The Los Angeles Times from Los Angeles, California • Page 79

F10 WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 27, 1 999 LOS ANGELES TIMES TODAY ON TV 10:30 a.m. DISN Out of the Box (TVY) Mysteries Scandals (TVPG) ESPN2 Ultimate Outdoors FAM CBN Special Edition 501398 FSW2 Aerobic Conditioning LIFE New Attitudes (TVPGI 574244 NICK Blue's Clues SCI-H Beyond Reality (TVPG) SHOW "My Magic Dog" '97(G) I hr38 470195 TLC Salty's Lighthouse (TVY) TNN America's Country Hits (TVG) USA Something So Right (TVPG-D) VH1 Pop-Up Video (TVPG) 10:00 a.m. CHANNELS Lib Angeles HD KOCE P8S) 50 Orange County ES KVEA (Tele 1 23 KCBSCBS)02 jf KTLA (WB) 05 fl KffiS muTTr 36. KMIB(NBC04 Ul KTTV (Fox) 1 1 KESQABCI725 B3 KCET(PBS)28 H3 KPXN (PAX 30 aWCRPBS24 Ventura County 03 KADY(UPN16 Cable Services 39 63 SCI-FI 87 AMC 35 ESPN 34 SHOW 41 BET 57 ESPN2 84 TBS 43 BRVO 54 FAM 47 TCM 88 CNBC 31 FSW27 TLC 51 COM 79 FX 89 TMC 58 CSPN 29 HBO 33 TNN 49 CMAX 45 HIST 30 TNT 52 CNN 42 LIFE 46 USA 44 DSC 37 MTV 48 VH1 62 DISN 53 NICK 38 WGN 55 Use numbers after call letters to set VCR Plus. Where there are two numbers, repeat the procedure.

(R in the grid, denotes a repeat EI KNBC36 KMIft Later Today 74602 KTLA Sally Jessy Raphael (TVGI 23992 KABC 42 KESQ Regis Kathie 18060 KCAL Maury (TVPGI 72282 EH KTTV Divorce Court B0 KCOPMontel Williams 14282 DO KSCIICanDolt! KWHY "Concurso de Belleza" 1hr30 646114 B4 KVCR Sesame Street 89176 KCET Barney (TVY 26756 IS1 KTBN Dr. Cherry 03 KOCE Instructional TV KVEA Dragon Ball 03 KDOC Life in the Word EH KJLA Business News 2000 (TVGI ED KLCS TEAMS Geometry KRCA Los Aiios Perdidos 63114 Simon Simon BETVideolink BRVO ArtsBreak (9:15) CNBC Power Lunch 74718 CNN Newsday COM The Daily Show (TVPGI DSC Assignment Discovery (TVGI DISN Otter (TVY F.Y.E! (TVPG) ESPN SportsCenter ESPN2 Spanish Fly FAM It's Itsy Bitsy Time TVY) 867466 FSW Teeing Off FX Picket Fences (TVPG-D) HBO "Bronco Billy" '80 (PG 1hr56 924350 HIST Weapons at War (TVGI LIFE Next Door (TVG 863640 NICK Kipper 672350 SCI-FI Night Gallery TBS Matlock TCM iw "The Male Animal" '42 1hr41 5234008 TLC Bingo Molly (TVY TNN Your Home Studio (TVGI TNT Reasonable Doubts USA Almost Perfect (TVPG) WGN Richard Simmons' Dream Maker juvenile crime has been sloping downward since 1993, the FBI says. And serious crimes for all ages fell in 1998 for the seventh consecutive year, it says, the longest continuous decline since the FBI began collecting crime data in 1930. If we blame the media when crime is up, shouldn't we credit them when crime is down? Or instead, should we scrap all of that and pursue another course when examining media? Pick No. 2, and you earn a gold star.

"We don't believe in this cause-effect business," said Elizabeth Thoman, founder and president of that enormously valuable resource, the Center for Media Literacy in Los Angeles. "Imitation of behavior doesn't begin to plumb the territory. It just gets us back to the blame issue. I don't even want to go there." And she doesn't. Proof comes Saturday when the center rolls out a thick red carpet of workshops for teachers at St.

