The Los Angeles Times from Los Angeles, California • Page 508

ENTERTAINMENT THE ARTSTV LISTINGS RELIGION SECTION CALENDAR SAN DIEGO COUNTY floe Angeles Sfttnes SATURDAY OCTOBER 27, 1990 ART REVIEW HIGHLIGHTS 0 Photographs by Casebere Display Lack of Feeling SAN DIEGO COUNTV By SUSAN FREUDENHEIM SAN DIEGO COUNTV ARTS EDITOR SAN DIEGO James Casebere is one of a generation of photographers whose work eschews fact for fiction, Sculptors and dramatists as much as photo-technicians, these artists apparently have been influenced more by the narratives of film and television than still photography. The larger-than-life glossies of one-shot dramas by Casebere, Cindy Sherman, Nic Nicosia, Laurie Simmons and a slew of other artists in their mid-to-late 30s and early 40s first came to tight during the early 1980s. And after' their first big splash in museum shows and national magazines, their works have had varying degrees of critical success. Among these artists, the New York- based Casebere, 37, is one of the least interesting. Virtually a one-note purist, Casebere has created colorless, unpeopled images of dramatic settings that are badly in need of something to say.

A selection of Casebere's photographs made since 1985 opened this week at the Museum of Photographic Arts in San Diego, along with a room-sized sculptural installation, The show continues through Dec, 9. It is not the black-and-white medium that makes these pictures so monochrome; It is the repetitive theme of desolation. Alone, the images seem pristine, simple, perhaps even evocative. Grouped together they are simply empty. With the massive wood sculpture "Tree Please see CASEBERE, F10 BRUCE K.

HUFF Los Angolcs Tlmc An installation by James Casebere, on view at the Museum of Photographic Arts. I San Diego County SPEECHLESS SHOW: One in a group of photographers who stage their artistic visions, James Case' bere has created a body of work of colorless, unpeopled images that are badly in need of something to say. A selection of Casebere's photographs made since 1985 opened this week at the Museum of Photographic Arts in San Diego, along with a room-sized sculptural installation. Reviewed by Susan Freudenheim. Fl 1 ELOQUENT CELLO: Lynn Har-rell's eloquent solo in Dvorak's Minor Cello Concerto brought the San Diego Symphony audience to its feet, but guest conductor Klaus-peter Seibel's workaday reading of the Beethoven Second Symphony left some nodding off.

Reviewed by Kenneth Herman. Fl Elsewhere FAILING GRADES: One of TV's four new high school series has been canceled and the others are struggling to pass the Nielsen ratings test. They are also being criticized by some educators: "They make students all look like bubble heads," one teacher said. Fl MORE JACKSON: The syndicated public affairs and talk show hosted by Jesse Jackson is making changes that will "let Jesse be Jesse." The show has gotten off to a slow start, drawing just 1.6 of national viewers and 1 in Los Angeles for its first four episodes. F9 REVIEWS SCHOLARS DEBUT: The vocal quartet the Scholars of London made their L.A.

debut with a won-drousiy sung, stylistically generic account of a strong program. Reviewed by John Henken. Ft if Jt TV's Blackboard Bungle Fall Shows About Kids, for Kids and Starring Kids Haven't Necessarily Attracted Kids Nancy Valen starred as an English teacher on NBC's "Hull High," which the network canceled this week. THE HORROR: Robert En-glund, above, plays host to "The Horror Hall of Fame" on KCAL Channel 9 Sunday. There are too many film clips but the six inductees are given appropriate tributes.

Reviewed by Chris Willman.FIS By RICK SHERWOOD SPECIAL TO THE TIMES Network programmers had high hopes for high ratings for high school programming when the TV season began last month. So far, however, the four new campus entries are all receiving failing marks from viewers and not much better from some educators. Indeed, one of them NBC's musical "Hull High" was canceled this week after drawing paltry ratings that left it ranked 86th among 90 prime-time series that have aired on the four networks this season. Two others-Fox's drama "Beverly Hills, 90210" and its comedy "Parker Lewis Can't Lose" are only a couple of notches higher. "Ferris Bueller," NBC's version of the film comedy about a high school boy who knows all the angles, ranks 50th in the Nielsen season averages, a passing grade only when based on a curve.

Call it Remedial Programming 101. "Awful" is the way Carole Rosen-Kaplan, an English teacher at Birmingham High School in Van Nuys, sums up the shows. "It's just sex-ploitation for kids, and that's wrong," she said. "They do it in films and that's bad, but these are TV shows. It's hard enough being a high school kid today, and to present shows like these is inexcusable." "They make students all look like bubble heads," said Mike Morrill, who teaches English and Humanities at Roosevelt High in Boyle Heights.

