The date Andy exploded and Crispin kicked Bizarro acts of July 28 are fond memories of a looser Letterman show

They were two of the strangest hours in the history of
television. They happened exactly five years apart, and on the same
show, and to the same man. And as the years increase between us and
those two notorious nights, you have to wonder if TV - a medium that
seems more tightly controlled and predictable than ever - will see
many more moments like them again.
Fifteen years ago tonight David Letterman put on a talk show, and
a wrestling match broke out. Andy Kaufman, a singular figure in
entertainment, whose antics both on and off the tube were already
legendary, struck a blow for performance art, or rather received one,
when he was clobbered by pro wrestler Jerry Lawler during a taping of
Letterman's new late-night talk show on NBC.
On the same date in 1987, Letterman was in the line of fire as a
segment with the actor Crispin Glover disintegrated into a kicking
exhibition, with one foot coming very near Letterman's pricey head.
To this day, no one is really sure how much of either incident
was spontaneous. Few things are more staged than a television
broadcast. Yet they surely realized there is no more compelling
theater than the live TV show where all of the elements are in
perfect harmony.
Or in the case of these two shows, perfect discord.
Andy flips out
Andy Kaufman didn't believe in traditional comedy; that was his
gift and his burden. An accomplished standup from the age of 9,
Kaufman as an adult became fascinated with getting more out of his
audiences than reactions to punchlines.
He began to perform as his own warmup act, creating alter-egos
and playing them to the hilt. One was Tony Clifton, a malevolent
lounge singer who verbally abused his audience and often refused to
do his act.
Kaufman treated Clifton as a separate person and would go
ballistic any time someone suggested that the two were the same man.
He even arranged for Clifton to have his own guest appearance on
"Taxi," the sitcom that made Kaufman famous. The shows never got
taped because Clifton made an ass of himself on the set and was
finally dragged off by studio guards, cursing and yelling at the
director, "You'll never work in Vegas again!"
Meanwhile off the screen, Kaufman was establishing himself as the
world's premier "inter-gender wrestler. " From 1979 to 1983 he took
on hundreds of women in the ring. As was his wont, Kaufman
specialized in alienating crowds before and during the fight,
ensuring that they would be completely behind the woman, whom Kaufman
would then proceed to beat handily.
A feud broke out between Kaufman and a male wrestling champion
named Jerry Lawler that resulted in a grudge match. Lawler won
easily, and Kaufman wound up in traction. Thus set the stage for what
transpired on "Late Night with David Letterman" on July 28, 1982.
Letterman hadn't been on the air six months in late night but had
been host of dozens of "Tonight Show" broadcasts and, briefly, his
own morning show on NBC. Like Kaufman, he was already beginning to
tire of the conventional format that entertainers in his line of work
were expected to follow - in Letterman's case that meant the talk
show format modeled by "Tonight."
When he invited Kaufman and Lawler to discuss their feud on the
show, Letterman was well aware what might happen. Like Kaufman, he
was conducting experiments on his audience. Professional wrestling
fans are used to seeing grown men pull each other's hair out on
stage, but not on NBC, before a hip studio audience and a
mild-mannered TV host.
Sure enough, the segment quickly broke down into insults. What
happened next, not even Letterman anticipated. Kaufman taunted Lawler
relentlessly, raising the big man's blood pressure by the minute. As
Letterman tried to cut to a commercial, Lawler rose from his chair
and clocked Kaufman on the head, sending him sprawling.
After the break, an enraged Kaufman swore a blue streak at Lawler
(which, of course, was bleeped) and tossed hot coffee in his face.
Lawler bounded out of his seat and chased Kaufman from the studio.
With the two guests suddenly gone, a satisfied Letterman simply
shook his head and ad-libbed, "I'm not sure about any of those
words, but you can be darned sure that FCC regulations prohibit
throwing coffee."
After it was over NBC considered banning Kaufman; Kaufman
responded with an impossible, $ 200 million lawsuit against the
network. In less than two years Kaufman would be dead of a rare
strain of lung cancer, despite his reportedly never smoking. It was
the kind of demise so bizarre that some thought it to be concocted -
Kaufman's latest ruse. Some even thought that Kaufman, like Elvis
Presley, had not really died.
Alas, there have been no new Andy Kaufman sightings since.
The Glover plan
By 1987 Letterman's anti-show had become the show. Interviews
became sparring matches, and guests who couldn't roll with the
punches were flattened by a Letterman put-down or had their segment
abruptly TKOed. But even this ritual wasn't immune from
self-effacement: One of the show's writers, Chris Elliott, routinely
barged in during the broadcast to make Letterman's life, as Elliott
liked to put it, "a living hell."
Letterman was entering that stage of his career that devotees
would later admiringly call his "fat and sour period. " He put on a
good 30 pounds and had broken up with his girlfriend - and the show's
onetime head writer - Merrill Markoe. Women in particular seemed to
catch him in a foul mood. He tore Parade magazine know-it-all Marilyn
vos Savant to shreds, and Shirley MacLaine and Cher called him an
unprintable name during their segments.
But was Letterman truly unhappy or was this a new character he
was trying out? As was the case with Kaufman, it was hard to say for
sure. But what happened 10 years ago tonight could not but catch
Letterman off his guard.
At the time of his guest appearance, Crispin Glover was best
known as Michael J. Fox's father in "Back to the Future. " He had
been booked on "Late Night" to promote his new film, "River's
Edge. " Glover was known as an odd bird, although he lacked the
self-destructive gene found in young rebels like Sean Penn and Robert
Downey Jr.
After he was introduced, Glover stepped out, but instead of
facing the audience, had his back turned and arms extended, as if
bickering with someone backstage. That night he had on funky trousers
with stripes of varying width, platform shoes and a button-down
shirt. He was carrying a briefcase, whose purpose was never
explained. His hair was disheveled. And, as the interview began, it
was clear he was extremely nervous.
"Nice shoes! " yelled a woman in the audience, as the show's
director, Hal Gurnee, zoomed in for a close-up shot of Glover's
cloppers.
Things went downhill fast from there. Glover produced a wad of
newspaper clippings about himself and began reading incoherent
fragments from them.
"You seem to be distraught," said Letterman, not really knowing
- or caring - why.
After a few verbal exchanges, Glover, stood up and hi-karated
straight at Letterman.
Whether the kick came near his head is unclear, but to the
viewers that night, it looked like a close shave. Without missing a
beat, Letterman excused himself and, as the show went to commercial, the camera closed in on a bereft Glover.
When the break ended, Letterman was back at his desk and the
guest was gone.
"I think that's the first time since we've been doing the show
that a guest actually tried to kick me," Letterman said. "He came
very close to denting my head with those giant shoes."
Within the lines
After spending the 1980s mucking around at the boundary that
separates reality from illusion, Letterman pulled back, and the
boundaries have contracted once more.
For most of his four seasons on CBS, Letterman has cultivated a
game-show atmosphere: volume on high, crowds on screaming and guests
way too pepped up for the 10:30 hour. In his old NBC digs, awkward
silence was part of the schtick; but in the vaster Ed Sullivan
Theater, it's an embarrassing hole the audience feels compelled to
fill with laughter or, worse, applause.
In recent years a few celebrities have conspired to look unhinged
on Letterman's program more or less on purpose, including Sharon
Stone, James Caan and, most recently, Farrah Fawcett, who at one
point in the program stared dreamily at the skyline behind
Letterman's desk, thinking (or pretending to think) it was an actual
50th-story view over Manhattan.
But in general there is less aberrant behavior on Letterman's
show because so much is at risk. Unlike in 1982 or 1987, dozens of
alternatives are just a channel-change away should a segment go awry.
A failed segment can be grist for Letterman's lightning-fast mind -
but then again, it can simply be a failure.
Glover is a successful character actor, with a recent role in
"The People Vs. Larry Flynt. " He also speaks on the college lecture
circuit and fields the inevitable questions from kids too young to
remember that night in July when he took one small step for man, one
giant leap for classic TV.
And somewhere, no doubt, Andy Kaufman's in a wrestling match.

