The Pittsburgh Press from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania • Page 210

THE PITTSBURGH PRESS If you think summer TV is bad, just wait S' lousy. UMMERTIME, and and shows the the viewing net- is Repeats works were too ashamed to run when it really counted that's summer TV. It does give us the chance, however, to contemplate next season's offerings, many of which will be better in anticipation than in execution. Here are a few that have caught my wandering attention. The networks haven't let this season's dismal performance of Shirley MacLaine's "Out on a Limb" on ABC sour them on celebrity biographies.

Next season, ABC gives us four hours of "Elvis and Me," based on Priscilla Presley's best-seller. CBS plans to spend eight hours on "The Frank Sinatra Story," from that well-known, completely objective TV producer Tina Sinatra. Bet that one will be so hardhitting it knocks your socks off. Though I am naturally inquisitive, I already know more than I want to know about Sinatra, Presley and Miss MacLaine. (Even Miss MacLaine must know more than she wants to about Miss MacLaine.) God forbid American networks should copy the BBC, which foolishly wastes its airtime on nobodies like Henry VIII, Winston Churchill and Elizabeth I.

Well, let's be fair. NBC is following its excellent "LBJ: The Early Years" with "LBJ: The Presidential Years." That's fine, but I see a trend developing. I'm not sure I'm ready for "LBJ: The Late Years" or "Lady Bird: The LBJ-less Years." You want more history? CBS has "Conquistador," an eight-hour miniseries about Cortez and the Aztecs, and "April Morning," a TV movie about the first confrontation between American colonists and English soldiers. (The colonists were, no doubt, fighting for their future right to see "Elvis and Me" instead of the BBC's "Elizabeth We also can look forward to CBS's remake of "I Saw What You Did," the old shocker about two girls who make a prank call to a murderer. The plot is being reshaped for David and Robert Carradine, which seems to mean that the Joan Crawford role in the original is being scaled down.

The next movie from CBS stars Perry King and Joan Van Ark, but who cares? All that matters to me is the title "Vice Queen of the Sunset Strip." Who could resist a movie with a name like that? I am deeply troubled, however, by ABC's title for its drama about a conservative cattle rancher (Charlton Heston) and his bitterly estranged son (Peter Strauss) who reach a painful reconciliation "The Tall Men." What are they at ABC, height bigots? Do they think you have to be tall to have painful reconciliations? Why not make "The Short Men," with Danny De Vito and Michael J. Fox as the cowman and his son? I can see them now, riding the range on their ponies, herding calves and playing ukuleles around a match book fire. Oh, don't bother writing. Some of my best friends and closest relatives are height-deprived. "War and Remembrance," ABC's long- promised -up to "Winds of War," won't be ready next season, but ABC insists it will air sometime in your lifetime.

Reportedly, "War" has now grown past 30 hours. If that sucker exceeds 40 hours, I'm going to demand combat pay to watch it. THIS WEEK'S HIGHLIGHTS Robert Bianco NBC's "Time Out for Dad" stars Dick Butkus as an ex-gridiron star who becomes a househusband, but it is mainly notable because it brings Harriet Nelson back to network TV. It airs Sunday at 9 p.m. "It's Howdy Doody Time, It's Howdy Doody Time" and if you're too young to remember the tune, I don't want to know.

This classic kids show, complete with Buffalo Bob Smith, Gabby Hayes and Clarabell the Clown, makes a onenight return Tuesday at 11 p.m. on WQED's "Golden Years of Television." There are some tough choices Wednesday. CBS airs "The Soviet Union: Seven Days in May" at 9 p.m., a two-hour news special report on life in the Soviet Union. The network was granted unprecedented access to the Russian people. Over at WQED at 9 p.m, "Great Performances" has "Live from Lincoln Center: Lincoln Center Theater The Comedy of Errors." This highly acclaimed production stars The Flying Karamazov Brothers in a vaudevillestyle version of Shakespeare.

NBC counters with a news special of its own at 10 p.m. "Six Days Plus 20 Years: A Dream Is Dying" looks at the aftermath of the Arab-Israeli Six-Day War. My vote Go with CBS and the Soviets. PBS's "Evening at Pops" airs its season premiere Thursday at 9 on WOED with guest artists Andy Williams, Cleo Laine, Oscar Peterson, Ray Charles and Peter, Paul Mary. Too many guests, and too much Pops conductor John Williams, spoil the broth, but its worth watching for Charles and Miss Laine.

While WQED airs the Boston Pops Thursday at 9, sister station WQEX goes its merry, eccentric way with "Glen or Glenda," the story of a troubled man who can't decide whether to tell his fiancee he wants to wear her clothes. Considered one of the worst movies of all time. Switch to a more serious note Friday at 8:30, as ABC's "Closeup" airs "They Have Souls, Too," a look at the mentally ill. The week ends Saturday at 10 p.m. with "Life and Loves of a She Devil." This macabre tale of a homely woman who seeks revenge on her husband and his mistress won the British Academy Award for best drama series.

Of course, you never know whether to trust the British. Sure they gave us "Elizabeth but now that I think about it, they also gave us "Benny Hill." Maybe we're not so bad off with "Elvis and Me" after (Robert Bianco is The Pittsburgh Press TV-radio editor.) TV Cover Award-winning British series finds its way to hell to pay when Bobbo leaves homely Ruth for sexy writer Mary Fisher in "The Life and Loves of a She Devil." Named the Best Dramatic Series by the British Academy Awards, this four-part coproduction is an adaption of Fay Weldon's bestselling comic parable. It premieres Saturday at 10 p.m. as part of continuing Saturday night series, "Love and Ruth (newcomer Julie T. Wallace) is a huge, unattractive English housewife with a philandering husband and two miserable children.

When her husband Bobbo (Dennis Waterman) leaves her for the beautiful romantic novelist Mary Fisher (Patricia Hodge), Ruth turns her frustration and hate into a new persona: she becomes a She Devil. She sends the children to McDonald's and sets fire to the family house which Bobbo owns. And she admits she started the fire so that Bobbo loses the insurance money. She dumps the two kids on Bobbo and his mistress and she leaves. Her voyage of revenge has just started.

The She Devil has unleashed in herself extraordinary powers. She uses these powers to transform herself into a woman of immense wealth and beauty, just like Mary Fisher. She then sets out to destroy her husband and his mistress. 000 Julie Wallace portrays an English housewife and Tom Baker plays Father Ferguson in "The Life and Loves of a She Devil." ebi8 3 18viO IM "The Life and Loves of a She Devil" is a macabre social fable based on the poignant and witty novel of Fay Weldon, author of a series of best-sellers highlighting the fate of women in the modern world. Her work for the BBC includes the dramatization of "Pride and Prejudice" that was shown here.

"She Devil" was adapted for television by Ted. Whitehead. He is the author of the stage plays "Alpha Beta" and "The The director, Philip Saville, recently directed the feature film Miss Wallace has worked on the London stage, but Ruth is her first major television role. Dennis Waterman is well-known in England as the star of two popular series. Miss Hodge starred in the movie version of Harold Pinter's "Betrayal" and starred as a lady barrister in PBS's "Rumpole of the Bailey." "Devil" also features a brief appearance by former "Doctor Who" Tom Baker and by "Rumpole" author John Mortimer.

Movie director Susan Seidelman Seeking is scheduled to make a feature film of "The Life and Loves of a She Devil," but viewers can beat moviegoers to the punch. They might, however, consider sending the children into another room Miss Weldon's tale comes with an on-air warning that it contains adult VACAUTAN.