THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, August 3, 1996 TAG: 9607310100
SECTION: TELEVISION WEEK PAGE: 1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LARRY BONKO, TELEVISION COLUMNIST
LENGTH: 62 lines
WELL, HERE WE ARE, channel surfers, in that August valley between two towering peaks of the 1996 TV season - the Atlanta Olympics and the presidential nominating conventions.
What's a sofa spud to do until the first gavel falls in San Diego later this month? How does one handle withdrawal from the 171.5-hour Olympics' binge?
Take two aspirins and a heavy dose of cable, where summer isn't necessarily a vast desert of reruns. Upcoming in the week ahead:
That wonderfully decadent forensic psychologist played by Robbie Coltrane is back on A&E Tuesday at 9 p.m. in the latest two-hour film of the ``Cracker'' series: ``Cracker: Best Boys.'' Next to Fitz, Columbo is a neat freak. A 17-year-old boy is implicated in two murders. Fitz, who gambles, smokes and drinks too much, sees his rocky marriage gets even rockier.
Once upon a time, radio was more than shock jocks and time checks. It was programs. It was ``The Shadow,'' ``Suspense'' and ``The Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy Show.'' American Movie Classics recalls the era of The Big Broadcast in a nicely done original series, ``Remember WENN,'' which is about life at a struggling Pittsburgh station in the 1930s and 1940s. Check it out Saturday at 9 p.m. and 1 a.m. Then ask Gramps if that's the way he remembers TV without the pictures.
(AMC on Sunday, Aug. 10, at 4:30 p.m., launches ``AMC's Hollywood Report,'' which is expected to be ``Entertainment Tonight'' for the over-50 crowd).
Home Box Office, which signed on with stand-up comics and a polka festival more than a decade ago, isn't much for polkas these days. But the comics are still around on HBO, and none is better than Jeff Cesario. On Friday at midnight, he leads of the monthlong ``HBO Comedy Half-Hour'' series. Hear him debate the merits of broccoli vs. Cheet-os. The series was taped at the Fillmore in San Francisco, a citadel of 1960s' hippiedom.
It's been on TV before, but even the second and third time around, ``Survive the Savage Sea'' is still compelling. Based on a series of stories which ran in this newspaper, Robert Urich and Ali McGraw play parents who planned to sail around the world with their three sons. This film, set for The Family Channel Sunday at 7 p.m., is about how the family survived 38 days at sea after whales did in their sailboat.
It must be time for a new Kevin Costner flick to come out, because the ``Field of Dreams'' guy is popping up all over the tube. On Friday at 8:30 p.m., Costner is profiled by Eleanor Mondale on E! Entertainment Television's ``Kevin Costner Uncut.'' By gosh, there is a new Costner movie on the way - ``Tin Cup,'' in which he plays a golf pro. And he thought he met some sharks in ``Waterworld.''
After Costner gets to plug his movie, E! takes one last look back at the 1996 Olympics with ``Summer Games Fashion Review'' at 10 p.m. Joan and Melissa Rivers take on Spandex.
Dallas alert! No, not the old CBS series, which will be revived in a special next fall on CBS. This is Dallas as in Dallas Cowboys. Cowboy fans - and we are legion - can't wait to see the 'Pokes in a pre-season game on ABC Monday night at 8. It's Dallas vs. the Kansas City Chiefs in a dress rehearsal for next month's ``Monday Night Football,'' when the Dallas game will count in the standings. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by Granada
Robbie Coltrane, left, is back as forensic psychologist Cracker in
"Best Boys," airing at 9 p.m. Tuesday on A&E. by CNB