'Politically Incorrect' renewed through 1998

LOS ANGELES - The ABC network announced this week that
"Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher," the first legitimate hit
program to follow "ABC News Nightline" in late night, has been
renewed through 1998.
In addition, executive producer Scott Carter said Monday that the
free-wheeling panel discussion show would do a week's worth of shows
from Ford's Theater in Washington, D.C., the first week of November.
"Politically Incorrect" has been critically well received since
moving from Comedy Central to ABC in January, and more than 3 million
viewers a night watch it in late night. Kansas City is one of the
show's highest-rated markets and would likely be the No. 1 market for
"Politically Incorrect" if KMBC, Channel 9, didn't delay it by 90
minutes.
This month "Politically Incorrect" is also airing in prime
time, with a live broadcast at 9 p.m. Thursdays and a repeat at 9:30.
As prime-time programs go, "Politically Incorrect" is not faring
well. But its audience is about twice that of its late night turnout
and ABC says it is simply using the time to expose the show to more
viewers.
Thursday's scheduled prime-time guests include Pat Boone and Jon
Stewart. Carter said next week's prime-time hour will include a show
with Marilyn Manson, Florence Henderson and G. Gordon Liddy.

NBC builds to last by tinkering with success In an age when fewer and fewer eyes are watching the big broadcast networks, NBC has no margin for complacency

LOS ANGELES - Not too long ago the network that finished atop the
ratings heap one season knew how it would behave the next: If it
wasn't broke, don't fix it. Don't move too many shows around. Protect
your time slots. Don't give viewers excuses to shop for other shows.
But NBC, the runaway winner with viewers the last two seasons, is
defying all of those rules. Come this fall, fully half of NBC's
existing lineup, including such shows as "3rd Rock from the Sun"
and "Caroline in the City," will be moved to different times. Other
programs, such as "The Naked Truth" and "Men Behaving Badly," are
being hauled into the shop this summer for retooling.
And on Thursday nights, when NBC presents its strongest magnet
for TV viewers, the network is introducing two shows that look like
they'll be anything but sure bets. One, "Veronica's Closet," stars
Kirstie Alley as a lingerie designer; it received mixed reviews from
TV critics assembled here for the networks' annual fall
presentations. That's at least better than "Union Square," a show
that didn't even have a pilot episode ready for review last week.
The home of "must-see TV" will also ask its audience to watch
one more show with Jenny McCarthy, one more sitcom with Tony Danza
and one more night of "Dateline NBC" - none of which, on first
glance anyway, appears to rate a must-see.
As the network's chief programmer, Warren Littlefield, told
critics this week, "Change is a word we've learned to live with in
broadcasting. In the past 40 months we've seen more changes than we
have in the past 40 years."
But why is NBC changing so drastically now? The answer is that,
in an age when fewer and fewer eyes are watching the big broadcast
networks, NBC has no margin for complacency. Viewers are already
shopping around. NBC's ratings were down from the previous season.
And aside from its Thursday hits, the network has precious few shows
that are both creative successes and audience favorites.
Night by night
The way to fight back, NBC believes, is by doing something only a
big broadcast network can do: Create blocks of programs with
well-defined themes and star power and promote the living daylights
out of them. What the USA cable network can currently afford to do
only on Sunday nights, NBC intends to do every night.
Monday, for instance, will be Ladies Night, home to four
high-profile sitcoms with female leads. Three of those - "Suddenly
Susan," "The Naked Truth" and "Fired Up"' - were among the top
six shows in television last year, thanks to their cushy address in
between "Seinfeld" and "ER" on Thursdays. (The three shows
rotated in and out of that same time period; any ratings system but
Nielsen's would have assigned the threesome a single ranking as "the
8:30 show. ")
There's little doubt the shows will lose audience on their new
night. "Caroline in the City" saw its viewership drop by 40 percent
this season after being moved from Thursdays to Tuesdays. The
question is, how much?
NBC was not exactly a viewer magnet on Mondays this past season
anyway, thanks to duds like "Jeff Foxworthy" and "Mr. Rhodes."
But if viewers decide, as many critics polled here believe, that
"Caroline" is the cleverest of the four shows, the network will be
wishing it hadn't canceled its Monday made-for-TV movie.
Tuesday looks like it'll be Intelligent Comedy Night. The
network's most underrated sitcom, "NewsRadio," will finally get a
time slot between two popular shows, "Mad About You" and
"Frasier. " It helps that ABC will move "Spin City" to Wednesdays.
But what will Paul and Jamie do now that the baby's been born?
Wednesdays doesn't have a theme, but with "3rd Rock from the
Sun" at 8 and "Law & Order" at 9, it may not need one. Still, NBC
has decided to move "3rd Rock" from Sunday nights into what is
arguably the toughest time period of the entire week. It's going up
against "The Drew Carey Show" on ABC and "Party of Five" on Fox.
Also that night is NBC's best new sitcom, "Built to Last,"
starring up-and-comer Royale Watkins ("Speed 2: Cruise Control").
Although it was favorably received by critics, ad agencies have not
given "Built to Last" much of a chance in its time slot of 7:30 on
Tuesdays, opposite the second half of "Beverly Hills 90210" on Fox
and ABC's new "Dharma and Greg."
But the pilot episode featured strong writing and acting,
especially from veteran actor Paul Winfield, who plays the family
patriarch and moral center. Winfield infuses his part with the kind
of stature that suggests (to a TV critic, at least) that he doesn't
have to be doing a sitcom but wants to. That strength could make
"Built to Last" a fast favorite with viewers.
Thursday's theme, of course, is "watch NBC. " But "Friends"
lost 11 percent of its audience last season; does it have the
creative energy to keep even more viewers from tuning away this
season?
And what will viewers think of "Veronica's Closet," a cynical,
often mean-spirited comedy about an ex-model (Alley) who's young,
vivacious - and considered past her prime? Here's a show with a
philandering husband and an assistant whose main task is to deny he's
gay; that casts the only African-American part in the pilot episode
as a bootlicking moron; and is gummed tight with sexual innuendo
("So what's up? " asks the husband. "Apparently you - all the
time," is the reply).
There's little doubt that the producers behind "Veronica's
Closet" are smart people. One of them, Marta Kauffman, is a vocal
critic of congressional attempts to involve itself in TV ratings and
the family hour. And if the show is half as entertaining as the
"Veronica's Closet" press conference was, it will be an improvement
over the pilot episode (which is largely being reshot anyway, with a
new actor in the husband role).
But there's a big difference between the intelligent writing on
NBC's Tuesday night shows and the lightning-quick,
sexy-bordering-on-smutty writing that has grown out of the
Thursday-night incubator. And it isn't clear that viewers will reward
the latter this season, either on Mondays or Thursdays.
Saturday night frights
One question that viewers who consult the Nielsen ratings may
still be wondering: Why were "The Single Guy," the No. 9 rated
program last season, and "Something So Right" (No. 46), an unusual
comedy about two families joined by remarriage, canceled while
"Profiler" (No. 83) and "The Pretender" (No. 89) were renewed in
a heartbeat?
The answer is that the two canceled shows didn't appear on
Saturday night, where NBC, despite being No. 1 overall, had been
finishing dead last in recent years, until it rolled out the all-new
dramatic "Thrillogy" last fall.
In May the network crowed that it had gone "from worst to
first," largely on the backs of "Profiler" and "The Pretender."
(A third show, the conspiracy-mongering "Dark Skies," vanished
mysteriously and is being replaced by "Sleepwalkers," about a
doctor who heads a dream-therapy institute.)
But NBC's claim was deceptive: CBS won the night handily in total
audience, thanks to "Early Edition" and the Chuck Norris vehicle,
"Walker: Texas Ranger. " NBC pulled in the most viewers ages 18 to
49, which are prized by advertisers.
That leaves Friday and Sunday, each of which has a "Dateline NBC" and one solid returning program ("Homicide" and "Sunday
Night at the Movies," respectively), plus star power: Ice T in
"Players" on Friday, Jenny McCarthy in "Jenny" on Sunday.

