Star Tribune from Minneapolis, Minnesota • Page 50

It can be easy to sound alarm on burglars3E Boys don't belong in ladies' locker room9E Notifying Emmy nominees was challenge 10E The well-dressed Hazelden report9E TV, Radio8E Comics6 7E Crossword 9E camper3E sv Wir-if Staff Writer ever Ccrf-dd; the raw animal of Sj-- vara 'V. "-i1' VS k. i 1 Staff Photos Duane Braley Cows have become collectibles. Among the Hems on store shelves are a cow apron ($18) and a book "About Cows" ($9.95) from Hello' Minnesota, and a cow puH toy ($18.95) from Country Classics. jt 'f i cc-thrpc creamers.

trd cups, grectSrsg kxp T-cttt -rrtiqncl cow hot pec r-r in-ovunorof HdhCbwsh 1 Commercials looking like TV sitcoms By James Endrst Hartford Courant ft hat looks like a sitcom, III 7 Wlth a warm and fuzzy 11 family fairly bursting with good will and bad jokes; sounds like a sitcom, with a laugh track so urgent you feel like the joke's on you; but is not a sitcom? Stand back; your worst nightmare has come true: It is a commercial. Admit it, we have all been asking for it for a long time. We cannot stand it when commercials cut into our "Cosby" time, so the makers of Ragu spaghetti sauce have blurred the TV line between programming and peddling. Instead of watching the Huxtables, you will be watching the hucksters. Actually, they are the DeLucas, a family as Ragu says about its sauce that is Italian (or Italian-American).

And thanks to some behind-the-scenes guidance from CBS' "Kate Allie" producer Bill Persky, who is a consultant on the spots, the New York advertising firm of Waring Larosa has come up with some 15- and 30-second episodic commercials that all but defy you to tell the difference between the De-Lucas and any of their prime-time sitcom counterparts. The campaign, which began in April with six "disposable" episodes and will continue next month with seven new moments of family unity founded on food (pasta and Ragu spaghetti sauce), is both impressive and irritating. Many people, no doubt, have seen the ads without realizing what they were watching they are that good. And that bad. First let's meet the DeLucas.

Dad (played by Marty Vidnovic) is kind of a TV throwback to the dads of the '50s and '60s who are not too quick on the uptake but at least can cross the street without killing themselves. Mother DeLuca (Nancy Youngblutt) both mom and dad are in their mid-30s, by the way is part Doris Day and part Phylicia Rashad. She has got a brain; she just does not brag about it. Their son (played by Jerry O'Con-nell of "Stand By is a young wise guy who plays in a rock band. 3 rfcr'.

:3 Crt tc ca" t. ft. "I r4-' Iv'f: "n'1! -V I a I' 1 1 ft -i j'1 i ne ueLuca daughter (Donna vi-vino of "Les is young, precocious and too cute for words. For example, in an episode called "Mama Moves In" (each commercial has its own title), there is great commotion in the kitchen as mom prepares for the arrival of her mother-in-law (Tresa Hughes). "I won't be a bother," says Mama DeLuca as she greets her jittery daughter-in-law.

"What's in here?" asks junior as he grunts under the weight of Mama's overnight bag. "It's an old Italian custom," she answers. "When you move in, you bring sauce." We begin to sense ADS Continued on page 2E Mnn rim miliar iiiiiMiiMiiiiiiiMJiiafcilewiei Cows hit the slopes on the Minnesota Country Classics carries a standing cow A city cows T-shirt has had broad Ski Club mug ($6.95) at Hello Minnesota, with sunglasses appeal ($1 6.95, Hello Minnesota). Some WAYL fans not ready to rock 'n' roll 'Wings of Desire' director offers style, not content Radio-Television Noel Hoiston lie -net i Mrt'f -jr i i. n- ri -iir; u.

CITJZEU AFfcCTef)? ESS A review MWAWM Rooms. IN HOMES IN mt -i I (I HONEY, WHAT THE furUt UlUATTUPl By Jeff Strickler Staff Writer It, 1 THIS RAOtfrfrjJk! lUUl fpk tmmi Wit With apologies to Don MacLean's "American can 't remember if I cried When I took that elevator ride But something touched me deep inside The day the music died. Elevator music, easy-listening music, "beautiful" music: Whatever you label it, its disappearance last week from WAYL-FM (93.7), which abruptly switched to rock hits of the '60s and 70s, left longtime listeners feeling betrayed, bothered and bewildered. "I was listening to WAYL-FM as I worked when they suddenly went rock 'n' roll," a WAYL fan in north Minneapolis wrote. "I am certain there are many people in the Twin CKies who are as disgusted as I am." Little did she know.

By early this week, word on the street was that WAYL had logged 50,000 phone calls from people who tuned in expecting to hear Percy Faith and heard Creedence Clearwater Revival instead. Steve Woodbury, WAYL's vice president and general manager, laughed at that 50,000 figure, but he acknowledged that the phone calls that got through to the station numbered "in the thousands. It was quite busy HOLSTON Continued on page 2E One gets the urge to run up to the projection booth in the middle of "Wings of Desire" to see what's gone wrong. We were watching Wim Wenders' lyrical, intellectual conjecture about the role of heaven in a godless world when suddenly we were plunked into a Frank Capra-style romantic comedy. But don't accuse the projectionist of mixing his reels.

It's Wenders who has mixed his genres, in the process embracing an optimism rarely detected in the work of the German director best known in this country for "Paris, Texas." It even ends with a happy scene followed by the words "to be continued," meaning not that there's going to be a sequel but that the happiness is just beginning. The film has won several directing awards for Wenders, including the one at the Cannes Film Festival. It's truly a director's movie, a marvelous opportunity for Wenders to generate his haunting moods and use them to knead the viewer's psyche. But it eventually becomes too much of Wenders showing off and not enough development of character and story. It's the kind of movie that's often more impressive to people within the filmmaking business because of its style than it is entertaining to the general public because of its content.

FILM Continued on page 2E ml A. mft.