THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, January 28, 1996 TAG: 9601260113
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: LARRY BONKO
LENGTH: Medium: 83 lines
WELCOME BACK, Marcel.
Not long after the Super Bowl XXX post-game interviews conclude on NBC around 10 tonight, the long-tailed friend who pops Scrabble tiles like M&M's returns to ``Friends.''
Marcel the channel-changing monkey is back.
NBC, in hopes of holding many of the 135 million viewers expected to watch the blue-collar Pittsburgh Steelers face the Hollywood glitzy Dallas Cowboys, puts on a post-game hour of ``Friends.'' Just for good measure, a bit of stunt casting was thrown in.
Jean-Claude Van Damme, Brooke Shields, singer Chris Isaak and Julia Roberts join Marcel as guest stars in this 60-minute serving of ``Friends,'' which is really two 30-minute episodes stapled together.
``It'll be bigger in size and scope then a regular `Friends' episode,'' said co-executive producer Kevin S. Bright last week, during a meeting with TV writers in Los Angeles. ``Tonight we go one step beyond.''
With Dallas, ``America's Team,'' back in the Super Bowl for the third time in four years, NBC brass is anticipating something epic in viewership - like a 47 rating. (Last year's game pulled a 41.3 rating and a 62 share).
All 58 commercial breaks sold out for $1.2 million a pop.
Look for these famous faces pitching the beer and munchies: Jack Palance, Charlton Heston and Cindy Crawford.
Here's the deal on the second bananas joining Marcel on ``Friends'' tonight: The storyline revolves around the reunion of Ross (David Schwimmer) and Marcel in San Diego. Since they parted, Marcel has become a movie star in ``Outbreak,'' and is seen tonight doing the sequel called ``Outbreak II: A Virus Takes Manhattan.''
Van Damme stars in the movie within the TV show. Roberts, whom the gossip mags say is dating Matthew Perry of ``Friends,'' plays a makeup artist working on the movie.
``She plays it funny,'' said Bright.
And is Shields also funny? She's cast as an obsessed fan of the Matt LeBlanc character, who has landed a job on a soap opera after sleeping with the woman who produces the show. How is she in a sitcom?
``She was a little into silly land at first, but she eventually turned in a very funny performance,'' said Bright. Other twists to look for in upcoming episodes: Courteney Cox dates a character played by Tom Selleck. Rachel (Jennifer Aniston) and Ross again become an item.
``How it happens, and when and where, hasn't been decided,'' said Bright. ``We hear from our studio audiences, and from viewers sending regular mail and e-mail, that they want Ross and Rachel together again.''
It will happen. But not tonight. Tonight is Marcel's night.
In what has evolved into the biggest TV night of the year, cable channels hope to grab the attention of couch potatoes who don't know a punt from a pothole. A sampling of the special alternative programming:
For the seventh year, TBS puts on ``8 Great Hours of Andy,'' an Andy Griffith marathon that starts at 1:05 p.m. Fifteen episodes, including ``Barney's First Car'' and ``Opie the Birdman,'' are included.
At 7:30 p.m., MTV shows a ``Beavis & Butt-head'' halftime celebration. Comedy Central calls in Patsy and Edina off the bench for ``Absolutely Not the Super Bowl,'' which is eight episodes of ``Absolutely Fabulous'' starting at 4 p.m.
As for the game coverage, that will be long and deep with ESPN signing on at noon with ``ESPN NFL Gameday.'' ESPN is also scheduling a post-game program around 10:15 p.m. The game is scheduled to start at 6:16 p.m., but NBC will be on the air long before that with a pre-game show at 3:30.
That show will include a reel of football bloopers up for the Marv Albert Achievement Awards - the goofy stuff he shows to David Letterman. Otherwise, said NBC Sports president Dick Ebersol, ``it will be a show about the people who play football. Their lives. No rock bands. No sitcom stars in sketches.''
Who will sing the national anthem?
Vanessa Williams.
After that, the night belongs to the Steelers, Cowboys and Marcel. Why was Marcel dropped from ``Friends,'' anyhow?
No particular reason, said Bright. But he admits that at times the monkey was noisy, rowdy, hard to handle and raised a little hell - the same as the football players plan to do today in Tempe, Ariz., on the greenest grass NBC could find.
It was grown in Palm Springs, Calif., and carried by truck to Arizona. If this Super Bowl were scheduled for New Orleans, they'd call it Mardi Grass. by CNB