"I teach remedial and I teach gifted kids, and they have more values than reflected here. Overall, I don't think there were people in touch with education involved in these shows." Network executives thought they had stumbled upon the first great programming trend of the decade when they developed these shows, hoping they could attract a demographically desirable young audience while at the same time not alienating older viewers. The continuing success of ABC's "Head of the Class," now in its fifth season, and the more recent ratings rise enjoyed by "The Wonder Years," though about the junior high years, were no doubt motivating factors for the onslaught of school-oriented shows. Another impetus, executives say, was the belief that to lure the video generation back to the networks, TV must appeal to them on their level. "Youth is an important audience to cultivate, and high school is a great arena in which to appeal to that audience," said Paul Stupin, the Fox network's executive vice president of series programming.

"There is something universal about the high school experience, and no matter how old you are, you can still appreciate what it's -like to go through it, and where you were at the time." And although the evidence seems clear that shows about kids, for kids and starring kids don't necessarily attract kids, the networks haven't given up on the concept. Fox already has picked up "Parker Lewis" for the full season, and even NBC, in canceling "Hull High," blamed its failure on the musical elements. "We felt that the music and production numbers in 'Hull High' were beautifully executed under Kenny Ortega," said Perry Simon, executive vice president for prime-time programs, at NBC, "but apparently the experiences of both 'Hull High' and 'Cop Rock' which is getting low ratings on ABC indicate there's not much of an appetite for large-scale music production numbers in the context of a one-hour show. In the future, we will be less inclined to do big, full-blown musical production-numbers, but will find ways to integrate music in a more organic fashion." If the networks are learning that shows about kids, for kids and starring kids don't necessarily attract kids, they probably should have known it already, given the track record of high school shows during the last decade. There's only been one success, ABC's "Head of the Class," since the days of "The White Shadow" and "Welcome Back, Kotter," and a notable list of failures including "Square Pegs," "Bronx Zoo," "TV 101" and "Fast Times at Ridgemont High." But, armed with loads of research, executives thought Please see TV SCHOOL, F7 COLUMNS MUSIC REVIEW HOWARD ROSENBERG Harrell's Eloquent Cello Solo Triumphs at S.D.

Symphony RICK DU BROW: TV's November sweeps, a classic education in TV strategy, will offer miniseries of an earthquake and a Stephen King horror story, an hour "Cosby Show" about teen sex and the solution to Laura Palmer's murder on "Twin Peaks." F10 COMPUTAINMENT: You wouldn't expect two people who 1 spend three hours a day commuting to and from work to get a kick out of playing at racing through city traffic. But there's something appealing about "Vette!" F16 Inside; Religion Pages 14, 15 TOPIC BROACHED AGAIN: A Vatican official has raised questions about a meeting last summer in Santa Clara of U.S. Catholic bishops with married ex-priests whose organization advocates their return to priestly service. F14 INDEX Why Rose Bowed Out Two Months After Show's Start News: The veteran anchor sought to reach a new audience with He didn't. SAN DIE0O COUNTY By KENNETH HERMAN SAN DIEGO-Cellist Lynn Harrell is no stranger to the San Diego Symphony.

A frequent guest performer during David Atherton's tenure as music director, Harrell also served two seasons as the orchestra's official music adviser during the hiatus between Atherton and Yoav Tal-. mi, whose term as music director began earlier this month. Harrell has even put his cello down and conducted the orchestra on a few less-than-memorable occasions. But Thursday night at Copley Symphony Hall, Harrell was back doing what he does best soloing in one of the monumental concertos of the cello repertory, His eloquent account of Dvorak's Minor Cello Concerto brought the audience to its feet in a well-de-served display of gratitude, Not one to play with his heart on his sleeve, Harrell nevertheless infused his soaring lines with an impassioned urgency completely congruent with Dvorak's unabashed Romantic idiom. In the middle movement, Harrell delicately coaxed bel canto phrases from the cello's uppermost register and offered a shimmering cadenza of double stops, Throughout the work, his ample virtuosity remained at the disposal of the music, and he deftly balanced the work's rhapsodic impulses with a knowing appreciation of its formal design, Under guest conductor Klaus -peter Seibel, the orchestra gave Harrell robust support.

Seibel, who is music director of the Kiel Opera and the Nuremberg Sym-Please see SYMPHONY, F4 sion" what would Charlie Rose ask Charlie Rose? A pause. But only a short one, for the 48-year-old Rose didn't spend nearly six years conducting blue-ribbon interviews on CBS' "Nightwatch" without learning how to give answers too. He replied: "I'd ask me, 'What went wrong, why did you do that show 'Personalities') in the first place and was it hard to give up all that money Rose says his contract paid him $500,000 annually to be true to And? "It was a chance to do Please see ROSE, F5 He's interviewed world leaders, entertainers, literary figures, Nobel Prize winners, athletes and politicians, getting rave reviews for his work. When it comes to asking questions and eliciting information, one on one, the man is tops, the cream, a pro's pro, So. In the wake of his quitting as anchor of "Personalities" less than two months after the debut of this syndicated series, which he had dubbed "solid, compelling nonfiction televi Astrology F17 Comics F16, 17 Doonesbury FU Letters F3 San Diego movie guide F10 San Diego radio log F4 TV; Tonight's schedule F18 Charlies Rose's "something different.".