THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, January 21, 1997 TAG: 9701210045
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: LARRY BONKO
DATELINE: NEW ORLEANS LENGTH: 128 lines
SEEN AND HEARD at a place where Hercules rubs elbows with Mister Rogers, Martha Stewart trades recipes with Hulk Hogan:
Ah, the suspense - Ricki Lake, who is expecting her first baby March 21, showed up at the 34th annual gathering of TV programmers wearing maroon crushed-velvet maternity wear to cut an enormous cake with a large stork made of icing.
Pink icing.
Does that mean Lake is expecting a girl? She doesn't know and doesn't want to know until the baby is delivered. Her first pregnancy has gone smoothly, said Lake before setting herself in a comfy armchair to meet the station owners and operators who carry her daytime talk show. (WGNT is the station in Hampton Roads).
Ratings are off by 24 percent from a year ago. Is Ricki worried? Not so you could notice. ``My life couldn't be better,'' said Lake as she reached for a cake knife at the Columbia Tri-Star pavilion. Lake also passed out cigars.
Let's buy the vowel ``a'' as in ``baby'' - Also attending the National Association of Television Programming Executives convention, and also pregnant, is Vanna White of ``Wheel of Fortune.''
Ricki's showing, and how. Vanna isn't - she wore a purple pantsuit with an Oriental touch. The baby's not due for months.
The pregnancy will not keep her from turning letters, said White. She intends to break out the maternity wardrobe she wore on ``Wheel'' three years ago when pregnant for the first time.
While at NATPE, White got the good news that ``Wheel'' and ``Jeopardy!'' have been renewed through 2002 by stations in the LIN and Belo groups, which means it's Vanna, Pat and WVEC together into the next century.
And he's still nasty - Remember the hilarious episode of ``Seinfeld'' when Jerry enraged the ``Soup Nazi,'' and was tossed out on the street, soupless? Seinfeld's syndicators at Columbia had a clever way of selling the show here.
They re-created the ``Soup Nazi'' sequence. Actor Larry Thomas was in full ``Soup Nazi'' uniform - a chef's white smock - as he faced convention goers who lined up and timidly asked for his gumbo.
Every once in a while, he let an exhibitor have it. ``No soup for you!'' Like a fool, I asked for soup and bread. ``No bread for you!'' Thomas insulted thousands. They loved it.
NBC executives here to promote their daytime programming say they have no comment about reports coming out of Los Angeles that say Seinfeld will be paid $1 million per episode next season. Or that the others in the cast want the same kind of money.
Anchors aweigh - This year, it's ``JAG'' on CBS. Coming next from Eyemark Entertainment is another hour-long series about the Navy - Navy fighter pilots. It's ``Pensacola: Wings of Gold.''
Eyemark's president, Ed Wilson, said the series will be as good as any drama on the networks. CBS owns Eyemark.
No cast named as yet. One of the characters will be a strong-willed veteran pilot, said Wilson. If they can do a series about the Navy in Pensacola, they can do one in Norfolk. Our base is bigger.
I can see it now. ``Norfolk: City of Sailors.''
No cholesterol - You can burn up a lot of energy checking out exhibits and meeting TV stars in a hall that's larger that the Louisiana Superdome, which is just up the street. They'll play Super Bowl XXXI there on Sunday. To keep you going, there's the official NAPTE snack: Bozo vitamin-fortified cookies.
It's the official Bozo cookie, licensed by Larry Harmon, who created Bozo 51 years ago. Harmon was here to talk about a new project - reviving the characters played by Laurel and Hardy. Harmon owns the rights. Said Harmon, ``Who could have dreamt that Bozo would still be here in 1997?'' His show is carried nationally by Chicago Superstation WGN.
Harmon named Bozo, and that name has come to represent the dumb and dumber among us. Even candidates for high public office call each other Bozo. ``I'm not offended,'' said Harmon. `` `Bozo' is now as much part of the language as `Kleenex' and `Band-Aid'.''
No offense, Larry, but my favorite NATPE snack is the frozen Snickers bar at the A.C. Nielsen pavilion.
King of all media - Howard Stern isn't here, but his agents are, pushing a half-hour TV special, ``The Making of Private Parts.'' It's a behind-the-scenes look at the filming of Stern's autobiography.
Say the producers, ``See the metamorphosis of Howard from a pathetic and despised local radio personality geek to a pathetic and despised national pop celebrity geek.'' It will air in mid-February.
Small world - Outside the Tribune Entertainment display is a large scoreboard that keeps track of the stations buying ``Night Man,'' a new series about a jazz musician who by a quirk of the cosmos becomes a superhero. When WGNT in Portsmouth signed up, they made a small fuss. That put ``Night Man'' in 73 percent of the U.S. markets, which is a strong start.
It's like the real thing - Ask me who has the fanciest display here, and I'll say Warner Brothers. It's huge, elaborate.
But I like hanging out best at the MTM corner where the folks who work for International Family Entertainment in Virginia Beach have set up a to-the-letter replica of a space shuttle orbiter. It even has gauges and stuff.
MTM is promoting ``The Cape,'' a drama filmed at Cape Canaveral. I have also been spending a lot of time on the wonderfully preserved 50-horse carousel set up by the Fremantle Corp., which distributes ``Baywatch'' and other programs overseas. They guarantee you get the brass ring every time.
The darling of daytime - Last year in syndication, only one show - the daytime talk and variety show hosted by Rosie O'Donnell - hit it big. She is the toast of NAPTE.
O'Donnell said she could never do the kind of daytime show in which society's misfits are put on parade. Are you listening, Jenny, Jerry and Sally? ``I'd lose patience with the people they have on those shows. I'd probably slug it out with them.''
Here comes da judge - Starting this fall, former New York Mayor Edward Koch will be on the bench for a new version of ``The People's Court,'' replacing Judge Wapner.
``They are big shoes to fill, but I have big feet,'' said Koch. WAVY has already bought the series.
Who's been most popular among the women conventiongoers? No contest. It's Kevin Sorbo, the star of ``Hercules: Legendary Journeys.''
The guy's modest. ``My manager had to convince me I'm famous,'' he said. The women with whom most male conventiongoers want to be photographed? They are Playboy Playmates Rachel Jean Marteen, Maria Checa and Carrie Wescott.
We older guys go for Martha Stewart, who'll soon be joining CBS News' ``This Morning'' while continuing with the syndicated ``Martha Stewart Living.''
As for Mister Rogers, Fred Rogers was honored with the NATPE Life Achievement Award. And wrestler-actor Hogan is here peddling a new series, ``Shotgun Saturday Night.'' ILLUSTRATION: KRT color photo
Rosie O'Donnell says she could never do the kind of daytime show
that exploits misfits.
Photos
ASSOCIATED PRESS/File
Fred Rogers was honored with the NATPE Life Achievement Award.
Edward Koch will replace Judge Wapner on ``The People's Court.''