THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, March 4, 1996 TAG: 9603020058
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Larry Bonko
LENGTH: Long : 107 lines
WOULDN'T IT BE GREAT to have a father like Aaron Spelling? Want a job and star billing on a prime-time TV series? No problem.
Just ask Pop, the producer.
Spelling cast daughter Tori as the vestal virgin in ``Beverly Hills 90210'' on Fox six years ago, and this year he's found work for son Randy in ``Malibu Shores,'' which premieres on NBC Saturday at 8 p.m.
Does Aaron Spelling ever rest? He has two shows on Fox - ``Melrose Place'' and ``Beverly Hills 90210,'' and another on the Warner Brothers network, ``Savannah.'' He's already in the record books as the most prolific TV producer ever. And now this, another hour of prime-time drama with babes in bikinis and hunks in trunks.
``Call it cotton candy, if you will,'' said Spelling, when he met with TV writers recently in Los Angeles. ``But we know from experience that young people like to watch young romance on television. After you get them to watch, you can bring in your serious issues.''
This is the night when prime-time television's second season begins with a new cop show from Steven Spielberg's DreamWorks (``High Incident'') on ABC at 9 and the premiere of a sitcom (``Good Company'') on CBS at 9:30.
In ``High Incident,'' David Keith is the
only familiar name in the cast of actors playing cops who fight crime in the 'burbs. The producers give the show a claustrophobic look by mounting the camera in the back seat of patrol cars.
It's ``Adam 12'' with an attitude. As for ``Good Company,'' think of it as ``Friends'' in a Manhattan advertising agency. Will (played by Jon Tenney) works in advertising, but what he really wants is to be studying art at an Ivy League school.
Best thing about ``Good Company'' is Wendie Malick, formerly of ``Dream On,'' as a boss from hell named Zoe.
Adding to the new look on Monday night is the re-scheduling of ``Almost Perfect'' on CBS at 8:30 and ``Brotherly Love'' at 8:30 on NBC. Spoilsport NBC does its best tonight to keep viewers from sampling ``High Incident,'' ``Good Company'' and ``Almost Perfect'' by scheduling a night of 1,000 laughs with repeats of ``3rd Rock from the Sun,'' ``Seinfeld,'' ``Frasier,'' ``Mad About You'' and ``NewsRadio.''
Aren't those NBC bosses devils? NBC later this month (March 21) is also planning the premiere of a comedy, ``Boston Common.''
Also to come in March:
ABC, without a hit since 1994 when ``Ellen'' caught on, and trailing NBC in the February sweeps, has more stuff on the launching pad this month than NASA. On Tuesday at 8:30 p.m., ABC sends up ``Buddies,'' a sitcom about an interracial business partnership involving stand-up comic David Chappelle and Christopher Gartin.
Ol' Shaft himself, Richard Roundtree, shows up as Chappelle's father to deliver some I-don't-trust-no-white-man lines. Relax. ``Buddies'' isn't racist. It's just dull.
Also coming this month from ABC is ``The Faculty,'' a comedy about life in a junior high faculty lounge starring Meredith Baxter, ``The Dana Carvey Show'' featuring sketch comedy, the sitcom ``Aliens in the Family'' and ``Muppets Tonight!'' Kermit the Frog runs a TV station. The premiere is Friday at 8:30 p.m.
CBS is bringing back clean and sober Don Johnson to prime time to play a twice-divorced San Francisco police inspector in ``Nash Bridges'' starting March 29 at 10 p.m. in the ``Picket Fences'' time slot. ``An action-cop show with humor,'' Johnson told the TV press. He looks great.
Also in the CBS pipeline is the sitcom ``My Guys.'' A widower finds laughs running a limo company.
Fox, which got the jump on this March madness by reviving ``Sliders'' on Friday night, will be bringing on two new sitcoms March 17 starting at 9 p.m. They are ``The Show'' and ``Local Heroes.'' If Fox were not desperate for programming, would it revive such a sci-fi dud as ``Sliders''?
Cable television also felt compelled to make changes in March. The USA network on Saturday premiered ``Pacific Blue,'' a cop show about officers on bikes who fight crime on Venice Beach while doing some extreme stunts. Novel twist here: Mickey Dolenz of ``The Monkees'' plays a mayor.
Hollywood producers have not strayed far from home by filming ``Pacific Blue,'' ``High Incident'' and ``Malibu Shores'' in Southern California.
Spelling will show us in the world beyond Southern California about a clash of cultures when blue-collar kids from The Valley mix with rich kids who live in Malibu.
In ``Malibu Shores,'' Spelling goes back to the future in recalling the days when the cast of ``Beverly Hills 90210'' was in high school. This time, the kids attend South Valley High and Pacific Coast High. This series is noisier than ``90210,'' with fist fights, fires and automobile crashes.
The cast, arrived at after Spelling considered 146 actors, is drop-dead gorgeous. They're led by Keri Russell and Tony Lucca, who are an item in real life. ``We look for freshness,'' said Spelling.
Trouble is, these fresh-looking kids don't have much going for them beyond their perfect features and great hair. Luke Perry is Brando compared to this talentless bunch.
So what if the critics hate ``Malibu Shores''? Spelling is convinced that the show will stay on beyond the original nine-week commitment by NBC because his No. 1 critic, Tori, likes it. She's good at picking hits, he said.
``Every day, twice a day, she had her buddies coming over to our house to watch the tape. She loves `Malibu Shores'. . . ''
Randy Spelling plays a Valley dude named Flipper Gage. He says he took acting lessons before auditioning for ``Malibu Shores.'' And he believes that having the Spelling name gives him no edge over actors. Yeah, right. ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photo]
NBC
Randy Spelling, right, the son of producer Aaron Spelling, stars
with Brian Austin Green in NBC's new "Malibu Shore."
by CNB