Country music joins The Mix atop KC radio

And the hits just kept coming for KMXV-FM (93.3) as it won the Kansas City radio ratings derby for the second quarter in a row. "The Mix" finished No. 1 in the Arbitron summer book despite a strong challenge from album rocker KQRC-FM (98.9). "The Rock" was tops in the Monday-Friday ratings, but "The Mix" had strong weekend ratings and by far the highest cumulative audience. After Kansas City's country stations swooned in the spring quarter ratings, Bob Zuroweste, who manages eight stations for Entercom including "The Rock" and WDAF-AM (610), told this column that country would be back. Well, country is back, but perhaps not as Zuroweste might have hoped. "Young Country" KBEQ-FM (104.3), which like "The Mix" is owned by Entercom's chief rival CBS-Infinity, rocketed from 10th to third overall. Shotgun Jeff Jaxon's afternoon show leaped from ninth to second, and morning man Randy Miller upped his ratings from fifth to third. Meanwhile, WDAF remained in fourth place. But there was consolation for Entercom. After being knocked out of the top spot in mornings this spring for the first time in memory, WDAF's David Lawrence returned to No. 1, edging out "The Rock's" Johnny Dare and Murphy Wells. "The Mix's" Kelly Urich was No. 1 in afternoons. Overall, 31.7 percent of listeners were tuned to Entercom-owned stations, while 22.5 percent were listening to CBS-Infinity stations. Complete summer radio ratings are posted on www.tvbarn.com. The Bliss rules You have to wonder at the inconsistent standards that led CBS to discipline former WDAF, Channel 4 news anchor Katherine Bliss this week for appearing in a testimonial ad for a Kansas City eye clinic. The ad, which first appeared in the Oct. 17 Star, featured Bliss, now an anchor at the Windy City's CBS-owned station, and included quotes attributed to her that praised the clinic's laser surgery. Bliss, who says she didn't receive payment for the ad and did it as a favor to a friend here, violated CBS policy on anchor propriety. That's right. CBS - the same company that allows Charles Osgood to preside over its "Sunday Morning" news program, while he hawks everything from FloNase to anti-snoring aids on his radio show - has a rule against anchor testimonials. CBS also allows the anchors on its two all-news radio stations to read commercials but not its TV anchors. And apparently not even in a market where the anchor no longer works. WGN drops WB WGN, the Chicago superstation carried on Kansas City cable systems, stopped airing programs from the WB network earlier this month. This means Kansas City viewers will no longer have a fallback channel for those nights when the local WB affiliate, KSMO, Channel 62, pre-empts WB shows to carry University of Kansas basketball games. WGN is owned by the Tribune Co., which also has a share in the WB. Tribune Co. originally agreed to carry the WB network so that cities that didn't have a local WB affiliate would be able to see its shows (WGN is seen in 48 million homes outside the Chicago area.) But with WB affiliates now in nearly all the 100 largest markets, WGN has agreed to become an independent station again. The locally pre-empted WB programs will air instead the following Sunday afternoon on Channel 62, according to Stu Powell, the regional director for Sinclair Broadcast Group, which oversees KSMO. To reach Aaron Barnhart, television writer for The Star, phone (816) 234-4790 or visit the TV Barn Web site at www.tvbarn.com

'Nightline' spends a week in prisons for women

Ted Koppel has long been fascinated by the American criminal justice system. It's easy to see why. Compare incarceration and execution rates in the United States with other Western nations, and the contrast is stark (some would say appallingly so). Beginning tonight, "ABC News Nightline" (12:05 a.m., Channel 9), which has extensively covered issues of crime and punishment in the past, begins a six-night investigation of America's singular achievement in locking up more women than any other country in the world. Not only that, Koppel asserts, women are the fastest-growing category of prisoner in the United States. But are America's prisons - built traditionally and predominantly to handle male offenders - adequate for women? Once again, Koppel has chosen to find out more by spending some quality time on location, in this case at the California Valley State Prison for Women in Chowchilla, Calif. (On a similar assignment a few years ago, Koppel spent the night at a North Carolina men's prison.) The six shows will air consecutively through next Friday. I've watched three and they show "Nightline" at its conscientious best. Koppel remains neutral on whether all of these women deserve to be behind bars - although he does keep bringing up, with some disdain in his voice, California's "three strikes" law that sends women to prison for life after three felony convictions. Rather, "Nightline" focuses on the conditions inside this women's prison - a 4-year-old facility that is already filled to nearly twice its supposed capacity - and lays bare how abysmal those conditions are. This raises two questions: If things are this bad here, how much worse are they at other women's prisons? And if so, are we doing these women a grave injustice sending them to these facilities in record numbers? In tonight's episode viewers learn 80 percent of the Chowchilla residents are there on drug-related offenses; 80 percent have been physically or sexually abused; 80 percent of them will be back in prison after release. We also learn about some of the differences between male and female prisoners, which will be drawn out on later nights. Next Tuesday's broadcast looks at the appalling state of health care inside the prison. One woman's breast cancer was allowed to metastasize because it took the prison's medical officers half a year to get her in for an examination. Also troubling is a pattern of sexual harassment by medical staff that, until "Nightline" began looking into it, had either not been reported to prison officials or was ignored by them. "The women here have been sentenced to forfeit their freedom," Koppel says. "Not their dignity, or their self-respect, or their health." The same, he need hardly have added, should apply to the nation's male prisoners as well. Just because you're not married to a county 4-H bread-baking champion (like I am) doesn't mean you have to miss out on the joys of creating your own loaves from scratch - without bread machines and without tears. Now you can invite a genuine Benedectine monk into your house on Saturdays and have him show you how. "Breaking Bread With Father Dominic," which debuts 10 a.m. Saturday on Channel 19, borrows from "The Frugal Gourmet" in its emphasis on the spirituality of creating wholesome things to eat. Despite the uncanny resemblance (see photo), Father Dominic is not my brother. >>>

