The Akron Beacon Journal from Akron, Ohio • Page 20

it's The Beacon Journal Saturday, July 12, 1997 PageB4 3 mm Putting family first, UPN president quits 111 JlDni ii 4 i 'd Ernie Hudson (left) and Terry Kinney star in to, an eight-part drama about a maximum-security prison debuting tonight at 11:30 p.m. on HBO. Subsequent episodes run Mondays at 11 p.m. The series, set in the fictional Oswald Prison, takes a gritty look at life on both sides of the bars. i 4T Th i it to 0 see tie waraen HBO's new prison drama 'Oz' places its convict characters in the maximum-security 'Emerald City' R.D.

Heldenfels broadcast-network series like Homicide. There's been some confusion about whether Oz is HBO's first drama series, or first hour-long dra Maximum Security. First or not, Oz is a distinguished effort, one that after two episodes left me wanting more. Rich in storytelling, the series promised still more riches with a complicated landscape within which even the peripheral characters have stories to tell. Among the characters we do see: Augustus Hill (Harold Perri-neau), an inmate and the cynical chorus for the series; warden Leo Glynn (Ernie Hudson); Tim McManus (Terry Kinney), who runs Emerald City; prison leader Jefferson Keane (Leon), who suspects anyone who might endanger his power base; Kareem Said (Ea- In The Wizard ofOz, the Emerald City is supposed to be a safe haven from the world beyond.

In the prison drama Oz, an experimental unit is called the Emerald City because it seems to be apart from the madness of the general prison population. Only it's still in a prison, and its inhabitants have brought their torments with them. They may live a little better than their counterparts outside, but they can be tortured and killed just as swiftly. The bleak lives within the brightly named Emerald City are the focus of the, disturbing adult drama Ex-Kent State student Lucille S. Salhany says her children need their father LOS ANGELES: After 12 years in Hollywood, many of them as the most powerful woman in television, Lucille S.

Salhany is calling it quits. The outgoing president of mini-network UPN doesn't know who will be replacing her. She doesn't know when her last day on the job will be. She doesn't know whether people believe she's jumping or being pushed out of office. But Salhany, who got her start at Cleveland's Channel 61 (then WKBF) in 1967, knows that by Sept.

14 she'll be joining her husband, John Polcari, and their two sons in Boston. "It really was a personal decision," Salhany told journalists at the Television Critics Association semiannual press tour. "It really had nothing to do with the presidency of UPN or my professional life. My husband has been living in Boston since I got here in 1985, and I have two little boys who have never lived with their father. "Some people are saying that's probably why our marriage is so strong, because he hasn't had to live with me full time.

But my oldest son is going to be 13 years old, and those of you who are parents understand that a boy needs his father around. "And since my husband is a businessman with a large company in Boston, it was either move and give up his business, or I move. After 12 years, I think it's fair that I move." Salhany, who is known as Lucie, attended Kent State University in the late '60s. She leaves behind an impressive string of Tinseltown credits. As president of Paramount's Domestic Television division for six years (1985-91), she supervised the development of such landmark syndicated series as Star Trek: The Next Generation and Cleveland native Arsenio Hall's talk show.

As the head of 20th Century Fox Television, she gave the green light to three acclaimed series: The X-Files, The Simpsons and Picket Fences. As the president of Fox Broadcasting, she guided communication czar Rupert Murdoch's "fourth network" expansion from four nights of programming to seven. She also helmed the deal that brought the National Football League to Fox. There have been setbacks, however, including the colossal failure of Chevy Chase's Fox Broadcasting talk show. Shortly after this disaster, Salhany left Fox and accepted the UPN job.

As the president of UPN since its January 1995 launch, she has dueled a rival "fifth network," Warner's The WB, for ratings and public-relations victories. White males may still hold 90 percent of the power in Hollywood, Salhany said, but her departure from Fox had nothing to do with sexism. "What happened to me at Fox is not much different than what happened to a lot of people," said Salhany, the program director at Channel 61 for three years before moving to Boston in 1975. "It didn't matter if I was male or female. Rupert and I just disagreed on a lot of things.

"Rupert recently told somebody, Tou know, I never knew whose snow penorming i to 3 times daily Mark Dawidziak ma senes, or what. Certainly HBO has tried its hand at continuing dramas before, in anthologies such as Ray Bradbury Theater and The Hitchhiker and the miniseries Laurel Avenue, which should have become an ongoing series. The network even took a whack at a prison series in the '80s with the comedy-drama Lucille S. Salhany network it was, mine or "To me, when you are in charge of something, you're in charge of it. And you have to be in charge of it." Murdoch made it clear that he was the person in charge of Fox, not Salhany.

