THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, March 22, 1996 TAG: 9603220099
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E2 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Larry Bonko
LENGTH: Medium: 73 lines
TV NEWS AND NOTES to consider while you decide if the $39.95 you paid to see Mike Tyson and Frank Bruno fight was worth it:
It looks like these fences will be coming down - Margaret Hoots in Norfolk is among the readers asking if ``Picket Fences'' will be gone for good March 29 when CBS replaces it at 10 p.m. with Don Johnson's new cop show, ``Nash Bridges.''
With ``Picket Fences'' way down at No. 75 in the overall ratings, it's unlikely that CBS will renew the drama in the fall. It isn't the deliciously quirky show it used to be and ought to be canceled. The buzz is CBS will wrap up the series in April with a wedding - Max marries Kenny, finally.
Among the other most-asked questions on Infoline (640-5555, press 2486): What's become of Willard Scott on the ``Today'' show (Jan Herman of Virginia Beach) and when is ``American Gothic'' returning to CBS (Charles Darden in Chesapeake)?
Scott is semi-retired. He'll work about four months a year on ``Today.'' As for ``Gothic,'' CBS has yet to decide its future.
I saluted everything that moved - After 48 months in the Navy, I can tell a lieutenant junior grade from a full commander. I say that to the readers who were all over me when I wrote that ``JAG's'' Tracy Needham plays a Navy lawyer who is a lieutenant junior grade. Yet, there she was in the paper, pictured in a uniform with three gold stripes on the sleeve.
That's the rank of commander.
Right rank. Wrong actress.
That wasn't Needham in the picture with co-star David James Elliott. It was Andrea Thompson, who played a Navy commander going up against the Needham and Elliott characters in a court-martial. The uniforms on ``JAG'' are authentic, but otherwise it's hardly the real Navy.
Does TV ever get it right? Speaking of ``JAG,'' a teacher in Norfolk, who wants to be anonymous, had this to say about the NBC show: ``If you think `JAG' is a phony picture of the Navy, `Faculty' on ABC is even worse as it tries to show life in a junior high school. Meredith Baxter wears skirts that are too short for students, much less assistant principals. I laugh at both shows.''
Is there any TV show that is really true to the profession it brings to prime time? As good as ``ER'' is, who has seen an emergency room as hectic as the series' County General? The recent CBS drama about the newspaper game, ``New York News,'' was laughably inaccurate.
By now, everyone has an opinion - In an Infoline poll, the votes came out almost evenly divided regarding proposed ratings for TV programs and the congressional mandate to have a V-chip installed in new sets. It will be there in two years to help parents control their kids' TV appetite.
Laura Beth Keesui in Chesapeake is against the idea. ``It should be left to the individuals and not government or a network to determine what television programs we watch.''
Martha Shaw in Virginia Beach likes the V-chip concept. ``It's a good idea. Once upon a time, people were willing to censor themselves and their children. No longer.''
``Book him, Danno'' - In a recent column about WVBT, Warner Brothers' affiliate in Virginia Beach (it will soon be operating with increased power), I left out the best thing about the station, according to a reader in Hampton.
``You forgot to mention that WVBT is showing reruns of `Hawaii Five-0' at 3 o'clock in the morning. I've been waiting ages for that show to be repeated. It's on at ungodly hour, but that's why VCRs were invented.''
Your humble columnist, a night owl, watches McGarrett, Danny and Chin Ho every night, plus reruns of ``Vega$'' on fX at 11 p.m. These shows are horribly dated and often politically incorrect, but they're a hoot. After all these years, McGarrett's hair is still in place. by CNB