Remote patrol

In hindsight, perhaps the WB network should've scheduled its first-ever awards show for a Friday night. "The WB Radio Music Awards" (7 p.m., Channel 62) will pre-empt one of the network's hottest shows, "Charmed," to bring us David Bowie, Garth Brooks, 'N Sync and a gaggle of flavor-of-the-month artists. Meanwhile, the WB's Friday lineup is hurting, with the promising cartoon "Mission Hill" already put on the shelf. >>>

Forecaster prepares for fight of his life

You don't have to tell a weather forecaster to take life one day at a time. KSHB-TV meteorologist Gary Lezak now has a sobering reminder of that truth when he wakes up in the morning. He is surviving cancer.

This summer Lezak was diagnosed with a rare form of bone cancer after he found a tumor the size of a large marble in his left arm. Doctors later determined Lezak's cancer to be especially virulent and prescribed an aggressive course of chemotherapy and radiation treatments.

Those treatments begin next week when, over the course of four or five days, Lezak will be intravenously fed several powerful chemical cocktails aimed at killing any cancer cells that might still be in his body. He will lose his hair, his immune defenses and as much as 30 pounds during the ordeal, but he plans to show up to work and do the weather on Channel 41 when he can. Once it is all over, he and his doctors are hopeful about the long-term forecast.

"This is insurance for me to be cured," said Lezak of the chemotherapy and radiation. "My attitude's pretty good, but some things I know are going to be pretty hard." KSHB is planning to reveal Lezak's cancer to viewers on its evening newscasts today. As his treatment progresses, Lezak said he will give brief updates on his condition, lest viewers become alarmed by his appearance.

Besides his baldness - Lezak does not plan to wear a toupee - he will begin to look noticeably gaunt from the weight loss. "Aside from the fact that people are going to be wondering where Gary is, letting people know what he's going through will hopefully spark some people to get a checkup that they might not otherwise," KSHB news director Laura Clark said. "I think it will also be helpful to Gary. We'd love to have him around."

The chemotherapy doses are so strong that the 37-year-old native Californian, who says he has never spent a night in a hospital, will be an inpatient for a week during every round of treatment. Lezak admits the thought of making himself that sick terrifies him. But, he adds quickly, it is comforting to know that he found the cancer early, in a place where it would have been hard for the tumor to hide.

Mysterious lump

Lezak had run across the lump in his left arm, just above the elbow, earlier this year. But it wasn't until an in-line skating accident in July in which he broke his right wrist that he had the lump checked.

"The third time I went in to get my cast replaced, I was concerned because I felt like the thing in my other arm was growing," said Lezak. "So I brought it to the doctor's attention, and I'm glad I did."

Like the wisps of a small tornado tucked inside a dense storm system, it took a specialist, and the right radar, to identify the tumor. That specialist was Howard Rosenthal of the Mid-America Sarcoma Institute, which operates through Trinity Lutheran Hospital and Menorah Medical Center. Rosenthal eventually diagnosed Lezak with a form of extraskeletal osteogenic sarcoma, a rare bone cancer that grows away from the skeleton.

Only about 450 new cases are reported each year in the United States, said Rosenthal, and it's not known why people get the disease. Until 1979, extraskeletal sarcomas were difficult to treat, and only about 17 percent of patients survived five years, according to Rosenthal. But the development of new chemotherapy and surgical treatments have made survivors out of the majority of patients.

Survival rates now range from 60 percent to 90 percent after five years. And because of the size, type and location of Lezak's tumor, his survival chances are very high, Rosenthal said. Most of these sarcomas occur in the thigh and are much larger than the 3-centimeter tumor removed from Lezak's arm last month. "The average size, in all honesty, is cantaloupe size," said Rosenthal. "I've taken them out when they're watermelon size."

Despite the early detection of Lezak's tumor, a panel of sarcoma specialists recommended radical therapy to go after any minute traces. 'It is difficult' Lezak said he was "very depressed" when he learned the results of the panel review. Then he called on KMBC anchor Larry Moore, who fought his own high-profile battle with cancer eight years ago. "His first question was, 'Is it very difficult? ' " recalled Moore. "That's the first question I usually get, and I've learned there's no sense in lying about it. It is difficult. It's the most challenging thing you'll go through in life. But you can get through it. You can have a quality of life, and I'm proof of it."

