THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, July 20, 1996 TAG: 9607180040
SECTION: TELEVISION WEEK PAGE: 1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LARRY BONKO, TELEVISION COLUMNIST
DATELINE: PASADENA, CALIF. LENGTH: 82 lines
IT'S SHAPING UP to be a marathon both on the athletic fields of Atlanta and in the nation's easy chairs as the Summer Olympic Games get revved up.
NBC will present 171 1/2 hours of air time through Aug. 4, when the Olympic flame is snuffed out.
But the network told reporters at the semi-annual gathering of the Television Critics Association that the event will be easier than ever on TV viewers.
They've tweaked their coverage with gizmos like the Dive Cam - which gives a whole new look to the business of arching into a pool. They've promised slower slow-motion replays and better on-screen graphics and animation.
Best of all, it's all in primetime, since the games are in the United States. Most nights, the games will be broadcast from 7:30 p.m. until midnight, followed by late-night coverage from 12:41 a.m. until 2:11 a.m.
For those who can do without a full plate of synchronized swimming, there are other tasty bits on TV in the week to come.
With the hip, irreverent ``Politically Incorrect'' bound for ABC in November, the bosses at Comedy Central have been searching for a show to replace the network's most popular series.
The buzz is that ``The Daily Show'' will move into ``PI's'' 11 p.m. time slot when host Bill Maher carries that show to ABC to follow ``Nightline'' at 12:05 a.m. ``The Daily Show,'' unveiled for TV critics here last week, is a half-hour nightly news show with an attitude.
``The Daily Show'' premieres Monday at 11:30 p.m.
``Other TV news shows are old and stuffy and smell like your grandmother's house,'' said ``The Daily Show'' host Craig Kilborn. He promises a fresher, better-smelling series.
Look for Kilborn to spoof Hillary Clinton's recent bonding with the spirit of Eleanor Roosevelt. Bob Dole will get thrashed. Many others, too.
There will be ``Today in Hasselhoff History'' - milestones in the career of ``Baywatch'' creator and star David Hasselhoff, such as the day he got his first perm.
And there will be ``God Stuff,'' in which Joe Bob Briggs covers the highlights of the week's doings in televangelism. Watch out, Pat Robertson.
``I prefer irreverent humor,'' said Kilborn. ``Our writers like dark humor. Whether it's dark, sophomoric and maybe even a little sexist, we'll do it.''
Kilborn's name may ring a bell with viewers who watch ESPN's ``SportsCenter,'' because that has been his home for the past 2 1/2 years. Before that, he worked in TV sports in Georgia and California.
Now this - comedy with an edge.
How come?
``Even before I got into broadcasting sports, my head was in comedy. I took classes in comedy writing, performing. The whole thing. When I wasn't getting anywhere while performing comedy, I decided to get into local sports television in California. In Monterey.
``I've always had this plan to get back into entertainment and comedy. When the president of Comedy Central asked, I decided to leave ESPN, although they had offered me a nice, long-term deal.''
For as long as Maher is with Comedy Central, he will be the cable network's main man in covering presidential politics - ``inDecision 1996.'' Maher, along with correspondents Al Franken, Chris Rock and Arianna Huffington, will be in Chicago Aug. 26-29 to cover the Democratic National Convention.
Also from Comedy Central comes news that Michael Moore's ``TV Nation'' series, last seen on Fox, will appear on CC starting in December. These are repeats - 33 half-hour episodes that have been whittled out of Moore's ``TV Nation'' seen on Fox and NBC since 1994.
Elsewhere on TV in the week to come, A&E on Sunday at 8 p.m. and again on Monday night at 9 tells you everything you ever wanted to know (and more) about guns, from matchlock to wheel lock to flintlock to the Winchester rifle to the Kalashnikov assault weapon in the four-hour ``The Story of the Gun.''. who won over Hollywood when she was only 24. It's ``Grace Kelly: The American Princess.'' . . . The ``P.O.V.'' producers, who have delivered a good measure of creative, interesting documentaries this summer, do it again Tuesday at 10 p.m. (WHRO) with ``Just for the Ride.'' It's about cowgirls, including 76-year-old Fern Sawyer. . . . Also from PBS and WHRO: ``Julie Andrews: Back on Broadway,'' a repeat in the ``Great Performances'' series. It airs Wednesday night at 9. She's the entertainer who had the starch to turn down a Tony nomination because the Tony folk snubbed her Broadway mates in ``Victor/-Victoria.'' ILLUSTRATION: ASSOCIATED PRESS color photo
John Roethlisberger of Minneapolis dismounts from the high bar
during practice in Atlanta... by CNB