THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, October 22, 1995 TAG: 9510190207
SECTION: CAROLINA COAST PAGE: 18 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: John Harper
LENGTH: Long : 101 lines
STARTING Nov. l, F 2. Translation? New channels.
Offerings include The History Channel, The Cartoon Network, The Learning Channel, E! Entertainment Television and fxM Movies from Fox.
So, for the channel curious, here are brief descriptions of the new signals from Falcon Cable.
The History Channel
The advertising slogan is ``All of history. All in one place.'' And it uses Abraham Lincoln as its poster boy, so it has to be good. Some of the regular features include ``The Real West,'' hosted by Kenny Rogers, ``Year by Year,'' hosted by journalist Karen Stone, and ``History Alive,'' hosted by Roger Mudd.
Rogers' program explores some of America's most enduring myths and legends about the Old West - stuff like Buffalo Bill and Dodge City. Rogers doesn't sing or explain his long drought without a hit record, however.
The ``Year by Year'' program combines documentary newsreels and historic footage to define an important year in history. Mudd offers probing looks at events such as the launching of ``Nautilus'' and the search for Egyptian treasure.
The History Channel also offers historical mini-series and movies.
Cartoon Network
Just as the name implies, this network offers 24 hours of animation. ``The Flintstones,'' ``The Jetsons,'' ``Popeye,'' ``Tom and Jerry'' and other classic cartoon features join some newly hatched cartoons on the network.
The Hanna-Barbera stable is well represented with ``Yogi Bear,'' ``Huckleberry Hound,'' ``Deputy Dawg'' and ``Scooby Doo.''
One of the original cartoons is ``Space Ghost Coast to Coast,'' described by the network as ``the planet's only late-night talk show hosted by a cartoon superhero.'' Guests on the program have included Jim Carrey, Sandra Bernhard and REM's Michael Stipe.
And that's not all, folks. ``Bugs Bunny,'' ``Daffy Duck,'' ``Porky Pig'' and an assortment of other Looney Tunes characters are featured on the network.
The Learning Channel
You may need pen and paper while watching this channel. The Learning Channel is the place to turn if you've ever been curious about almost anything.
TLC offers six commercial-free, violence-free hours of children's programs every weekday morning.
For adults, TLC offers ``Great Books,'' a feature on timeless works of literature such as ``Alice in Wonderland'' and ``Huckleberry Finn.'' A number of ``how to'' features are also offered. Learn to cook and finish furniture, all in the same hour.
This is the network you want to be watching when a prospective love interest knocks at your door. There is nothing sexier than knowing how to prune a garden or cook Italian.
E! Entertainment Television
This network also offers loony tunes such as Howard Stern and David Letterman. Stern's show is a video version of his syndicated morning radio show. The Letterman shows are reruns from his early days at NBC.
One of the network's original shows is ``Talk Soup,'' a highlight program of the daily talk shows' greatest hits.
If Ricki Lake has dysfunctional Siamese twins on her show, chances are it will be on ``Talk Soup.'' Half the fun of watching this show is the firm tongue-in-cheek commentary of host John Henson. This is the show that launched Greg Kinnear's career.
Also on E! is the 1980s hit ``Hotel,'' often called ``'The Love Boat' on land.''
fxM: Movies from Fox
Some choice stuff here. Twentieth Century Fox opens its vaults to offer 60 years of movie making.
All movies are presented uncut and commercial free. The studio has been responsible for many of Hollywood's greatest successes in almost every genre of movie-making: westerns, musicals, thrillers, historical romances, social dramas and adventure epics.
Among the films that bear the Fox logo are ``The Grapes of Wrath,'' ``All About Eve,'' ``Star Wars,'' ``Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid'' and ``Hello Dolly.''
Between featured movies, fxM offers behind-the-scenes stories of Fox's films.
Falcon's new satellite package will run $5 a month after a free trial month. The services are available in all of Dare County, except Hatteras Island.
With the startup of the five new networks, Falcon now offers 45 channels, five premium channels and seven pay-per-view channels.
``This is a little above average for our size market,'' says Falcon Cable general manager Larry Ott, who joined the company in 1989.
Ott also says the cable system will debut an educational access channel (61) in December.
The channel will offer original programming generated by Dare County Schools and the College of The Albemarle. MEMO: John Harper covers entertainment for The Carolina Coast. Send comments
and questions to him at P.O. Box 10, Nags Head, N.C. 27959.
ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Roger Mudd
Hosts show on The History Channel.
by CNB