The Orlando Sentinel from Orlando, Florida • Page 39

The Orlando Sentinel Jin '48 Hours' examines gun-control controversy Prime-time Highlights, E-6 WEDNESDAY, June 5, 1991 CDS 0S? 05F (ft fXD? iff Col Greg Dawson TELEVISION I V. il A --J 'J 1-1 3" Js With marriage being based on love (rather than economic necessity), society has accepted 'serial By Loraine O'Connell OF THE SENTINEL STAFF fiat's the glory in living? Doesn't anyone stay together anymore? And if love isn't forever What 's forever for? Michael Martin Murphey's 1982 plaintive ode to the idea of "happily ever after" probably strikes a wistful chord with a lot of people divorcing couples; clergy officiating at weddings in which one or both partners have been married before; kids whose parents are on spouse No. 3 and counting. Divorce and remarriage have become so entrenched in society that sociologists have a name for the phenomenon: serial monogamy. The term reflects people's desire to be monogamous but not necessarily with only one person for a lifetime.

Sociologists say that one of the fa- 1 Cr A nfiV' 1 A Uf 4 0 DIEGO CAILLETSENTINEL Orlando attorney Michael Sigman said he has seen "at least a 200 percent increase" in such 1 It 4 agreements in the last 10 years. Despite the commonplace nature of serial monogamy, an aura of failure still surrounds divorce. For that reason, and to avoid what they perceive as possible embarrassment to their children and ex-spouses, most of the people interviewed for this story asked to remain anonymous. One Orlando man, a 31-year-old social worker now in his third marriage, said that one divorce can make subsequent ones easier to contemplate. "I know a lot of people I've spoken to, a lot of my friends who are on their sec- Please see MARRIAGE, E-2 reasons for the disintegration of marriage as a lifelong institution is that people today marry for love rather than economic necessity.

"In the not-too-distant past, we married for a variety of practical reasons there was a clearly demarcated division of labor in the household based on gender," said Gary Lee, a sociology professor at the University of Florida. "One couldn't get along without the other. Today the division of labor in marriages is more parallel the spouses tend to do more similar things" and to be able to support themselves. As a result, if the love turns out to be fleeting, couples have little incentive to stay together. They know they can function without each other.

Evidence abounds that "till death do us part" has lost its meaning for a large segment of the population. (Which makes sense, given estimates from the National Center for Health Statistics that half of all U.S. couples who marry eventually will divorce.) A recent nationwide survey of 346 new-lyweds found that within six months of marriage, half had doubts their marriage would last, according to Men's Health magazine. That finding is echoed by social researcher Judith Langer, who conducts focus groups on marriage and family issues. She told American Demographics magazine that one comment she hears repeatedly in these sessions is: "I'd like to think that marriage is forever, but I'm not counting on it." This skepticism is reflected in the increasing number of prenuptial agreements drawn up to protect financial assets just in case things don't work out.

Decades later, 'I do' still has meaning 'Northern Exposure': Good news, bad news News, notes and critical snorts: After a brief hiatus that panicked millions, Northern Exposure returns to CBS next week in its old time slot (10 p.m. Monday, WCPX-Channel 6). Reruns of the offbeat drama will air throughout the summer, leading up to the start of the new fall season. Darn the luck: Next Monday's Exposure conflicts with the two-hour Twin Peaks finale (9 to 11 p.m., WFTV-Channel 9). Also back, but only briefly, is the wacko comedy Doctor, Doctor, which isn't on CBS' fall schedule.

Starting this week, the network is airing "all-new" (as they say) episodes of Doctor at 10 p.m. Saturday. But Channel 6 is bumping Doctor to after the 11 o'clock news so it can air Star Trek: The Next Generation at 10. The 10 o'clock weeknight edition of WCPX news that now airs on CableVision of Central Florida's channel 16 is switching to WKCF-Channel 68 starting next Monday. Channel 6 made the move in hopes of attracting non-cable viewers.

"We have taken numerous calls from people who wanted to see the newscast, and the move to Channel 68 will allow this to happen," WCPX general manager Mike Schweitzer said in a press release. Memo to anyone receiving tickets marked "The New Television Preview." No one is trying to sell you a time-share. The tickets are mass-mailed by a legit Indiana marketing firm trying to recruit test audiences for network TV shows and commercials. So go ahead. All you have to lose is an evening away from the tube.

Sort of. My very least favorite commercial these days is the one for all-leather "motion furniture" or what I call motion-sickness furniture. It just gives me vertigo to think of being trapped in the motion-sickness furniture showroom. Many public stations, including WMFE-Channel 24, have rerun The Civil War on their own time, but the magnificent documentary gets its first national encore on PBS this summer. The 11-hour series will air on' consecutive Wednesdays from July 17 to Aug.

14. Included in the press packet publicizing the event was a handsome reprint of the memorable letter from Confederate soldier Sullivan Ballou to his wife, Sarah, a week before he was killed at the First Battle of Bull Run. The letter is in script, on fake-parchment-looking paper. If you want it, be the first to call me at 420-5499. First come, first served.

