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rage 1U L1H Umnibus
Thursday November 8, 1990
- . i'l '
Ensemble brings
WlOU
John Shea, Helen Shaver, Harris Yulin,
Mariette Hartleyand Dick Van Patten
Wednesday 10:00 pm
CBS (WRAL Channel 5)
oooo
s the new TV season fi-
f i nally kicks in, viewers are
(j bombarded by ads for all
the new shows. It's rare to
LI ml find a program, hqjvever,
that lives up to its network propa
ganda. But "CBS WlOU actually does
justice to its intriguingpreviews. With
an ensemble cast and realistic situa
tions, the only thing to hold back
WlOU might be the ratings.
WlOU is actually a nickname, a
slam on WNDY, a television station
with a dangerously competitive
newsroom and a dangerously troubled
financial future. Most of the charac
ters want to be higher echelon than
they are.
There's Hank Zaret (John Shea),
who has been transferred to WNDY
after he put ratings before journalism
at a New York station. He has high
hopes of getting WNDY out of its
miss It
OO watch It and rag on It
OOO if nothing better Is on
oooo watch it
OOOOO invite people over
MidDay!
Monday thru Thursday, 1 0:00 pm
stv (Channel 11)
hris Lemont Brown created,
organized and hosted
MidDay! , on the University's
STV channel, but after es
tablishing the show's inde
pendence, Brown will allow a new
host to replace him next semester.
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17
WlOU status.
Hank's old flame, Kelby Robinson
(Helen Shaver), who's been at the
station for years, wants to be co-anchor.
She'll get her chance.
There's also Neal Frazier (Harris
Yulin), a womanizer who puts his
hand on Kelby's leg during a newscast
one time too many. Kelby returns the
favor by reaching over and grabbing
Neal's overactive crotch.
"I'll let go if you let go," she tells
Neal and a million viewers.
Liz McVay (Mariette Hartley)
serves as an executive producer who
has hopes of getting Hank's job one
day. Yet another TV veteran, Dick
Van Patten (Eight is Enough), plays
Floyd Graham, a weatherman who
takes special pains to please older
viewers.
There are also two ambitious
contenders for the co-anchor desk:
Eddie Bock (Phil Morris), a black go
getter whose vanity Liz finds offensive,
and Taylor Young, played by Kate
McNeil. Taylor appreciates Neal's
sexual advances and tells him, "My
only weakness is older men." This
one won't mind where Neal puts his
hands.
The co-anchor position opens up
when longtime anchor Curtis Warden
drops dead during Hank's first night
on the set. Here is our first glimpse of
WJOU's black humor. Eddie has to
get the news copy out of Curtis hand
in time to read it on the air. As Eddie
reads, Hank's head bobs up and down
while he applies CPR.
and
Bkyan Tucker
If
Brown, a senior, has decided rn
step down, but said he will stay with
the show until he graduates.
"I want MidDay! to go on, and I
think the best way to facilitate that is
if I give up hosting and help out
behind the scenes," he said.
The identity of the new host will
be revealed Friday on a special
MidNight! show in Great Hall at 10
p.m. MidDay! will continue next se
mester at its regular time on
Wednesdays at noon.
Brown and the new host agree the
show's style and format will stay about
Amoimm in
lomwB I
a light touch to
"I'm Eddie Bock," Eddie says.
"Curtis Warden has the rest of the
night off."
The final stroke is a feather in the
cap of director Claudia Weill: a bus
drives by with the WNDY ad,
"CURTIS AND NEAL: LIVE AT
6." Well, not anymore.
But besides the humor, WlOU
takes viewers inside the newsroom to
see not just the wheeling and dealing,
but also the fine details. .
We see Kelby editing a videotape
to make it suitable for broadcast. We
see Neal interviewing someone, much
like the nightly news, but discover
that the anchor talks into the reporter's
earphones, and the reporter then asks
the question. It's kind of like having
an unseen interpreter. Not since
. Broadcast News has such a detailed
analysis of the newsroom been of
fered as quality entertainment.
The public's right to know topped
the first episode. Kelby discovered
that an old friend who was about to
become head of the school board had
raped a girl while he was in college.
