Hartford Courant from Hartford, Connecticut • Page 74

E6 THE HMTKKD COUMNT: Friday, December 16, 1994 TELEVISION FRIDAY CBS shows 'Circus of the Stars'; MTV looks back at Tear in Rock' i. P.M. 6:00 6:30 7:00 7:30 8:00 8:30 9:00 9:30 10:00 10:30 11:00 11:30 QDwCBStOBS) News CBS News Hard Copy Entertain. Circus of the Stara Goes to Disneyland Picket Fences News Late Snow OwG8H(PBS1 MacNeil lehrer News Frl. Group Served? Wash.

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Cooper 2020 News Nightline OwwORfod Married Cosby Married Patrol Lonesome Dove Hawkeye: The Child News Jenny Jones (Dw)ABWBC) News NBC News England Entertain. Unsolved Mysteries Dateline NBC Homicide: LifeStreet News Tonight (DwPtX (M.) Full House D. Howser Fr. Prince Matters Movie: "Crazy People" News Cheers Coach (BwPff (ABO News ABC News Wheel Jeopardy! Matters Boy World StepStep Mr. Cooper 2020 News Nightline WNET (P8S) News Business MacNeil lehrer News Wash.

Wall Street Talking WDavid Frost Spirit of a People Charlie Rose (Dwi38F(lnl) Mensajero Noticias Cafe con Aroma Mujer Pasiones Secretas Armnciado jTelegiorn. Scommettiamo Che Italian Var. S3 WTXX (W) Max Garfield Jewelry Shop In the Heat of the Night News Patrol Top Cops Love Con. BBwWlPINBQ News NBC News Wheel jeopardy! Unsolved Mysteries Dateline NBC Homicide: LifeStreet News Tonight tDwEOH(PBa Bill Nye Business MacNeil lehrer News Wash. jwall street Great Performances Carreras Talking WDavid Frost WTWSfrd) Wonder Yr.

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Court SwGBYTO Ghostwrite Business MacNeil lehrer News Wash, fvVall Street Kurt Browning Figure Skating Charlie Rose CD OTIC (fox) Simpsons Coach Roseanne Murphy MMIJUS The X-Files News Murphy Coach Trek: Next P.M. I 6:00 6:30 I 7:00 7:30 8:00 8:30 I 9:00 9:30 I 10:00 10:30 11:00 11:30 Police Story Rockford Files Biography Investigative Reports Ancient Mysteries Law Order: Snatched AMC Movie: "love Story" Movie: "The Snows of Kilimanjaro" Movie: "Kiss of Death" Movie: "love Story" BET Rap City News Happen. Happemng Roc comicview" Video Soul Top 20 Roc News BftAV Movie: "Major Barbara" Movie: "The Grey Fox" Movie: "0 lucky Man!" CNBC Business Business Mut. Fund Money D. Cavett Equal Time Rivera live Tom Snyder Personal Equal Time CNN The World Today Moneyline Crossfire PrlmeNews Larry King live World News Sports Moneyline DISC Wings of the Luftwaffe NextStep The Wild West Wings Over the Gulf The Super Predators The Wild West DtSW Movie Movie: "Mysterious Island" Movie: "First Men in the Moon" Aliens, Dragons Me ENCORE "Wilby Conspiracy" Movie: "The Honeymoon Machine" Movie: "Blume in love" "Nothing In Common" ESPN Pert.

Match SportsCenter SpeedW'k Superbouts Boxing: Alex Zolkin vs. Mike Hunter SportsCenter FAM Rin Tin Tin New lass. Eve Shade Eve. Shade Movie: "Rugged Gold" The 700 Club Father Dowling Mystery HBO "last American Hero" Inside the NFL Movie: "The last of the Mohicans" p. Miller Movie: "The Ambulance" LC Home Pro Hometime Out of Fiery Furnace Connect.

