THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, January 20, 1995 TAG: 9501190057
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: LARRY BONKO
DATELINE: LOS ANGELES LENGTH: Medium: 65 lines
HERE'S THE TV buzz from a city where stores selling earthquake essentials advertise, ``We have the gear to take when it starts to shake'':
It would have been great if the Virginia Beach company that produces the ``Archaeology'' series for The Learning Channel had won a second straight CableAce award at ceremonies the other night in Beverly Hills. But it was not to be for Tom Noughton and his gang, who work out of Oceanfront offices. A&E's ``Biography'' won for best documentary series instead.
That was a mighty competitive category.
Virginia Beach was not shut out of the awards, however. Far from it.
The Family Channel, with headquarters in Lynnhaven, won CableAce awards in two categories - for a series aimed at children 6 and younger, ``Madeline,'' and for a special also intended for children in that age group, ``The Tailor of Gloucester.''
The Family Channel also won for best animated special or series, ``The Tale of Tom Kitten and Jemima Puddle-duck.'' Take a bow, Virginia Beach.
With CBS affiliate WTKR in Norfolk aboard, Tom Snyder's ``Late Late Show,'' following David Letterman, is carried by 80 percent of the network's affiliates.
However, half those affiliates delay Snyder's show, some by a half hour, which is the case on Channel 3. Even Letterman, who has been on CBS since the summer of 1993 and is a ratings success at 11:35 p.m., has not been able to talk all the network stations into carrying him after the local late news.
Soon after talking to TV reporters here by satellite from Manhattan, Letterman told the producer of the Academy Awards telecast, Gil Cates, that he would accept Gates' offer to host the Oscar telecast on March 27.
From New York, Letterman sent this comment to TV writers here: ``We're changing the format this year. The whole show will be 40 minutes long, and we're giving away cars.''
You don't have to hang out in Hollywood or New York City to get work on network television. Look at actor Gary Morton of Norfolk, who is billed as Gary Wade Morton.
He's recently worked on episodes of ``Matlock'' for ABC and NBC's ``Homicide: Life on the Streets,'' which is shot in Baltimore. They're a thorough bunch, Morton said of the people who work on ``Homicide.'' He said a lot of research goes into the series.
Morton said he's not ready to trade the good life in Hampton Roads for the actors' treadmill out here or in New York City. Virtually everyone you meet in Southern California, from busboys to senior citizens, are actors waiting for their agents to call with work.
It's been months since Fox Broadcasting took delivery on a two-hour movie about O.J. Simpson's life. The early years.
But the network was reluctant to put the movie on the air while jurors in Simpson's homicide trial were being selected.
With that process ended and the jury in seclusion, Fox is free to put the Simpson story on in prime time. ``Now that the jury has been sequestered, we will decide on scheduling the movie,'' said Fox network president John Matoian. Fox has not released the film for review.
The Fox bosses continue to press their affiliates to start up local newscasts where there are none. That includes WTVZ in Norfolk, which is about to undergo a change in ownership. MEMO: Television Columnist Larry Bonko is in Los Angeles at the twice-yearly
Television Critics Association meeting. by CNB