A 'Cause' gone all wrong

'Just Cause' Airs: 8 p.m. Sunday, Pax (Channel 50), with two-hour premiere, then moves to regular time of 8 p.m. Tuesdays Stars: Richard Thomas (see interview, F-7), Elizabeth Lackey, shown above Nutshell: Novel premise is wasted on sloppy legal drama. Any network that airs "Diagnosis Murder" reruns in prime time probably doesn't deserve to have its fall shows reviewed here. But I was intrigued by "Just Cause," in which a woman wrongly accused of fraud earns her law degree in prison, then solves cases while living in a halfway house. Alas, the two-hour pilot is filled with howlers: the absurdly obvious body-language clue, the ineptly forged note Encyclopedia Brown wouldn't waste his time on etc. The show's biggest embarrassment is Thomas, whose ridiculous portrayal of a snooty Harvard lawyer is all eye rolls and huffery. Thomas rode to fame as John Boy of "The Waltons," which debuted 30 years ago today; "Just Cause" reminds us that while television evolves with the public's tastes, its greatest stars often do not. To reach Aaron Barnhart, phone (816) 234-4790 or visit the TV Barn Web site at www.tvbarn.com. @ART:Photo (color) @ART CREDIT:Pax

Changes continue at KCTV as Reed Black departs

Another veteran reporter has suddenly hightailed it out of KCTV, Channel 5. Reed Black, who joined the station in December 1979, announced his resignation Tuesday and was out the door Thursday. Black, whose career began in Vietnam with the Armed Forces broadcast service, said he may decide to pursue "some work outside the world of broadcasting." The departure, so soon after the retirement of 29-year reporter Geri Gosa, has newsies around town buzzing about Channel 5. Station management has made no secret of its desire to make KCTV competitive again. Reporters are being pushed to do more live shots and make them more compelling. It was "all the changes," as Gosa put it, that persuaded her to leave. Black wouldn't say if he agreed with Gosa. But he did say he had been "exploring other opportunities" even before news director Regent Ducas came on board earlier this year. Although Channel 5 personnel have been known to unretire - perhaps you heard Stan Cramer filling in on the "61 Country" morning news recently - this could be the end to Black's broadcast career, which included time at KMBC, Channel 9; WIBW-TV in Topeka and Sunflower Cablevision in Lawrence; and KUDL-AM/FM, back when the stations occupied a cinderblock building "in a cornfield in Lenexa that's now an industrial park," Black said. "My co-workers are great folks and I'm going to miss them," he added, "but I'm not exactly going to fall off the side of the world." Even if you haven't noticed Black's departure, there's one change no Channel 5 viewer could have overlooked: the station's new set. The $300,000 indigo-colored studio, unveiled Sunday night, was designed by the same Ocala, Fla., firm that KCTV's owner, Des Moines-based Meredith Corp., has used in other markets. The set gives "KCTV 5 News" a permanent late-night feel, though Ducas said the point is to convey the station's "24/7" seriousness about news. KCTV's new big-number-5 logo, which made its debut one day earlier, is prominent across the set, as is the new slogan: "Live. Late-Breaking. Investigative." That's a fake newsroom you see behind the main anchor desk, with dozens of painted-on TV screens and tiny models of laptop computers. But the facade helps create a seamless design that connects the sports, weather and satellite anchor pods. Someone on one pod can converse with a person on another pod and the camera will get them both in the picture. In the business this is called a "relationship shot," and Ducas plans on using a lot of them. "It's much more personable, more comfortable for the viewer to watch," he said. Regional Emmys KCTV is spending money on news but not on entries for the regional Emmy Awards. Once again KCTV all but sat out the competition. KMBC, Channel 9, has 20 nominations - more than all other Kansas City broadcast stations combined. KSHB, Channel 41, picked up seven nominations, while Time Warner Cable's Metro Sports made a splash with five, as many as WDAF, Channel 4. Public TV's KCPT, Channel 19, picked up three and KCTV just one. The winners will be announced at an Oct. 19 ceremony in St. Louis. @ART CAPTION:Gosa; Cramer @ART:Photos (2)