Executive set to stay at ABC Jamie Tarses says she enjoys network, contrary to rumors.

LOS ANGELES - ABC Entertainment Division President Jamie Tarses
on Monday responded to reports that she is on her way out after just
one year on the job. She told reporters she is having a "great
time" and will not be leaving the network.
Tarses' comments came after a month of behind-the-scenes
wrangling over her future, which Tarses on Monday called "truly
surreal."
In June, ABC announced that Stu Bloomberg, 47, a veteran of the
network, would be named the division's chairman, essentially
supplanting Tarses, 33, as ABC's top programmer. Tarses, the first
woman to hold that position at any major network, has been the target
of a widespread whispering campaign among producers and studio
executives in Hollywood who have clashed with her.
On July 13, a New York Times Magazine profile of Tarses appeared
in which the reporter was allowed to listen in on phone conversations
between Tarses and Michael Eisner, the head of ABC's parent, Walt
Disney Co., without Eisner's knowledge.
One published report last week even suggested that Tarses
violated Disney policy in cooperating with the reporter, meaning
Tarses could be fired and not paid any severance money.

Senate bill offers 'carrot' to networks

The formal end of the family hour came in the 1980s when a code
of conduct adopted by the National Association of Broadcasters was
partly struck down by a court on antitrust grounds. The code, which
had been in place for years, included guidelines on restricting
advertisements, which the court found objectionable.
But it took competition from the networks' provocateurs on cable
and at the Fox network to corrupt the family hour for good. In April
1987, Fox introduced its first prime-time lineup that included the
anti-family sitcom "Married With Children" at 7 p.m. Fox
would later introduce a lightning rod of a soap opera, "Melrose
Place," also at 7.
By 1995, when ABC was airing "Roseanne" and NBC "Friends" at
7 - two very popular and very adult sitcoms - the notion of the TV
industry regulating itself seemed hopelessly passe.
But now it appears the notion, however quixotic, is alive, in
part no doubt to the success of CBS and a mini-network, the WB, in
introducing family programs to the family hour.
Sen. Sam Brownback, Kansas Republican, and Sen. Joseph Lieberman,
Connecticut Democrat, are leading the charge in Washington. They are
co-sponsors of the Television Improvement Act of 1997, a bill that
will grant an antitrust exemption to broadcasters if they will return
to a voluntary code of conduct that the senators hope will include a
safe haven in the 7 p.m. hour.
The bill is very much in the spirit of a similar bill by former
Sen. Paul Simon, which passed in 1990, except that this law will not
expire in three years as Simon's did. It also will mention all adult
content on TV, not just violence, according to Howard Waltzman,
general counsel to Brownback.
Unlike the recent crusade to force the networks to adopt a TV
ratings system, the bill offers broadcasters a carrot, said Waltzman,
not a stick.
"We want the industry to be on their own ground on this,"
Waltzman said. "We want the government to be apart from this. We're
removing a perceived government-imposed obstacle to voluntary
action."
Nevertheless, CBS Entertainment President Leslie Moonves told The
Kansas City Star on Wednesday that he had assurance from
congressional leaders, including Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott,
that Brownback's bill would not pass.
Moonves also responded angrily to the news that Reed Hundt had
endorsed the bill and said that had the FCC chairman made his views
known earlier, CBS would have refused to sign on to the TV ratings
compromise.

Networks to dance again with 'family hour' TV industry is asked to reconsider what goes into 7 to 8 p.m. time slot.

