Philadelphia Daily News from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania • Page 43

Monday. Jyly 11, 1988 PHILADELPHIA DAILY NEWS Page 43 II -k i 'Off Center' By KATHRYN BAKER hi330ciated Press EW YORK Inquires lSl clieerfulll0StAnnMagnu-U son, "Are we ready for something really avant-garde?" "Oh, is it time for 'thirtysome-thing?" quips her companion, Shirley, the new-age goose. But be assured the tip o' the hat to that whining-yuppies show is as close as PBS' variety show of the bizarre, "Alive from Off Center," will get to network TV. The anthology-variety series begins its fourth madcap season ALIVE FROM OFF CENTER 1 1 p.m. on Channel 12 tonight with two segments, a satirical look at the advertising industry by the producers of "Pee-wee's Playhouse," and director Julien Temple's bizarre and cynical visualization of Verdi's "Rigo-letto" from the anthology feature film "Aria." The original producers of "Pee-wee's Playhouse," who obviously spent plenty of time in the advertising milieu, go wild with wacky characters and colorful, crazy sets that change dimensions.

"Bite and Smile" is the name of a cookies-and-crackers product, and the agency is trying to sell the uptight company president an ad campaign involving singing potatoes, a concept he doesn't immediately grasp. The film by Temple is from "Aria," a feature movie made upof films by 10 directors set to different opera arias. To "Rigoletto," Buck Henry and Anita Morris play an adulterous married couple who, unbeknownst to each other, steal off to the same motel. A Little there are only a handful of sporting events where, it. makes economic sense the baseball playoffs and World Series, the NCAA basketball final four, the Super Bowl and they're not going anyplace.

If a major bowl game ever goes pay-per-view, it'll be because the networks turned it loose. NBC recently ended its 37-year relationship with the Rose Bowl because the lackluster Pac 10-Big 10 matchup wasn't worth the $10 million NBC paid in annual rights. (ABC grabbed it immediately.) The only sure pay-per-view winners are the World Series and the Super Bowl, but they're so valuable in terms of ratings, advertising dollars and as a promotional launching pad the networks simply must keep them, no matter the cost. Also, as the crown jewels of their sports, it pays to have the Super Bowl and World Series seen by as many fans as possible, which means network television. Dollars might be gained on pay-per-view, but something intangible would be lost.

Paul Kagan Associates, a media-analysis firm, predicts that within five years regional pay-per-view will be a $2.2 billion-a-year business. Cable companies have contracted with local sports teams all over the country. Prism in Philadelphia, Sports-Channel in Boston and New York and Prime Ticket in Los Angeles among them. A new wrinkle getting a lot of attention is the alliance between the National Hockey League and Sports-Channel America, a sports producer that sells hockey to cable systems where it doesn't have an outlet, charging viewers up to $15 per month for 50 games and the Stanley Cup playoffs. The NHL dumped ESPN for Sports-Channel because while ESPN got it into more homes, many of them were in the South and Southwest, where hockey might as well be the national sport of Lapland.

The deal is a "logical extension of the demonstrated regional appeal of sporting events." said Marc Lustgar-ten, who runs Rainbow Program Enterprises, SportsChannel's parent company, and bragged that it's practically "the perfect marriage." It just took a long time to get around to consummation. First-timers dialing in to the big (9 1 -second) fight weren't given any reason to try again Pay Takes Dft en fflca. Chin Spinks-Tyson fight clearly pointed up its shortcomings were first-timers who'd barely settled down before Spinks was counted out, and experts in the sports-television business say it'll be a long time before they'll give pay-per-view another chance. Did we make a wrong turn somewhere? Remember how clear the future used to look when we were promised (threatened?) that someday every major sports event would be on pay-per-view? Goodbye, ABC, NBC and CBS. Hello, future.

Pay your money, turn on, tune in or get out. Funny thing about the future sometimes it never shows up. Pay-per-view hasn't taken anything away from the commercial networks and there's no sign it will. Its day will come, but not the way we thought. Pay-per-view's heavy hitters are pro wrestling and big-ticket fights like Tyson-Spinks or Sugar Ray Leonard-Marvin Hagler, which wouldn't show up on the networks anyway except via tape-delay.

While pay-per-view will certainly kill the closed-circuit business, that's more relief than revolution. It means fans don't need to drive to the local community center for a closed-circuit transmission of a fight they can get at home, where they can park for free and there's no line at the bathroom. What nobody noticed when pay-per-view was the wave of the future is that aside from a few big fights. THE SOAPS The Lust Continent By BOB WISEHART McClatchy News Service 7J he 91-second massacre of Mi- 1 1 chael Spinks by Mike Tyson on June 27 was pay-per-view TV at its best and its worst, which leaves it in the limbo it never really left. On the "best" side was all that money.

