The Los Angeles Times from Los Angeles, California • Page 72

F18 SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 1997 LOS ANGELES TIMES Now That the Hype-odermic TELEVISION So What? La Salle added that they would consider another live episode at some point. Not surprisingly, NBC crunched the competition Thursday, with ratings plummeting for the new ABC dramas "Nothing Sacred" and compared to their first episodes last week. not a premiere-week ratings stunt but rather an attempt "to try and do something for ourselves creatively," seeking to keep the performers from becoming complacent as the show embarks on its fourth season. Wells cited as inspiration the recent best-drama Emmy won by NBC's "Law Order," which is beginning its eighth year. The hardest thing in television is not to create a show, he said, but rather "to have a show that's still good in that sixth, seventh and eighth season." Beyond the huge ratings garnered, "ER" production company Warner Bros.

Television is marketing a video of the live episode that was advertised at the end of Thursday's telecast. A studio spokesman said the video will be priced at $19.95 and will feature one of the versions shot. The network plans to flop the East and West Coast performances when the episode is repeated, providing each region a chance to see the hour it missed. The "ER" cast and crew didn't get much of a break following the live effort; production began Friday on a new episode. Still, between the two shows Thursday night, co-star Eriq La Salle told reporters the live performance was "a great challenge" and "a big rush.

Everybody is very high right now." Both Wells and IOVJ Ploying! tin 4 4 CIVIC LIGHT OPERA Km of SOUTH BAY CITIES FmTicketsCall 310372-4477 Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center view by John Frankenheimer, whose directing career in television and movies spans nearly half a century, there was a reason why nearly all of prime time switched to tape from live telecasts many years ago. And that reason still exists: Live TV may carry the suspense of the unknown (Will someone's pants fall down? Will the camera catch someone picking his but the quality of the work is almost always inferior. No safety net, you see. No way to go back and fix things that did not come off quite as planned. And that was the case with Thursday's season-opening "ER," which was tense and compelling, as always, but could have been more so had it been produced the usual way, extending a brand of TV that has served it well in the past.

Judging by the exuberance it displayed in media coverage after the event, the "ER" cast was jubilant, the way anyone would be after running a red light without getting broadsided. Better to have avoided the risk. Pretending that backward is forward is an old trick. It's also dishonest and unbefitting a series of the quality of "ER." HOMESOURCE www.latimes.comhomesource OPENS SUNDAY AT 5 CALL 13 628-8772 Group 3ale( 213) 972-7231 mm I i i I I 1 Has Worn Off IV REVIEW By HOWARD ROSENBERG TIMES TELEVISION CRITIC 'Thursday's talked-about, I squealed-about, screamed-'! I about live episode of "ER" i' (separate renderings for each coast) was another of television's phantom events, owing its life as a spectacle entirely to billowing hype generated by NBC. And much of the news media cooperated by wrapping their lips around the same tuba and blowing their guts out.

None more buffoon-: ishly, naturally, than NBC-owned KNBC-TV Channel 4, which heavily promoted the episode dur-! ing its newscasts Thursday and raved euphorically about it throughout its 11 p.m. news pro-: gram. Speaking of medical atten-; tion, here is a station in dire need of an emergency ethics implant. And what was this thing called live, anyway? Well, it was hardly the dramatic i breakthrough and courageous theater that you would have thought from the gaseous hot air advertising it. Instead, it was noth- ing but a cynical gimmick to tract even more viewers to a series that had already ended last season top-ranked in the Nielsen ratings.

This was like squandering artificial life support on a patient whose heart was already thumping like a jackhammer. Talk about getting greedy. i. As noted in a recent radio inter TODAY AT 2 8 AHMANSON THEATRE NORTH (BUND kl TEHFLI STREET DOWNTOWN 103 ANQBLBS 1 nit Laurie Winei, lOSAKGElESIir TOMP4GET0STIICE" at Barnes and Noble BookstoresV Selections from E.L. Doctorow's I novel will be narrated by a 'Pi cast member.