Besides early detection, Moore says there are two other keys to surviving cancer. One is getting second and third opinions from doctors, which will help a patient maintain "psychological stamina" under the rigors of treatment. The other is support - "from family, friends and faith," said Moore. "Without that, you can't make it."

Lezak will be getting a lot of support. His parents are coming into town to be with him during the first round of treatment, and, of course, he will has his faithful and famous companion, Windy.

"She'll be very good therapy for me," Lezak said. Even before his medical problems arose, this had been a high-profile year for Lezak. Yet he has only spent about three months of it on camera. He was obliged to sit on the sidelines for six months because of a noncompete clause in his contract with WDAF-TV, the station he left to take the lead forecaster's job at KSHB.

During that time, KSHB cleverly kept Lezak's name in play with a series of advertisements framed around his dog. Rosenthal and Moore say that going to work will help boost Lezak's spirits. Even now the weather is, as it has always been for Lezak, a welcome distraction. "When I'm working here, as we are today, thinking about this extremely long dry spell we're in, I can get away from thinking about it," said Lezak.

"That's all going to change next Monday. "But I've already decided that when I have a bad day, those are going to be good days. And when I have a good day, those will be the really great days." In the meantime, said Lezak, "I would like to have as much support as I can. I think the more positive energy I can get from outside and from family and friends, the better I will feel."

New on the tube TV critic Aaron Barnhart rates tonight's show

The Barnhart scale, from best to worst: Don't Miss, Has Potential, Needs Show Doctor, D.O.A. (Dead on Arrival). D.O.A. "Time of Your Life" This dreadful, brain-damaged vehicle for "Party of Five" star Jennifer Love Hewitt tries to turn her into the next Ally McBeal - and fails spectacularly. Laden with idiotic banter and absurd story turns, this show, which already has been overhauled once (hence the late starting date), now seems unsalvageable. Hewitt blows into New York and immediately begins blabbing to anyone who will listen to her story about searching for identity and meaning and her unknown father. The first stranger she tells this to is a foreigner; he thinks she wants to have sex with him. I guess that's supposed to be funny. In "Ally McBeal" style, Hewitt walks into a men's room to confront the man she thinks is her dad; in another, she fakes being a cabaret singer to get into a fancy ball. And meanwhile, she just keeps blurting out whatever's on her mind. I guess this is supposed to establish Hewitt's character as irrepressible. Irritating is the better word for it. At one point she says, "I'm sorry, this is very inappropriate and embarrassing," as though summing up this whole sorry program. (7 p.m. Mondays, Channel 4) For full coverage of the fall season, visit the TV Barn Web site www.tvbarn.com

Fifty years ago tonight, WDAF flickered to life in Kansas City

In the fall of 1948 the board of the Kansas City Star Co. met to decide whether to apply for a government permit to build the area's first television station. Today TV stations are some of the most profitable entities on Earth - but Kansas Citians were almost made to wait four more years for their first glimpse of TV because The Star's board wasn't sure it was worth the risk.

They left it up to Roy A. Roberts, the cigar-chomping, larger-than-life editor of the paper, to break a 3-3 deadlock. Roberts cast his vote for TV - not, he insisted, because the station would make a lot of money, although Roberts guessed it would, but because it might "contribute to the good of our community."

And with that lofty ostensible purpose, WDAF, Channel 4, was born. In the time that has passed since Channel 4 began broadcasting - it signed on 50 years ago tonight - those two objectives, to serve the community and to make a profit, have proven a durable pair.

The Star obtained its permit to operate a TV station on Sept. 29, 1948, and then caught a lucky break: A few weeks later, the government stopped handing out television permits because it thought too many were being issued too fast. There wasn't another permit granted until 1953. To make sure its investment paid off, The Star began to beat the drum for television in its pages, extolling the new medium as "a free pass to everything" the wide world had to offer.

As the sign-on date approached, the newspaper held TV demonstrations at the 1949 state fairs in Kansas and Missouri. In September, more than 90,000 curious visitors went through the turnstiles at Municipal Auditorium to see themselves on closed-circuit TV. Dozens of appliance and drug stores began to take out ads in The Star. "It's a Honey for the Money! " declared a Katz Drug Co. ad about the 7-inch Philco TV set it was selling for $ 139.95 (about $ 975 in today's dollars). Another ad touted "Motorola's Thrilling New 9TV1," which had a roomy 8 1/2-inch screen and such simple controls that "a child can tune in a perfect picture without difficulty!"

If the picture tube was tiny by today's standards, the equipment behind it was gargantuan. WDAF's transmitter was eight cabinets long and was powered by vacuum tubes that gave off so much heat the unit had to be water-cooled. By 6 p.m. on Oct. 16, 1949, when chief engineer Joe Flaherty Sr. pushed a big red button to turn on Channel 4's transmitter, 7,500 area households had put down the equivalent of several paychecks to watch that first broadcast from their living rooms. Tens of thousands more Kansas Citians huddled in front of display models at stores that night.