The "May Massacre." That's what Viewers for Quality Television, the Virginia-based viewers group, is calling the recent round of cancellations by the networks, citing China Beach, Equal Justice, thirty something, Shannon's Deal, WIOU and Midnight Caller. "As feared, the quality drama is now an endangered species," said VQT president Dorothy Swanson in a letter to critics. "Viewers cannot lament the loss of good television if they don't take an active role in preserving good television. VQT encourages your readers who are disgusted with wholesale cancellations on commercial TV to send a self-addressed, stamped envelope to VQT, P.O. Box 195, Fairfax Station, Va.

22039, and we will attempt to empower them." Jerry Penacoli, the first male co-host of Attitudes the Lifetime cable talk show that's been satirized on Saturday Night Live stopped by recently to say hello. (He was here visiting his mother, who lives in Altamonte Springs.) One look at Penacoli about 6-feet-2, 200 pounds, perfect everything and you know this is the guy who got your share the day they handed out hunk genes. He makes Persian Gulf "Scud stud" Arthur Kent look like Arthur Schlesinger. I liked him anyway. He seemed bright, funny and as modest as could be expected.

He never mentioned the six Emmys he won as a news anchor and P.M. Magazine host in Miami and Philadelphia. It was once-in-a-Lifetime news when Penacoli was hired, because Attitudes (which airs weekdays at 8 a.m. and 2 p.m.) had been hosted by two women since it debuted in 1986. Penacoli said the producers weren't looking specifically for a man to replace Dee Kelly as co-host to Linda Dano.

He beat out Robin Leach for the job, but also Maria Maples. He said his role is to provide the male perspective, but to be sensitive (a Herculean challenge). And from the small-world department. Years ago when Penacoli was at WJKS-TV in Jacksonville, he dated a fellow brocast rookie Mark Weech. By Loraine O'Connell OF THE SENTINEL STAFF V1 4f i iV 'Vv couples are quick to bail out of marriage because it doesn't have any spiritual significance to them.

"They don't think they have anything to lose," said Rossi. And they mistake lust, er, infatuation, for love, the Jacksons say. "I think a lot of people just have infatuation," said Rossi. "Then when the novelty wears off they think they're missing something. They want to go out and take a chance with another person." Make sure it's love, the Jacksons say, before leaping into marriage.

But how, pray tell, does one know when it's the real thing? "You want the best for the other person and want them to be protected," said Rossi. "You worry about their physical well-being, their spiritual well-being, and you want everything to be the best for the one you love." Raymond and Minnie Fields of Orlando will Please see COUPLES, E-3 When it comes to counting up the greatgrandchildren they have welcomed into the world in their 60 years of marriage, Rossi and Willie Mae Jackson need a calculator or at least a pencil and paper. After some quick computations, Willie Mae pronounces the figure. "I might have left one out, but I come up with 29. 1 guess that's close enough." "That was the number we had last night," quips Rossi, 81.

"Maybe we'd better call again today The Orlando couple are proof positive that it's possible to stay happily married to the same person for life. The Jacksons, who met at Sunday school, credit their faith in God with keeping them together. Rossi, who worked at Orlando Regional Medical Center for 45 years, and Willie Mae, 78, a retired licensed practical nurse, say that many of today's ii.imni JUpY WATSON TRACYSENTINEL Rossi and Willie Mae Jackson, happily married for 60 years, share a kiss. They say faith in God has kept them together. Sherlock Holmes: A lively corpse One hundred years ago, the original literary sleuth plunged to a watery death at Reichenbach Falls.

Or did he? By Marlene Aig ASSOCIATED PRESS arms" and plunged to a watery tomb. The reaction was instantaneous. "You brute!" one woman wrote to Doyle after reading the story in the December 1893 issue of The Strand Magazine. The publisher of The Strand told stockholders the death of Holmes was a "dreadful event." Young men in London went about with black Holmes eight years later. Holmes and his sidekick, Dr.

John H. Watson, enjoyed enormous popularity from the moment they debuted in the Beeton's Christmas Annual in December 1887 in "A Study in Scarlet." So popular was the sleuth that eventually his creator became jealous of his creation. After 24 stories and two novels. EW YORK If you want to, Ni you can celebrate the 100th Sir Arthur Conan Doyle 1 anniversary this year of the Doyle sent Holmes off a Swiss precipice and crepe in their hats and mourning bands on their arms. Readers repeatedly asked Doyle if he could not bring Holmes back.

Doyle was said always to reply, "He's at the foot of Reichenbach Falls and there he stays." There he would stay because Doyle feared Holmes would overshadow what he considered his more important work, his historical novels. He didn't want to be identified with Please see HOLMES, -4 start of construction of the Trans-Siberian Railroad. But for thousands of Sherlock Holmes fans, the really important centennial is that marking the demise of their hero during an epic struggle with archrival Moriarty. Note, however, that the true Sher-lockian mourns in good cheer. For although Sir Arthur Conan Doyle killed off his creation in 1891, the public refused to let the great sleuth die.

Popular demand and a fat publishing contract resurrected planned to be done with him. "He takes my mind from better things," he explained to his mother. The Final Problem detailed the death of Holmes on May 4, 1891, during the battle with Moriarty, the Napoleon of Crime, at the edge of Reichenbach Falls in the romantic community of Meiringen, Switzerland. Joined in an epic contest of good vs. evil, they reeled over the edge of the falls "locked in each other's ASSOCIATED PHESS The best-known cinematic Holmes, Basil Rath-bone, in the movie The Hound of the.