Ji October 8 5-8pm BurbankMedu City 0CTOBBR 9 5-6PM i I (I Beads Rings Necklaces Earrings Watches Charms II Gold Silver 0pals Diamonds Pearls Crystals Settings 18 at the lowest possible prices! JJ Continued from F2 the program live as well. The most notable glitch occurred during the West Coast version, when an actor playing an HIV-inr fected patient inadvertently dropped a syringe he was to have brandished at hospital staff. A few other differences could be seen from the earlier performance, such as a baby sitting silently through her scene with George Clooney, while a different child cried all the way through the East Coast feed. "ER" executive producer John Wells said the live episode initially suggested by Clooney was "A Ill FINAL 12 PESFSI Now Thru Oct. Only! mill train "A TROTH!" LATHS FltUUQW! A NOISE WITHIN William Shakespeare's King Richard III NoelCoward'3 Design For Living Moliere's The Learned Ladies Call for Brochure (818) 545-1924 Sieve Allen Ed Asner Shelley Berman Jkft Corey Harry Hamlitj Nan Martin Redgrave AwShimmerman Trish Van Devere'Davd Warner in A Shakespearean Sundae A Benefit for MALIBU STAGE COMPANY ONE PERFORMANCE ONLY Sunday, October 12 2pm All tickets $150 Reservations: 310-456-8226 The Grace Players present Acts of Grace 2 World Premieres of 9 One-Act Plays! Final Week! Must Close Saturday! Ecyptian AilSNA THEATRE (888) 566-TIXX International Crrv Theatre at the Center Theatre, Long Beach All My Sons by Arthur Miller Produced by ShaSHM DesAI Directed ty JlMS Aaron CRITIC'S CHOICE" LA Tunes Press Telegram Register FINAL 4 PERFORMANCES! Thurs, Fri, Sat 8pm; Sun 2pm thru Sept 28 Ticketmaster: (213) 480-3232, (714) 740-2000 fr-fr-An Critic's Choice -k-kirk David SaroaivifR Jessica Hughes present i LOOKLNGGLASS Theatre Co.

production of The Arabian Nights Adapted Directed by Mary Zimmerman k-k-k-k Pick of the Week! LA Weekly "You leave the theatre feeling as if you had almost died of pleasure!" The Reader "Superb!" -UTimes Actors' Gang Theatre (213) 660-TKTS 1MB SI TTXfVfi Hint i VMirrfV Mill Mill mm Ill iiiiiiii 'TlHl Looking for past articles? limited engagement! Sean Penn ClydebHlwgry Films in association with Helicon Theatre CoMMNYvEstH! Leo Penn Eileen Ryan Remembrance by Graham Reid James Gandolfini, Melissa Fitzgerald, Robin Lange, Laura Jane Salvato OPENS SEPTEMBER 25 The Odyssey Theatre 2055 S. Sepulveda Blvd (310) 477-2055 an odyssey theatre guest production Situation Tragedy Observations on 10 Years in Hollywood with Bongos Starring MAXINE LAPIDUSS "Komedy, Dancing, Snappy Music!" It's a lafT-riot Paris screamed!" "A daring theme. New York howled!" Previews September 25-26 Premiere Sept 27, Show Sold Out! Hurry! Thur-Fri 8.00pm Sat 8:00 Through Nov 1 Globe Playhouse ShowTIXX (888) 566-8499 RON SHOCK is ITieStoryteller true stories from an unusual life "Highly eye for He hooks the audience and reels us in" LA Weekly Thur Sun 8pm thru October 12 Ctmiff Crrv Pi AVHot-sr. ShuwTiu (888)566499 Actors Co-op Presents Terra Nova by Ted Tally (Oscar Winner The Silence of the Lambs) (213) 462-8460 or (213) 964-3586 kkkk Pick of the Week -1 A Weekly kkkk Clinic's Choice It's Showtime! The Yiddish Trojan Women by Carole Braverman Thurs Sat 8pm, Sun 2pm thru Oct. 19 No Performance October 10 or 16 World Premiere Effigies written directed by Bea Silvkrn Mon Wed 8pm thru Oct.

