Tallahassee Democrat from Tallahassee, Florida • Page 25

i "SJ Tallahassee DemocratFri July 4, 1986 irEAT Movie review, 7 Comics. 10 Television, 11 His Royal Badness still shines under a pale 'Cherry Moon' By Mark Ilinion Democrat tlatl writer ABC coverage extravagant celebration You don't have to be a Prince fan MOVIE REVIEW to enjoy "Under the Cherry Moon," the latest Him offering from hit Royal Badness, A AM Mb but it helps. Prince, pulling double duty as director and star, is in practically every frame of this escapist fantasy about an American gigolopiano player chasing a beautiful heiress named Mary (played by newcomer Kristin Scott Thomas) around the French Riviera. He also wrote the chock-full-o'-hits soundtrack and it's some of the best Prince music since his classic "Dirty Mind" album. the brooding, misunderstood musician he played in his debut film "Purple Rain," Prince loosens up for his part as Christopher Tracy in "Cherry Moon." He continually mugs for the camera, drops one-liners and playfully banters with his sidekick, Tricky (performed by Jerome Benton of "Purple Rain" fame).

Christoper Tracy just wants to have fun as well as lots of money. But as nice as it is to see Prince shed his pretentious Garbo-style mystique, the looseness spills over into other aspects of the film. Despite the MTV-slick surface appearance of the movie (shot in forced black and white), "Cherry Moon" is just downright sloppy story telling. That's not good, because there's not much of a story to tell here in the first place. Prince falls in love with a shipping magnate's goddess-like daughter.

Papa doesn't like it. Prince gets the girl. Prince loses the girl and then gets her back. Prince confronts the mean ol papa. It's a conscious throwback to the '30s escapism fantasies, but so what? Tacked on for no apparent reason is a surprise ending (which I won't divulge here) that will no doubt leave many filmgoers bleating "pppppplllllhhh" (as did someone in the screening I saw).

The cinematography is no more than overdressed fluff smothering a story that could have been told in an hour on television. Ah, but who's complaining? This is a rock 'n' roll movie. We don't expect great acting and we sure don't get it. We don't ask for anything deeper than a three-minute pop hit. This is a movie where the screen heroine asks her lover to define love and the sound track answers her by playing Prince's mega-hit "Kiss." Life is a parade, just like Christopher says What keeps "Cherry Moon" shining is the screen rapport between Prince and Benton.

The lovable Benton, who played Morris Day's dresser in "Purple Rain," nearly stole that film away from Prince. His Badness must have taken notes. It was a wise casting choice. When Christopher asks Tricky how he can bring Mary down to the real world and show her how to have fun, Tricky answers, "Give me a dark room and a Sam Cooke album and I'll show her how to have fun." Thomas and Prince have a bit of screen chemistry but judging by her acting ability in "Moon" she'd better stick to rock 'n' movies. Under the Cherry Moon Now showing Parkway 5 daily at 1:15, 3:15, 5:15, 7:15 and 9:15 p.m.; also showing Miracle 5 at 1:10, 3:20, 5:25, 7:35, 9:45 p.m.

Rated PG-13: rough language and adult situations. im' ir" lavishes on By Fred Rot hen berg Associated Prm NEW YORK Liberty Weekend is a David Wolper Production, which means ABC's 17 'i hours of coverage is bound to be Hollywood-size Huge. Wolper helped hatch the miniseries form with the top-rated "Roots," then followed it with the No. 2 "The Thorn Birds." He also orchestrated the red-white-and-blue opening and closing ceremonies for the 1984 Summer Olympics, and he took it as a compliment when Tass ridiculed them as decadent. Wolper says he doesn't do programs; he does events.