At 6:02, seated in front of garish green drapes and yellow blinds - a color scheme that looked good in black and white - Roberts welcomed the viewers to WDAF. "Television is something different from the movies, the radio, the theater and everything else," Roberts said. "I think television can do things the rest of them have not considered. And I can assure you that you will get the best there is to offer now, and what's better as it comes along."

Well, perhaps. As Roberts spoke, the station's program director, Bill Bates, was struggling to find enough programming even to fill a 4-hour broadcast day. NBC's network cable was still 151 miles east of Kansas City, and wouldn't be extended to WDAF for almost another year. So Bates was left with local programming - which was bulky and expensive to produce - and films, which were nearly impossible to acquire, since most Hollywood studios refused to negotiate with their new rivals. That left Bates to sort through countless ragtag film offerings that had less-than-marquee value. One of them, a series of re-edited "Hopalong Cassidy" features, was a huge hit.

The station turned a Packard hearse into its first mobile unit, with a camera platform on the roof. The hearse was later replaced by a big gray truck that was known as the "Cosa Nostra" because, as former WDAF general manager Bob Wormington said, "It was always going someplace it wasn't supposed to. " (The mobile unit once arrived at the scene of a bank robbery before the police did.)

But much of the evening news was shot on film by the station's roving photographers. On a hot summer's day in 1951 they captured one of the most riveting images seen on WDAF or any other station at that time: a grisly oil-tanker explosion on Southwest Boulevard. Channel 4 also carried live coverage of the flood of 1951.

Viewership grew exponentially, from 50,000 TV-equipped homes in 1950 to 340,000 homes in 1954. WDAF became almost instantly profitable for The Star. But the newspaper would eventually relinquish control of WDAF. In June 1952, the Justice Department opened its probe into antitrust violations at The Star. The government's law enforcers were trained on the newspaper's advertising practices but they were also interested in the company's grip on the local airwaves. It would be six years before the investigation, criminal trial and divestiture were complete, but on May 28, 1958, Roberts appeared on WDAF again, this time to formally announce the transfer of the station to the National Theaters chain. The new owners, said Roberts with emotion in his voice, had pledged to keep WDAF "in the hands of people who had Kansas City interests at heart. " ( The Star recently filed a motion in federal court asking to have parts of the consent decree loosened.)

Two corporate owners came and went. James Schmidt, an engineer at the station from sign-on until 1983, said that when videotape first came on the market in 1959, National Theaters immediately approved the purchase of a room-sized Ampex tape machine. But things changed when Taft Broadcasting of Cincinnati bought the stations in 1964. Taft slashed costs, getting rid of much of the news staff and retiring the mobile unit. At one point, government regulators criticized WDAF for running more television commercials than any other station in the country. Taft eventually dumped its profit-maximizing strategy, but not before WDAF's newscasts had plummeted to third in the ratings. What had taken 20 years to build up required only a few years to unravel, and Channel 4 would spend most of the 1970s reversing its fortunes.

The station rose again as a new generation of on-air talent and managers reasserted WDAF as a local broadcaster and not simply another asset in an out-of-town company's portfolio. In recent years Channel 4 has returned, in a way, to the origins of its early success in Kansas City. The station now produces more than 45 hours per week of local programming. It is no longer the top-rated broadcaster in town, which may owe much to its switching from NBC to Fox in 1994. But its commitment to news is seen by some as a major reason WDAF is adding viewers at a time when many TV stations are losing them.

The biggest changes to affect WDAF in recent years, however, have largely been beyond the station's control. Cable TV gave viewers 20 reasons not to watch local stations, a number that eventually would grow to more than 200 choices. And not even the local market belonged entirely to the big three stations: Channel 41 arrived in 1970, followed later by channels 50, 62, 38 and 29. Perhaps the most dramatic shift in viewing habits is still on the horizon.

In the next decade, WDAF and all the other stations in Kansas City will be required to broadcast digitally. Digital TV will allow WDAF to carve up its signal into four or more separate channels and to air programs in rich, high-definition video with CD-quality sound. WDAF's general manager, Stan Knott, points out that Channel 4's current owner, Fox Television, also owns the Fox News Channel, Fox Sports Net and the FX channel. Why not use those three or four extra signals to transmit Fox's cable networks and give Time Warner Cable a run for its money?

"If we offer an attractive alternative to cable, I think people will switch," said Knott, who points to the success of satellite TV in recent years as proof.

50 Years at WDAF-TV

1949 - Roy Roberts, editor of The Kansas City Star, welcomes viewers to WDAF-TV at 6:02 p.m. on Oct. 16. At 7:30, Randall Jessee reads the news. Nightly sign-off is 10 p.m.

1950 - WDAF airs its first live network telecast, thanks to a new coaxial cable from AT&T.

1952 - "Uncle Frank" Feeley hosts WDAF's first children's program, sponsored by Fritos.

1958 - The Justice Department forces The Star to sell WDAF-AM and WDAF-TV. National Theaters pays $ 7.6 million for the stations.

1960 - The WDAF stations are sold again, to Transcontinent TV Corp. of New York, for $ 9.75 million.