An 'Affair' you can take to heart

'Family Affair' Airs: 7 tonight, WB (Channel 62). Stars: Tim Curry, Gary Cole, Caitlin Wachs, Sasha Pieterse, Jax Pinchak Nutshell: Amusing remake of 1960s sitcom in which swinging bachelor and English butler inherit three orphans. Given the fact that this show has (a) two pint-sized moppets who can barely get out their lines, (b) a laugh track and (c) Tim Curry in it, I was surprised how much I enjoyed it. My only question: Who exactly is supposed to be watching this show? The network calls it a "heartwarming family comedy," which I suppose is true if your last name is Osbourne, but the bad manners, language and sexual innuendo - however mild - in the one-hour pilot simply wouldn't go in many of the families I know. By the way, don't get too attached to Luke Benward, who plays Jody in tonight's pilot. He was replaced over the summer by Pinchak. The network decided to save money and not re-shoot the pilot with the new Jody. To reach Aaron Barnhart, phone (816) 234-4790 or visit the TV Barn Web site at www.tvbarn.com @ART CAPTION:Tim Curry @ART:Photo (color)

'Sopranos' season debut will pull you back in

When "The Sopranos" and its cast of dozens return this weekend, viewers will do well just to keep all the names and faces straight. As if it weren't enough getting reacquainted with television's favorite extended family after an extended layoff (16 months!), a fistful of new ideas is thrust into the show's fourth season opener, which airs at 8 p.m. Sunday on HBO. Of course, James Gandolfini's Tony Soprano remains the irresistible capo di cable, even if the show's writers lavish some of the best lines of the hour on the supporting cast. Odds are, however, that the catchword fans will take away from this episode will come from Tony's lips: "Conserve!" You'll know it when you hear it. Though "Sopranos" scenes are crowded with characters, Gandolfini breaks through the clutter every time. He's there even when he's not there. When his sister Janice (Aida Turturro) started coming onto one of his captains, for instance, my immediate thought was: What will Tony think of this? Such intrigues make "The Sopranos" special (after all, does anyone still ask, "What will Andy Sipowicz think of this?"). Fortunately, the show's creator, David Chase, seems to have spent his long hiatus finding new chinks in Tony's armor. Old plot devices like those panic attacks that were so debilitating to Tony early on have been pushed aside. One "Sopranos" staple I wish would get whacked is the writers' insistence on working current events into every episode. Webistics, that dot-com sensation, tanked with the rest of the market; instead, we now have Carmela (Edie Falco) badgering her husband to do more financial planning. She accuses Tony, not without reason, of squirreling the family's long-term savings inside a nearby mattress, "or wherever you put it - with zero growth!" It's a barely adequate bit of scene filler, that and a couple of casual invokings of 9/11, and none of it quite rings true. (A family with "no-work jobs" at their disposal is worried about the economy?) In next week's episode - conveniently scheduled opposite the "Sopranos"-free Emmy Awards - inklings emerge that Tony is about to meet his greatest nemesis since his mother, Livia, died. You may not even notice at first, but Tony's pangs of conscience are returning with a vengeance and taking on human form. Her name is Meadow. We already know that Tony is weak-kneed in parental matters (he once agreed to punish Meadow for being a really, really bad girl by taking away her credit card for two weeks). But this promises to be more than that. The seed, you'll recall, was planted at the end of last season with the murder of Meadow's ex-boyfriend Jackie Aprile. The residual tension between father and daughter over Jackie is going to set off a chain of explosions, ending with a family blowup next week. It's a tremendous scene, worthy of that other HBO heavyweight, "Six Feet Under," and it establishes Jamie-Lynn Sigler, who plays Meadow, as one of this show's major players. If the script writers take Meadow where I hope they do, she'll be able to get inside Tony's head in a way his shrink, Dr. Melfi (Lorraine Bracco), simply can't. Liberal education teaches the value of the examined life, and it seems that with each tuition check her father writes out, Meadow moves closer to discovering the source not only of her own pain but her father's. "The Sopranos" is not psychology class, of course. If anything, it's a seminar in advanced screenwriting. Watching Sunday's episode I was amazed how many characters passed effortlessly in and out of scenes: Furio, Artie, Patsy, Paulie, Adriana, Bobby, Silvio ... Chase has figured out how to keep his show percolating while moving the whole wild bunch of them toward whatever diabolical ending he has cooked up. Enjoy it while you can. Chase recently repeated his vow to close up shop after next season, which means that Sunday's episode will leave us with only 25 more visits to "The Sopranos." The quicker clicker "Late Night With Conan O'Brien," weekdays, Comedy Central. Talk shows are being unleashed from their moorings. Morning shows drift into early evening ("The View" repeats on A&E), night owls suddenly appear in the sunshine hours ("Last Call With Carson Daly" on E!), and now NBC offers "Late Night With Conan O'Brien" to the non-drowsy once again. (The network failed to interest CNBC's audience in Conan reruns a while back.) O'Brien and his show's goofy sophistication have remained remarkably consistent over the years. With repeats airing at noon and 6 p.m., now's a great time to discover late-night's best-kept secret, or get reacquainted. "Curb Your Enthusiasm," 9 p.m. Sunday, following "The Sopranos." Oh, yeah, that other HBO show is coming back this weekend, too. Larry David surprised everyone but his devoted viewership this summer when this gem got an Emmy nomination for Best Comedy. Though each episode doggedly follows the same template, the novelty of David's supposedly real-life qualities being ground into comedy hasn't worn off (though for his family's sake you hope that he isn't as obsessive, boorish and utterly corrupted by Hollywood as the guy on the show is). This week, Larry decides he absolutely must have this great shirt he saw - on a dead man. To reach Aaron Barnhart, phone (816) 234-4790 or visit the TV Barn Web site at www.tvbarn.com @ART CREDIT:BARRY WETCHER/HBO @ART CAPTION:A.J. (Robert Iler, left), Tony (James Gandolfini) and Carmela (Edie Falco) gather around the kitchen counter for family time. @ART CAPTION:Conan O'Brien's late-night show will be shown in repeats. @ART:Photos (2)

