THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, April 25, 1996 TAG: 9604250032
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LARRY BONKO, TELEVISION COLUMNIST
LENGTH: Long : 145 lines
SARA BELLOMY, a Virginia Beach reader who says she is really, really tired of reruns, called to ask if she'll ever see new episodes of ``Seinfeld'' and ``ER'' again.
You will indeed, Sara, starting tonight.
It's an all-new must-see-TV Thursday night on NBC. New ``Friends.'' New ``Seinfeld.'' New ``ER.''
On May 2, NBC puts on an hourlong ``Seinfeld.'' Also all-new.
Welcome to the bountiful May sweeps, Sara.
It's when virtually all network series programming is as fresh as the coffee in a can you just popped open. It's when WTKR seduces viewers into watching the 6 p.m. local news by offering a chance to win up to $10,000. It's also when the networks crank up specials and miniseries such as the following to keep you in your La-Z-Boy for hours and hours:
NBC on Sunday night at 9 begins ``The Beast,'' a two-part, four-hour TV event based on Peter Benchley's novel about a giant squid that emerges from the ocean depths to terrorize the people of a small coastal island. Just when you thought it was safe to go in the water, Benchley trots out ``Jaws'' again, this time with a menacing squid. NBC didn't intend for this to be campy fun but it came out that way.
The Aaron Spelling touch - successfully casting beautiful people doing bad things - is present in the CBS miniseries, ``A Season in Purgatory,'' which begins on May 5 at 9 p.m. Think of this as the Kennedys meet the Menendez family - filthy rich people who think they can get away with anything including murder.
It's not bad.
When you need someone to pump up the ratings, who you gonna call? Larry McMurtry, of course. He gave birth to the ``Lonesome Dove'' saga, which has evolved into a mini-TV industry.
Come May 13 at 8 p.m, ABC puts five more McMurtry hours in the saddle with ``Dead Man's Walk,'' which is about the early years of Woodrow Call, he of the big hat and limited vocabulary, and Gus McCrae. This starts when both men, not yet 20, enlist in the Texas Rangers to find adventure on the great plains. It's dusty escapism from Hallmark Entertainment.
McMurtry, when he met with TV writers in Los Angeles not long ago, said there may come a time when viewers say they've had it with the whole ``Lonesome Dove'' thing, but that time is not now.
He promises another story to come: ``Comanche Moon.'' Look for it during the sweeps in 1998 or 1999.
As for the May 1996, sweeps, after which local stations set their advertising rates for the next year, here's a sampling of what's coming in addition to the long-form programming from The Big Three:
Now that Gabrielle Carteris has lost her syndicated talk show, she has the time to return to ``Beverly Hills 90210'' for the two-hour season finale on May 22 at 8 p.m. Jennie Garth of ``Beverly Hills 90210,'' who is being menaced on that show by a deranged roommate, drifts into another Zip Code on April 29 for ``An Unfinished Affair'' on ABC. Garth plays a woman scorned out for revenge.
Throughout the May sweeps, ABC will be playing the maybe-they-will, maybe-they-won't-get-married game on ``Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman.'' Lois and Clark are engaged, and they do love each other, but on this Sunday's episode, there is a hint of trouble ahead as Lois sees her name-to-be in print for the first time, and doesn't like it. ``Lois Kent? Ugh!''
Also on ABC on ``NYPD Blue,'' labor pains begin on April 30 for Sylvia, who is about to have Andy's baby. A boy. You're there for the delivery.
Remember the ABC series in which Ken Wahl starred as FBI undercover operative Vinnie Terranova? The network revives ``Wiseguy'' on May 2 with a much-heavier Wahl in a two-hour movie about corrupt boy billionaires selling top-secret information to the Koreans. See Wahl foil a drive-by kidnapping at 100 miles an hour.
Heather Locklear on May 27 plunges into a role that is light years removed from high-fashion Amanda on ``Melrose Place'' when she plays a woman who is overwhelmed by multiple personalities. You see her dark roots! No glamour in ``Shattered Mind,'' but a darn nice performance by Locklear whose multiple personalities include wild woman Ginger, terrified youngster Bonnie and a suicidal Suzy.