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2 Connect. 2 Connect. 2 UTE Sweep ShopDrop Designing Designing" Barbara Walters Movie: "Kiss Me Goodbye" Designing Designing MAX Movie: "Twilight Zone: The Movie" Movie: "Searching for Bobby Fischer" Movie: "Passenger 57" Emman, MSG NBA Prime Cuts NBA Knicks NBA Basketball: New York Knicks at Phoenix Suns Rinkside Prime Cuts Bask'- ball NESH Bruins Hockey AHl Hockey: Worcester IceCats at Providence Bruins Sneaux Zone NICK Shorts Rugrats Doug Looney Jeannie Bewitched love Lucy m.T. Moore Taxi Taxl Newhart Van Dyke PLAY Off the Air Movie: "I like to Play Games" Hot Rocks late Night Fantasies SC Racing Thor'bred NewSport Fame Golf soccer Boxing SHO Movie: "Spirit of the Eagle" Boxing Movie: "Blood of the Innocent" Boxing: Julio Cesar ChavezTony Lopez Bellamy SPICE Movie: "Truck Stop Angel" Movie: "Sexual Instinct, Part 2" Movie: "Dear Diary" Movie: "Other Side" TBS Growing Griffith The Boss? The Boss? The Grinch a Flintstones Christmas Carol Movie: "A Christmas Without Snow" TMC Movie: "Cole Justice" Movie: "Quigley Down Under" Movie: "Son-in-law" Movie: "Money for Nothing" TNW Club Dance Skyline Ictry News Christmas in Dixie Music City Tonight Club Dance Ictry News TNT Bugs Bunny Kung Fu: The Tide NBA Basketball: New York Knicks at Phoenix Suns NBA Basketball UNI Hospital Noticiero Volver a Empezar Agujetas Color Rosa Movie: "Alia en la Plaza Garibaldi" Noticiero Movie USA Cartoon Express Wings wings Movie: "Return of the Jedi" Movie By JON BURLINGAME United Feature Syndicate For its 19th-annual edition, "Circus of the Stars" (CBS at 8) has a new location: Disneyland. This year's ringmasters are Leslie Nielsen, Harry Anderson and Scott Baio, with Entertainment Television's Michael Castner serving as backstage interviewer.

Among the performers most doing circus acts that required intensive training are Alfonso Ribeiro Fresh Prince of Ashlee Levitch (Til Fly Jenna von Oy Debbe Dunning AJ. Langer So-Called Adam Wylie She-mar Moore Young and the and Schae Harrison Bold and the Look also for a couple TV tonight 0 show-biz veterans do- ing animal acts: comedian Phyllis Diller and former "Batman" Adam West. Music group All-4-One performs. Othar highlight "The Year in Rock" (MTV at 7) looks back at Woodstock '94, Kurt Cobain's suicide, the marriage of Michael Jackson to Lisa Marie Presley, the big concert tours, college-campus issues and more. Kurt Loder and Tabitha Soren host.

"Searching for Bobby Fischer" makes its pay-cable debut (Cinemax at 8). Critics liked this poignant 1993 drama, based on a true story, about a 7-year-old prodigy who enters the world of competitive chess. Max Pomer-anc, Joe Mantegna, Ben Kingsley and Joan Allen star. "Dateline NBC" (at 9) reports on holiday shopping ripoffs. Reports on "2020" (ABC at 10) include the "Mighty Morphin Power Rangers" phenomenon; a North Carolina woman who was held hostage by an armed fugitive and gained the man's trust; the legacy of the late philanthropist Milton Petrie.

Leigh Taylor-Young, who won an Emmy for her performance last season as Rome Mayor Rachel Harris on "Picket Fences," returns to the show for this week's episode (CBS at 10). She is one of the owners of several cows whose mysterious deaths are investigated by Brock and his team. Local channels "Christmas in Vienna" with Jose Carreras, Diana Ross and Placido Domingo is featured on "Great Performances" (CPTV, Channel 24 in the Hartford area, at 9). "Silent Night With Jose Carreras" (CPTV at 10:30) features the Spanish opera star in a traditional Christmas Eve in snow-covered Salzburg, Austria. The scenic splendor of this village is beautifully matched by his warm tenor as he sings many popular Christmas songs.

