THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, June 22, 1996 TAG: 9606210109
SECTION: TELEVISION WEEK PAGE: 03 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LARRY BONKO, TELEVISION COLUMNIST
LENGTH: 95 lines
FAWN HALL. Remember her?
She was Oliver North's secretary during the Iran-Contra scandal almost a decade ago, or long before North ever thought of running for a U.S. Senate seat in Virginia. Where is she now, this willowy beauty with the fairy-tale name?
On CBS Wednesday night at 8, Hall tells you what she's been doing lately - ``I've gone through a personal battle with drugs'' - as one of the hosts of ``Where Are They Now? Part 2.'' After Hall makes her little confession, she gets on with the business of introducing another of yesterday's headline makers - Imelda Marcos.
Where is she now? Where is her shoe closet? CBS knows and tells.
This special isn't just about people who once had parts in political soap operas. It's also show biz. You'll see almost-all-grown up former Cosby kid Keshia Knight Pulliam and Larry Matthews, who played Ritchie Petrie on ``The Dick Van Dyke Show'' in the 1970s. And Wayne Rogers of ``M*A*S*H.''
While we're in a nostalgic mood here, let's talk about Zorro.
He's been a fictional superhero long before Superman, Batman or The Phantom. A&E on Tuesday at 8 p.m., as part of the ``Biography'' series, presents ``Zorro: Mark of the Z.'' Zorro was born in pulp fiction in 1919.
While we're in a where-are-they-now? mood, let's talk about Mariel Hemingway. One day she was the star of ``Central Park West'' on CBS, the next day she was gone, and the series disappeared, too. It's back this summer as ``CPW,'' but where is Mariel?
You can catch her Wednesday night at 9 on USA in ``The Crying Child,'' a semi-spooky film about an unhappy spirit haunting the attic of an 19th century island home.
If you want more where-are-they-now? stuff, here's more: The Nashville Network on Thursday night at 8 salutes Little Miss Dynamite in the special, ``The Life and Times of Brenda Lee.'' She was a recording star at 16.
And still more: What's David Hartman been doing since he left ``Good Morning America'' in 1985? Loafing and working some, including playing host to ``Rediscovering America'' on The Discovery Channel. On Monday at 10 p.m., Hartman rediscovers the Alaskan highway, built in 1942 so U.S. troops could be rushed north to check a Japanese invasion, if it came.
And that's not all I have in my TV sample case today. Here are other bite-sized portions:
SHAMELESS USE OF A CABLE CHANNEL TO PROMOTE A MOVIE - Disney on The Disney Channel pushes its new animated feature, ``The Hunchback of Notre Dame,'' with two specials. On Sunday at 6 p.m., it's `` `The Hunchback of Notre Dame' Festival of Fun: a Musical Spectacular'' followed on Tuesday at 8 p.m. by ``The Making of `The Hunchback of Notre Dame.' ''
SHAMELESS USE OF OLD FILM CLIPS TO CREATE A CABLE SPECIAL - With thousands of old films in its vaults, the Turner Network Television (TNT) folk probably stay up nights thinking of ways to string them together. TNT's latest creation, ``American Dreamers,'' premieres Sunday at 8 p.m. In it, TNT asks the question, ``What's the American dream?,'' and then tries to answer with old film clips, which just doesn't work. TNT does get somewhere when it puts the question to celebrities. The American Dream, says producer Mel Brooks, is having everything while your best friends have nothing.
SHAMELESS USE OF OLD FILM CLIPS TO CREATE A CABLE SPECIAL, PART 2 - Turner Classic Movies (TCM) goes international for five nights of programming starting Monday at 8 p.m. with ``Cinema Europe: The Other Hollywood.'' Film buffs and students of the cinema art will eat this up as TCM traces cinema's 100-year-old roots to Europe. See Alfred Hitchcock's first talking film, the newsreel making its debut in France and Germans using old Zeppelin hangars as film studios. Kenneth Branagh hosts. (Bravo on Friday night at 8 also gets serious about filmmaking with ``The Typewriter, The Rifle and The Movie Camera,'' which explores the work of maverick producer Sam Fuller.)
SHAMELESS EXPLOITATION OF RODDY MCDOWALL - The Sci-Fi Channel on Monday at 9 p.m. begins ``Planet of the Apes Week'' starting with the classic film in which an astronaut played by Charlton Heston finds himself 2,000 years in the future on what he thinks is a remote planet, befriended by an ape played by McDowall. The sequels will be shown Tuesday through Friday. That will be the beneath, escape, conquest and battle for the planet of the ape stories.
SHAMELESS USE OF TOMBS AND PYRAMIDS TO CREATE A CABLE SPECIAL - Frank Langella on A&E is the guide for ``A&E Special Presentation: Mummies,'' which begins Sunday at 8 p.m. and continues Monday night at 9. Four hours total. Most interesting is the story of KV-5, the royal tomb discovered in Egypt's Valley of the Kings last year.
Other programming of note in the week ahead: ``Second Noah,'' the ABC family show that's building in the ratings, returns to WVEC Saturday night at 8. ``Muppets Tonight!'' comes back to ABC Sunday at 7 p.m.
And on Saturday at 9 p.m., WHRO repeats the PBS special that transplanted Northerners in Hampton Roads have been asking for: ``Frank Yankovic: America's Polka King.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
FILE/The Virginian-Pilot
Fawn Hall, once Oliver North's secretary, appears on ``Where Are
They Now? Part 2'' Wednesday on CBS.
Photo
TNT
TNT's ``American Dreamers,'' Sunday at 8 p.m., features clips from
such films as ``On the Town,'' which starred Gene Kelly, left, Frank
Sinatra and Jules Munshin. by CNB