LOS ANGELES - The "family hour" is dead. Long live the family
hour.
From Capitol Hill to the Hollywood Hills, that is the new
rallying cry as yet another political crusade for the betterment of
television has taken center stage. No sooner did the ink dry on an
agreement between senators and broadcasters on a revised TV ratings
system than parents' groups took on a new mission: persuading
networks to reinstate the family hour, whose obituary many observers
assumed was written years ago.
The 7 to 8 p.m. hour used to be considered a safe haven for TV
shows the whole family could watch. Some, like "The Waltons," were
edifying; others, like "CHiPs," less so. But the networks saw to it
that all 7 p.m. shows were acceptable to even young audiences. It was
part of a broader, voluntary code of conduct the industry
self-enforced and which some - notably Sen. Sam Brownback of Kansas -
would like to see the networks voluntarily take up again.
In May of this year, 100 members of Congress signed an open
letter to the presidents of the six broadcast networks, asking them
to bring back the family hour, which faded in the late '80s (see
accompanying story), as a "voluntary covenant with the viewing
public."
More recently, House Speaker Newt Gingrich and outgoing FCC
Chairman Reed Hundt - a close friend of Vice President Al Gore - have
endorsed the family hour as well.
But getting the networks to comply may be tricky. CBS alone is
boasting about a family-friendly lineup of programs during the first
hour of prime time, and doing so quietly. Instead of promoting its
five new family-oriented sitcoms, the network's fall campaign will
emphasize overall show quality and star power, including new
additions David Caruso, Danny Aiello, Gregory Hines, Bob Newhart and
Judd Hirsch.
Then again, it may be that CBS knows it hasn't lined up seven
nights of shows that are universally regarded as family friendly.
Mark Honig, director of the Parents Television Council, which
sponsored the congressmen's open letter, said that several
family-hour programs on CBS, including "Everybody Loves Raymond" on
Mondays, "JAG" on Tuesdays and "The Nanny" and "Murphy Brown"
on Wednesdays, violated several standards of a good "TV-G" program.
"'The Nanny' is completely full of sexual innuendo every episode
and is wholly inappropriate for that first hour of prime time,"
Honig said. "'Murphy Brown' is adult oriented and if it's not going
to change its content, it's going to get 'TV-PG' ratings."
CBS' top programmer, Leslie Moonves, bristles at such criticism.
"We're pretty family-friendly," Moonves said last week, "and I
would hesitate to say that children cannot watch any show we have on
at (7) at night."
At any rate, Moonves expects to hear a lot more about TV and the
family. Last week he accepted President Clinton's invitation to sit
on a panel that will examine broadcasters' responsibility to the
public. The commission is expected to review many of the concerns of
parents' groups that sparked Capitol Hill's recent interest in
television content.
Whether the president or Congress can twist the networks' arms
any further remains to be seen. The recent TV ratings compromise was
rejected outright by NBC as an impingement on free speech. Parents'
groups complained the new system - it adds such content designators
as "S" for sex and "V" for violence - will not be much of an
improvement over the current age-based ratings instituted last
January.
Still, nothing settles disputes in the business of television
quite as effectively as a hit series, and the future of family
programming may rest on whether families turn out in sufficient
numbers to watch CBS.
From failure to family
Like many developments in the TV industry, CBS' family-friendly
strategy was borne out of desperation bred by spectacular failure.
Two years ago, with advertisers clamoring for CBS to lower the
age of its overall viewership, which at one point averaged 51 years,
the network failed with a new lineup of shows aimed at the same
young-adult audience that was watching "Friends," "Roseanne" and
"Melrose Place" on other networks.
Moonves' predecessor had also foolishly relegated the hit program
"Murder, She Wrote" to Thursday nights from its comfortable perch
on Sundays. These moves conspired to send audiences away by the
millions.
CBS was headed for an unprecedented fourth-place finish in the
ratings - and then it found new life on the wings of a dramatic
series starring Roma Downey and Della Reese.
"Touched by an Angel" created a powerhouse when CBS moved it to
Sunday nights. The show inspired another successful drama, "Promised
Land," now entering its second season, and led to a repositioning of
the network along warmer, more sentimental lines, evidenced by the
current CBS slogan, "Welcome Home."
Now CBS is a solid No. 2 and ready to take on NBC, which appears
to be vulnerable on every night except Thursday (admittedly a mighty
big exception). NBC is taking an unusual number of risks with its
fall lineup, rescheduling half of its current series and arranging
them in ways that may prove costly. On Monday nights, for instance,
NBC will pit four lightly regarded sitcoms against ABC's "Monday
Night Football" and CBS' successful block of comedies, including
"Cosby," "Everybody Loves Raymond," and "George and Leo," a new
series that pairs TV veterans Newhart and Hirsch.
CBS has also become a contender on Fridays, thanks to its
acquisition of two established ABC comedies designed for all ages,
"Family Matters" and "Step by Step. " The two shows are produced
by a company that also created "Meego," which stars Bronson Pinchot
as a space alien and will air after "Family Matters."
But joining this wholesome threesome is "The Gregory Hines
Show," possibly the most promising new comedy of the entire fall
season. Hines is featured as a father of a 12-year-old son played by
Brandon Hammond ("The Fan"). It's not that "Gregory Hines" is
inappropriate for all young children, but it is far more complex than
the shows that surround it. In the pilot episode shown to TV critics
last week, Hines' character, a recent widower, is wooed by a woman in
his office building who plainly wants him in bed - and she's spurned
only after Hines discovers she is separated, not divorced, from her
husband.
Moonves conceded that Hines' show had "a bit more
sophistication, certainly, than some of the other Friday shows," but
added, "I think that young boy is a breakout star and the
relationship between the father and son makes it especially a great
family opportunity."
Hines agreed.
"We're going to deal with adult issues like dating and
relationships, but we're going to do it with taste and style and
consideration. " he said. "We are going to be responsible."
Still, if any one show puts CBS over the top this season, it may
well be "Brooklyn South," a disturbing new series from "NYPD
Blue" creator Steven Bochco whose extreme violence and adult content
is about as far from family entertainment as a broadcast show can go.
Of that one, Moonves said, "There will be 400 letters in front
of that show," a joking reference to the content codes that will be
added to TV ratings in the fall. The show is likely to get a
"TV-MA" rating.
"Brooklyn South" should do well with audiences - at least until
the V-chip arrives early next year.with a young son. "We're going to deal with adult issues," Hines
says, "but we are going to be responsible."
@ART:Photo (color)

Molinari's co-host Mitchell shows strong Missouri roots Former KMBC reporter remembers leaner times in Kansas City

LOS ANGELES - Russ Mitchell, who was named as Susan Molinari's
co-anchor Thursday on the new CBS "Saturday Morning" news program
that signs on in September, is Missouri through and through.
Mitchell grew up in St. Louis, attended journalism school in
Columbia and came to Kansas City upon graduating in 1982 as
reporter-trainee at KMBC, Channel 9.
He later spent seven years on St. Louis airwaves before landing
an overnight-news job at CBS in 1992. Currently Mitchell is anchor of
the Sunday night newscast on the network.
Mitchell flew out for the announcement here at a gathering of TV
critics; afterward I asked him what he remembers of that time.
Mostly he remembers it the way many journalists recall their
freshman year, as an act of survival more than anything.
The atmosphere around KMBC at that time contributed to that mood.
Channel 9 is a news powerhouse today, but when Mitchell arrived
for his internship in mid-1982, it was down in the ratings.
Those creamy-white News 9 vans you see zipping through town?
Not in '82, recalled Mitchell.
"We were the 28th largest market at the time, but we could've
been 128th," he said.
"We didn't have a news truck, didn't have a live (broadcast)
truck."
Does Mitchell remember his quintessential rookie moment? Sure he
does.
"One day I was sent out to do four stories - four 'packages. '
One was a medieval festival.
"One was an Alan Wheat fund-raiser, and I forget what the others
were. The last piece I did was the Alan Wheat fund-raiser, in the
evening. By the time I got there my brain was fried. He was running
for Congress, but in my story I called him a senatorial candidate.
"I felt like an idiot, because the people at home didn't know
that was my fourth story of the day."
Mitchell was honored by the National Association of Black
Journalists in 1995 for a story on Martin Luther King's daughter, the
Rev. Bernice King., that appeared on the CBS newsmagazine "Eye to
Eye."

Molinari plays dodge-the-question Meanwhile, Newhart makes jokes, Aiello pleads for understanding

PASADENA, Calif.- Overheard at the TV networks' semiannual press
tour here in southern California, where the nights are cool and Susan
Molinari's a little warm under the collar:
CBS beamed the soon-to-be-former-Congresswoman Molinari into a
press conference from Washington to promote her appointment as
co-anchor
of the network's "Saturday Morning" news program, which will
debut in September. She'll be sharing the duty with current CBS
weekend news anchor Russ Mitchell.
All Molinari wanted to talk about was the "wonderful
opportunity" she had to work on a TV show after 12 years in New York
City and national politics. All the journalists wanted to talk about
was the wonderful opportunity she had to explain her views on this
week's failed coup attempt against House Speaker Newt Gingrich.
Not surprisingly, the perky Molinari avoided the one opportunity
to talk about the other. At great length. And at great speed. (CBS
materials helpfully pointed out that "Saturday Morning" will be
conducted "at a fast pace. ")
Molinari continued to dodge questions with this same upbeat,
uptempo refrain until a journalist at the end finally asked, "Susan,
if you were interviewing a politician on the show, and they were as
good a tap-dancer and cheerleader as you are, what would you do?"
Molinari evaded the question, but she did say she took the remark
about tap dancing as a compliment. (And yes, she was a cheerleader in
high school.)