CBS "Circus of th Stars" features comedian Phyllis Diller in an animal act, tonight at 8 on CBS. Cult choice Fred, Wilma, Barney and Betty are the focus of two holiday specials on TBS: the 1977 "A Flintstone Christmas" (at 3:05 p.m.), in which Fred must replace Santa, and the new "A Flintstone Christmas Carol" (at 8:35) with Fred as Scrooge in a Stone Age version of the Dickens classic. Series notes Miles probes murders involving wealthy former business partners on "MA.N.T.I.S." (Fox at 8). "Unsolved Mysteries" (NBC at 8) reports on a controversial Illinois murder case. Richie brings home a street person on "Family Matters" (ABC at 8).

Cory accepts a date for the Christmas dance on "Boy Meets World" (ABC at Supernatural forces in a nursing home concern Mulder and Scully on "The X-Files" (Fox at 9) J.T. sets out for a holiday ski trip on "Step by Step" (ABC at 9). Mark moonlights as a department-store Santa on "Hangin' With Mr. Cooper" (ABC at 9:30) Munch and Bolander investigate the murder of a Santa Claus on "Homicide: Life on the Street" (NBC at 10). Late night Actress Demi Moore, music group Stone Temple Pilots and animal expert Jack Hanna are on "Late Show With David Letterman" (CBS at Comedian Julie Brown appears on "The Tonight Show" (NBC at Comedian Robert Schimmel is on "Late Night With Conan O'Brien" (NBC at 12:35 a.m.).

Actor Ralph Macchio, tennis star Gabriela Sabatini and music group Megadeth are on a "Jon Stewart Show" rerun (WTIC, Channel 61, at 1:30 a.m.). For VCR Plus codes, detailed listings and complete cable programs, see TV Week in the Sunday Courant. For special sports programming and highlights, see today's Sports section. Connecticut television news ratings A forceful, fascinating telling of forbidden, ill-fated passion Film review WFSBCfc.3 WTNHCtkt WVTT C. 30 WTKCfc.

SfcOett-eff 6720 616 512 410 7a.m.-1a.m. daily) Adults 18-49 3 3 3 2 Adults 25-54 4 3 3 2 weekday mws 528 422 28 NVA Adults 18-49 3 3 1 Adults 25-54 3 3 1 NoMweeUajFMM 831 623 SVA NA Adults 18-49 2 3 Adults 25-54 2 3 ijm. aweUav mws 1327 10720 NA NVA Adults 18-49 4 4 Adults 25-54 5 5 5 JO weeMay mws 1427 1121 NA NA Adults 18-49 5 4 Adults 25-54 6 5 ajskWMUayMwt 1527 1324 713 NA Adults 18-49 6 6 4 Adults 25-54 8 7 4 PrtaeiW 1471 10716 1116 913 Adults 18-49 7 7 7 8 Adults 25-54 9 7 8 7 -10 eja. MUa mws NA NA 34" 710 Adults 18-49 1 5 Adults 25-54 1 5 11 aja. weeMay mm 1122 820 715 NA Adults 18-49 5 5 4 Adults 25-54 6 6 4 HEAVENLY CREATURES, directed by Peter Jackson; screenplay by Jackson and Frances Walsh: director of photography, Alun Bollinger; music composed by Peter Dasent; production designer, Grant Major; edited by Jamie Selkirk; special effects designer, Richard Taylor; produced by Jim Booth; executive producer, Han-no Huth.

A Miramax Films release, opening today at Cinema City, Hartford. Pauline Parker Melanie Lynskey Juliet Hulme Kate Winslet Honora Parker Sarah Peirse Hilda Hulme Diana Kent Henry Hulme Clive Merrison Herbert Hieper Simon O'Connor Excellent; Very Good; Good; Fair; Poor so Borovnia takes the form of an operetta duchy. The Borovnians are clay figures, fashioned by the girls, who come to full-sized life. And in a bizarre way, Orson Welles and "The Third Man" also figure in the growing interdependence of the work- -ing-class Pauline and the upper-class Juliet. Besides benefiting from the young stars' resemblances to '50s icons, the "How Much Is That Doggy in the Window" era comes alive through the strongly contrasted performances of a worried, worn Sarah Peirse as Honora Parker and a elegant and understanding Diana Kent as Hilda Hulme.

