begins carrying ``Tek War,'' the series based on William Shatner's novels in which Greg Evigan stars. Shatner pops up on camera from time to time.
The two movie channels, which are part of the basic cable package on most cable systems hereabouts, have tributes under way for Buster Keaton.
American Movie Classics, beginning its fourth annual film preservation festival on Monday, includes Keaton's ``Sherlock Jr.'' in its lineup of 10 restored old films. It will be seen on Oct. 7 at 7 p.m. followed by ``Purple Rose of Cairo,'' in which director Woody Allen borrowed Keaton's technique of ``walking'' off the screen into the real world.
Two of Keaton's silent comedies, ``The Cameraman'' and ``Spite Marriage,'' appear on Turner Classic Movies' ``Silent Sunday Nights'' which start Sunday at 9 p.m.
Sixteen silent films will be screened through October, with Bill Irwin aboard to introduce the films by doing impressions of Keaton, Charles Chaplin and Harold Lloyd. He's quite good at it.
And one bit of TV hot stuff: ``Downtown'' Julie Brown, late of MTV, will begin hosting ``The Gossip Show'' on E! Entertainment Television Monday at 8:30 p.m. Can't wait to see her new wardrobe. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
From left, Christopher Meloni, Dennis Boutsikaris, Stephen Furst and
Julius Carry star in the new Fox sitcom ``Misery Loves Company,''
Sunday night at 9:30.
FOX photo
Stephen Furst, of the Lake Taylor High School Class of 1972, stars
as Lewis in ``Misery Loves Company.''
Photo
William Shatner guest stars in ``Tek War,'' Saturday at 6 p.m. on
the Sci-Fi channel.
by CNB