THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, October 9, 1995 TAG: 9510070039
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E2 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Larry Bonko
LENGTH: Medium: 73 lines
IT WAS A SCARY moment for us Philbinites, and we are many.
There was our hero, Regis Philbin, launching into his 9 a.m. chitchat with co-host Kathie Lee Gifford on WVEC the other morning when he complained about what he called a tightness - ``a weird feeling'' - in his chest.
Oh, no. Regis wasn't having another heart crisis thing, was he?
Anyone who watches the syndicated ``Live! With Regis & Kathie Lee'' - and that includes most of North America not at work at 9 in the morning - remembers January 1992 when Philbin developed intense chest pains while cruising off the Florida coast.
After the ship tied up in Miami, Philbin was hustled to a hospital where surgeons performed an angioplasty to free a blocked artery.
``As they prepped me, I began thinking that this could be it. Anything can happen in an operating room,'' Philbin writes in a new book, ``I'm Only One Man,'' from Hyperion.
When that tight feeling in his chest showed up last week, Philbin quickly found his doctor, Dr. Jeffrey Borer, and had a checkup at the exact hour the verdict in the O.J. Simpson trial was announced.
Reege is fine, I think. And O.J. is also feeling much better these days.
Television, a giant copier with pictures, has two shows going on in which the co-hosts try very hard to get us to like them as much as we like Philbin and Gifford.
WVEC in this market is stringing all three shows together on weekday mornings with the newly syndicated ``The George and Alana Show'' following ``Live!'' at 10, and ABC's ``Mike and Maty'' airing at 11.
Television by the twos.
After being exposed to the social misfits on other syndicated daytime programming, it's a relief to have ``Live! With Regis and Kathie Lee'' around to get the day started right. They make a big deal out of the fact that actress Shelley Long is a double Virgo.
I'll take that over an hour of people bragging about de-flowering virgins and cataloging their sexual conquests on ``Ricki.''
While I'm comfortable with Regis and Kathie Lee, and get all wrapped up in their personal lives, I doubt if I'll ever care a whit about Hamilton and his former wife, Alana.
Hamilton has 63 movies on his resume. He's no talk-show host, but he can act like one, faking sincerity. His former wife doesn't have that capacity.
On a recent show, Hamilton told about his 85-year-old mother in Florida who, upon seeing the show, suggested that George start saving his money. Mom can see the cancellation order coming from Palm Beach.
Isn't it tasteless to put two people on the same show who were once married, and then encourage them to talk about what split the marriage?
``We had the most amicable divorce that any two people could have,'' said Stewart not long ago.
``But we still don't agree on anything.''
If that were only true, there would be a little charge, a glob of energy in their show. As it is now, this hour is a flat 60 minutes about the lavish Southern California lifestyle that both share. What's to argue about?
I get the feeling that George and Alana are doing the show to impress their friends in Beverly Hills. Hamilton is threatening to marry Stewart again as a stunt during rating sweeps.
It may take that to save this show.
``Mike and Maty'' with Michael Burger and Maty Monfort is a conventional TV magazine with a little extra in that Monfort is a Latino who brings a sophisticated, continental touch to the show. She looked great the other day, all dolled up like a Las Vegas showgirl.
I like her. She has zip.
Burger? A bore. A couch potoato's worse nightmare is having Regis and Kathie Lee replaced by Burger and Stewart. by CNB