The older women create, respectively, the real world of drab drudgery and casual adultery that the girls are desperate to escape. Drawn from the diaries of Paul- ine, Jackson's film unfolds as a fable of the movie-crazed, not-so-in-' nocent '50s, as the scandalized parents turn on their daughters. The story of Pauline and Juliet thus -calls to mind the '50s youth films, such as "Rebel Without a Cause," but this time the lovers are experimenting with lesbianism. Sexual orientation, while important here, is secondary to the true meaning of the film, however, as "Heavenly Creatures" explores the chasm between the happy, devoted feelings of the very young and the cynical, ruined hearts of their elders. Rated this film contains suggestive scenes of sapphic court' ship and loving between the two girls, and a graphic bedroom heterosexual encounter for one of the them.

There is also a horrific and brutal murder. Ushf IM dud Household and demographic ratings averages for local stations during important tm penods tne Nov. 3-30 Nielsen Media Research sweeps period. For each time category, the two numbers on the top Ime (e 820) represent household ratings points and snares of audience, respectively (Each ratings pom! represents 9.170 households with television, or 1 percent of the 917.000 homes with TV i the Hartford-New Haven market A share point represents 1 percent of homes with the TV turned on at a given time WTXX. Channel 20.

and WEDH. Channel 24. the PBS station, each recorded a 1 rating2 sham for the "sign-on. sign-ofT category. Numbers on the second and third taws represent demographic ratings, which measure the percentage of people at a certain age group in the Hartlord-New Haven market who watch a certain show.

The second Ime measures the percent of adults 18 to 49 and the third line measures the percent of viewers 25 to 54 Channel 3 No. 1 in news for sweeps Continued from Page El shows, key time slots for both prestige and profitability. Channel 3 also had household ratings victories in prime time (as did CBS, which scored big with in the valuable commercial hours before and after the early evening news; and in "sign-on, sign-off," a measure of the entire broadcast day. Rohrs said the November sweeps were the best of what already was a strong ratings year for WFSB. In November, WFSB also opened ratings leads against its chief competitor, WTNH, on the 6 p.m.

and 1 1 p.m. news shows, which many TV executives believe are the most important newscasts of the day. The two stations tied for the lead on those two shows last November and as recently as May. Ironically, Channel 3 won those newscasts without the anchoring services of Al Terzi, the former WTNH anchor whose switch to WFSB this year triggered lawsuits involving Terzi, anchor Don Lark and former WFSB anchor Gerry Brooks, who now works at WYTT. Terzi finally took his anchor seat in early December, after the sweeps and a WFSB legal victory over Lark allowed him to assume those duties.

Rohrs claimed a demographic victory based on wins and first-place ties in key time periods, but Channel 8 President and General Manager Lew Freifeld said the fight for demographic ratings between the two stations was very competitive. When it comes to advertising revenue, the most important demographics measure viewers between the ages of 18 to 49 and 25 to 54. "It was much better than the household ratings," he said. Still, Freifeld said he was disappointed the station had gone from a demographic victory during October, a lesser local sweeps period, to a competitive battle with Channel 3. Freifeld also said he was proud of changes the ABC station has made in recent months, moving the popular "Jeopardy!" game show from 7 p.m.

to 4 p.m. and creating a new 4:30 p.m. news show, "First Look." Executives of other stations were critical, however, saying "Jeopardy!" has lost many viewers and that "First Look" hasn't performed well. "Entertainment Tonight," in turn, is not faring as well as "Jeopardy!" did in the 7 m. slot and has hurt tfce ratings for "iVheel of Fortune" at 7.30 p.m., they said.

pleasure of watching Jackson's finely calibrated film. At its heart, as the title suggests, "Heavenly Creatures" centers on a rare, forbidden love between two imaginative and artistic girls with histories of childhood illnesses. Pauline, a dumpy, frowning child who resembles a plump Judy Garland as embodied by the dark-haired Lynskey, is a good but rebellious student who survived polio and who bears a long scar on one leg. Juliet, a spoiled and precocious English girl who looks like a young Marilyn Monroe as played by the blond Winslet, still suffers from recurring attacks of tuberculosis. With Juliet as the guiding force, the two create a fictional dream kingdom, Borovnia, which they both inhabit.