Take note

More 9/11 TV Some more special programming Wednesday in observance of the anniversary of the attacks on America: Time Warner Cable will carry NY1, the local news channel for New York City, Tuesday and Wednesday on Channel 55. Poet Maya Angelou will lend her commentary to a "National Geographic Today" special that reports on how the attacks affected middle Americans. Manhattan, Kan., will be one of four communities profiled in the program, airing at 6 and 9 p.m. on National Geographic Channel. "Nightline: UpClose" will re-air at 11:05 p.m. Wednesday a story about a construction worker who helped rebuild the Pentagon after losing his son in the attack. The piece was reported by Travis Fox, a Blue Valley North and University of Missouri graduate who recently won both Camera Person and Editor of the Year honors from the White House News Photographers' Association. - Aaron Barnhart/The Star 'KC Idol' "American Idol" finalists Kelly and Justin are so last week. Z-95.7 FM is looking for a "KC Idol." Open auditions are at 6 tonight at 4240 Blue Ridge Blvd. in the Blue Ridge Bank building (Blue Ridge exit off Interstate 70). "KC Idol" hopefuls, who can be any age and perform any kind of song, will get about a minute each. Ten to 15 semifinalists will be announced Tuesday on Z-95. The top five, as determined by listeners, will perform live before a concert by 3LW ("I Do") on Sunday (venue TBA). The ultimate "KC Idol" will get a recording session and have his or her song played on Z-95. For more information, visit the Web site: www.z957.net. - Tim Engle/The Star