DTH Omnibus Page 5
Thursday November 16, 1989
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Nielsen Ratings
1. (2) The Cosby Show, NBC
26.5 rating, 24.4 milfion homes.
2. (3) Cheers, NBC
24.3. 22.4 million homes.
3. (4) A Different World, NBC
24.1, 22.2 mlon homes.
4. (1) Roseanne,ABC
23.3. 21 .5 million homes.
5. (5) Golden Girls, NBC
20.8.1 9.2 million homes.
6. (7) LALaw.NBC
20.1, 18.5 million homes.
7. (9) Empty Nest, NBC
19.9.1 8.3 million homes.
7.(8) Dear John, NBC
19.9. 18.3 million homes.
9. (9) 60 Minutes, CBS
19.4, 17.5 million homes.
1 0. (1 5) Unsolved Mysteries, NBC
18.9.1 7.4 million homes.
10.(6) Wonder Years, ABC
18.9,1 7.4 million homes.
12.(14) NFL Monday Night Football:
Saints vs. 49ers,ABC
18.1,1 6.7 million homes.
12.(23) 'Small Sacrifices'-ABC
Sunday Night Movie, ABC
18.1 ,16.7 million homes.
12.(12) Who's The Boss, ABC
18.1, 16.7 million homes.
15.(16) Murder, She Wrote, CBS
17.6,1 62 milEon homes.
Listings include the week's ranking, with full season-to-date
ranking in parentheses, rating lor the week, and
total homes. An X in parentheses denotes one-time-only
presentation. A rating measures the percentage of the
nation's 90.4 million TV homes.
Nobody knows the
pisodes have been somewhat
fLS sporadic lately, but General
College keeps popping up oc
casionally and you'd be amazed at
everything that's been happening,
Jason and Courtney have returned
from the farm, and after a rocky en
counter with Detective Hooper,
they're free, free at last. Y'know, being
criminal
out
laws on the run
is pretty ex
hausting, but
it's so worth it
to find true love. And what does true
love always lead to? A marriage pro
posal in the DTH personals, of course.
That's right, the lovebirds have
seemed to overcome all the difficul
ties and marriage is around the bend.
By the way, Courtney's roommate
Tasha has become the producer of a
student run television show. It's a
drama, but she wants to make it into
a night-time melodrama called Aca
demic Affairs. Gee, that sounds a lot
like General. . . Nah, doesn't sound at
all like that.
Detective Hooper has moved be
yond Jason and Courtney. Now he's
after the real killer, Tessa Daven
port. With the help of the now-conscious
Trevor and Anne, they gave
Tessa the prank of a life time. I guess
coming home to the ex-boyfriend that
you killed would be upsetting if you're
the sensitive type. And sensitive is
the word to describe Tessa." Anyway,
she ended up fainting, while Hooper,
Serious sitcom overload at CBS
Comedy is definitely the main
stay of late 80s primetime,
but is there such a thing as
too many laughs? Sicom overload?
CBS has taken the programming to
the limits this year with their six
sitcom Monday night line up. But
whether the newest additions to their
laugh-in will survive remains to be
seen.
CBS has had its share of problems
for the past few years. The trouble
began when NBC introduced The
Cosby Show in 1984 and comedy
began to upstage melodrama in the
ratings. CBS' primetime soaps started
to lose viewers; audiences once en
thralled by Dallas and Falcon Crest
began to tune in to Cheers and Night
Court with the Cosby lead-in. It was
time for CBS to switch gears.
Starting with the perennial hit.
Newhart, CBS built a ratings strong
hold with several sitcoms. Since the
network had to compete with ABC's
Monday Night Football, most of the
Monday shows were toward women.
Kate and Allie was CBS' first big hit,
although gradually declining ratings
led to the show's cancellation last
year. The next success was Designing
Women, an untraditional sitcom that
focused on four Southern career
women. CBS' last ratings grabber,
Murphy Brown, premiered last year
Bryan Burns
happy at last, made excited state
ments like "Busted.. ..How sweet it
is...
It turns out that Billy and Chaz
have an older sister, Darby. (Hey, it
was news to me too.) But there's more.
Darby has a son, fathered illegiti
mately by a friend of Billy's at UNC.
Who could it be? Don't worry, Chaz
will lead us to him, I'm sure.
Paige has finally made her way out
of Chapel Hill...forever. Billy of course
knew nothing until he got the obliga
tory "I'll always love you" letter. He
was devastated, but hunted down Meg
to get the truth: Paige is pregnant
and has left to have an abortion! ! So
that's what all that vomiting, exhaus
tion, and emotional instability was
from. Again, Billy was devastated.
Speaking of leaving UNC, Gen
eral College will never be the same
after this week. We've all suffered an
incredible loss: Zoe is moving on.
But don't fret, the eloquent gossip
queen is training a successor, Sloan.
