Virginian-Pilot


DATE: Thursday, June 5, 1997                TAG: 9706050069

SECTION: DAILY BREAK             PAGE: E1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: LARRY BONKO

                                            LENGTH:   91 lines




HELP ME DECIDE WHAT TO DO BETWEEN ``SEINFELD'' AND ``ER''?

I DON'T KNOW what to do with myself on Thursday night between 9:30 and 10 - between ``Seinfeld'' and ``ER.''

I welcome your suggestions.

Here's my dilemma: I could stick with NBC at 9:30 but I'm bored with ``Suddenly Susan,'' the sitcom that NBC has scheduled tonight between ``Seinfeld'' and ``ER.'' It will surely wither and die come September when NBC airs it at 8 p.m. opposite ``Cosby'' and ``Melrose Place'' on Monday night.

In the meantime, we're stuck with it on 9:30 p.m. Thursday. Brooke Shields, the star of ``Suddenly Susan,'' is a babe, but she doesn't have what it takes to carry a sitcom.

And who told Judd Nelson he could handle comedy?

What do I do with myself on a Thursday night between the time ``Seinfeld'' signs off and ``ER'' signs on? Even if I were interested in the programming on the other networks (``Moloney,'' ``Vital Signs,'' ``New York Undercover'') - and I am definitely not interested - how could I catch up with the action at 9:30?

They are 60-minute shows that begin at 9.

The Family Channel started to show ``Hawaii Five-O'' at 9, which is great, but the problem is the same. If I check in at 9:30, I'll have no idea what Steve and Danno are up to.

What do I do with myself between 9:30 and 10 on Thursday night?

Send in your suggestions.

To the reader with the best idea, I'll award an official ``Seinfeld'' yo-yo. It's day-glo pink. I'll also toss in an official ``Frasier'' Frisbee.

The second best suggestion gets an inflatable ``Mad About You'' beach ball. If you come in third, you win an official ``Friends'' cup cooler-warmer thing. Honorable mention is good for a bag of peanuts from ``Wings,'' which landed for good in May after 172 episodes.

Start thinking. The deadline is midnight June 22.

There are some things I manage to squeeze in between ``Seinfeld'' and ``ER'': walking the dog, taking a load of laundry out of the dryer, getting the trash together for Friday morning's curbside collection, and sticking address labels on the bills I plan to mail the next day.

There has to be something better than that.

If I stay in my La-Z-Boy between 9:30 and 10, surfing the channels, I generally sample ``Larry King Live'' on CNN and ``E! News Daily'' on E! Entertainment Television. But that's not much.

I can always catch up with King when CNN repeats his show at 2 a.m. If the guest is lousy, I don't bother. And ``E! News Daily'' doesn't hold my interest because they do too much behind-the-scenes moviemaking stuff.

I don't know about you, but I don't care to know how producer Steven Spielberg made fake dinosaurs look real. I want to be surprised when I see the movie.

At 9:30, I could drop in on the Major League Baseball games that Fox and Home Team Sports started running this season on Thursday nights. It's easy to get up to speed with these games because of the ``Fox Box,'' which is that little graphic in the left-hand corner that keeps track of the score.

Trouble is, I gave up on baseball after the Big Strike. I've been boycotting the sport of selfish players and owners who cut us out of a World Series in 1994. Baseball at 9:30 on a Thursday night? No thanks.

You probably have a better idea. Back in the fall of 1994, I had a similar problem with NBC's programming between 9:30 and 10 on a Thursday night. NBC slipped the dreadful ``Madman of the People'' in there. I cut off the TV until 10.

In the spring of 1995, life between 9:30 and 10 on NBC was beautiful. That's when the Peacock Network ran ``Friends'' at 9:30. Now there was a lineup - ``Seinfeld,'' ``Friends'' and ``ER.'' Must-see TV, indeed.

That troika didn't last long. NBC moved ``Friends'' to 8. Since then, NBC used the 9:30 to 10 timeslot to fling four mediocre shows (``Suddenly Susan,'' ``The Naked Truth'' ``Caroline in the City'' and ``Fired Up'') into orbit.

Three of those shows - ``Suddenly Susan,'' ``The Naked Truth'' and ``Fired Up'' - finished among primetime's top 10 shows in 1996-97. Such is the power of NBC's Thursday night lineup. All three, plus ``Caroline in the City,'' move to Monday night next fall.

Winning the Thursday night sweepstakes for next fall - bagging the choice timeslots after ``Friends'' at 8:30 and ``Seinfeld'' at 9:30 - are two new shows. At 8:30, it will be ``Union Square,'' and at 9:30 it will be ``Veronica's Closet'' with Kirstie Alley.

Maybe, just maybe, Alley's sitcom about the mail-order lingerie business will be good enough to hold my attention between ``Seinfeld'' and ``ER.'' It will probably be more TV trash, leaving my dilemma unresolved.

What do I do with myself on Thursday night between 9:30 and 10? You tell me. Write to The Pilot, 150 W. Brambleton Ave., Norfolk, Va. 23510 or send me a fax at 757-446-2963.

I used to brush my Siamese cat between 9:30 and 10 on Thursday night. He died when he reached 18. Now I'm lost. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo

NBC

Television critic Larry Bonko needs your help to avoid watching

Brooke Shields and Judd Nelson in NBC's Thursday night sitcom

``Suddenly Susan.''



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