The Akron Beacon Journal from Akron, Ohio • Page 12

B4 The Beacon Journal Monday, February 9, 1987 TELEVISION 2 Mondays, 2 PBS programs written by Akron native and started studying with leg You can probably read these stories in a shorter time than it takes to watch them. So you have to create a lot around Mark Lll Dawidziak the central theme." This isn't the Ellet High School graduate's first dealings with public television. Last season, PBS aired his one-man show, Fours tor the Revolution, Jack London. When Portz left the Akron area in 1966, he hadn't decided on a choice "We just got very lucky," Portz said during a telephone interview. "It's just a coincidence that they're airing so close to each other.

American Playhouse picked up A Mistaken Charity. Then Os-sie Ruby needed pieces for their series. It wasn't supposed to be that way at all. It was just a nice surprise." In fact, the dramatizations were intended to be chapters in a trilogy of stories about older characters. Portz and Ms.

Craig pitched that concept to the National Endowment for the Humanities, which responded with grants for the project. The duo considered several short stories and selected three. The third, Staus, stars Theodore Bikel. "We came up with this idea five years ago," said Portz. "That was before Cocoon and The Golden Girls.

These shorts stories were both very easy and very difficult to adapt. They're easy because short stories tend to be very concisely written and tightly structured. "They're hard to dramatize because they usually have very little dialogue. endary teacher Lee Strasberg. For the last 10 years, though, Portz has been concentrating on writing and directing.

"You seem to have much more control," he said. "You're not sitting around waiting for someone to initiate a project. I hate down time. I put together the Jack London show just to have something to do." In 1973, he and Ms. Craig started the Labor Theater, which, through 1985, produced 22 plays for "working class audiences." A drama Portz wrote about construction workers, The Bayside Boys, starred Bruce Willis of ABC Moonlighting series fame.

Shifting their focus from stage to film and TV, Portz and Ms. Craig turned the Labor Theater into Realization Productions. His screenplay, Railroad BUI, which tells of a Robin Hood-like black train robber in the 1890s, has been sold to Universal Pictures. "Hopefully," Portz said, "it will get a decent director. It's scary not having any control or input." Writing for PBS may not pay a whole heck of a lot, but getting something accepted by one of the network's drama showcases does carry weight in the prestige department.

It puts you shoulder-to-shoulder with such wordsmiths as Oscar winner Hor-ton Foote (To Kill a Mockingbird, Tender Mercies, The Trip to Bountiful), humorist Jean Shepherd (A Christmas Story) and fantasy great Ray Bradbury (The Martian Chronicles, The Illustrated Man, Fahrenheit 451), authors who flinch when a commercial network comes near their works. Akron native C.R. "Chuck" Portz, however, is about to accomplish a feat that should impress any scribe. Within a week's time, PBS will air two of the writerdirector's dramas. First up is My Man Bovanne, his adaptation of Toni Cade Bambara's short story about a 60-year-old woman (Theresa Merritt) who shocks her children by becoming romantically involved with an elderly blind man she meets at a neighborhood political gathering.

Os- 1Z C.R. Portz sie Ruby will air it at 10:30 tonight (on WVIZ-Ch. 25 and WNEO-Ch. 45 WEAO-Ch. 49).

Next Monday at 9 p.m., American Playhouse will air A Mistaken Charity, which Portz also adapted and directed. Based on a short story written before the turn of the century by Mary Wilkins Freeman, Charity stars Anne Pitoniak and Kate Wilkinson as elderly sisters trying to maintain their dignity and independence while friends are pressuring them to enter a "home." Both My Man Bovanne and A Mistaken Charity were produced by Portz's wife and partner, Bette Craig. of careers. After graduation from Stetson University in Deland, he moved to New York. "I was looking for something to do," he said.

"I was working for an insurance company and bored out of my mind. I had a lot of time on my hands." Portz fell in love with the acting QNews NBCNews News Entertain, ALF The Two rs. Grenvil les Part 2 of 2) News The Best ol Carson LateNight jNews ONews ABC News Fortune Jeopardy! MacGyver "TheLastffing''(t987)(Jot8iRitter) News B. Miller Night-line hTtwSwofd olthe Vatf" News CBSNews PMMagaz. KateAllie SisterSam Newhart Cav'naugh News Taxi Kojak HawaiiFive-0 the Lord TBNToday M.Hickey LTripp h.