Aiello asks for a chance
Danny Aiello has menaced many a deserving (and undeserving)
person in his 25-year stage and film career. But in promoting his new
CBS show "Dellaventura," Aiello was a study in supplication, not
intimidation.
He charmed, he groveled, he pleaded with TV critics to give his
action series - described by a CBS executive as "Walker, Texas
Ranger" taking Manhattan - a fighting chance.
After one critic complained that a long foot-chase sequence ended
with Aiello's character sweat-free and not out of breath, Aiello
apologized immediately.
"I've been a motion picture method actor," he said. "When I
run in pictures, I sweat, I look ugly. " So why not in television?
"I said to myself, 'I'm not going to huff and puff and sweat. I'm
going to chase the guy and look as if I was in good shape. Mistake."
Aiello continued to confess his sins throughout the press
conference, when he wasn't telling delightful tales on himself. Like
why his brother had to hold his hand on the airplane flight from New
York.
"When I'm on a plane, you know what I think of? 'Did I have an
argument with Sandy" - Aiello's wife - "before I came on this
plane? Did I say something that, if I were to die in a crash, she
would remember me for forever?"
Someone asked, "Don't you feel this when you get in a car on the
freeway?"
That got a big laugh, but then Aiello, a lifetime New Yorker,
said, "Yes - if I was in L.A.!"
Bigger laugh.
Mad Bob
It's not hard for Bob Newhart to get a roomful of TV critics
eating out of his hand. One critic here admits to bursting into
hysterics as soon as Newhart begins to stammer - which is to say,
whenever he opens his mouth.
Newhart, here to promote "George and Leo," the new sitcom that
pairs him with Judd Hirsch of "Taxi" fame, was asked if he has
Walter Mitty fantasies of pounding the tar out of people when he's
mad.
No, said Bob, but when he does get mad, "it's not a pretty
sight."
For example? On the old "Bob Newhart Show," the star had
instructed his writers that Bob and Emily Hartley were to be
childless.
"I didn't want it to be 'Father Knows Best' - dumb daddy, 'how
do we get him out of this fix he's gotten himself into? ' " said
Newhart.
One day the show's writers gave him a script in which Emily got
pregnant.
Newhart said, "I called up the producer" - for what's a good
Newhart punchline without the phone? - "and I said, 'It's a funny
script. ' "
"Oh, good," said the producer.
" 'Yeah, it's very funny,' I said. 'Wh-wh-who are you going to
get to play Bob? ' "

Cable begins to coalesce after period of growth

After three decades of rapid growth, the cable industry is
beginning to streamline its operations on a massive scale. And as
usual, the effort is being led by industry giant TCI, the world's
largest cable operator.
TCI's president, Leo J. Hindery Jr., confirmed in a recent
interview with a trade publication that he expected the Overland Park
system's 93,000 subscribers to be folded into American Cablevision's
206,000-subscriber system. The resulting "cluster" would cover
nearly 60 percent of the area's cable market and serve 53
communities. American Cablevision, a unit of Time Warner, would split
ownership 50-50 with TCI but would manage the system.
Across the country, TCI is forming a dozen or more such
partnerships that will allow the company to move $ 4 billion of debt
off its books. That should improve its reputation on Wall Street,
where TCI stock has languished in recent months. The Kansas City deal
alone is expected to reduce TCI's debt load by $ 210 million.
And when the dust finally settles on these various deals, TCI
will become the No. 2 cable operator behind Time Warner with about 10
million subscribers, although it will have minority interests in
systems serving 9 million more. This lower profile is expected to
ease federal regulators' concerns about TCI's power within the
industry.

Charles Kuralt, 62, dies Wanderer of the back roads took America for an unhurried ramble.

Charles Kuralt, who died Friday at 62, spoke to America like a
friend, in a warm, familiar voice that accompanied us on a thousand
vicarious journeys over a million miles of highway.
And to the Americans who watched his dispatches from "On the
Road" and 15 years of "Sunday Morning," Kuralt was their friend, a
rumpled uncle who just happened to be an undisputed broadcasting
legend.
Kuralt's death at New York Hospital was attributed to
complications of lupus, an inflammatory disease that can affect the
skin, joints, the kidneys and the nervous system. Kuralt had been ill
several months, said his brother, Wallace.
"On the Road" first appeared as a weekly segment on the "CBS
Evening News" in 1967. It became a 13-year institution on the
network. Its success also made Kuralt a best-selling author (On the
Road with Charles Kuralt, Dateline America and other titles) and led
to an offer from CBS to devise a full-length news magazine in his own
image.
"Sunday Morning," a leisurely paced and highly literate
showcase for the fine arts, international features and slice-of-life
reports from throughout the country, was launched in 1979 and became
the highest-rated program on Sunday mornings. CBS also made Kuralt
the host, albeit too briefly, of the network's Monday-through-Friday
morning show in 1980.
As is true of many of TV's great originals, Kuralt's style was
widely admired but not widely copied. "Sunday Morning" has no
imitators, although its format has gone almost untouched over 18
years.
"He had just touched something that audiences responded to,"
said Charles Osgood, who replaced Kuralt as host in 1994. "If we
could think of something better to do, we'd do it. But nobody can."
At the time of his death, Kuralt was in semiretirement. He had
been appearing on the weekly CBS cable show "I Remember" and
narrating a syndicated series of 90-second features on Americana.
Kuralt's gift for crystallizing a moment in time with a few
graceful lines proved eminently portable, whether describing a
greased-pig contest, offering a closing comment on an election-night
broadcast or reporting documentaries.
In a CBS report 15 years ago, Kuralt came to Overland Park to
observe the effects of suburban malls on the American scene and the
communal psyche.
"Oak Park Mall, you might say, is a symbol of how far we have
come," he said in the documentary. "And this program is an attempt
to think about it before we have gone the full distance."
"He was the Norman Rockwell of reporters," said Wendall
Anschutz of KCTV, Channel 5. "I've heard him called corny, but I
don't think that's fair. He just said that we were always better
people than we gave ourselves credit for."
The winner of three Peabody awards and 12 Emmys, Kuralt in 1981
received the George Polk Memorial Award for national television
reporting. He was named broadcaster of the year in 1985 by the
International Radio-Television Society.
Kuralt was honored with the William Allen White Foundation Award
for Journalistic Merit by the University of Kansas in 1989. Calder
Pickett, retired KU professor, met him there and found him "one of
the warmest, nicest people" he had met.
He took his time
A North Carolina native, Kuralt edited the student newspaper at
the University of North Carolina, where he graduated in 1955. He won
the 1956 Ernie Pyle Memorial Award for his offbeat, human interest
columns in the Charlotte News and leaped to CBS the next year. By the
'60s he was a roving news correspondent for the network. He didn't
mind the travel, but he wanted out of hard news and into features.
"On the Road," launched as a three-month experiment, was that
ticket out. What made the show work was the paradox its host
embodied. Kuralt believed in the permanent things, even while
reporting for the temporal medium of television. A man on the go in a
medium made for the moment, he always brought a measure of
Tocqueville and Whitman to what he observed and how he reported it.
Part of his method was to avoid being in a hurry, as so many
Americans are. He once told The Kansas City Star about meeting two
families who, like him, were traveling through western Kansas. One
was so intent on making their daily mileage quota that "they weren't
learning anything along the way. " The other family was stranded when
their car broke down, but a nearby farm family took them in and
showed them the wonders.
"I believe that you could close your eyes and put a pin on a map
and, wherever it landed, you could have a good time," Kuralt said.
Advice from Truman
It is hard to miss the emotional effect of the death of this
chronicler of the American way on the Fourth of July. Kuralt's
identification with this country and its customs went deeper than a
five-minute TV report.
Speaking in Independence in 1988, where he was honored with the
Harry S. Truman Award for Public Service, Kuralt recalled winning an
American Legion essay contest at the age of 14 and going to
Washington to receive his award from then-President Truman.
"Study the country's history," Kuralt remembered Truman telling
him.
It would be Kuralt's ability to combine the instinct of the
sojourner with the discipline of the journalist - to get lost and
then find himself before deadline - that would define his career.
"I don't think journalism lasts very long, and television
especially is gone with the speed of light," he told a group of
students at Kansas State University in 1982. "People can't live all
the time at the speed of light."
For Kuralt, and the millions who hung on his measured words, the
speed of sound was fast enough.
In addition to his brother, Kuralt is survived by his wife,
Suzanna; two daughters, a sister and three grandsons.
Kuralt will be buried in a cemetery on the University of North
Carolina's campus in Chapel Hill, his brother said Friday night. A
memorial service was planned for next week.
The Associated Press contributed.
(CORRECTION: Because of a wire service error, an article Saturday about the death of CBS News correspondent Charles Kuralt said an essay contest he won as a teenager was sponsored by the American Legion. The contest was sponsored by the Veterans of Foreign Wars.)