Anne's Conference Center in Los Angeles. The highly worthy occasion is its first Media Literacy Day Bravo! which Thoman hopes to expand to several times a year. It aims to give teachers the information and tools to help students and their families "analyze today's media culture and build the skills, attitudes and behaviors that promote healthy lifestyle choices and positive, productive values for the home and workplace." You know, what Jerry Springer doesn't teach them. Just a few of the workshop titles: "Babes Studs: The Politics of Appearance." "Whose Stories Are Told? Identity in a Media Age." "Teen Sexuality in a Culture of Confusion." Rosenberg Continued from Fl becoming the message. It's a deepening problem that needs to be addressed by this medium whose messengers increasingly screw themselves into stories like thousand-watt celebrities.

Gray questioning Rose about his difficulties is fine. Gray vs. Rose isn't. A little compassion is in order here, for like runaway gambling, this self-important, too-big-for-his-britches reporter thing is a sickness, a treatable addiction. All we the people (I, myself and me) want from Gray is an apology and promise that he won't do it again.

The Gray episode provides more hot rhetoric for hair-triggers to fire at the media. You can almost see them quick-drawing and slapping leather right now. News types aren't the only target, of course. The assault is much wider. The clean-up-the-media fusillade comes also from the cause-and-effect crowd whose hysterical mantra about TV, movies and video games creating an ever-longer assembly line of youthful killersan image magnified by the shootings at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo.

appears to make perfect sense. Until reality intervenes. Firing up a caldron of fear, these anti-media crusaders create an impression that Americans are meaner than ever and that crime in the U.S. is on the dramatic upswing. Nope.

The latest FBI figures show juvenile arrests for serious and violent crimes falling nearly 11 from 1997 to 1998, more than double that for adults. That's so, the feds say, even though the teen population continues to grow. This is hardly a freaky glitch, for "God on the Silver Screen: Issues of Faith in a Media Culture." "Hollywood Does History: Separating Fact From Fiction at the Movies." "Confession of a Prime Time Killer Rethinking Media Violence and Boys." The latter is taught by James Read, who played a variety of bad guys in 20 years of film and TV acting, and is now a psychologist who lectures widely on media literacy. He and nine others teaching Saturday's 20 workshops are graduates of the center's Felton Media Literacy Scholars Program, funded by pioneering TV producer Norman Felton Kildare," "The Man From U.N.C.L.E."). Thoman and her group are hardly the only ones in the media-literacy business.

On Tuesday night, for example, entertainment-industry types here were to meet and exchange ideas with Elana Rosen, who runs the younger, well-respected Just Think Foundation in San Francisco, which has developed its own media education curriculum. I don't pretend to be unbiased on this topic. In fact, I'm a super fan. Jim Gray interviewing Pete Rose speaks shrilly for itself. Nothing much to see through.

But what of the twistier labyrinths of mass media and popular culture? Media literacyteaching teachers to lead kids and others safely through this maze is flat out the sanest, surest route to the I loly Grail of reform. And a smart alternative to marching on Hollywood and other entertainment and media centers. Impart critical thinking to children when they are very young-give them smarts that lift their ex pectations and perhaps some day they'll part the Red Sea and lead us from the wilderness. We the people command it. KCBS Dr.

