Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, December 25, 1993 TAG: 9401050166
SECTION: SPECTATOR PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOHN ENGSTROM SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
You'll never keep up without a scorecard. Here's some help:
\ New shows scheduled
``Birdland'' (ABC) - Brian Dennehy stars as a compassionate chief of psychiatry at a major metro hospital, bending the rules to work with his patients and gaining insight into their problems by recognizing his own failings and frailties. Will play Wednesdays 10-11 p.m., premiering Jan. 5.
"The Good Life'' (NBC) - Stand-up comedians John Caponera and Drew Carey star. Caponera plays a hard-working middle-class man who tries to cope with life in an increasingly irrational world. Previews Jan. 3; will play Tuesdays at 8:30 p.m. starting Jan. 4.
``Viper'' (NBC) - Dorian Harewood (``I'll Fly Away''), James McCaffrey and Joe Nipote star as a vigilante team that drives around in the Viper, a sports car that transforms from cruiser to steel-armored, high-tech pursuit vehicle. Takes place in the near future in a city terrorized by a criminal syndicate. Previews with a two-hour movie on Jan. 2; will air Fridays 8-9 p.m. starting Jan. 7.
``Monty'' (Fox) - Henry Winkler returns to weekly series comedy for the first time since his breakthrough as ``the Fonz'' on ``Happy Days.'' Here he plays a right-wing talk show host at odds with a liberal but loving family. Fox says it will be ``an outrageous new character.'' Previews Jan. 9 at 9:30 p.m.; will play Tuesdays at 8 p.m., starting Jan. 11.
``Burkes' Law'' (CBS) - The popular mystery drama from the '60s returns with star Gene Barry. Peter Barton joins the cast as Barry's son, a young homicide detective who works with his father, the chief of homicide. Will air Fridays 9-10 p.m., premiering Jan. 7.
Old shows returning
``Homicide: Life on the Street''o (NBC) - The critically praised, Emmy-winning police drama from last season returns for only four episodes. Premieres Jan. 6, in a story featuring Robin Williams as a guest star. Will air Thursdays at 10 p.m. through Jan. 27.
``Code 3'' (Fox) - This reality-based show, which aired from April 1991 until last July, returns with Gil Gerard as host for this series showing actual dramatic rescues. Will play Sundays 7-8 p.m. with back-to-back episodes, starting Jan. 2.
Old shows leaving
``Daddy Dearest'' (Fox) has been canceled. The show, starring stand-up comics Don Rickles and Richard Lewis, aired its final episode Dec. 12.
``Townsend Television'' (Fox) has been canceled. The variety show hosted by Robert Townsend will air its final program Sunday.
``Moon Over Miami'' (ABC) will go on hiatus after the Wednesday episode.
``The Second Half'' (NBC) went on hiatus after the Dec. 14 episode, the final of 12 originals shot for this season. A spokesman said the network has not decided whether to order nine more episodes to finish out the season.
Old shows getting a rest
``L.A. Law'' (NBC) will disappear in January while ``Homicide: Life on the Street'' airs in its Thursday time slot for four weeks. ``L.A. Law'' will return for February sweeps with enough new episodes stockpiled to carry it comfortably through May sweeps.
``Bob'' (CBS) was getting killed in the Friday-night ratings and last aired on Nov. 12. This latest Bob Newhart sitcom will make a one-night-only appearance with a new episode on Monday (9:30 p.m.) to test how it fares on Monday night. But it's not likely to return to the schedule regularly until March at the earliest. Whenever it comes back, don't look for it on Fridays.
``Bakersfield P.D.'' (Fox) will go on hiatus after its Jan. 4 episode. Fox says this critically praised quirky comedy, which got a full-season order, will return as a summer series, when it can get more promotion and maybe find an audience.
\ Old shows shifting
``Cafe Americain'' (NBC) will move from Saturdays to Tuesdays at 9:30 p.m., starting Jan. 4.
``Getting By'' (NBC) will move from Tuesdays to Saturdays at 8:30 p.m., starting Jan. 8.
Two CBS shows will switch time periods on Wednesday. ``The Nanny'' will move up to 8 p.m. and ``Hearts Afire'' will drop to 8:30.
New shows planned
CBS has announced details of six new shows - three dramas and three sitcoms - that are in production or development but have yet to make the schedule.
``Christy'' - Kellie Martin (``Life Goes On'') and Tyne Daly (``Cagney & Lacey'') star in the story of a 19-year-old woman (Martin) who leaves her sheltered city life in 1912 to teach at a mission school in the Tennessee highlands of Appalachia. Daly plays her strong-willed Quaker mentor.
``Down Home'' - Karen Allen, Ed Flanders (``St. Elsewhere''), Terence Knox (``Tour of Duty'') and Frances Sternhagen (``Stephen King's Golden Years'') star in this family drama. A couple and their kids return for another family vacation at the grandparents' house along the tide waters of North Carolina. But the family shrimp boat business is in trouble and the vacation is extended to help out.
``704 Hauser'' - From Norman Lear (``All in the Family''), the story of a black family living in the Queens house once occupied by Archie Bunker and family. The father is a liberal who named his son after Thurgood Marshall. The son is an ultra-conservative who counts Clarence Thomas as a hero and has a Jewish girlfriend.
``Tom'' - Tom Arnold stars as a working-class guy pursuing his dream of taking over the old family farm and building a dream house for his wife and kids. For now they live in a borrowed construction trailer, with a few cows and pigs hanging around.
``Muddling Through'' - Stephanie Hodge (``Nurses'') stars in this sitcom as a woman who returns to a dysfunctional family she hardly recognizes after she has spent three years in jail for accidentally shooting and wounding her two-timing husband, who, of course, is still hanging around.
by CNB