Cable deal outlook is enriched viewing Merger talks still are going on. But experts see change coming.

The impending merger of the metro area's two largest cable
systems hasn't even been officially announced yet, and already Eric
McIntyre has felt its impact.
McIntyre was planning to replace the old coaxial cable running
through his Merriam home to improve his TV's picture quality, which
is hampered by a nearby pager tower.
But when McIntyre learned his cable operator, TCI of Overland
Park, soon would merge into an entity managed by American Cablevision
of Kansas City, he put his wiring plans on hold.
The reason? American Cablevision is likely to bring its
fiber-optic upgrade to Johnson County, perhaps as soon as 1999. The
upgrade would deliver more channels and a better picture. And it
would require only one cable. TCI's "A/B" system requires two.
"I'd save 50 percent of the wiring cost, but I'll have to put up
with bad reception until the upgrade," said McIntyre.
McIntyre's case is unusual and, like everything connected to the
not-yet-consummated merger, involves some educated guesswork.
Officials at TCI and Time Warner, American Cablevision's parent,
have not commented for the record because merger talks are ongoing.
But the prevailing sentiment among sources at the two companies and
observers in the cable industry was that the merger, although causing
short-term anxieties for some, would make for more satisfied
customers in the long run by offering better service and more
options, including high-speed Internet access.
Questions and answers
So what might it all mean?
Will homes in Johnson County served by TCI get an upgrade similar
to the one American Cablevision customers are getting?
TCI customers probably will not see any change for at least 18
more months - by which time those areas now served by American
Cablevision and Jones (in some Missouri suburbs and Olathe) will be
upgraded. The old coaxial "backbone" that delivers programs to
viewers' neighborhoods is replaced by fiber-optic cable in upgraded
areas. The fiber improves signal quality and reduces cable outages.
TCI had been planning to introduce its new digital service, All
TV, in the Johnson County system by the end of this year. The
optional service offers dozens of new channels and is expected to
give direct-to-home satellite dishes a run for the money.
That plan, however, almost certainly will be abandoned when TCI's
system is folded into American Cablevision's. Johnson County
customers will get a new fiber backbone, but not until American
Cablevision finishes upgrading all the communities it currently
serves, meaning no sooner than the end of 1998. (All TV is still on
schedule for a rollout this week in the Topeka area, where TCI has no
plans for selling its stake.)
The optional All TV service, by some estimates, would have cost
more than many consumers might be willing to pay - as much as $ 65 a
month by some trade accounts. By contrast, an upgrade like American
Cablevision's raises the level of service in all homes throughout the
system. The fee increase is more modest and is based largely on the
costs of carrying extra services.
Not everyone is convinced an upgrade is needed in Johnson County
soon. But upgraded American Cablevision customers seem to be happier,
rating the company higher in every satisfaction category on
questionnaires, according to its vice president, Carol Rothwell.
Will TCI customers lose the Starz movie channel, Fox Rocky
Mountain sports and Channel 11 in Topeka, which American Cablevision
doesn't offer?
For the most part, this matter will not be settled in Kansas
City, but in Connecticut, where Time Warner Cable is located and
where the programming decisions for local systems are made. If
American Cablevision carries a network, it's probably because Time
Warner has signed an agreement with that network to deliver a portion
of its 12.3 million customers nationwide.
And the competition to be carried on those precious few channels
has never been tougher as the number of new basic cable networks
continues to rise. American Cablevision's upgrade has increased the
number of channels it can use, but there are still far more networks
than it can hope to carry.
"We can't control many of the changes that impact the lineups,
especially any new channels that come along," said Robert B. Niles,
American Cablevision's president. "It's subject to change at any
time."
Of course, cable operators remove or relocate services that have
strong viewer loyalty at their peril. TCI learned this last year when
it proposed moving PBS affiliate KCPT, Channel 19, to its lesser-used
"A" band. Hundreds of viewer complaints later, TCI changed its
mind.
One fact is certain: With programming eating up 60 percent of a
cable operator's budget, an increase in the number of channels
offered will result in a rate increase. Both Jones and American
Cablevision subscribers recently incurred such increases.
But as demonstrated by American Cablevision's new AXS tier, a
service with eight extra channels and 31 digital all-music stations,
cable is becoming an a la carte business, with channels grouped into
programming blocks and sold only to customers who want them.
As TCI President Leo J. Hindery Jr. said during a recent visit to
the company's Topeka system, "Everybody in the country who is our
customer should have the right to buy a Chevrolet. If some of them
want to buy a Mercedes, they can."
But American Cablevision's offerings still may not be suitable to
some customers, especially those who can't get enough of sports and
movies. In that case, direct-to-home satellite services, which offer
a large a la carte selection of sports channels and pay-per-view
movies, will be as viable an alternative in 2000 as they are today.
How will a merger affect cable Internet access?
This should be a plus for Johnson Countians, because American
Cablevision's parent has led the industry in getting cable modems -
devices that connect computers to the Internet - to customers.
Time Warner's Roadrunner division has installed cable modems in
cities including San Diego; Binghamton and Elmira, N.Y.; and
Portland, Maine, and will do so soon in Tampa, Fla., giving it most
of the 25,000 cable modems already in use.
Cable modems operate at 10 to 20 times the speed of conventional
telephone-line modems and are a bargain compared to the price of
higher-capacity ISDN phone lines.
The American Cablevision fiber upgrade has made the system ready
for cable modems, and although company officials sound eager to set
up shop as an Internet provider, that won't happen for at least a
year.