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Ruth jEverybody'sMoney (S'TaTllnginLove" 'dherbf (R.ISSSjfVanessargrave) "GeL" Crook VideoC'try Be a Star Fandango Nashville Now NewC'try videoC'try BeaStar jFandango NashvilleNow NewC'try NICK Monkees Nick Rock Can't Do Mouse D.Reed Mr.Ed My 3 Sons A.Sothern I Spy Route 66 D.Reed Mr.Ed My3Sons A.Sothem PBOY OfltheAir HomeVideoVol.il Ribald Classics "BevertyHlllsFoif EledricBlue Candid Moments HomeVideoVol.il PIl Prophecy LSumrall Jim Tammy Camp Meeting, USA M.Evans GloryGod IntroLife Choices God News Success-N-Ue If BridgeofAdamRush RobinHood IMP Gold Trust Cremins Sc'dinavia TBA "Hero; CartoonExpress Airwolf Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show: Opening Night (Live) Alfred Hitchcock Hour Dragnet EdgeN't SrchTom, Younger 0TJ Lovejoy Lovejoy attempts to stop a con man and his two accomplices from bilking unsuspecting art connoisseurs. ITTTTl Or. Ruth Topic: Differences In sex drive. Movie "Beverly Hills Fox" (1985) Ginger Lynn, Bridgette Monet. 10:05 p.m.

"The Wild North" (1952) Stewart Granger, Cyd Char-isse. A trapper wanted for murder proves his innocence alter saving the life of the Mounlie assigned to bring him in. 10:15 p.m. 5MMovle "Choose Me" (1984) Genevieve Bujold, Keith Car-radine. Paths of a radio sex therapist, a hopeless romantic, an urban hipster, and a gangster and his wife cross in the night.

10:30 p.m. CD CD Ossle Ruby See Mark's Best Bets. 9 HlTCUl VldeoCountry Crystal Gayle, Alabama, Glen Campbell, Janie Fricke. Lee Greenwood. (TV Stereo) The Late Show Wynton Marsalls; Emmanuel Lewis.

PTl Movie "Wildcats" (1986) Goldie Hawn, Nipsey Russell. The pert daughter of a famous coach gets a job coaching boys football at an urban high school patrolled by dogs. HMfr Washington Political ideologies. EFJJ Movie "The Royal Romance of Charles and Diana" (1982) Christopher Baines, Catherine Oxenberg, One version of the celebrated courtship and marriage. You Can Be a Star Judges: the Whites.

(TV Stereo) 11:30 p.m. OfBWBThe Best ot Carson Liza Mmnelli; humorist Roy Blount comedian Bobby Kelton. Repeat. Ml Fandango Interview: Johnny Russell. (TV Stereo) 11:40 p.m.

HftfoWe "Maria's Lovers" (1984) Nastassja Kinski, John Savage. Sweethearts marry in a Pennsylvania steel town, but a wedding night failure sends him away and her into romance with others. 11:45 p.m. Wl Paul Rodriguez I Need the Couch. The comedian and former star ot the TV series a.k.a.

Pablo performs in concert from Santa Fe, N.M. Midnight The 700 Club The new constitution in the Philippines; lips on effective communication. Nightlife Betty White. 12:30 a.m. HI Late Night Fred Willard: comedian Jimmy Brogan.

1WTJTI Entertainment Tonight Michael J. Fox (Light ol Day); Marilyn Monroe feature. 6:00 p.m. ftmi Cable and Your VCR How to make the connection. Repeat.

PTIT Playllst KBC Band America: Eddie Money Wanna Go Back; Starship Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now; Pretenders My Baby; Cyndi Lauper Change ot Heart; Glass Tiger Someday; Robert Cray Smoking Gun; Paul Simon Boy in the Bubble; Steve Earle Someday; Peter Gabriel Big Time; Steve Winwood The Finer Things; Bruce Willis Respect Yourself. 6:30 p.m. TO VldeoCountry Crystal Gayle, Alabama, Glen Campbell, Janie Fricke, Lee Greenwood. (TV Stereo) HTj High-School Basketball Green vs. Wadsworth.