1961 - WDAF-FM signs on the air. It will later become KYYS-FM.

1964 - Taft Broadcasting of Cincinnati buys seven stations, including WDAF-AM-FM-TV, from Transcontinent for a then-industry-record $ 26.9 million.

1981 - WDAF starts a trend by adding a 6 p.m. newscast to its existing 5 p.m. and 10 p.m. broadcasts.

1986 - WDAF is the first Kansas City TV station to broadcast in stereo.

1987 - Taft sells WDAF-AM-TV and KYYS-FM to Great American Communications, which later deals the radio stations to other buyers.

1993 - WDAF general manager Ed Piette leases a news chopper, ending a decade-old gentleman's agreement among Kansas City station managers to keep them out.

1994 - Taft sells WDAF and other stations to New World Communications Group for $ 360 million.

1994 - New World announces that Fox Television has paid it $ 500 million to switch the stations to Fox affiliates. WDAF ends its 72-year association with NBC.

1997 - WDAF and other New World stations are sold to Fox. WDAF-AM and KYYS-FM are bought by Entercom.

Sources: William H. Ryan, Rockhurst University; Broadcasting & Cable Yearbook

Fox's cop is no sure shot

Our TV critic Aaron Barnhart rates tonight's premiering show The Barnhart scale, from best to worst: Don't Miss, Has Potential, Needs Show Doctor, D.O.A. (Dead on Arrival). Needs Show Doctor "Ryan Caulfield: Year One" is a hybrid of a shopworn TV genre (the cop show) and this year's big program fad (the coming-of-age show). Ryan Caulfield is 19, he lives at home with his mom, and he's a rookie cop in Philadelphia. It's a real contest between Ryan (Sean Maher) and that rookie cop on "Third Watch" to see which one's dumber. But for unconventionality, this wins hands-down. You see, when Ryan's not getting shot at by urban punks, he has this other life with his suburban friends who went off to college. It makes for a couple of interesting scenes, but I don't see much of a future for Ryan's old pals. And running him through a few cliched police scenes doesn't make Ryan any more appealing a character. (7 p.m. Fridays, Channel 4) For full coverage of the fall season, visit the TV Barn Web site www.tvbarn.com

Remote patrol

"Dear America," a charming and surprisingly high-gloss series aimed at young girls, has a new episode at 6:30 p.m. on HBO. Following on the success of historical novels such as the "American Girls" series, "Dear America" tells the story tonight of Mary Driscoll (played by Laura Bertram), an 18-year-old Irish immigrant during her first months in her new country in 19th-century Massachusetts. As always, there's a social theme to the story; in Mary's case, it's the unsafe working conditions of the textile mill where she works long hours and endures abuse from others who look down on her status and, in particular, her ethnicity. Also tonight, Helen Baxendale returns to "Mystery! " (8 p.m., Channel 19) for another round as P.D. James' 20-something detective Cordelia Gray. This time, she's pregnant. >>>

Remote patrol

Of all the end-of-the-century specials airing this fall, "American Photography" (7 p.m., Channel 19) might actually be the one best suited to the period's arbitrary contours. It was on Feb. 1, 1900, that Eastman Kodak introduced the first mass-production camera, the "Brownie. " At this end of the century we are moments away from the mass availability of desktop video editing, which will make the moving image as portable as the still image in the average American home. This three-hour special looks at photography from several angles, as it were: technological (e.g., the halftone process that makes photos a staple of every newspaper and magazine), aesthetic (the move toward realism during World War II) and social (the triumphant arrival of Life magazine). By the half-century mark, photography's heyday is already passing as the nation buys up another new image box by the millions: the TV. >>>

Guy show makes this a good 'Strip'

>>> TV critic Aaron Barnhart rates tonight's premiering show The Barnhart scale, from best to worst: Don't Miss, Has Potential, Needs Show Doctor, D.O.A. (Dead on Arrival). DON'T MISS "The Strip" UPN wasn't supposed to unveil this action series from movie producer Joel Silver ("Die Hard" and "The Matrix," among other genre classics) until midseason. But when another series fell through, "The Strip" was pressed into service. Lucky for us, "The Strip," a derivative-as-heck buddy detective series that feels like the Vegas version of "Lethal Weapon," is the unexpected jewel of UPN. Sean Patrick Flanery and Guy Torry form one of those tried-and-true buddy teams; they're ex-cops who agree to be security hounds for a pockmarked casino mogul (Joe Viterelli). Naturally, they're not afraid to bend the rules to get things done. "The Strip" bursts out of the gate with a heart-pumping fight scene, then keeps the tempo going with surprisingly fresh banter and the obligatory things that go boom. And diversify this: Torry isn't just the best black actor to hit the airwaves this fall - a limited competition, that - he's the sensation of the season, from his nonstop mouth down to his $ 300 shoes. Parents please note, "The Strip" tolerates raw language, escort services and other vices that are virtues in Vegas. (8 p.m. Tuesdays, Channel 29) For full coverage of the fall season, visit the TV Barn Web site www.tvbarn.com