Take note

'Cops' in town
For the third time in its nine-season run on the Fox network, the
reality-based show "Cops" will be in the metro area for filming.
Over the next 10 weeks the "Cops" crew will be accompanying
Kansas City; Kansas City, Kan.; and Jackson County law officers on
their rounds. They'll make 10 half-hour shows which will air
beginning in December, said supervising producer Murray Jordan.

Ratings revision rates an incomplete thanks to NBC's exemption

As expected, a compromise was reached this week on Capitol Hill
to revise the 6-month-old TV ratings system. And, as also expected,
NBC is being allowed to cop out.
Beginning this fall the current ratings system, which grades
programs strictly on their age-appropriateness ("TV-14," "TV-Y7")
will be augmented by content ratings - "V" for violence, "L" for
strong language, "S" for sexual content, and "D" for suggestive
dialogue.
That is, except on NBC. (BET and PBS will remain ratings-free;
those networks declined to get with the system in January.)
As it happens, NBC is the industry's most popular and successful
network, and it stands to lose the most from ratings that tell
parents exactly what their children's eyes and ears are taking in.
Unlike an age-based rating, a content rating is not some vague scold,
but an impartial summary of the adult material in a given TV show.
And that's what unnerves NBC. In a world where channel and
program choices are increasing by the week, the chances that an
advertiser will take its money elsewhere at the slightest suggestion
of what it deems inappropriate content are high.
That's what content ratings do - not only do they force parents
to think for themselves, they help sponsors think for themselves,
too.
Of course, in the public debate over ratings, money rarely comes
up, but you sure hear a lot about the First Amendment.
"There is no place for government involvement in what people
watch on television," NBC said in a recent statement.
The industry has a habit of belittling the groups lobbying for TV
ratings as an out-of-touch Washington clique.
"Who appointed the PTA to speak for all parents? " fumed a
broadcast executive during negotiations last month.
In talking with parents in the Kansas City area, however, I've
learned that their views are a lot closer to those of the PTA, the
Center for Media Education and other groups advocating broader TV
ratings than they are to the networks'.
A recurring theme in our conversations has been that parents
already have resources available to help them decide if a movie -
even one with an innocuous-looking "PG" tag on it - is suitable for
their kids.
A similar set of checks and balances doesn't exist for TV and
most of the parents I spoke to said it's past due.
The other thing parents kept telling me was how rarely they
actually glimpsed those TV ratings in the few seconds they appear on
the screen. The on-screen time will increase under terms of the new
compromise, but some parents told me they want more. They want to see
those ratings published in advance, preferably in The Kansas City
Star's TV schedules.
Jane Amari, managing editor of new media/features/production at
The Star, said that if this week's compromise creates a useful
ratings system, the paper will begin publishing TV ratings.
"We don't have an objection to the ratings, but we wanted to
publish ratings that actually meant something," Amari said. "Space
is not a concern. We'd live with that if we felt the ratings were
telling people anything useful."
In local news
Congratulations to Jack Nott, who stepped down after nine years
at American Cablevision and 40 years - almost to the day - in
television. Nott's career began at Channel 5 and led him to NBC, the
Baltimore Orioles network, Phoenix, Cincinnati, Channel 9 and
American Cablevision, where he was instrumental in launching Metro
Sports.
"As my father said, 'I wouldn't touch you with a 10-foot pole
because you're a job hopper! ' " said Nott. "I don't think he
understood the television business."
Nott will be working in Kansas City as part of a three-person
media consulting company with clients nationwide.
E-mail me at barnhart@kcstar.com or leave me a message on
StarTouch. Dial (816) 889-STAR and enter 8852.

Readers tend to agree: '100 Greatest Shows' simply weren't

My thumbs-down last Saturday to TV Guide's list of the "100
Greatest Episodes of All Time" obviously hit a nerve. Dozens of
readers called StarTouch with comments and the names of shows that
should've, but didn't, make the list.
Among the more interesting omissions:
"I'm surprised nobody has mentioned 'That Was the Week That
Was,' " said Michelle Fricke of Kansas City, referring to the NBC
topical-comedy show that aired in the 1964-65 season. "It wasn't on
very long, but Tom Lehrer was the funniest man alive and I still play
his stuff. 'The Vatican Rag' is a classic."
Rick Murphy of Kansas City wondered why not a single episode of
that great 1970s parody "Soap" didn't make the grade. "The two
most important things in television are: Does it move you? And does
the show hold up over time? " said Murphy. " 'Soap' does."
Another caller remembered a particularly good episode of "Night
Music," the late-weekend program with saxophonist David Sanborn and
his guests Conway Twitty and the Bay area band the Residents.
All of the callers had a hard time accepting the division between
"episodic" TV and the variety shows that were categorically
excluded from the list. Several wondered how "Your Show of Shows"
and "The Ed Sullivan Show" could be left off the 100 greatest
anything on TV.
And despite TV Guide's professed love of "ambition and
artistry," two extremely ambitious and artful shows mentioned by
callers - "Monty Python's Flying Circus" and "The Great American
Dream Machine" - were nowhere to be seen.
"I noticed there weren't really any black shows on the list,
either from the '70s or today, with the exception of (one) 'Cosby
Show,' " said Bill Strausbaugh of Edwardsville. "Surely one from
'Sanford and Son' or 'The Jeffersons' should've been on the list."
Another caller "couldn't believe Bill Cosby only had one show on
the list."
Two callers each mentioned different episodes that revolve around
pets. Salvador Luna of Overland Park loved the "Hillbilly Heaven"
episode of "The Twilight Zone," in which a good ol' boy refuses to
pass through the pearly gates without his beloved dog. And Jeff
Nessel of Leawood remembered the "Taxi" in which Alex's (Judd
Hirsch) dog died. "To anyone who's a dog lover and has ever lost a
pet, that really struck home," he said.
Speaking of which, the segment of the "Tonight" show with
Johnny Carson that received most replay requests in the show's
30-year history is that of the late Jimmy Stewart reading an ode to
his deceased dog.
In local news
Callers who forgot to set VCRs to record Charles Gusewelle's
special about Kansas City, "This Place Called Home," will get a
second chance during the summer KCPT pledge drive. Channel 19 has
slated the show for Aug. 17 and 20. KCPT members can also call the
station (756-3580) and purchase tapes of the special.
Reader Nan Scott pointed out that her cable company, Sunflower
Cablevision of Lawrence, receives Fox Sports Rocky Mountain - except
when Royals (and St. Louis Blues) games are on. American Cablevision
viewers could have a similar arrangement, noted a Fox spokesman,
"but then, what would be the point of that?"
Columbia native Steve Shaw is making it back to the Midwest. Shaw
joins WDAF, Channel 4, next week as a reporter on the station's
top-rated morning show. He comes from WFTX in Cape Coral, Fla., where
he spent two years as a reporter. Before that Shaw was a cameraman
for eight years in various markets.
E-mail: barnhart@kcstar.com