And that's exactly what the celebration for the Statue of Liberty's combined birthday and coming-out party will be. If the Soviets thought rows of baby grand pianos and covered wagons were outlandish for the Olympics, what will they say about some of this weekend's coming attractions? They include: A sports salute to Lady Liberty on Sunday, including a tug of war between the New York Jets and New York Giants. Closing ceremonies Sunday that will include a 20-tiered stage, waterfalls, 300 tap dancers, 150 banjo players and 200 Elvis Presley look-alikes. A July Fourth fireworks display that will make previous lightning-and-thunder spectaculars pale in comparison. When the Brooklyn Bridge celebrated its 100th birthday in 1982, nine barges of fireworks marked the occasion.

"This one will be 40 barges," crowed Wolper, promising "the largest fireworks display in the history of the United States." Some have called these festivities overkill, complaining they obscure the spirit and meaning of America's symbol of opportunity and freedom. "I love fireworks and large bands. The celebration is important, but it's being done to excess and drowning out the Statue of Liberty," said Ken Burns, whose 1985 PBS documentary on the statue was nominated for an Academy Award. "There are millions of stories about somebody's grandfather or uncle, but the event has become so big, it's pushed everything of value out of the way." However, ABC, which outbid NBC and paid $10 million for the exclusive broadcast rights to Wolper's entertainment events, is satisfied the weekend will be a meaningful celebration of patriotism, spectacle and news. Last month, a controversy developed over what was news, and therefore available to all news organizations, and what was entertainment and the paid-for, exclusive province of ABC.

An agreement was hammered out by which ABC will pool 16 minutes of speeches See TV, 3C I) i 4- .1 By Stephanie Stoudemayer Democrat staff writer games and pet show, arts and crafts, round and square dancing, food, and a variety of entertainment. Once again, the climax will be a fireworks finale. If you sniff the aroma of whole hog, pork shoulder and pork rib barbecue wafting through the air, just follow your nose to Bainbridge, for the first annual Bainbridge Pepsi Cola-Tom Sawyer Barbecue Classic. In addition to the cook-off judging, there will be a kid's fishing tournament, canoe rides, volleyball, Softball, and a beach party, with the ubiquitous fireworks display at dark. For more "Fourth fun" on the fifth, there will be an "Old Time Independence Day Celebration" Saturday from 4 p.m.

till midnight at the Micco-sukee Land Co-op Community Center. The activities will include music by the Southern Swing Quartet and Bo-gazedi, swimming, volleyball, games and you guessed it fireworks. Band, the Tallahassee Symphony, the Orange Blossom Special doggers, Kaufman Puppets, and more. The Main Stage will be the site of the gigantic fireworks display at 9 p.m., which will be the finale for the day's activities. Entertainment resumes after the display for people who want to let the traffic thin out.

Taltran will run its "Liberty Express" from Governor's Square to the park starting at 8 a.m. The ride is free. On to Sopchoppy, where the fun begins at 11 a.m. with a parade, followed by games, arts and crafts, dancing, canoe olympiads, food and entertainment. Nashville recording artist Keith Stegall will be appearing.

The day will end with Sopchoppy's fireworks shebang. In Carrabelle, folks will gather for the Franklin Firecracker Festival which begins with a parade at 10 a.m. Also on the agenda are children's Are you bummed out on Lady Liberty? Will one more commercial for specially-minted Liberty coins put you over the edge? Are even you Springsteen fans sick of "Born in the U.S.A."? Well, the big day is finally here and all the hype is about to reach a climax, so hold onto your torches. In case you're wondering how to spend your Fourth of July away from your television set and far, far away from Ellis Island, there are celebrations galore planned in the area. Tallahassee's annual "Celebrate America" at Tom Brown Park will be a day-long event beginning with the Firecracker Run at 8 a.m.

Entertainment on Stage Two starts at 12:30 p.m. and on the Main Stage at 1 p.m. featuring Mark Bennett and Friends, the Community 1 Prince cuts loose in 'Moon' WTCTV still at top of Tallahassee's competitive TV market By R.C. Morgan-Wilde Democrat staff writer first NBC station they get to. This means that WTWC loses Tallahassee viewers to an out-of-town NBC affiliate.

