THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, April 27, 1996 TAG: 9604250028
SECTION: TELEVISION WEEK PAGE: 01 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LARRY BONKO, TELEVISION COLUMNIST
LENGTH: Medium: 70 lines
GOT A CALL from Nancy Thierry, a reader in Virginia Beach, who asks what's become of Karen Sillas, the blonde, brooding star of the late CBS film noir cop series, ``Under Suspicion.''
Sillas is working again, Nancy. She's back on the tube.
She co-stars with William Peterson and Larry Drake in the two-part NBC miniseries ``The Beast,'' which starts Sunday at 9 p.m. and launches the May ratings sweeps. ``The Beast'' is ``Jaws'' all over again. Substitute a giant squid for the great white shark. ``The Beast'' concludes Monday at 9 p.m.
The dialogue in ``The Beast'' includes this line: ``Get out of the water!''
Now where have you heard that before?
Sea beast threatens tourist trade!
Sound familiar?
It should.
``The Beast'' is based on a novel by Peter Benchley, who scared everyone out of the water with ``Jaws.''
Early on in ``The Beast,'' you'll learn that the squid (architeuthis dux) has risen from the ocean depths to wrap its eight sucker-lined arms around seven human victims. Sillas is cast as a Coast Guard lieutenant who looks great in blues.
So-so escapism.
Elsewhere in the TV wonderland in the week to come, the fX cable channel begins a new series Monday at 3:30 p.m. called ``Fix It.'' The title tells all. It's a home-repair show co-hosted by Jeff Probst and Kat Reimonn.
As is generally the case on PBS, the week ahead is a feast of entertainment. On Wednesday night at 8, Luciano Pavarotti stars in ``Pavarotti Plus!'' in the seventh edition of the ``Live from Lincoln Center'' series. Be prepared for arias, duets, trios and quartets celebrating the works of Verdi, Puccini, Mozart and Rossini.
Also on PBS and WHRO in the week to come is ``Who Plays God? Medicine, Money and Ethics in American Health Care'' airing Friday at 9 p.m. Ethical questions pop up here about continued care of the very sick, very young and very old and those seriously injured in accidents. PBS humanizes the dilemmas by focusing on five families in a health-care crisis.
On Tuesday at 9 p.m., public broadcasting affiliates have scheduled ``The Pilgrimage of Jesse Jackson'' in the ``Frontline'' series. This is not puffery, however. ``Frontline'' suggests that Jackson is no longer the civil rights leader he was once.
Starting Monday at 4:30 and 7:30 p.m., MTV devotes an entire week to ``MTV News Unfiltered,'' the novel program in which MTV's viewers report the news. From this show we have learned that police often harass skateboarders (shocking!) and that young people hate it when places such as the Virginia Beach Oceanfront limit cruising.
Also, The Learning Channel on Wednesday explores S-E-X in two shows starting at 10 p.m., ``Sex Talk: Desire'' followed by ``Ultra-science: Sex Appeal.'' Yeah, sex appeal is for sale these days. But are sexy clothes, fancy cars and perfumes a guarantee to attract the opposite sex?. . . Like ``Mad About You,'' the NBC sitcom that isn't quite as good as it used to be? If so, catch E! Entertainment Television Sunday at 9 p.m. for ``Inside `Mad About You.' ''. . . Mad about Kenny Rogers, late of the Houston housing projects, late of the First Edition, the man who sings about gamblers, islands in the stream and Lucille? Catch the Nashville Network Thursday night at 8 for ``The Life and Times of Kenny Rogers.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
Larry Drake, left, Karen Killas and William Petersen...
by CNB