7:00 p.m. Inside the F.B.I. History ol the F.B.I. Interview with Jack French, former F.B.I, agent. 7:30 p.m.

HQ Entertainment Tonight Michael J. Fox (Light ot Day) Marilyn Monroe feature. PM Magazine Jayne Kennedy; co-lorization ot black and white films; Disneyland contest. OF Inalde the F.B.I. Activities ot the F.B.I.

Roundtable discussion with journalists and authors. (HASH! Fandango Interview: Johnny Russell. (TV Stereo) 8:00 P.M. (43) Clint Eastwood Week Begins TONIGHT With The Good, The Bad I The Ugly Adv. 8:00 p.m.

ALF An electric shock makes ALF think he's an insurance salesman, and the Tanners try to jog his memory with stories of his recent past. (TV Stereo) MacGyver MacGyver and an attractive researcher must fight greedy modern-day pirates to protect a charitable ocean research project. 9 0EHDf' Allle See Mark's Best Bels. tp Movie "The Heartbreak Kid" (1972) Charles Grodm, Cybill Shepherd. A bridegroom's honeymoon provides instant trouble for his marriage when he spots his dream girl, giving him second thoughts about his new union.

Medl-Scene The "Refresh" program; a new treatment for menopause. CD Movie "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" (1968) Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Oeef. Three Civil War mercenaries vie to find an unmarked cash-H'ed grave. CD Planet Earth Pictures of Jupiter, lo and Venus are combined with special effects to demonstrate the workings or the solar system. (Part 4 of 7) 9 Movie "Sssssss" (1973) Strother Martm, Dirk Benedict.

A snake expe't transforms his assistant into a deadly king cobra. fWEg Movie "Thunderbolt and Lightfoot" (1974) Clint Eastwood, Jeff Bridges. A con man enlists a young dnfter's help in searching for the loot from a bank robbery staged vears earlier. (TO Movie "21 Days Together" (1939) Vivien Leigh, Leslie Banks. The death ol an innocent man imprisoned lor murder gives the real killer a new lease on lile.

ED Movie "Looker" 1 98 1 Albert Finney. James Coburn. (TV Stereo) IHKH1 Nashville Now Guest host: Steve Wanner. (TV Stereo) OTW)MoWe "Prizzi's Honor" (193b) Jack Nicholson, Kathleen Turner. A Brooklyn hit man for the Pnzzi crime family marries a hit wom-an tyred lo kill him.

(TV Stereo) pJSIl Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show Opening Night, live from Madison Square Garden. 8:05 p.m. EH3 Movie "Death of a Gunfight- er" (1969) Richard Widmark, Lena Home. The residents of a small town take drastic measures to get rid of the town marshal. 8:30 p.m.

EMI My Sister Sam Patti fixes Sam up with a blind date. Cf Tender Places A boy (Freddy Koh-ler) responds to his parents' divorce. Stars Jean Stapleton. OQnsWe the F.B.I. Relationship between Congress the F.B.I.

Interview with Rep. Don Edwards (D-Calif.) 9:00 P.M. (3) The suspense filled climax to 'The Two Mrs. Grenvilles'! MARK'S BEST BETS 8:00 p.m. OfBE Kate Allle Kate (Susan Saint James) experiences maternal pangs when Emma (Ari Meyers) is accepted by UCLA, which is near her father, and Columbia and NYU, which are near Kate's place.

CBS. in CBS' Bold and the Beautiful soap opera, which will premiere March 23. VH-1 (Video Hits One), MTV's (Music Television) sister cable service, is running a contest through Feb. 20 to select a Cleveland area viewer as guest VJ (video jockey). The winner will be flown to New York City to spend a weekend on the town and co-host a three-hour shift with VH-1 VJ Tim Byrd.