Remote patrol

"Sports Night" (8:30 p.m., Channel 9) welcomes William H. Macy, star of "Fargo" and "ER" and, it so happens, the husband of cast member Felicity Huffman. Macy plays "the ratings guy," a consultant hired by Isaac (Robert Guillaume) to improve ratings. He's much discussed, but seldom seen, in this episode; that will change in the weeks to come as he makes himself all too comfortable on set. Unfortunately, the introduction of a male guest star almost always means increased sexual tension, which means we're going to have to endure hours more dialogue between Dana (Huffman) and Casey (Peter Krause) about their so-called non-relationship. >>>

Remote patrol

I suspect corporate synergy was behind the newest installment of "Intimate Portrait" airing at 6 p.m. on Lifetime. The subject is lawyer-talk show host Star Jones, who is seen daily on ABC, which is owned by Walt Disney Co., which owns half of Lifetime. Fortunately, Jones has a great story to tell, and for the most part she's allowed to tell it in her own words; the ostensible narrator, soap opera queen Susan Lucci, is infrequently heard. Jones was raised by a single mom and relatives in North Carolina and New Jersey. At college she "fell in with the right groups," had a brush with death and then eased herself onto the celebrity escalator, going up. >>>

Ex-KSHB anchor claims Emmy

Laurie Roberts now knows what it feels like to be Cagney and/or Lacey: First she's taken off the air, then she wins an Emmy. Roberts, who was fired by KSHB, Channel 41, in August, was named Best Anchorperson last weekend at the annual St. Louis/Mid-America Region Emmy awards at a gala banquet in St. Louis. Channel 41 collected more Emmys (eight) than any other Kansas City station, marking the third year in a row that the 5-year-old news operation has made a strong showing. During that time the fourth-place newscast has gone through one news director, plenty of on-screen talent and even more behind-the-scenes turmoil. But with KSHB taking home more Emmys than KMBC, Channel 9 - in fact, more trophies than all other Kansas City stations combined - its competitors will have to admit that KSHB's scrappy news staff is building a tradition of excellence, not just winning through flukes of judging. Since the St. Louis area Emmys expanded to include Kansas City and markets in five other states in 1989, the St. Louis contingent has walked away with most of the hardware, and this year was no exception. But KMBC and KSHB won some of the night's most-cherished awards, none more delicious than Roberts winning for Best Anchor in absentia. A Channel 41 employee accepted the prize for Roberts, according to people attending. (Cheer up, Laurie - "Cagney & Lacey" was put back on the air after winning its Emmy.) KMBC took home the night's biggest prize for large-market newscast, beating out the St. Louis stations. And its much-honored newscast that aired the day of last year's West Bottoms fire added the Best Spot-News Emmy to its list of awards. KSHB won for a news series reported by Elizabeth Alex, photographed by James Massey and produced by Kim Kruger. Only Alex is still with the station; Massey jumped to Channel 9, and Kruger was let go during a budget crisis. Sally Moore's KSHB series on expired baby formula sold by area supermarkets won for investigative reporting (Massey, again, was the photographer). The prize Channel 41 may have been proudest to win was for journalistic enterprise. Alex's controversial series on environmental problems around the old Amoco refinery in Sugar Creek stirred up emotions but also riveted viewers and judges (Tom Christiansen, producer; Massey, photographer). Two of the three photography awards went to KMBC's Jason Rhodes and, yes, Massey (then of KSHB). Channel 9's news staff, led by its photographers, won Best Special for "A Day at the K," an unnarrated videologue of a typical Royals game at Kauffman Stadium. KMBC's Curt Rierson was honored for editing. KSHB's promotions staff took home three well-deserved Emmys. Those clever "Windy the Weather Dog" ads won for on-air promotion (Richard Eller, executive producer; Jeffrey Anderson, producer). Dave Simmons won the promotion producer's award, and the half-hour "Kansas City Crossroads" special on the 18th and Vine District won for documentary (Eller, Simmons and photographer and editor Doug Raines). KCPT, Channel 19's "Rare Visions and Roadside Revelations" was once again honored for performing arts (Randy Mason, Mike Murphy, producers; Don Mayberger, photographer). WDAF, Channel 4, and KCTV, Channel 5, which submitted relatively few entries to the competition, won no Emmys. Both stations cited budgetary constraints. To reach Aaron Barnhart, television writer for The Star, phone (816) 234-4790 or visit www.tvbarn.com