Starting Sunday, CBS returns ``Murder, She Wrote'' to its rightful place on the schedule - Sunday nights at 8. (``Cybill'' now airs Monday at 9:30 p.m.) This is the last roundup for Jessica Fletcher and friends as CBS plays off the final four episodes of the series in which Jessica solved mysteries while serving as jury foreman, being left to die in a castle dungeon, surviving a turn in a women's prison and filling a seat in Congress. Also on CBS, Mandy Patinkin on April 29 returns to ``Chicago Hope'' as the brilliant but trying Dr. Jeffrey Geiger.
Also on the subject of series farewells, NBC has announced that ``Sisters'' concludes its run in May in a two-hour sendoff - a note for Pat Mathias in Portsmouth and other readers who have called to ask if ``Sisters'' is, indeed, going off. (My Infoline number is 640-5555, press 2486). ``The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air'' will be history on NBC after its hour-long episode on May 20.
The May sweeps mean cliffhangers - plot twists to hang on until the series comes back in the fall. On ``ER,'' will the caring Dr. Lewis lose custody of her niece to the baby's unstable mother, Chloe? Fox is hinting that at least one character on ``Melrose Place'' will not live to see another season. Who will it be? And there's a report out of CBS that Murphy, Corky and Frank walk away from their jobs on ``Murphy Brown.''
Sweeps also mean big-name guest stars. Tony Curtis drops in on ``Roseanne'' to flirt with Bev and Jackie. Also look for Darlene's wedding. Marlo Thomas appears on ``Friends'' as Rachel's mom. ``That Girl'' a mom! Priscilla Presley follows Loni Anderson as a big-name visitor to ``Melrose Place.''
Sweeps is for stunts, too. Jay Leno carries ``The Tonight Show'' to Chicago starting Monday.
And it wouldn't be a sweeps period without another ``All-New All-Star Censored Mega Bloopers'' (April 29 on NBC) or a Barbara Walters' celebrity interview special (May 1 on ABC). CBS on May 22 has the 23rd annual daytime Emmy awards show and the Miss Universe pageant on May 17.
So much to see. So little time. Thank heaven for VCRs.
Getting back to McMurtry, he said he doubts if audiences will ever tire of seeing drama set in the Old West. ``The experience of settling the West is epic. It took generations. It was thousands going against an unforgiving and unresponsive landscape. That's why people today are fascinated by that time.''
Just as fascinating: the frolics of the super wealthy, which is who ``A Season in Purgatory'' is all about. The NBC miniseries is based on Dominick Dunne's novel, and a good one it is, about the favorite son of the wealthy Bradley family who gets away with the murder of a young girl.
Dunne told TV writers that he based his novel on a case that happened 20 years ago in Connecticut. He said he was happy with the screenplay, which he had no hand in. ``The writer and director made cuts in the novel where they had to make cuts. It didn't hurt. I've seen the film and I'm ecstatic about it.''
Dunne had no time to do the screenplay. He attended every session of the O.J. Simpson trial, and from that experience will come another novel. For ``A Season in Purgatory,'' he borrowed from real life to create a ruthless defense lawyer named Valerie Sabbath, who comes off a lot like, well, you decide after you've watched Bonnie Bedelia in the role.
``In every book I do,'' said Dunne, ``Is the recurring theme that in nine cases out of 10, the defendant with the million-dollar lawyer is going to get an acquittal.'' In the NBC miniseries, Patrick Dempsey plays writer Harrison Burns, through whose eyes the saga of the Bradleys unfolds.
You get all of this in the May sweeps plus a little calamari served up by NBC. ILLUSTRATION: Color ABC Photos
Blair Brown and Brian Dennehy ....
David Arquette (left) and Jonny Lee Miller...
CBS photo
Sherilyn Fenn co-stars in ``A Season in Purgatory.''
by CNB