THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, October 10, 1995 TAG: 9510100028
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E2 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Larry Bonko
LENGTH: Medium: 69 lines
LOCAL TV NEWS and views to consider while you decide what you'll be watching Thursday night at 10: ``ER'' or ``Murder One''?
I promise not to say, ``Beam me up, Uhura'' - What's a good way to draw a crowd when you're staging en event for charity? Invite people who are big names in television - folks such as Willard Scott of ``The Today Show'' on NBC and Nichele Nicols who played communications officer Lt. Uhura in the original ``Star Trek.''
Scott and Nicols are scheduled to appear this weekend at the Hampton Coliseum in the Farm Fresh Extravaganza to benefit the Children's Hospital of The King's Daughters. Scott - will he or won't he wear a hairpiece? - appears Friday from 1 to 4 p.m., while Nicols will sign autographs Saturday and Sunday from 1 to 3 p.m.
Farm Fresh helped raise more than $100,000 at last year's Extravaganza.
Ask Scott about the time he was a disc jockey at a Portsmouth radio station. Ask Nichols about the time she was talked out of leaving ``Star Trek'' by Martin Luther King Jr., who said her role as the cool, efficient Uhura helped shatter black stereotypes in films and TV.
Celebrities. Celebrities. Celebrities - Before Scott, Nichols, soap opera stars Tom Eplin and Kristian Alfonso, and Alvin and the Chipmunks show up at the Hampton Coliseum, another herd of TV personalities will be in our midst.
The event is the Norfolk State University communications conference that begins at 10 a.m. Wednesday with a panel discussion on sports journalism. A familiar face on that panel: Mike Torico of ESPN.
On Thursday at 2 p.m., Russ Mitchell of CBS News will be part of a media-under-scrutiny panel discussion.
The events take place in Room 100 of J. Hugo Madison Hall. Call 683-8454 for more information.
Who will be the first to ask if coverage of the O.J. Simpson trial was a bit excessive?
If you're looking for help, look on campus - Among the panelists taking part in the Norfolk State University conference, will be the recently named general manager of NBC's affiliate in Portsmouth (WAVY), Edward L. Munson Jr.
In the trade publication Broadcasting & Cable, Munson is advertising for a photojournalist who can do ``creative and upbeat stories.'' Aren't there kids who studied broadcast journalism at NSU qualified for the job?
WAVY advises applicants in the ads that Portsmouth is three hours south of Washington, as if the whole world doesn't know where to find Portsmouth.
When does this man get time to sleep? - Right in the midst of promoting his new novel and raising money on ``The 700 Club'' for a flying hospital to treat the victims of natural disasters, Pat Robertson flies off to see Pope John Paul II at the New York City residence of John Cardinal O'Connor.
Give me some of whatever Robertson is taking for an energy boost.
His spokesman in Virginia Beach, Gene Kapp, said Robertson delivered a letter to the pope in which he pledged to work for Christian unity between Roman Catholics and Evangelicals. The letter touched on ``doctrinal differences,'' but Kapp didn't elaborate.
Robertson's next goal is spreading the gospel to 3 billion people in the next five years. TV and video will carry the message of ``World-Reach.''
Never doubt the man. I remember when people thought it was folly for Robertson to give up practicing law to start in televangelism with a broken down UHF station in Portsmouth.
Thought for the day - When the holidays roll around, do you think the friends on ``Friends'' will give each other fruitcakes? Or don't friends give friends fruitcakes? by CNB