Join CNN on its 'Millennium' voyage

Even in the salad days of CNN, when Ted Turner's all-news venture was heavily in debt and cutting corners - hence its derisive early nickname, the "Chicken Noodle Network" - its creator wasn't afraid to spend money on projects he believed in. Turner innovated the high-concept, big-budget documentary series that would help revive the genre and give cable TV some of its first marquee productions. And since Turner likes to think big, it's not surprising that this fall CNN is taking a look back, not at the past century but the last 10 centuries. "Millennium," a spectacular, 10-hour voyage through a thousand years of world history, sets sail at 9 p.m. Sunday. It will air at 9 Sundays on CNN through Dec. 12. Narrated by Ben Kingsley, "Millennium" was put together by the same team behind "Cold War," last year's big-budget miniseries on CNN. I've complained before about other networks' specials on the 20th century, which emphasized American (and especially New York City) culture to the exclusion of others. Not so with this richly illustrated production that operates on the philosophy that it's better to leave a few lasting impressions than a hundred ethereal ones. Rather than trot frenetically around the world, century after century, "Millennium" chooses just five locations per 100 years (i.e., per hour) and tells their stories as representatives of that epoch. Even so, the approach racks up the miles: Sunday's installment on the 11th century visits China, a mercantile mecca that enchants all who visit it; Cordoba, Spain, then Europe's largest city and the intellectual capital of Islam; India, a lavishly appointed nation but one already sowing seeds of later discord; Japan, blissfully cut off from the rest of the world; and Jerusalem, where Crusaders marched. The viewer will pick up various details that set "Millennium" apart from run-of-the-mill cable documentaries. Computer animation is used frequently but, in most cases, elegantly. Scenes are re-created on location, and narratives are delivered on-screen by actors (often in period costumes), not just read into a microphone. Public TV should be so fortunate as to mount a similar effort on this scale. "Millennium" isn't the only item on Turner's docket this weekend. Experts have projected Oct. 12 as the date when Earth's population will reach 6 billion. That's a smaller count than many doomsday theorists in the past had forecast for the year 2000, but it's still high enough to warrant concern - or at least a documentary or two. Jane Fonda (a.k.a. Mrs. Ted Turner) is host of "People Count: Six Billion," a look at population's effect on the global environment, a pet issue of the Turners. The special, which features reports from Nepal, India, and Hollywood - guess which part Phyllis Diller is in - airs at 9 p.m. Saturday on CNN, repeating at midnight Sunday. It's also airing at 6:30 a.m. Saturday on TBS. PBS also has funded a special, "Six Billion and Beyond," with reports from families in six countries - three of them still experiencing explosive growth, three with flat or even negative population growth. But the Kansas City airing of "Six Billion and Beyond" is strictly a VCR special: 1 a.m. Friday night (Saturday morning) and again at 3 a.m. Saturday night (Sunday morning) on Channel 19. >>>

New on the tube

TV critic Aaron Barnhart rates tonight's shows The Barnhart scale, from best to worst: Don't Miss, Has Potential, Needs Show Doctor, D.O.A. (Dead on Arrival). DON'T MISS "Harsh Realm": "X-Files" creator Chris Carter is back with his third series for Fox. Unlike "Millennium," a bloody morality play that never emerged from the shadow of "The X-Files," this one stands firmly on its own footing - although you'll forgive Scott Bairstow's character if he isn't exactly sure where his feet are planted. Bairstow, an Army hero stationed at Fort Dix, is summoned one day by his superiors to take part in a top-secret virtual reality simulator called Harsh Realm. He is instantly transported to a world that at first looks exactly like Fort Dix. But soon he realizes he is in a parallel universe, one ravaged by war, swarming with human clones and dominated by a mystery man named Santiago - the Pinball Wizard of Harsh Realm. His object: take out Santiago. It won't be easy. Bairstow knows no one in Harsh Realm - even the people he thinks he knows are, at best, analogues of the people he left behind. Bairstow, best known for his turn on "Party of Five," is a credible, if predictably stiff, virtual-reality rookie. He gets help from D.B. Sweeney and Carter favorite Terry O'Quinn as Santiago. "X-Files" fans have been talking up this show, sight unseen, for months, based mainly on rumors and snippets from the set. But "Harsh Realm" may well validate all that hype. (8 p.m. Fridays, Channel 4) >>> NEEDS SHOW DOCTOR "Love & Money": This cynical romantic comedy recycles the "Dharma & Greg" concept, only this one takes place in Manhattan, involves a rich girl and a working-class boy and isn't nearly as endearing. It's nice to see David Ogden Stiers get some decent sitcom work after his embarrassing turn in "Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place. " Here he's the billionaire whose daughter gets cold feet and revives an old flame with the doorman's son. But other revivals are not as welcome: Swoosie Kurtz is unappealing as the drunken, sex-starved wife, and Brian Doyle-Murray plays an obnoxious lout as the doorman. As for the would-be couple (Brian Van Holt and Paget Brewster), they have all the sex appeal of two people in the park reading the newspaper. There's a pretty good gag involving an elevator alarm - but it doesn't come until next week's episode, by which time you've probably stopped watching. (7:30 p.m. Fridays, Channel 5) For full coverage of the fall season, visit the TV Barn Web site www.tvbarn.com