She was opposed to running the story,
while Hank wanted it run. The com
plicated decision whether "to print or
not to print," or "to broadcast or not
to broadcast," is an issue facing any
journalist, and it's certainly relevant
here.
The characters of WlOU are
among the most believable on televi
sion. The huge cast resembles that of
L.A. Law; maybe there are a few too
many characters for such a young
show. But it's hard to say who could
be cut out. All make a contribution.
WJOU should have no trouble in
itstimeslot. hshould easily beatNBC's
Hunter, which has become lame with
age, and ABC's troubled Cop Rock,
the same. MidDay! will remain a talk
show similar to Late Night With David
Letterrnan, and the guests will be stu
dents from all facets of campus life.
"I want to see the show gain a
strong following," the new host said.
"People should come no matter who
the guests are, because they will be
entertained and may learn something
new."
The new host has a different sound
man to replace Chuck Chitwood and
will also introduce a segment called
"Joe or Jane Student" in which one of
the guests will be picked at random
from the audience.
The majority of the present staff
will stay with MidDay!, including di
rector Kevin Chignell and business
manager Marianne Nennstiel, along
with Tanya Kennedy, Christy Sellars
and Amy Williams. Anyone can get
involved, however. Interested persons
should contact the Interact Commit
tee of the Carolina Union Activities
Board, which sponsors MidDay!
Ever since MidDay! started, the
staff has worked to keep the show on
an even keel between information
and fun. They strive to help the au
S4. '
Meet the
which can't find an audience despite
guidance from Steven Bochco. But
what should happen doesn't always
happen. Even the highest-quality
show doesn't always last a season.
Still, WlOU has a sense of humor
that s just the right touch for an hour-
dience learn about campus organiza
tions and keep them laughing at the
same time. The more the show can
accomplish this, the more it achieves
its own individualism.
"A good foundation has been es
vtablished," the new host said. "I plan
to build on that by adding to the
publicity and diversity of the show."
. Brown said the new host will really
have to love working for the show in
order for it to continue maturing.
Ideally, guests on MidDay! should
cover a broad enough spectrum to
represent the whole campus but still
be entertaining enough to appeal to
all audiences.
Brown said he can help the show
most by guiding it behind the scenes,
but he still will miss being the
frontman. "It's not something I'm
giving up easily. I've got to go out
there and give it one last hurrah," he
said.
The last MidDay! hosted by Chris
Brown will be a special MidNight!
edition on November 9. Guests will
include Phil Ford, Rick Fox, Hubert
Davis, Ian Williams, Jennifer Layton
and the band Soul Expression.
the news
jZl jo It Ml t
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'f'm r f
gang of 'WlOU'
long drama. CBS will undoubtedly
bounce this one around to try and
find an audience, the way it's done
with Doctor, Doctor and TheFIash. The
network is stepping in the right direc-
tion, and, like WlOU, is trying to get
its wayward audience back.
1 1. (1). Cheers,NBC,
22.4 rating. 209 million homes -
2. (2) GO Minutes, CBS
21 .4, 19.9 million homes
3. (3) The Cosby Show, NBC
202, 18.8 million homes
4. (27) Three Men and a .Baby, NBC
19.9, 1&5 million homes
; 5. (6) Designing Women, CBS
t9.1,17,$ million homes
5. (4) Roseanne.ABC
19.1, 17.8 million homes
r 7.(18) Murder, She Wrote, CBS
; 18.8, 175 million homes
7.(8) America's Funniest i
Home Videos, ABC
; - 18.8. 17.5 million homes
9.(7) Murphy Brown, CBS
'18.7,l7.4millionhomes
; 10.(10) America's Funniest
People, ABC
18.0,16.8millionhomes
: 11.(12) Unsolved Mysteries, NBC
16.9.15.7millionhomes
12. (16) In the Heat
ofthak'ight, NBC
16.6, 15.5 million homes
Listings include tfie week's ranking, with full season-
to-daie ranking In parentheses, rating for the week, and -s:
total homes. An X in parentheses denotes one-time-I;
only presentation. A rating measures the percentage of
j the nation 90.4 million TV homes.