Classic movie channels salute Jimmy Stewart

The life and work of Jimmy Stewart will not go unrecognized on
cable's two classic-movie channels, which hold the rights to several
of Stewart's greatest film performances - and a few of his lesser
works as well.
American Movie Classics, available on TCI and Jones Intercable
systems, is devoting its entire programming schedule today to Stewart
films, beginning at 5 a.m. with "You Gotta Stay Happy" and
continuing through the morning with "Broken Arrow," "Dear
Brigitte" and "No Highway in the Sky."
At noon is "Winchester '73," followed by "The Glenn Miller
Story," "The Far Country," and "Thunder Bay. " In the evening
"The Spirit of St. Louis" is at 7, followed by "Mr. Hobbs Takes a
Vacation" and two of Stewart's earlier westerns, "Night Passage"
and "Bend of the River."
Turner Classic Movies, which has a larger share of Stewart's
early films, will show a triple feature of "Harvey," "The
Philadelphia Story" and "You Can't Take It With You," beginning at
7 p.m. Sunday. Turner Classic Movies is available only in Olathe on
Jones and in upgraded areas of the American Cablevision system.
Turner continues its tribute next weekend, July 12-13, although
with the exception of "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance," most of
the movies shown then will not be among Stewart's better-known
performances.
The bill includes: "The Greatest Show on Earth," "The F.B.I
Story" and "The Stratton Story."
On Saturday, A&E will broadcast repeat entries in its Biography
series on both Stewart and Robert Mitchum, who died this week.
"Jimmy Stewart: Hometown Hero" will be shown at 7 p.m., and
"Robert Mitchum: The Reluctant Star" will be at 8 p.m.

Take note

Jon's gone
The Red White and Boom! festival Friday at Sandstone Amphitheatre
has lost a bit of its bang.
Singer Jon Secada (above) has backed out of the show,
Contemporary Productions has announced. No reason was given for
Secada's cancellation, and no replacement has been named. Other acts
on the bill, which starts at 5 p.m.: 10,000 Maniacs, Richard Marx,
Bon Jovi and the BoDeans.
Contemporary also confirmed that the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion
has backed out of the July 29 Lollapalooza Festival, also at
Sandstone. No replacement has been named.
- Timothy Finn

Slime time
Nickelodeon didn't become the most popular kids' network - and
for that matter, one of cable's biggest channels - by being subtle.
So when the "U Pick Nick" live touring game show rolls into
Starlight Theater for performances at 5 p.m. today and Thursday,
expect a lot of pie throwing and "sliming" - that green liquid that
falls from heaven onto the head of its unlucky recipient.
Audience members at "U Pick Nick" will get to vote for which
games they want to see played, and contestants will be chosen from
the crowd.
It's part of Starlight's new series of programs aimed at kids,
and your $ 5.55 ticket is good for a dollar off at the Kansas City Zoo
and at its IMAX theater. Call 363-7827.
- Aaron Barnhart

TV covers aftermath from boxing incident completely

For the fans inside the MGM Grand Hotel arena Saturday night, the
Evander Holyfield-Mike Tyson rematch may have more or less ended with
round three. But for the fans who had shelled out $ 50 to watch
Tyson-Holyfield II at home, the show was just beginning.
In the minutes after Tyson was disqualified for biting both of
Holyfield's ears, pay-per-viewers heard from the principals involved
in the fiasco, got a full and fair presentation of all the relevant
facts and experienced at least a taste of the fury that was working
its way out of the ring and throughout the hotel that evening.
Television's challenge was to tell this story in the moments
after the fight, the time when emotions were running high and people
were most likely to say the first thing that came to their minds -
that is, how they really felt.
The challenge was especially great in this case, because reality
has a funny way of disappearing beneath the layers of obfuscation,
contrivance and self-aggrandizement generously slathered by the
sport's most dominant promoter (and Tyson backer), Don King.
Yet thanks to some superb camera and microphone work by Showtime
Networks and remarkably gusty post-fight interviews by NBC reporter
Jim Gray, the story was out there before King could exercise any
editorial control over it.
Gray practically ordered King on camera to go into Tyson's
dressing room and produce the disgraced boxer before the pay-per-view
telecast ended. Minutes later, sweat pouring down his face, Gray
pressed Tyson to explain his bizarre actions.
"He butted me in the first round, and then he butted me again
the second round," said Tyson, growing visibly more agitated by the
moment. "No one warned him, no one took any points away from him.
"What am I supposed to do? This is my career. I can't keep
getting butted like this. I've got children to raise. I've got to
retaliate."
Tyson and his handlers tried, foolishly, to paint Holyfield as a
sissy for howling in pain after each bite from Tyson.
"Holyfield's not the tough warrior he says he is," Tyson told
Gray. "He got one nick and didn't want to fight."
When Gray pointed out that it was referee Mills Lane, not
Holyfield, who wanted the fight stopped, Tyson denied it angrily. He
was quickly seconded by his co-manager John Horne, whose explosive
exchange with Gray minutes earlier will go down as one of the most
spellbinding moments in sports TV this year.
"Don't put nothin' on Mills! " he barked at Gray.
But Gray already had interviewed the no-nonsense referee in the
ring, and viewers had seen a super-slo-mo replay of the head butt,
which all but vindicated Lane's decision to call it accidental. When
Gray tried to rebut Tyson, the fighter stormed off, and Gray was
warned not to follow.
With his Don Knotts demeanor and bland nasal announcing voice,
Gray is hardly a compelling TV presence. Fans know him mainly from
NBC Sports, where he is heard, not seen, reporting tidbits from the
sidelines of NBA games.
But Gray's measured perseverance was exactly what the chaos of
the moment required.
Showtime's cameras caught Tyson clashing with security guards in
the ring, and a cameraman was mowed down by the fast-moving scrum
formed by Tyson and his entourage as they hurried from the arena,
dodging objects thrown by angry spectators.
The rest of the post-fight analysis, with few exceptions, simply
could not sustain the flame lit by Gray's uncompromising interviews.
Typical was the bombast of fight announcer Steve Albert, whose
brother Marv happens to be facing charges of using his own choppers
in a felonious manner.
"This was an inexcusable, despicable, illegal exhibition by Mike
Tyson," Albert said to Muhammad Ali's former trainer, Ferdie
Pacheco. "What do you think, Ferdie?"
And as news of the debacle began to spill out into the media
mainstream, the ferocity of Tyson's action was obscured by endless
discussion over the fates of Tyson, Holyfield and the sport itself.
Appearing the next morning on ESPN's "The Sports Reporters,"
William C. Rhoden of The New York Times said: "I realized Mike Tyson
is no longer good for boxing. More important, boxing's no longer good
for Mike Tyson."
To which ABC's Dick Schaap added, "The question after last night
is whether boxing is good for anybody."
Showtime estimated Monday that the fight, which was seen in 110
countries, reached a record 1.8 million homes in the United States,
eclipsing the pay-per-view record of 1.6 million for Tyson-Holyfield
I.