The Des Moines Register from Des Moines, Iowa • Page 104

OK, if you're so smart First, you start a little flame in our hearts BOB WISEHART By MARK HAINEY Secret of Midland (a) How this bozo series got on the air in the first place. (b) Why a city this size had only one motel for sexual dalliances. s(c) There were no secrets, only victims. (d) You've never heard of "The Secret of Midland Heights," so the question makes no sense whatsoever. With NBC i till foundering, it's generally thoaght that Fred Silverman, the network president, won't have his Job much longer.

How much longer? (a) Some of the above. (b) Not a lot longer, but longer Iowa TVEdtar Pam Hildebrand It's always interesting to see several reporters take on the same subject Their strengths and weaknesses, and those of their news organizations, become clearer. In a recent Mirror, WHO-TV's Trina Creighton drew mild hoots for a longish series called "Fire." We simply wanted more detail and more attribution for "facts." Although "Fire" is a hot (ouch!) topic for a "sweeps" special report, The Mirror allowed as how more documentation might have been helpful. Shortly after CreightWs effort in Des Moines, KWWL's Pam Hildebrand offered a 10-part series on arson to Waterloo area viewers. Like other Hildebrand special reports, it was first-rate.

There mi i Try as we might, most of us are unable to forget the 1980-'81 television season. So instead of trying to forget what we can't let's try to remember what we can. Here is a quiz based on the series and events in television of the last six months or so. The answers to the quiz are around someplace. 1.

As we learned in "Shogun," the appropriate response to "Wakari-masa, ka" is: (a) "Same to you, seaweed breath." (b) "Hai, wakarimasu." (c) "Huh?" (d) pluribus unum." 2. Peter OToole did something notable last season. What was it? (a) He exposed the skinniest pair of Irish legs ever to stick out from beneath a toga. (b) He gave a brilliant performance in "Masada." (c) He confessed that he, Richard Burton and Richard Harris are one and the same person. 3.

On the BBC-produced series of Shakespeare plays that are broadcast on public television, Derek Jacobi was magnificent as Hamlet. Who would NBC cast in the part if "Hamlet" appeared on that network? (a) Gary Coleman. (b) Johnny Carson. (c) Dick Enberg. (d) The Brady Brides.

4. What is the name of the series set in Hawaii that stars Tom Selleck as a handsome private detective with a five-pound mustache? (a) "Aloha, Paradise." (b) "Magnum, PDQ." (c) "Hawaiian Eye." (d) "Magnum, P. 5. Who shot J. (a) A television critic, when faced with the task of writing yet another column about "Dallas." (b) A television viewer.

(c) David Brinkley, whose show was opposite "Dallas" most of the season. (d) Bing Crosby's daughter. What is "Flamingo (a) The street on which there is the highest concentration in the nation of plastic pink flamingos in front yards. (b) A bad dream by Tennessee Williams. (c) Incredibly, renewed for another season.

(d) A "Dallas" ripoff set in the Florida swamps. 7. Shann Cassidy starred in a TV version of a hit movie based in Bloomington, Ind. The name of the series and the movie? (a) "Deeper Throat" (b) "When Will My face Clear Up?" (c) "I Was a Teen-age Nerd." (d) "Breaking Away." 8. What was the secret in "The was footage of state fire marshal Wilbur Johnson; there were interviews with an insurance agent; an arsonist in the Men's Reformatory in Anamosa, Waterloo's fire chief and an arson victim.

As in many of these special reports offered by the better Iowa TV rviYwrarvn UV U1UVU ftVtlgd (c) Five of the above. (d) Who cares? Answers: 1. (a), or (b), or (c). But rarely (d). 2.

(a)or(b). 3. I think (a), but it could be any of them, or even Benji the TV wonderdog. 4. (d).

5. (d), but only because she got to the gun first 6. (c) and (d), though (b) could be it, too. 7. 1 forget.

What was the question again? 8. rd bet (d), though any of them will do. 9. (p), (m) and (r) are acceptable. HON FILES Full Suspension 25" Deep I nrlre Fvtra 1- 1 4 DRAWER HON NO.

514 Reg. $135.95 SALE 2 DRAWER HON NO. 512 69 95 $99.95 SALE LJ L5uJ Itf reporters, the impressive thing is not so much the gathering of facts, but the effort required to edit these facts into cohesive stories. Most stations have only three, or perhaps four, "editing stations" and they're usually tied up with run-of-the-mill stories. Thus, a series often means literally burning the midnight oil.

Now that Dave Sanders has bid adieu to Omaha and western Iowa TV viewers, The Mirror hears that one central Iowa sports-caster has wasted no time in applying for Sanders' KMTV job. Opinion is split on the reasons for Sanders' dispute with KMTV. Depending on the source, it is claimed that KMTVs demands on Sanders (1) treated him "like a Red Cap porter" or (2) were justified, but poorly handled. At any rate, it's likely to continue to be a legal battle. In Ames, the search is on for a successor to WOI's Deborah Cutter who split for L.A.

Cutter, by the way, offered a strange goodbye, vowing, like MacArthur, to return some day. Cracked a rival anchor "With her new contract, it may be sooner than she thinks!" At any rate, The Mirror wondered if Deborah Holmes, who does weekend anchoring for WOI, was a likely candidate to replace Cutter. Apparently not, says news director Dick Vohs. He says Holmes simply wants to concentrate on reporting. Because it is a state agency, WOI is obliged to go through a lot of official rigamarole, so it will be a while before a successor is named.

IPBN lost a good one recently when Rene Durazzo split the public affairs department there for California. Durazzo and his bride-to-be simply want to live in their native California. Don't be surprised, though, if his stuff still shows up on "Market to Market" Durazzo's likely to free-lance some stories. WMT-TV may not be WMT in the future. The station recently filed a bid with the FCC to change its call letters to KGAN.

The reasons? WMT-TVs new owners, Maine's Guy Gannett, wanted call letters similiar to its flagship WGAN in Portland, Maine. Says WMT general manager Kelly Atherton, the required split of radio and TV meant one operation had to change call letters. As Atherton notes, call letters are more important to radio than to TV stations. TV stations emphasize channel numbers. COMBINATION rn ee HON 38DS Reg.

$145.94 $99 SALE BOOKCASES HON E30 Reg. $63.00 Hon E-42 Reg.S81.95 61M SALE Reg. ENDS JUNE 30 Special on 30x60 Wood Desk. $199.00 Good Selection of Used Office Furniture Over 10,000 Square Feet of Furniture and Supplies on Display fl 1826 mniiLi(gsA, mms serav 329 East Fifth Street Des Moines, Iowa 50309 Ph. 288-675 1 4-TV Des Moines Sunday Register June 7, 1981.