Statesman Journal from Salem, Oregon • Page 78

HH, Statesmen-Journal, Salem, On. Week of September 25-October 1, 1983 'Emerald Point, NA.S.' premieres Weaver portrays rear admiral T5 i By JERRY BUCK AP Television Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) World War II naval aviator Dennis Weaver is back in uniform, this time wearing the gold braid and stars of a rear admiral. Weaver stars in the new CBS television serial "Emerald Point NAS." as Adm. Thomas Mallory, a man who has his hands full running a naval air base, dealing with the townspeople and coping with his three grown-up, motherless daughters. "Emerald Point N.A.S." premieres Monday with a two-hour episode.

The show was created by Richard and Esther Shapiro, the team behind "Dynasty." WEAVER, IN A spotless white uniform, is on stage at 20th Century-Fox Studios for a scene with Maud Adams. She plays Maggie Farrell, married to a Vietnam MIA and the head of the town's Military Affairs Council. "We have an antagonistic kind of Weaver says later in his motor home parked by the sound stage door. "It's a lovehate relationship. At least.

I hope love will enter into it "She's to be my romantic interest. I'm a widower and she has a husband, a Navy captain, who's been missing in action for 10 years." The serial capitalizes on all the conflicts and pressures of military life and the mutually beneficial but antagonistic relationship between the military base and the local community. TELEVISION IS turning once again to military stories now that the Vietnam War is in the past and after the movie "An Officer and a Gentleman" and the ABC minisenes The Winds of War" showed it's safe to put stars back into uniform again. NBC also has a military show, "For Love and Honor," centered on a group of Army paratroopers. "Emerald Point N.A.S." is the sixth series for Weaver, who previously starred in "Gunsmoke" fl9564), "Kentucky Jones." 09M- Naval Air Corps in World War II.

"I flew the F4F Wildcat, but 1 never got overseas," he says. "I fought the battles of Baffin Bay, Alameda and Opalocka. I had orders to go overseas but then they dropped the bomb and the war was over. "This military man is nothing like the colonel I played in he says. "That man was a real climber.

He was happy when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor and the war started. "This guy is very concerned about the future of the world. He's a strong man with good morals. He's a man of compassion, but he's also devoted to his duty. I'm sure he's tempted but he doesn't yield to it.

He's not going to be jumping around from woman to woman." Weaver says he became involved with "Emerald Point" very early, but it wasn't written specifically for him. "I WAS THE FIRST one hired," he says. "I think this whole cycle that we're going through now, of military stories being acceptable again, makes the possibility of this being a success even greater. The feeling has changed since Vietnam. The military can be heroes again.

"I'd been looking for another series. That's the business I'm in. But it was important to me to be in something that was well written and produced. The success of any television show depends first on the writing. Then it depends on the kind of family it offers.

You have to be interested in the people who're doing the show 'd worked with the Shapiros before when we did the movie "Intimate I knew I could work well with them." WEAVER DEVOTES much of his time away from the camera to community work. He's worked with a drug rehabilitation center in the San Fernando Valley for the past eight years. Now he is president of LIFE (Love Is Feeding Everyone). He describes it as an organization directed toward the elimination of hunger and malnutrition in Los Angeles. The roles for Weaver, who recently turned 59, have gotten better as he got older.

He says, "When I did Chester on "Gunsmoke I didn't have the maturity. I always thought I was ready, but it just took a while to come along. Perhaps it's just as well. I think I can handle it better now." Dennis Weaver stars in his first serial as Rear Adm. Thomas Mallory, who runs a naval air base while coping with three grown-up motherless daughters, in "Emerald Point, re ndering 9 pjn.

Monday on channels i and 11 65), "Gentle Ben" (1967-69), "Mcdoud" (1970-77), and "Stone" (19SP). Five years ago. he was in the military for the ABC miniseries "Pearl," when he starred as a martinet colonel. "THIS IS MY FIRST serial and I find it kind of interesting," he sax's. "Every time we get a new script I want to know how the story is going to come out.

I guess that's how the audience gets hooked, too. I want to see how he gets out of a predicament." Weaver picks up his guitar and begins strumming the chords. He sings a few bars from his composition, "Hollywood Freeway." "Since I play and sing, we're trying to work that into the story," he says. "I have a house guest who's my equivalent in the Soviet navy. Esdier wants to make it human and have me play something on the guitar and hell piav something on the balalaika" WEAVER WAS AN ensign in the I got resells hi the Statesman Journal.