When 1 million customers paid more than $35 million to have the fight beamed into their homes, it dethroned the previous champ, Wrestlemania IV, to become the richest event in the brief history of pay-per-view. The bad news is that if the fight had been a foot race, it would have been the two-yard dash. It's estimated that 700,000 of the Tyson-Spinks pay-per-view watchers As the World Turns: Lien was surprised to see her friend, Tuan Ly, who said that his parents kicked him out of the house because they don't understand him. Spence Davies, a young man claiming to be an old friend of Dusty's, introduced himself to John. Lily overheard Caleb tell his former girlfriend, Angel, that he wants to get out of their "situation" alive.

Emily continued to resist Ton-io's efforts to resurrect their affair. Bold the Beautiful: Margo called a meeting with Clarke, who lost control when she told him that she's carrying his child. After returning from their honeymoon, Clarke suggested to Kristen that she arrange for them to live in the Forrester mansion so that her family can get to know him better. Bill went behind Nick's back and arranged to publish some of Donna's nude photos in a magazine Bill publishes locally. Days of.

Our Lives: Patch and Shane rescued Kimberly and Kayla from Harper, who was arrested and that he's only trying to help Ryan. Sister Mary Joel thinks that Silvio could be a hitman. Frank told Jack that Silvio's past seems clean. Zena made a good impression on Sherry's son, Robert (Bob). Nancy is thinking about having a baby.

Santa Barbara: Cain and Jeffrey disarmed Pamela, who was about to shoot T.J. and Kelly. Pamela was carted off to a hospital after she confessed to poisoning Kelly. Kelly, who is nearly recovered from her poisoning incident, admitted to Cruz that Eden went to Europe to have an operation that could enable her to have children. With tips from Phillip, Ted made a killing on the stock market.

Father Michael is lusting after Sister Rebecca (Julia), who is not blind to his physical attributes. Young the Restless: Jack found a publisher for the book "Ruthless: The Victor Newman Story" by Leanna (Kelly). Not happy with the amount of money that Phillip gave her, Nina bought clothes with a credit card she stole from Esther. Victor told Leanna (Kelly) that he wants her to write his life story before someone else writes his unauthorized biography. Skip honestly admitted to Carol that he doesn't know how he feels about her physical disability.

George's drug dealing, while Harley is worried that Frank might be mixed up in the operation. Loving: After making love for the first time. Rick insisted to Stacey that he loves her. Jeff confided to Trisha that he doesn't get along with his family. Gwyneth learned that Ann knows Jeff's father, Charles Hartman, who is handsome, rich and currently single.

Gwyneth heard Jeff arguing over the phone with his brother, Tom. Rick saved J.J., who nearly drowned in a neighbor's pond. Ann is worried about Jack, who is losing heavily at gambling. One Life to Live: Delila told her fellow captives. Bo and Didi, that she was kidnapped after she got off a plane in New York City and saw Bo and Didi being abducted.

The real Bo realized that someone is impersonating him after Delila said she was quizzed about every facet of Bo's life. Max told Gabrielle that they could never be together romantically while Steve is alive. Gabrielle later went to Steve's hospital room and started to smother him with a pillow. Ryan's Hope: Dee sent Maggie, who is in Australia, some cozy looking photos that Carina took of Roger and Sherry. Zena told Jack about Ryan's meetings with Silvio.

Later, Silvio insisted to a suspicious Jack later admitted that he was The Slasher. Determined to prevent Roman from testifying at Miguel's organized crime trial, Jose Torres planted a bomb in Roman's car. Roman, who hit his head after the car bomb exploded, suffered a partial memory loss and had more-flashbacks to an island in the Caribbean. Jack (Billy) was devastated when he learned that Harper was The Slasher. General Hospital: Sean met with WSB agent, Kinley, who was murdered before he had a chance to tell Sean anything about what happened to Frisco.

Sean fumed when he learned that Colton went to Canada with Felicia to talk to the man who made the music box that Frisco had sent to Felicia. Lucy is still upset that Audrey won the vacant seat on the hospital board. Tom received a phone call from Simone, who said that she'll be returning home soon. Guiding Light: Maeve and Fletcher were married. Reva encouraged Johnny to get on with his life despite the fact that Roxie is being moved to a hospital in Switzerland.

Rusty became upset when he learned Nick had kidnapped Rose. Harley and Alan-Michael couldn't bring themselves to tell Cameron that George is a drug dealer. Alan-Michael is worried that Alan might be involved in By NANCY M. REICHARDT Special to the Daily News All My Children: Ross returned to his childhood home in Pigeon Hollow in hopes of putting to rest the nightmares he's been having about the place. Dixie told Ross the facts about the relationship with his mother (Lottie) and Homer, the brother of Henry (Jeb).

Erica arranged for Natalie and Jeremy to accidentally meet at a mansion and then had a private eye secretly take snapshots of them together. Another World: Cheryl told Mary and Vince that she wants to go away to college. After co-hosting an AIDS benefit party. Scott made love with Cheryl. Lisa accepted Jamie's marriage proposal.

Vicky sought comfort in Jake's arms after overhearing Jamie proposing to Lisa. During the AIDS benefit. Tiffany (a.k.a. Ronnie) sang a song that Dawn wrote before her death. Thanks to; Jtllie Ann, Zack is very interested inTiffanyRonnie..