Joy Browne 81331 13 i KEYT Home Improvement (TVG) KNBC Access Hollywood 86398 KTLA Richard Simmons' Dream 58027 KABC 4Z KESQ The View 43195 II KCAL Jerry Springer 90027 03 KTTV Queen Latifah 85195 EB KCOP Forgive or Forget 52466 KVCR Creative Living H3 KCET Sesame Street 69350 KMEXMaite 361 KMIR Mad About You (TVPG-D) ETJ KTBN Behind the Scenes EH KVEA Las Aguas Mansas 36008 ED KLCS E' in Me; World of Work (10:151 KRCA Cine Law Order (TVPGI BET Docugroove: 24 Hours With Mary Blige 174089 CNN CNN Today COM In" '94 (R 9094640 DSC Home Matters (TVG) DISN Bear in the Big Blue House (TVY El Andrew 'Dice' Clay: The True Hollywood Story (TVPG) ESPN Racehorse Digest ESPN2 Boat Racing FAM The 700 Club FSW2 Fitting It In FX Beverly Hills, 90210 (TVPG) HIST High Points in History (TVG) LIFE Party of Five (TVPG-L) NICK Little Bear 561805 SCI-FI The Twilight Zone (TVPG) TBS Hunter TLC The Big Garage (TVY) TMC "Mimic" '97R)1hr45 TNN Alice (TVGI TNT In the Heat of the Night (TVPG-VI USA Ned and Stacey (TVPG-D) VH1 New Videos (TVPG) WGN News TV RATINGS All Children Directed to Older Children Directed to Older Children; FantasyViolence General Audience Parental Guidance Parents Strongly Cautioned Mature Audiences Only Suggestive Dialogue Coarse Language Sex Violence Movie Ratings A CLASSIC FIRST RATE FLAWED: HAS MOMENTS DESPERATION TIME (TVYI (TVY7I (TVY7-FV) (TVGI ITVPG) (TV14 ITVMAI ID) ID IS) 9:30 a.m. 131 KEYT Mad About You (TVPG-D) a KNBC EXTRA ITVPG) 77089 KWHY Cine 24 KVCR Lap Quilting 3ft KMIR Judge Mills Lane DD KTBN Casey Treat 03 KDOC Froozles (TVGI 926379 ED KLCS Hands On: Crafts for Kids AMC "The Spirit of St. Louis" '57 2hr30 92316176 (10:45) DISN The Little Mermaid (TVY) ESPN America's Horse NICK Franklin 678534 SCI-FI The Twilight Zone (TVPG) TLC Jay Jay the Jet Plane (TVY) TNN Real McCoys (TVG) USA Fired Up (TVPGI 11:00 a.m. KCBS The Young and the Restless (TV14) 10945 El KNBC News KTLA Sally Jessy Raphael (TVPG) 38263 KABCI 3 KEYT Port Charles (TVPG) 66911 KCAL Judge Mathis (TVPGI ID KTTV Living Single OD KCOP Jenny Jones (TVPG-L) 32602 KVCR America Sews SO KCET Noddy (TVY) 62737 S3 KMEX Girasoles para Lucia (TVPG) 30244 36I KMIR The People's Court CD KTBN James Robison 42 KESQLeeza 63176 KVEA Luisa Fernanda 16244 03 KDOC Southland Today S3 KLCS Using Maps, Globes, Graphs, Tables, Charts and Diagrams Taxes in U.S. History (11:151 631 KADY The Newlywed Game Northern Exposure (TVPG) BET Jam Zone CNBC Street Signs CSPN U.S.

House of Representatives 8751008 DSC lynette Jennings Design (TVGI DISN Winnie the Pooh (TVY) Sally Jessy Raphael: Behind the Scenes ESPN NFL's Greatest Moments ESPN2 Boat Racing FAM What Every Baby Knows (TVG) FX Beverly Hills, 90210 (TVPG) HBO "Gremlins" '84 (PG) 5886824 HIST 20th Century (TVPG) LIFE Chicago Hope (TVPG-D) NICKGullahGullah Island 770331 Please see TV LOG Fll Network Viewer Program 112. The Strip 113. 7th Heaven Beginnings 114. The Jamie Fon Show 115. Shasta McNasty 116.

GiownsUps Cable Top 10 UPN WB WB UPN UPN 2.59 258 2.54 J39 208 Here are Nielsen's top 10 cable programs in prime time last week, also ranked by total viewers (in millions). (0 KTTV Divorce Court BED KCET Puzzle Place (TVY 26244 EH KTBN Dean and Mary Brown EB KVEA Los RecienCasados ELD KLCS 3-2-1 Classroom Contact (9:451 BRVO "Birdy" '84 2hr30 626553 CMAX 'i" "Dogfight" '91 (Rlhr35 CNN Burden of Proof 932244 COM Win Ben Stein's Money (TVPGI Morning 9:00 a.m. KCBS Martha Stewart 89534 131 KEYT Regis Kathie Lee 76060 Prime-Time TV Rankings Home Run for NBC With World Series, 'ER' Caulfield: Year One," which didn't survive to Week Three. ABC also opted to at least temporarily shelve the Thursday drama "Wasteland," which with UPN's wrestling show "WWF Smackdown!" hitting its highest mark yet was spared a sixth-place finish only by the dismal numbers the Fox spoof "Action" recorded. "ER," meanwhile, is earning its hefty fees.