New on the tube

Our TV critic rates tonight's premiering show The Barnhart scale, from best to worst: Don't Miss, Has Potential, Needs Show Doctor, D.O.A. (Dead on Arrival). NEEDS SHOW DOCTOR "Wasteland" From Kevin Williamson, the creator of teen favorites "Scream" and "Dawson's Creek," comes a drama about remarkably jaded 20-somethings living in Manhattan. Dawnie (Marisa Coughlan) is the apparent leader of this uninspiring pack of mopes; she's all fired up to write her master's thesis on her fellow 20-somethings and their long march through a "wasteland" of bad relationships and unfulfilled careers. I've heard of anthropologists studying TV, but this may be the first time a TV show turned the tables. Unfortunately, Williamson feeds Dawnie some very dopey lines early in the first episode, and the rest of the hour is spent recovering from those first two scenes. None of the other lead characters grabs my attention; perhaps that will change when Jeffrey D. Sams, a late addition to the cast and its only African-American, shows up. Sams was terrific on "Cupid," last season's short-lived Thursday show. ABC hasn't had a hit on Thursdays in years, and clearly the network is hoping "Wasteland" can attract a large enough core of young viewers to make up for its overall ratings, which are expected to be low. >>>

Remote patrol

Well, it didn't take long for "Chicago Hope" (8 p.m., Channel 5) to morph into "The Practice" with doctors: On tonight's episode, not one, not two, but three bizarro characters are thrown into the mix. First there's the world renowned pediatric surgeon whose Tourette's syndrome makes him sound like Max Headroom. Then there's the impossibly eccentric stranger who wanders in with a shopping bag allegedly containing Einstein's brain (so far as we can tell, "Practice" fans, the eccentric's name is not George Vogelman). And then there's the woman who won't be content until she looks like Barbie - yes, as in the doll - and is convinced the Mattel starlet would've worn a DD-size bra. >>>

Interesting cast and concept carry 'Roswell'

Our TV critic rates tonight's premiering show The Barnhart scale, from best to worst: Don't Miss, Has Potential, Needs Show Doctor, D.O.A. (Dead on Arrival). Has potential "Roswell" So you're a hunky, tousle-haired (and, since this is network TV, fair-skinned) teen-ager in town. And there's this certain classmate at school who's caught your eye. Just one problem: While waitressing one day at the local cafe, she's accidentally shot dead in your presence. Fortunately, you're an alien, so you instantly call on your extraterrestrial powers to bring her back to life. That's the premise of "Roswell," the WB's latest teen drama, which has its premiere tonight. The story of three "E.T." babies abandoned by their parents and raised by humans - in of all places, the UFO capital of the world, Roswell, N.M. - this one won't win any plausibility awards. But paired with a proven WB hit in "Dawson's Creek" and blessed with one of the season's more interesting casts and concepts, "Roswell" won't have any trouble finding a home on Earth. For full coverage of the fall season, visit the TV Barn Web site www.tvbarn.com

Remote patrol

"Buffy the Vampire Slayer" (7 p.m., Channel 62) makes its "90210" transition tonight as Sarah Michelle Gellar and the gang begin their life after high school. Which in Buffy's case means a college that looks suspiciously like high school. And while she can leave those dopey teachers and study halls behind, there's no escaping the hounds of hell, who appear to have set up a fraternity of their own on campus. Also tonight, "Not Your Mother's Breast Cancer" (7 on Lifetime) looks at the changes in battling one of the best known - and still one of the most pernicious - killers of American women.

Dead guy show has life

>>> TV critic Aaron Barnhart rates tonight's show The Barnhart scale, from best to worst: Don't Miss, Has Potential, Needs Show Doctor, D.O.A. (Dead on Arrival). DON'T MISS "Angel" David Boreanaz, the vampire cursed with a human soul, wanders the desolate streets of L.A. in this spinoff of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer. " This is one of the fall's most anticipated debuts - and, I'm happy to say, one of the most impressive. And its success doesn't really have much to do with Boreanaz, who at times seems to be little more than eyebrow and pout. But his character Angel is intrinsically interesting, and with the move to Tinseltown you can just imagine the possibilities. A bloodsucker among bloodsuckers! But the humor in tonight's episode, at least, is muted by the show's moral seriousness: Boreanaz is out to atone for his sins by defending the human race against his fellow vamps. He's joined in his mission by, of all people, "Buffy" alumna Charisma Carpenter, who has also made the move to the City of Angel(s) and hasn't turned down the cattiness one notch. New on the scene is Glenn Quinn, as the charming sidekick who also has a tainted past - as well as an eerie ability to turn himself into a walking porcupine. (8 p.m. Tuesdays, Channel 62)>>>> D.O.A. "Shasta McNasty" Earlier this year, when I saw a five-minute preview of this show about three obnoxious 20-somethings, I thought "this isn't so bad. " What was I thinking??? Perhaps wisely, UPN didn't show TV critics a full episode in advance and chose to unfurl its freak flag last Thursday after "WWF Smackdown. " I never thought I'd see a show that made pro wrestling seem politically correct but "Shasta McNasty" is it. Written for 12-year-olds, this vehicle for Jake Busey, Gary's whacked-out kid, is relentlessly half-witted and cruel. And don't let the one black guy in the threesome fool you - "Shasta" embodies a diversity-free young white male viewpoint that UPN network is so obviously pandering to here. No thanks. (7:30 p.m., Channel 29, preceded by a special preview at 7) For full coverage of the fall season, visit the TV Barn Web site www.tvbarn.com