Semi-finalists for VH-l's seventh Viewer Guest VJ contest will be selected through a random drawing co-sponsored by VH-1, WNCX (98.5-FM) and Cleveland-area cable systems. Network castoffs lead sitcom pack in Nielsen ratings From staff and wire reports Two network-canceled situation comedies top the Nielsen ratings for syndicated sitcoms. Charles in Charge, starring Scott Bato (Happy Days), has 6.3 of TV homes. Mama's Family, with Vtckl Lawrence in the Carol Burnett Show spinoff, got 6.1. Others: Small Wonder, 5.7; One Big Family, 5.6; It's a Living, an p.m.

ofniwrtn Newhart When Larry (William Sanderson), Darryl (Tony Papenfuss) and Darryl (John Volstad) are accused of cow-napping, Dick (Bob Newhart) agrees to defend them in court. CBS. 9:00 p.m. (B EE) American Playhouse Laura Dern and Treat Williams ciar in Qmnnth Tails an arlanta- TUESDAY tion of Joyce Carol Oates' short Laura Dern story about a 15-year-old girl who becomes involved with a handsome stranger. PBS.

10:30 p.m. G9 QD Ossle A Ruby Adapted by Akron native Chuck Portz, My Man Bovanne tells of an elderly woman (Theresa Merritt) who shocks her children. PBS. other network cancellation that once starred Ann JUIlan, 5.4 Throb, 5.3 What's Happening Now, 5.3; Yakov Smlrnov's What a 5.2; and JVetv Gidget, 5.1. Charles in Charge was canceled by CBS.

Mama 's Family was a one-season NBC series that also starred Roe McClanahan and Betty White, both on NBC's Golden Girls comedy series. Peter Burnell, Mike Powers on The Doctors from 1968 until 1974 and on One Life to Live and Search for Tomorrow, died recently at age 44. After three weeks, CBS' Morning Program trails its predecessor, CBS Morning News, in NieLsen ratings. Morning Program averages 2.97 of TV homes; a year ago CBS Morning News averaged 3.05. NBC's Today has won for 18 consecutive weeks with 5.6 the week of Jan.

26-30, when ABC's Good SYMBOLS GUIDE Akron disc jockey Tim Daogherty will begin tonight as weather forecaster on WAKC- Scott Balo EMI Learning Channel ED Lifetime 3B Movie Channel S51 Music Television Nashville Network Hfl Nickelodeon (fH Playboy Channel ED People That Love Showtime ESI Tempo (formerly SPN) OH USA Network Video Hits-One HI Warner Akron 8-P1 (old, 15 (new) Warner Canton 12- P1 (old), 14 (new) HI Western Reserve cable position 9 EIU Marks position 1 1 IJJ Closed captioned for ttM Chicago 613 New York EB Atlanta uHsteubenville uSS Wheeling LUO Arts Entertainment Network EH Black Entertainment Television 11151 CBN Network IM1 Cinemax Cable News Network IDE C-SPAN (Cable Satellite Public Af- fairs Network) ESlC-SPAN (Senate) 1)13 Disney Channel U3 Entertainment Sports Programming Network EHU Financial News Network Home Box Office Ch. 23. He will retain his 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. weekday air shift on WONE (97.5-FM).

Mlndy McCoartney shifted from weather to news reporter for Channel 23. With Linda Purl quitting NBC's Matlock after this season because she's unhappy with her on-camera time as Matlock's (Andy Griffith) daughter, producers plan to rotate -four characters: The deputy district attorney already played by Julie Som-mars and three uncast roles a quasi-punk law student, an investigative reportec and a former juvenile delinquent. John McCook, once Lance Prentiss on CBS' The Young and the Restless, will star Morning America had 4.3 and Morning Program 2.9. CBS' Young and Restless topped ABC's usually No. 1 General Hospital in the daytime Nielsens, but both trailed new leader Price Is Right (part 2) on CBS.

Others: 4. CBS' As the World Turns; 5. ABC's All My Children; 6. ABC's One Life to Live; 7. Price (part 1); 8.

