THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, June 21, 1996 TAG: 9606200046
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E2 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Larry Bonko
LENGTH: 79 lines
THE QUESTION of the day on Infoline: What annoys you most about television?
From Ebony White in Suffolk: ``I hate the season finales that are cliffhangers. You have to wait months to find out what's going to happen to your favorite characters, to see if they will live and be back next season or if they'll die and go away.''
From Jeff Updegraff in Virginia Beach: What annoys me the most is when they stop the football, basketball and hockey games to show us a commercial. I really hate the TV timeout.''
From Michelle Dunham in Portsmouth: ``I'm bugged by a lot of things I see on television. I'm really steamed at ABC for canceling `Mike & Maty.' I had no idea they were taking that show off the air.''
From Barbara Allgood in Virginia Beach, who is 15: ``Television annoys me totally. It destroys the mind. Where is the reality? Even the network news shows don't give us enough of the real world.''
William Humphries of Norfolk: ``I'm annoyed by the local weather reporters who appear to get a thrill out of talking about bad weather, and the others on TV with them who whine and complain when the weather is bad.''
Christopher Johnson in Virginia Beach has a BIG complaint. It concerns Fox's decision to move ``The X-Files'' from Friday night at 9 to Sunday night at the same hour.
Johnson is hip enough to realize that Fox on Sunday carries National Football League games, and that the games often run past 7 p.m., nudging the whole prime-time schedule into overtime.
``Do you know what that means?'' asks Johnson. ``It means the starting time of `The X-Files' could be pushed back 10, 15 or as much as 30 minutes. You'll never know when it's starting. I suffered through that last season with `The Simpsons.' Now this. It's the worst move Fox could have made.''
Many fans of ``60 Minutes'' were pleased when CBS lost football because it guaranteed that Mike, Morley and friends would come on promptly at 7. Some Fox affiliates are complaining about the move of Scully and Mulder to Sunday night, too.
And speaking of sports. . .
Of 100 callers who checked in to comment on FoxTrax, the majority (76 percent) said they hated the innovation - a blue halo and a red comet's tail - which Fox adopted to help viewers keep up with the fast-moving puck.
From Barry Leisner in Virginia Beach: ``The FoxTrax is a ridiculous idea. I'm a New York Rangers fan who's been watching hockey for 30 years. I don't need help to follow the puck. What Fox is doing is distracting.''
From Diana Catanzaro in Virginia Beach: ``I love the glowing puck. I'm not a big fan, but I really appreciate what Fox is doing. It's the coolest thing about hockey.''
Almost as many readers dialed in to support ``Due South,'' the drama with a light touch that CBS is not returning to its prime-time schedule in the fall.
From Maggie McConnell in Virginia Beach: ``What can we do to save `Due South,' to bring it back?'' Same kind of call came in from Lois Hoyt in Norfolk. ``How do we save this show?''
At about the same time that Maggie and Lois were checking in with me on Infoline, Karen Blevins of Vinemont, Ala., was circulating a letter to TV critics, asking us to campaign for ``Due South,'' as we did for ``Party of Five'' and ``My So-Called Life.''
``Give this show the attention it deserves,'' writes Blevins. Sorry, Karen. While I agree with its supporters that the series about a Canadian Mountie and his smart-mouth American sidekick is nicely offbeat, I don't think it's worth saving.
Now ``America's Most Wanted'' is something else again. That Fox show, bumped off the fall schedule, should be rescued. It's helped catch 422 criminals.
Asks Jackie Weaver of Chesapeake, ``What can the public do to keep this show on the air? Let's start a campaign to save it.''
Let's. Get up petitions. Send them to me. I'll see they reach the Fox executives.
What bugs me the most about television? When the networks take off good shows just because they don't appeal to young people coveted by advertisers. ``Due South'' and ``America's Most Wanted'' fall into that category. MEMO: You can reach out and touch me on Infoline by dialing 640-5555,
Category 3333, to hear Bonko's TV Bits or press 2486 if you just want to
leave a message. by CNB