The medical drama was up 6 Thursday versus the corresponding week a year ago, despite the fact that NBC's new sitcom "Stark Raving Mad" is fumbling away more viewers than "Veronica's Closet" in the slot last year. BRIAN LOWRY Strong ratings for the weekend's opening World Series games and the durability of "ER" provided NBC a winning box score last week, based on viewing estimates issued Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research. The World Series featuring standout performances by Yankees pitchers Orlando Hernandez and David Cone and league playoffs easily exceeded tune-in from 1998, when the Fall Classic played on Fox. "Monday Night Football" added a fourth sports program to prime time's Top 10. At the same time, several new series hit the skids last week, as low ratings prompted Fox to cancel its Friday tandem of "Harsh Realm" and "Ryan National Nielsen Viewership Here are the rankings for national prime-time network television last week (Oct.

18-24) as compiled by Nielsen Media Research. They are based on the average number of people who watched a program from start to finish. Nielsen estimates that there are 260 million potential U.S. viewers age 2 and older. Viewership is listed here in millions.

4 producers and studios on the question of adding minorities to the writing staffs of prime-time shows. Preparations for the discussions began after a guild leadership meeting in August, according to Writers Guild spokeswoman Cheryl Rhodcn. "We've done discussions like this before, but never with the concentrated focus that we have now," she said. Adding to that sharper focus is a recent survey of the racial makeup of prime-time comedy and drama staffs conducted by the local NAACP chapter and a group of African American writers. Among its findings: Of 839 writers currently employed on prime-time shows, only 55 are African American, 11 are Latino, and three are Asian American.

There were no Native American writers, it said. One of the key issues the Writers Guild intends to put on the table is the tendency for minority writers to be overlooked for shows with predominantly white casts. Most of the 55 African American prime-time writers worked on shows with primarily black casts. White writ 'lid ers, however, routinely make the crossover to write on shows with predominantly minority casts. "We need to change that pattern," Rhoden said, "and send out the word to agencies that this is something that has to change.

They need to start sending scripts by minority writers to predomiJ nantly white shows." Special focus will be placed on comedy shows, where the lack of diversity among the writing staffs is most severe, she said. Once the main guild meetings are concluded, Sharon Johnson, head of the Writers Guild of America Committee of Black Writers, said she and other minority groups affiliated with the guild, including the Latino Writers Committee, also were hoping to meet with network officials. 1 1 Meanwhile, Billie Green, presU dent of the Beverly HillsHolly wood NAACP chapter, said her group intends to keep up the pressure on the networks, calling foj establishment of diversity training programs at the networks and a monitoring system that would track progress. i Mine Bursty" David Cone Net- We Program work 1. "Pretty Woman" TBS 6.41 2.

USA 6.24 3. Wrestling 10 p.m.) USA 5.99 4. Pro Football (Thur.) ESPN 5.79 5. Bong 9:30 p.m.) HBO 4.53 6. Wrestling 7 USA 4.28 7.

Wrestling 8p.m.) TNT 4.17 8. Boxing 10 18 p.m HBO 3.52 9. Boning 9 p.m.) HBO 3.81 10. "Caspei Meets Wendy" FOXF 3.80 Network Averages Here is the number of viewers that each network averaged per hour of prime time, for last week and for the season. Diversity Continued from Fl tunities that were lost.