NBC's Days of Our Lives; 9. NBC's Wheel of Fortune; 10. CBS' Guiding Light. Psychologisttalk-show hostauthor Dr. Sonya Friedman will host Sonya Live in LA, a noon-2 p.m.

weekday program on Cable News Network that will premiere March 30. 6:00 a.m. EH The 700 Club See 6:30 a.m. 6:30 a.m. The 700 Club The new constitution in the Philippines; tips on effective communication.

7:00 a.m. Good Morning America Sylvester Stallone; Ruby Keeler reenacts scenes Irom the movie 42nd Street; Kris Krisioflerson (Amerika); Emmanuel Lewis. 60 mins. 9 7:30 a.m. QIHl The Morning Program Middle-aged people supporting both their children and their elderly parents; Lynda Carter (Slillwatch); writerdirector Oliver Stone (Platoon) and four Vietnam veterans.

9:00 a.m. Oprah Wlntrey Female impersonations. Hour Magazine Ted Shackellord; Patti Page; Angie Dickinson; teen weight loss; marathon runner Nancy Ditz; therapy for troubled children. ffi Donahue See 4 00 m. EMI Ask Washington Gen.

Robert Huyser, lormer envoy to Iran, discusses American involvement. 9:30 a.m. Chiropractic Lite 30 minutes. 10:00 a.m. Oprah Wlntrey Female impersonations.

11:30 a.m. TWO Llvel Jim Donnan from the Society lor the Blind, praline cheesecake. 1 Noon Take Two Rosey Grier on fighting substance abuse; dealing with problem bosses; ventriloquisf Ron Lucas-TippiHedren. 12:30 p.m. EH Wordplay Richard Moll Susan Rullan.

4:00 p.m. Donahue From the Soviet Ujiion: Soviet teen-agers discuss their views on politics, music, lashion and the future. 9:00 P.M. (2b) 'SMOOTH TALK' on American Playhouse Underwritten by Chubb A. "The Last Fling" (1987) John Bitter, Connie Sellecca.

A girl engaged to be married invites a guy she hardly knows to Mexico tor one last fling; instead they fall in love. OfSraNewiarf See Mark's Best Bets. 9 (BSD Movie "Smooth Talk" See Mark's Best Bets. ffWl Pee-wee Herman Actor Paul Reubens portrays the character Pee-wee Herman in a mix of music, classic animation and comedy. PH The 700 Club The new constitution in the Philippines; tips on effective communication.

Tortellis): Maureen McGovern; Joanna Kearns (Growing Pains) iHMoWe "Hamlet" (1948) Laurence Olivier, Jean Simmons. The melancholy prince of Denmark avenges his father's death, but he takes his time. 9:30 p.m. EH The Cavanaughs Kit's visiting showgirl friends aggravate the rest of the family. HMoWe "Teen Wolf" (1985) Michael J.

Fox, Jerry Levine. The new star of the Beacontown Beavers high-school basketball team has red eyes, fangs and lots ot hair. 1HP1 Inside the F.B.I. Call-in from F.B.I. headquarters with Bill Baker.assistant director, F.B.I, public relations.

"Ml New Country Roy Clark performs cuts from Rockin' in the Country. (TV Slereo) 11D Cagney Lacey Chris goes under cover to investigate a siring of robberies involving alcoholics' self-help groups. Bette Midler: Art or Bust The actresssinger delivers a mix of music, bawdy humor, outrageous costumes and spectacular stage ellects. IOQ Inside the F.B.I. Relationship between the Senate the F.B.I.

Interview with Joe Lisker, Senate Terrorism Committee. RM Movie "The Girl Next Door" (1953) Dan Dailey, June Haver. A stage star buys a house in Ihe country next door to a comic-strip cartoonist who lives with his 10-year-old son. Movie "Out of Africa" (1985) Meryl Streep, Robert Red-ford. Baroness Karen Blixen, pen name Isak Dinesen, falls in love with British hunter Denys Finch Hatlon in early 1900s Kenya.

(TV Stereo) ED Regis Philbin Dan Hedaya' (The 9:00 p.m. EH The Two Mrs. Grenvilles Arm uaims she shot Billy thinking he was a burglar. Her mother-in-law, Alice (Claudette Colbert), knows the truth behind the crime but feels she mus! protect Ihe family name. (Part 2 ol2) 9.