"I couldn't work that way," she said. "I was very unhappy." Salhany said she rarely encountered the "men-only" sign in Hollywood, "but, having said that, it hasn't been the easiest thing being a woman in this business. But I've got to tell you, it hasn't been easy for a lot of African-Americans, a lot of Hispanics, a lot of people in the gay community and even some bald white guys in their early 40s." The president of UPN's entertainment division, Mike Sullivan, is bald, white and in his early 40s. One of Salhany's last acts as UPN president was to announce expansion to a fourth night of programming. A weekly Thursday Night Sci-Fi Movie will start in 1998.

Yet she's not completer severing her ties to UPN. Salhany will continue to sit on the operating committee that oversees the company's dealings. "And I'm forming a new company" she said. "I've got my own consulting company. But truly I want to spend more time with my family.

This is very important to me. I want to decide when I work and for whom I work and how long I work. "So this was a personal decision and a lifestyle decision. I'm pretty excited about it. Of course, by November 15th, I might not be, but I am right now." Mark Dawidziak is the Beacon Journal's critic-at-large.

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Route 42, just south of East Main Street. TICKET AVAILABILITY Tour tickets are available through July 25, 1997 until 3:00 p.m. at the Dream House, and at the Ashland YMCA. 289-0626 1 AstendvMCA UnJtadWay I I 207MfcrStreet ol Atlwnd County ASJlarU OH 44805 "Building Dreams" J0 COUPON Make check payable to: ASHLAND YMCA DREAM HOUSE 207 Miller St, Ashland OH 44805 Please send me "lour Ticket(s) which entitles me to a chance to win the YMCA Dream House. Enclosed Is my check for $10 per ticket.

I have also enclosed a stamped self-addressed envelope for the return of my ticket stubs. Coupons must be received at the Ashland YMCA, 207 Miller St, Ashland OH 44805, by 5:00 p.m. Friday, July 25, 1997. Name Address City State ZIP Phone: Home( Work( Remit this portion with payment Spinoff of Pearl Jam is a band named Brad Oz, which premieres at 11:30 tonight on HBO before moving to 11 p.m. Mondays.

Writer-producer Tom Fontana (Homicide: Life on ihe Street) is writer, and with Homicide partner Barry Levinson, executive producer of Oz short for Oswald Maximum Security Prison. People who love Homicide prize its complex personal relationships, vividly drawn characters, its strong visual style and the intersection of large-scale political issues with individual suffering. All of those things are also part of Oz, as are content and language far beyond what is possible in a psyched about it." Gossard is psyched about the new Interiors, which is the second Brad record with Seattle friends Shawn Smith and Regan Hagar (both of the band Satchel), and Jeremy Toback. The first disc, Shame, came out four years ago and was an underground favorite, selling 80,000 copies with little or no airplay. "The first record was so raw, but we put it out and people still liked it.

It gave us confidence that, even when you leave some stuff kind of half-baked, there can be a charm about that," Gossard says of Brad. The group had never played in public until but it started a tour this month in Salt Lake City. (Mike Berg of Satchel is substituting for Toback on tour.) The band arrives in Cleveland tomorrow for an 8 p.m. See BRAD, Page B5 S3? 1 fV'HltlMl 4 vflw ftftnwi Seattle-based group performs tomorrow night at club in Cleveland Flats By Steve Morse TheBosUm Globe The Pearl Jam posse has spun off several progressive side projects. Guitarist Mike McCready joined with Alice in Chains singer Layne Staley to launch the trippy Mad Season three years ago.

Pearl Jam bassist Jeff Ament plunged into the psychedelic Three Fish last year. And now comes the second album from open-minded Seattle band Brad, featuring Pearl Jam guitarist Stone Gossard. "I love making records," Gossard said during a recent stop in New York. "Any time I get an opportunity to get involved collaborating in the studio, whether it's with Pearl Jam or with Brad, I'm Epic Members of the Seattle rock group Brad are (left to right) Jeremy Toback, Regan Hagar, Shawn Smith and Stone Gossard. JULY 18ih Thru AUGUST 3rd THURSDAY, JULY 31st, 7:30 P.M.

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