15 No performance October 1 THEATRE 40 Show tin (818) 789-8499 -Intuit010" "HILARIOUS!" -Nav York Poat TOWGrfl wo GLfNN CASALi floe evfrn BiFWiLO www.paudfWpltrtiouM-Com lovely production of a rarely-seen gem!" Laurie Winer, LA Times BY JEAN ANOUILH Thursday Saturday 8pm, Sunday 3pm Pacific Resident Theatre. (213) 660-TKTS Limited Run! Gloria Gifford, Executive Producer presents The Theatre Group production of 7 Plays The Best of the One Acts 1 Great Writing! Inventive Directing! Excellent Reviews! Real Good Actors! Fri Sat 8PM, Sunday 7PM Thru October 5 Beverly Hills Piayhousf (213) 660-TKTS Willijim I lice's Bronte Directed by Charles Nkijon Rkii.lv Starring HeiN Wilson Mon Wed 8pm Tamarind Theatre Showtixx- t-SSXl 566-8499 Last Chance! Final 3 an abundance of insight and talent" LA Tunes CRITIC'S CHOICE! "Pawrftd! Emotional! Evocative!" -Drama-Logue "Superb! Mezmerizing!" -LA Weekly Nadine Maion'i witty poetic Afro urban solo piece Confirmingthe Search: That Girl's Still Here Somewhere Thurs. Sat. 8pm $2 off wish this ad! Fountain Theatre (213) 663-1 S25 Thru 104 Only! Ntozake Shange'j For Colored Girls who have considered suicide when the rainbow is enuf Morgan-WiKon Theatre (310) 828-7519 2 Comic Monologues bv Scott Carter AvaFdwonngpraducerofWC'sTdiilruiiect'' Heavy Breathing in. oi ouii tr ivi Suspension Bridge Sal KPU- Kim 7PM "(Carter's writing) bristles with barbed witticisms and a rueful self-awareiKss." Daly News 'cottCaiterEjustuKlindorhunioiistllmc: Ik'ssmait funnv; real, and ftimy.

I'mjealuui''-GarryShandling Theater at the Improv September 19 October 19 213-651-2583 176 Arclele by Jean Anouilh Hwrtl IrilMlF? IESTTIR "JS 1 v- if Last 2 Closes Critic's Choice! AGAIN! HieGay90sMusical Looking Cfxebration Theaiue (213) 857-8085 For Group Sales Call (2 1 3) 650-08 1 3 Biunguai, Foundation of the Arts and Wells Fargo present Garcia Lorca's The House of Bernarda Alba starring CARMEN ZAPATA Sept. 25 thru Nov. 2, 1997 Los Angeles Theatre Center Call (213) 225-4044 kkkk World Premiere kkkk Marilyn Mandel presents Annie Reiner's Mirage a Trois directed by Chris DeCarlo "A fanny and imaginative play" -NeilSimon Fri Sat cm jfc Qin bum Santa Monica Playhouse i i) 394-9779 1. 1 Return Opens Oct. MorphicResonance Alchemy of a high order!" kkkk Critic's Choice -LA limes Weekly a guest production of the Matrix Theatre f213 658-4030 Final Weeks! Must Close Oct 5th! xAsyncralK IhouitM materiaT -LA H(Recanmcndijd) "Who Afraid of Virginia Wiolf as Ionesco might have of sharp-edged honesty and ixongnious eruptions of existential -Los Angeles Times Drama-Logue llow'schafcnOTgvHon manages to hi home" -BackStageWest "Alataldcastofuutytharmlcn.

camg about these desperate souls" -BuaWeekfytihck-k) One Shoe Off by Tina Howe Thurs Sat 8pm, Sun 3pm (213) 660-TKTS The Gascon Center Theatre 8737 W. Washington Blvd. in the Old Helms Bakery A World Premiere! The Puccini Project A World Premiere by Howard Burman October 4 25 CAitromiARmRroRvCo. (562) 985-7000 LLP t.DJMnf." I 'r IM Ollioil Willi I laMltMkiilKliiM! CltCIWr. I ti, i I.