With such inspiration as "Inherit the
torch" and "Make me proud," Zoe is
leaving Sloan with the incredible
responsibility of knowing everything
about everyone. Sadly, as Zoe bids a
fond adieu to UNC we must say ciao
to a woman who has truly left her
Billy Stockard
r
and heralded the comeback of Can
dice Bergen.
This season, the network has added
three new sitcoms to fill in the spaces.
Heading off the night is Major Dad,
starring Gerald McRaney as Major
Mac MacGillis, a comedy about a
macho marine who falls in love with
a liberal reporter, Polly Cooper
(Shanna Reed), and becomes in
volved with her three daughters. This
show is obviously an attempt to at
tract a male audience, as well as to
hold onto the family sitcom model.
McRaney is as talented here as he
was in Simon and Simon, but that
may be part of the problem. Mac's
"macho-ness" gets a bit excessive
when he can't say the word "bra,"
and uses "upper. ..territory. ..chest
harnessing" instead. Something is
missing. Still, it's a harmless sort of
show for harmless sort of people. And
anything that goes head-to-head
against ALF deserves best wishes.
The Famous Teddy Z has received
critical praise, but it's really nothing
to write home about. Jon Cryer plays
Teddy Zakalokis, a 23-year-old mail-
troubles we (haven't) seen
mark.
Although we've yet to see Mary
Catherine, Brendan and the rest of
their troubled little crew this season,
Simone has still been appearing from
time to time in the full splendor of
her voluptuousness. Since Pop hit
the bucket, Simone and sister Mar
got have rifled through the files, to
discover sad news the babies had
been separated after birth. But she's
determined to find them.
Speaking of rooting through in
herited possessions, Sage found his
Grandy's old UNC Yackety Yack.
After flipping through hundreds of
meaningless pages, he found some
thing significant. Something about
the Order of the Unmasked? Rebecca?
Well, it's off to Chapel Hill for young
Sage. Coincidentally, Sage's first class
is a sociological survey into how family
history repeats itself. Well Sage, I'd
stay away from young girls named
Becca and Jordan Lake they're a
bad combination.
Ken and Violet have finally had it
all out. Poor Violet has been trying
so hard to keep the truth about her
escort-service past and present from
Ken, but the game's up, baby. Ken's
pal Jeff arranged a meeting between
the two lovebirds, but little did Ken
know that it was a purchased rende
vouz of lust with the preacher's-daugh-ter-turned-whore.
When he arrived gullible Ken
thought, what a great surprise: 'a' night
in a hotel with my loving girlfriend.
room employee of Unlimited Talent
Agency who becomes a talent agent
overnight. Cryer can go from annoy
ing to tolerable to annoying again in
the course of half-an-hour. One of
the show's bright spots is Al Floss
(Alex Rocco), a sleazy agent who's
supposed to be obnoxious that's
why he's believable.
This comedy doesn't measure up
to all of its hype, probably because
Since 'The People
Next Door1 have
already moved out,
CBS has had to
come up with a
replacement. Enter
'Doctor ', Doctor
the critics see themselves in the show's
characters and are just a tad too
enthusiastic. Still, it may survive
because of its timeslot. Otherwise,
this would be a good time to catch
some real "Z's."
Since The People Next Door have
But Violet could lie no more. She let
it all out the truth that is. Ken
was shocked and refused to accept
her claims of love and protection.
He even wrote her a check (after all
she is a working girl) for all the times
they've had sex. Thirteen. Yes, he
kept count. What a worldly guy.
Finally, Priscilla and Trisha have
proved to be a dangerous combina
It's a good tiling your father isn't alive,
because you would nave killed him right there!
iiiH.V.iSj-M t Listen to met I'm your mother!
7 i Dr. Frances Alj jjj
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already moved out, CBS has had to
come up with a replacement. Enter
Doctor, Doctor, a show that debuted
during the summer but probably won't
make it. Matt Frewer, stars as Dr.
Mike Stratford, a physician who is
prone to laughing maniacally and
picking on his homosexual brother,
Ken.
Frewer, who used to play Max
Headroom, is both the show's great
est strength and weakness. He gets
the best lines, and because his hu
mor is so abrupt and, well, weird, the
program will get more laughs than
the other premieres. But he looks
like a mad scientist and is just too
offbeat to hold the standard TV-viewing
audience for long. The show's
timeslot, after Newhart, can't help.
Who will stay up for this comedy
after watching five others?
Are viewers ready for three hours
of straight comedy ? The extremes can
be seen on CBS' Monday nights, from
the dull Major Dad to the eye-catching
Doctor, Doctor. Men and women cer
tainly have an alternative to foot
ball. The best bet is still to turn on
the TV for Murphy Brown, Designing
Women, and even Newhart, three
welcome study breaks. But it will take
more than Teddy Z to make many
students throw down the books and
make a night of it.
tion. Alex is really losing it. With
Jack gone, what's a lonely, formerly
mental girl to do when she finds a
red curly wig? Well, call yourself
Raven and go have a good time.
Watch General College at 1 1 p.m.
Monday through Thursday on STV,
Carolina Cable Channel 1 1 and Alert
Cable Channel 4
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