THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, April 10, 1996 TAG: 9604100034
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E2 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Larry Bonko
LENGTH: Medium: 72 lines
NOBODY ASKED me but . . .
To some, we're Tidewater. To others, we're Hampton Roads. To The Weather Channel, we'll always be ORF.
I'm not wild about cartoons, but I rarely miss the deliciously dark ``Batman & Robin'' weekdays on Fox at 4.
I can't be the only one who suspects that WAVY's co-anchor Alveta Ewell has a cold-weather phobia. The other night, when weather guy Don Slater told her that the warm spring days will be late arriving this year, she practically bit his head off.
I can't be the only one not surprised that the ratings for the NCAA men's basketball finals on CBS were the lowest in 24 years. If you don't have Duke or North Carolina in the Final Four, you have nothing.
It's time to welcome NBC anchorman Tom Brokaw to the group known as People Who Finally Admit They Need Glasses.
Even with a new set, new opening and new producer, David Letterman's late show on CBS is flatter than pasta under a steamroller, which sounds like a bit from his old NBC show.
WTKR will have to show me proof before I believe this awkwardly worded claim: ``News Channel 3 . . . where more people in Hampton Roads get their news than from any other source.''
I can't be the only one who thinks that TV's most over-reported story is Britain in the grip of mad-cow disease hysteria.
I had a hunch that readers of this column liked Andy Rooney of ``60 Minutes'' and did not wish to see him retire at 77. But what surprised me was the Infoline vote: 100 to 0 in favor of Rooney staying on. ``Andy's dandy,'' said Richard Randolph in Virginia Beach.
Now that Tea Leoni has emerged as a movie star in ``Flirting With Disaster,'' I don't expect her to be back on ABC in her sitcom, ``The Naked Truth.'' However, Drew Carey is returning to ABC later this month for sure, which will make Allison Bailey of Virginia Beach and other Drewmaniacs happy.
If nobody else has acknowledged WTKR for its special (``Fallen Heroes: A Tribute'') about two Chesapeake firefighters who recently died in the line of duty, let me be the first. This is how you cover local news.
I hate to be the one to break the news to Rosalie French of Virginia Beach and other readers who called to ask if the rumor about ``Mike & Maty'' being canceled will become fact. It's true. That show will be replaced soon on ABC daytime by Caryl Kristensen and Marilyn Kentz of ``The Mommies.''
Just when you thought the daytime talk shows were as tasteless as they could be, here comes the topper from ``Talk Soup'': A wax job for men who have hair on their backs.
I can't be the only who who has noticed that David Brinkley of ``This Week'' on ABC is looking pale and frail lately.
I figure the hysteria over covering the royal family's divorce scandal reached a peak on the TV magazine shows with this report: ``The Darkness of Di's Demons.''
WTKR's recent telecast of the Tides-Toledo game was a shocker. Not because it went 15 innings but because the Channel 3 cameras showed the playing field at new Harbor Park in deplorable condition. The outfield resembles my lawn during last summer's drought.
I've got to get a life. I've seen every episode of ``Saved by the Bell'' at last six times in re-runs on WGN, TBS and WPEN. Screech is a riot.
It's early in the baseball season, but already I've seen on TV a nominee for most obscure statistic: Most letters in the last names of starting pitchers. The total was 23.
And finally, nobody asked me, but . . . if there is one thing I've learned from watching one accident victim after another wheeled in for hurry-up treatment on ``ER'' it's that it pays to buckle up. Use your seat belt. by CNB