Juliet crowns herself Princess Deborrah, while Pauline becomes the gypsy, Gina. Both girls love Mario Lanza (especially his recording of "The Student By MALCOLM JOHNSON Courant Film Critic "Heavenly Creatures," an imaginatively filmed and fascinatingly told account of the fatal attraction between two sensitive schoolgirls in '50s New Zealand, provides new evidence of the cinematic powers at work in the small, remote neighbor to Australia. Peter Jackson's fact-based film will probably not achieve the success of New Zealand-born Jane Campion's controversial 1993 hit, "The Piano." But in some ways, this tale of young love between a poor but bright Christchurch girl and a more worldly, upper-class English rose represents an even more remarkable achievement than Campion's portrait of a very different dangerous passion. Like Campion, Jackson contrasts the real world with a realm of poetic fantasy. In one striking shot, the landscape behind the girls, Pauline Parker and Juliet Hulme, begins to shimmer and swirl, and snaps into focus as a hallucinatory fairy tale kingdom.

But Jackson's film, besides boasting astonishing performances by its two young leading actresses, Melanie Lynskey and Kate Winslet, displays an impressive mind at work throughout. Jackson inventively and shrewdly mixes techniques from the bland news-reel that sets the scene to the frightening montage in dreamy black-and-white and blood-tinged color that propels the story of Pauline and Juliet into motion. The opening scenes not only sum up the film to come, but also establish a climate of suspense. Moving from a travelogue overview of quiet, pristine Christchurch in the early '50s, filmed in faded home-movie color, into a fast-cut series of shots of two girls running now frantically, now idyllically, "Heavenly Creatures" presents the climax of the film as preordained tragedy. When the blood-smeared girls race up to a woman at a door, it is clear that something terrible has happened.

What is withheld until the very end of the film is the identity of their victim. Affixed to the title of "Heavenly Creatures" is a sort of subtitle, "The True Story of a Crime That Shocked a Nation." Those who have read about the background of the film it has been widely reported that Juliet became the British mystery writer Anne Perry will know that the girls were prosecuted for killing someone who seemed to threaten their close relationship. But to divulge more would spoil part of the Mon 8-11 7-11 m. WTIC prime time ends a 10 m. "-WW 10 news on WTXX Ch.

20 Freifeld, however, said "First Look" has done as well as the syndicated show it replaced, and that the station now has control over the content of that half-hour and a news lead-in to its 5 p.m. news show. He said he was "mildly disappointed" with the 7 p.m.-8 p.m. hour. At WVTT, the local NBC affiliate, the household ratings were up a point at 6 p.m and down a point at 1 1 p.m.

But Channel 30 Vice President and Genera Manager Al Bova said the station's 10 p.m. newscast on WTXX, Channel 20, was up two ratings points from a year ago, and that the combined ratings of the two late newscasts nearly equaled Channel 3's 11 p.m. score. Some TV executives and Nielsen also criticized WVTT for conducting a station research project that asked many viewers to watch Channel 30's news programs at least three times during the sweeps period. Nielsen mentioned the questionnaires in its November ratings compilation, referring to a ratings resolution that disapproves such actions because they can bias the ratings.

But Bova said it was not senous. and that note's by Nielsen about projects and contests are common. Bova said he was disappointed by the performance of "Extra," a new entertainment magazine that runs weekdays at 7 p.m. against the leader of that genre, "Entertainment Tonight," on Channel 8. At WTIC, Vice President and General Manager Robert Gluck claimed a prime-time demographics victory for the 18-49 audience, the station's top targeted demographic.

Once again, Channel 61, the local Fox affiliate, scored strongly in children's programming, anchored by the exceptionally strong showing of "Mighty Morphin Power Rangers," while reruns of "The Simpsons," which run against the 6 p.m. local newscasts, are attracting sizable numbers of young male viewers. The numbers were down, however, for Channel 61's 7 p.m. hour of "Roseanne" and "Murphy Brown" and its 11:30 m. offering, "Star Trek: The Next Generation." Gluck acknowledged that even strong shows lose strength over time, but said he's not worried.

He's got "Seinfeld" and "Home Improvement" ready for broakast in the fall i Pierre Vinet Miramax Fts Melanie Lynskey, Kate Winlet give virtyoM performances in Peter Jackson' "Hea Creature." i.