"(WTXL) had a similar problem when WMBB-TV, Channel 13 from Panama City, was on the cable system. We got our problem fixed," said Keown. "I hope (WTWC) will be able to fix their problem, too. It is to the market's benefit if WTWC grows." WMBB, an ABC station, was dropped after negotiations between WTXL and cable company officials. Wade Griffith, Channel 40's General Manager, said he expects the new owners of Group to be more accommodating, but he declined further comment on the situation.

As far as the actual numbers go, Channel 6 continues to enjoy first place. However, with NBC's rise in the national ratings war, the stage is set for a local TV-market fight, if and when Channel 40 becomes the only NBC affiliate on the local cable system. Channel 27 saddled with ABC's unpopular network programs isn't conceding its future to its local competitors. Arbitron rating results Arbitron ratings for May 1986, based on 158,100 households in Arbitron's "Area of Dominant Influence" television survey area of Thomasville-Tallahassee, show the cumulative weekly viewing habits have shifted slightly since last summer. Comparisons below are between May of 1986 and July of 1985.

1. WCTV-TV Channel 6 (cable 9), 148,000 (up from 144,000) 2. WALB-TV Channel 10 (cable 10) 97,000 (up from 91,000) 3. WTXL-TV. Channel 27 (cable 7) 87,000 (down from 90,000) 4.

WTBS-TV Channel 17 (cable 2) 62,000 (no change) 5. WTWC-TV Channel 40 (cable 12) 55,000 (down from 59,000) 6. WFSU-TV Channel 11 (cable 8) 40,000 (up from 39,000) 7. W17AB-TV Channel 17 (cable 13) 20,000, (up from 19,000) The Area of Dominant Influence includes 14 North Florida and Southwest Georgia counties. Arbitron's Thomasville-Tallahassee Metro Market includes only Leon, Wakulla, Gadsden and Thomas (Ga.) counties, which account for 94,000 households.

holds that watch NBC affiliate WJHG-TV, Channel 7, from Panama City, and the ratings resemble NBC's first-place national ratings edge during May. But the Nielsen and Arbitron figures for any single NBC affiliate don't take into account the impact of the local cable situation. In the ratings books, WALB-TV, Channel 10, is overall No. 2, according to Jerry Williams, programming director for Channel 6, who cited Arbitron figures. Channel 10 is the NBC affiliate in Albany, Ga.

However, WTWC-TV, Channel 40, (NBC) and WTXL-TV, Channel 27, (ABC) officials presented ratings figures that indicated that they placed second in various categories. In spite of the heated competition for second place, Channel 27's General Manager Mark Keown expressed sympathy for Channel 40's plight. Because of its placement on cable converter boxes, Tallahassee viewers frequently stop looking for NBC channels before they ever get to Channel 40. "WTWC gets a rotten break on the (Tallahassee and Leon County cable system's converters)," said Keown. "There is a cluster of three NBC stations (WALB, cable 10; WJHG, cable 11; and WTWC, cable 12)." The inclination of viewers to stop at the WCTV-TV, Channel 6, the local CBS affiliate, continued to dominate the area's television ratings during the May ratings sweepstakes.

But numbers can be misleading. NBC won the national May rating sweeps. In our viewing area, however, NBC is divided among three stations. No single NBC affiliate had higher ratings than WCTV, but taken together it looks as if NBC audiences around Tallahassee were comparable to NBC audiences nationwide Commercial advertisers will have to do some sorting through the figures compiled by Arbi-tron Ratings and A.C. Nielsen especially if they want to attract the upscale, baby-boom audience NBC has been luring from coast to coast.

The quarterly ratings are used to determine advertising rates that stations and networks charge their customers. The Arbitron and Nielsen organizations make surveys of the area's television viewing. Both TV ratings researchers measure viewer-ship percentages of television audiences for all programs broadcast. When the two highest rated NBfJ affiliates' viewers are totaled, they whip CBS' WCTV, 152,000 households to 148,000. Add the hoise- See RATINGS, 3C.