Longview News-Journal from Longview, Texas • Page 97

8-F SUNDAY, AUGUST 22, 1982, Longview Morning Journal PTnt i 4 Entertainment AEROBIC and Cagney and Lacey situation Story behind Meg's ouster Day Evening Classes 663-2920 Polly Conway, Instructor Special Class for Senior Citizen begins Aug. 30. LACEY GETS NEW CAGNEY Meg Foster, right, is out told Variety's columnist, Dave Kaufman. "They (both) had a gentleness, but where was the strength?" "It's one of those unromantic smoke-filled room stories," says the show's producer, Barney Rosenzweig. "When we tried to get it renewed, the network was doubtful.

They said, maybe, if we recast. They said one of the negative aspects of the show is that the two girls arp ton similar." miui uniift luni mirn Tfl lUCtPTC" rrirkotc-rhinphhiiffS Uun I IUKH IUUK LAWN USUI iu Hum lSSSSSr LAWN SHRUB PESTICIDIIIG Professional Scientific Lawn Beautmcation Lawn Disease Treatment Custom Fertilizing By DICK KLEINER HOLLYWOOD CBS renewed "Cagney Lacey" for this coming season but with a new Cagney. Meg Foster was dropped from the cast, and, after a search, Sharon Gless hired to replace her. Tyne Daly remains fixed as Lacey. It isn't a pretty story, no matter who you talk to.

Meg was so hurt and distraught that she still isn't talking. But she told friends that she felt as though she had been hit by a truck. She also has said that she believes she's better off to keep quiet about it now, and let her actions talk for her. Those same friends, however, tell of how she didn't work for a while after the news got around Hollywood that she was out. Until that news spread, she was an inndemand actress.

But there was no official announcement of why she was fired, so some people jumped to some pretty wild conclusions. They decided she must have caused trouble and they want no part of a troublemaker. Later, an official story came out (the network said they wanted a change to give the show a tetter balance) and from then on Meg's offers picked up again. She's working steadily now. And she just wrapped a TV movie, "Desperate Intruder," with Nick Mancuso and Claude Akins.

THERE ARE A LOT of different stories going around about the truth behind the cast change. "We were faced with cancellation," says Tyne Daly. "The network said its research showed that Meg came across as too tough. They said they'd renew us if we made a change. It was hard on me, because Meg and I had become very good friends." "They wanted more of a contrast between the two players," Sharon Gless i lsi dim SCI I GUARANTEED RESULTS Analjrsts insured l3f-HWL Rosenzweig says he suggested dying Meg's hair a different color, to dispell the similarity.

But, he says, the CBS brass said that, if he wanted the show to stay on, he would have to do something more dramatic than dying Meg Foster's hair. 'T said if the only way to save the show is to recast it," he says, "then I would recast it. I said I would do anything to save the show. And so Meg Foster was the scapegoat." He says it was that or nothing. He says he could have stood up to CBS, but he thinks if he had tried it, he would have lost.

But Perry King, who was Meg Foster's co-star in the movie, "A Different Story," says that he believes Rosenzweig "caved in" as he had "caved in" earlier: Curiously, King was involved with Rosenzweig in that previous incident. That was when Rosenzweig produced the TV movie "East of Eden," and King was originally to co-star in it with Timothy Bottoms. According to King, Bottoms said he wouldn't work with King, although the two had never met. "So Barney caved in," King says, "and replaced me with Bruce Boxleitner. He didn't stand up for me then, and he didn't stand up for Meg this time." Fit You? You could lose up to 15 pounds in only 3 weeks with Professional Reducing Center's program.

It's fast-easy. No exercising or dangerous fad diets. If you re overweight it's your business. If you want to lose it it's our busi- horre ness. Call Now: 4 0 757-4470 Guaranteed Sandy Gibson "She had a weight problem and kept it off 2 years!" THE ONLY LOSING GAME IN TOWN WHERE YOU ARE THE WINNER! Covered by major insurance companies.

Professional Reducing Centers AU major credit cards accepted. Student and military discounts available- i i jit 1.