We also want to highlight shows that are doing the right thing." Johnson, who has appeared in such shows as "Melrose Place" and "In Living Color," said the decision to focus on black performers came after she learned the guild would soon release a study on Latinos. An independent study on Native American performers is also said to be under consideration, according to Johnson. "Besides," Johnson said, "African Americans have never been studied this extensively." While the plan is to pare down the analysis to a 10-minute presentationan easily digestible size for network and studio executives the reality is that many of the 735 hours they look at will have no African Americans in them: "It's not like there's a lot dealing with African Americans on the networks." Kwcisi Mfume, president of the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People, is due back in Los Angeles in November for a second round of meetings with each of the four major networks. Specifics about the summits remain under wraps.

Mfume began the dialogue in August after publicly calling for a strategic reaction to the new fall shows during the NAACP annual meeting in July. The civil rights organization is still evaluating information received from the networks about minority employment and will soon make a decision about its next step, according to an NAACP spokesman. Network executives maintain they are ready to discuss the issue. "This is an important topic, and no one expects it to go away," said an NBC spokesperson. "We are willing to discuss it with them." Mfume had expressed disappointment after his initial conversations with the networks, saying that while executives acknowledged there was a problem in terms of diversity, they were far from establishing specific policies to change the status quo.

If this round of talks does not represent progress, Mfume has indicated, on the horizon are his plans for advertiser boycotts and other actions designed to affect network stock prices. Separately, the Writers Guild of America West is undertaking its own discussions with networks, TV "SUPERB! AN EXCELLENT EKSO3lL" ill 1 1 -U DAUr NEWS RM7 HRKM MM 4 i 14 Last Setnn wxt ttdeta NBC 17.14 million 14.59 CBS 12.93 13.29 ABC 10.53 11.14 FOX 7.76 8.63 WB 4.30 4.44 UPN 4.06 "3.84 Spectacular Net- View-Program work 67. 48 Hours CBS 7.90 68. TheHughleys ABC 7.81 7th Heaven WB 7.81 70. Boy Meets World ABC 7.75 71.

Wort With Me CBS 7.65 72 2020 Downtown ABC 7.54 73. 2020 (Mon.) ABC 7.45 74. "A Time to Kill" ABC 7.41 75. Whose Line Is It Anyway? ABC 7.35 76. Cops FOX 708 77.

WWFSmackdownl UPN 7.07 78. King ol the Hill FOX 6.68 79. Love Money CBS 662 80. Suddenly Susan NBC 6.59 81. Party ol Five FOX 6.53 82.

Wodd's Funniestl FOX 641 83. Wood's Wildest Police Videos FOX 601 84. Ally FOX 586 85. Angel WB 5.58 86. Chaimed WB 532 87.

Cold Feel NBC 5.12 88. Burly, the Vampire Slayer WB 509 89. Get Real FOX 5.01 90. Dawson's Creek WB 4.92 91. Roswell WB 4.90 92.

Star Trek: Voyager UPN 4.53 93. The Parkers UPN 4.48 94. SafeHaitur WB 4.23 95. Wasteland ABC 4.09 96. Woitd's Funniest FOX 4.01 97.

GlownUps UPN 3.92 98. 7 Days UPN 3.78 99. Moesha UPN 3.73 100. Harsh Realm FOX 3.71 101. Felicity W8 3.46 102.

Popular WB 342 103. Action FOX 3 41 104. Malcolm 4 Eddie UPN 3.37 105. Action (9:30 p.m.) FOX 3.23 106. The Sieve Harvey Show WB 3.19 107.

Ryan Caulfield: Year One FOX 2.97 The Jamie Fon Show WB 2.97 109. For Youl Love WB 2.86 110. JackS Jill WB 2.80 "Sate House" UPN 2.80 2 3 Fina Performances THE BSADENA CIVIC 114) 740-7878 Cmimmml Ibe Hest. OHUN: www.lkkttmaitar.can Oct Frl-8wn Oct 30, SaMtSpm Oct 31. For Information: (6S6) 449-7360 "Classic Broadway Mood-miif-giils pi Mide Bnr()ii is splmtliii!" Variety Program work 1.

