THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, March 23, 1996 TAG: 9603210037
SECTION: TELEVISION WEEK PAGE: 01 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LARRY BONKO, TELEVISION COLUMNIST
LENGTH: Long : 108 lines
LET'S HAVE a nice round of applause for American Movie Classics. Starting on Academy Awards day, Monday at 6 a.m., with Fred MacMurray and Barbara Stanwyck in ``Double Indemnity,'' AMC salutes actors who were good enough to win an Oscar but never did.
As Hollywood concerns itself with the 1996 nominees on Monday, AMC rolls out ``Superstars Who Never Won an Oscar'' - eight films with performances by actors who were overlooked by those who vote for the Academy Awards. They include Kirk Douglas, Cary Grant, Tyrone Power, Robert Mitchum, Alan Ladd, Marlene Dietrich, Irene Dunne and Stanwyck. (Honorary Oscars don't count).
Surprised that Douglas never won? Or Grant? Or Richard Burton? Don't be.
In the past, Oscar voters have shown less brain power than Babe the pig.
How else do you explain the choice of John Wayne over Dustin Hoffman when Hoffman was so great as Ratso Rizzo in 1969's ``Midnight Cowboy''? Or Yul Brynner over Douglas when Douglas was so brilliant in 1956's ``Lust for Life''? How can you explain picking ``The Greatest Show on Earth'' as best picture of over the 1952 classic ``High Noon''?
``Some of these actors like Mitchum and Stanwyck made the fatal mistake of making it look too easy, never seeming to break a sweat on screen. The same can be said for Dunne and Douglas,'' said Scott Eyman of AMC in assessing why some superstars never won an Academy Award. The best Charlie Chaplin could do was an Oscar for his musical score in ``Limelight.'' And how could the Oscar voters ignore Greta Garbo?
Television and the Oscars have been snug in bed together since 1953 when NBC and its parent company, RCA, rescued the Academy Awards.
The four studios that had sponsored the ceremony pulled out at the last minute that year. RCA stepped in to rescue the Oscars with the stipulation that the awards be broadcast live on NBC television and radio. Until then, the studio heads regarded TV as the devil who would do them in.
Bob Hope in Los Angeles and Conrad Nagel in New York City were co-hosts for the first Oscar telecast. On Monday, the honor goes to Whoopi Goldberg.
Today, TV and the movies practically live for each other. Before and after ABC signs on with Monday's 68th awards ceremony at 9 p.m., television will do a deep bow to Oscar.
Starting at 8:05 p.m. Saturday, the TBS Superstation shows three movies that impressed Oscar - ``Gone With the Wind,'' ``The African Queen'' and ``Places in the Heart.'' Matt LeBlanc of ``Friends'' hosts TBS' night of ``The Big Ones.'' On Sunday starting at 2 p.m., TBS will show a special, ``Inside the Academy Awards,'' followed by six movies that had Academy Award-winning performances, including ``The Goodbye Girl'' and ``Deer Hunter.''
Turner Classic Movies concludes ``Thirty-One Days of Oscar'' Saturday and Sunday starting at 7 p.m. both nights. Ten Academy Award-winning pictures including ``Grand Hotel'' and ``The Miracle Worker'' will be shown in that weekend package.
TNT has an all-day Oscar marathon scheduled for Sunday. By the time Monday night rolls around, the three Turner cable stations will have reeled off films in which almost 250 people in front of and in back of the camera were honored with Oscars.
The Movie Channel celebrates Oscar week by showing 10 old and contemporary films that shared in the Academy Award gold starting on Sunday at 1:12 p.m. with ``M*A*S*H.'' The Monday Oscar binge begins at 1:28 p.m. with ``From Here to Eternity.''
A&E on Sunday has scheduled ``Hollywood Hotshots,'' an eight-hour marathon of ``Biography'' episodes about filmdom's elite starting with Charlton Heston at noon, ending with Humphrey Bogart at 7 p.m.
Entertainment Television will have everything but the Oscar ceremony covered on Monday. E! signs on at 6 p.m. with ``E! News Daily'' live from the Oscars, followed at 7 by the pre-Oscar show, followed around midnight by the post-Oscar show.
On Tuesday at noon, E! wraps it up with the ``Academy Awards Highlight Show,'' and on Friday at 9 p.m., Joan Rivers and Mr. Blackwell are expected to be at their catty best in ``Academy Awards Fashion Review.'' Rivers will also anchor E!'s pre-Oscar show, snagging celebs for interviews as they head down the red carpet at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.
During its ``Academy Award Weekend'' starting 11 a.m. Saturday with ``Cat Ballou,'' WGNT puts on eight Academy Award-winning flicks. Been dying to see ``The Graduate'' again? No problem. WGNT has it Sunday at 2 p.m.
Now let's see what's on the tube in the next week that has nothing whatsoever to do with the Oscar.
The Family Channel, based right here in Virginia Beach, brings Jonathan and Jennifer Hart back to television in a new ``Hart to Hart'' mystery filmed in Australia. Robert Wagner and Stefanie Powers star in ``Harts in High Season'' Sunday at 7 p.m. This couple is so cool.
WGNT on Friday at 8 p.m. will show ``The 10th Annual Soul Train Music Awards'' from the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. Patti LaBelle will be honored with the Heritage Award. The winner of the entertainer or entertainers of the year award has already been announced: Boyz II Men.
Why is it that religion has such a strong pull on the human heart and imagination? Scholar and teacher Huston Smith has been pondering that question for decades. Starting Tuesday at 10 p.m. on PBS, Smith shares his thoughts on religion and philosophy with Bill Moyers on ``The Wisdom of Faith With Huston Smith.''
Here's a nice little film on The Disney Channel starting Sunday night at 7: ``The Little Riders.'' It's about an American girl trapped in a Nazi-occupied town in Holland, a town which tries desperately to keep the invaders from destroying clockworks that date back to 1640. The Germans want to melt the lead clock figures into bullets. ILLUSTRATION: Barbara Stanwyck, who stars with Fred macMurray in the movie
"Double Indemnity" Monday on AMC, never won an Oscar.
TRIBUNE ENTERTAINMENT
Boyz II Men will receive the Entertainer of the Year award at the
``Soul Train Music Awards'' Friday at 8 p.m. on WGNT.
by CNB