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ER World Series (Sun.) Friends Frasier World Series (Sat.) NL Playoffs (Tue.) Touched by an Angel Stark Raving Mad "The Soul Collector" NBC NBC NBC NBC NBC NBC CBS NBC CBS 29.56 22.83 22.39 22.04 22.04 21.82 19.06 18.38 17.85 17.67 1685 16.78 16.73 1651 16.19 16.09 1563 14.95 1493 14.70 1430 14.05 1363 13.43 13.28 13.10 12.97 12.84 12.71 12.71 12.48 12.41 12 22 12.20 1220 1188 11.79 11.76 11.52 11.47 11.20 11.17 11.11 10.93 10.73 10.64 10.54 10.29 10.23 1014 1011 965 956 946 935 910 9.04 877 876 854 8.50 8.27 8.25 8.05 800 7.98 Monday Night Football ABC 60 Minutes CBS Jesse NSC Evetybody Lives Raymond CSS Tne Practice ABC JAG CBS World Sews Pregame (Sun.) NBC Judging Amy CBS Dharnia Greg ABC Providence NBC The Drew Carey Show ABC law Older SVU NBC Becker CBS Family Uw CBS Nash Bridges CBS King of Queens CBS AL Playoffs (Mon.) FOX law SOider NBC 2020 (Fri.) ABC 60 Minutes II CBS Diagnosis Murder CBS 2020 (Wed.) ABC West Wing NBC Walker, Texas Ranger CBS Chicago Hope CBS Dateline: NBC (Wed.) NBC Dateline: NBC (Mon.) NBC Oh Grow Up ABC ladies Man CBS Dateline: NBC (Fri.) NBC Sports Night ABC Two Guys and a Girt ABC "Eye tor an Eye" CBS Spin City ABC Now and Again CBS The Simpsons FOX "Father ol the Bride Part II" ABC Norm ABC Once and Again ABC Snoops ABC ALPIayofls Pregame (Mon.) FOX Martial law CBS KidS'Say Damdest Things CSS Futurama FOX Saorina, the Teenage Witch ABC Dateline: NBC (Sun.) NBC Costly CBS Whose line Is Anyway? (8:30) ABC That '70s Show FOX FOX ABC CBS FOX FOX FOX NBC ABC Amenca's Most Wanted It's like, you know. Eariy Edition Cops (8:30 p.m.) Beverly Hilts. 90210 The X-Files Veronica's Closet Odd Man Out Tips for Today 11 a.m.-l p.m. Performance Today: "Milestones of the Millennium: Appalachian" (11 a.in.-noon); "The Danish Wave '99" (noon-1 p.m.), KCSN-IM (118.5). 5-6 p.m.

Beneath the Surface: "The lJVUSD," with former school board members leff llorton, Barbara Uoudreaux, KI'I K-FM (90.7). p.m. Rockllne: Music and interview with John Paul lones (of Led Zeppelin), KCIiS-I (93.1). Sports 5-8 p.m. Baseball: World Series, Game 4, Atlanta Braves at New York Yankees, KXT A (690).

7:30 p.m.-lO p.m. Pro Basketball: NBA Inhibition, Milwaukee Bucks at Clippers, KCTLH1540). Southland Viewing Here are Nielsen's Top 10 prime-time programs in the Los Angeles area during the same week. The rankings are based on the number of households watching. 1.

ER 2. Friends 3. The Practice 4. Frasier 5. Jesse 6.

Law Older SVU 7. NL Playoffs Poslgame (Tue.) 8. Stark Raving Mad West Wing 60 Minutes Judging Amy KNBC 1.016,750 KNBC 903,778 KABC KNBC KNBC KNBC KNBC KNBC KNBC KCBS KCBS 821,616 811.346 724.049 677,833 667,563 559,726 559,726 559,726 559.726 Noon-2 p.m. George Putnam's Talkback, Kll-V (870). Noon-3 p.m.

Dr. Laura Schlesslnger, KIT (640). HOWARD CRABTREE'S WHEN PIGS FLY rt RADIO Talk-Interview II a.m.-l p.m. Talk of the Nation, Kl'CC-l (89.3). IS Ml AIM (U IfMl AfTlllffl-TH Mill IJ.