Austin American-Statesman from Austin, Texas • 18

Pag 18 Austin. 1 rxa Thf Austin Amfriran-Statrtman Monday, January 20, 1975 9 Much Too Fa Too eft 6Baretta 6 eron to sense nothing truly fresh television other than a become contemptible simply because they continue to feed off each other and lend of satiric outrage? 7 ARTHRITIS BENEFIT 1 The Capitol Area Council of the Arthritis Foundation PRESENTS blase to it all? And just how many more spinoffs can we expect to all these series? Spinoffs are nice if they work well, especially in the case of "Rhoda," where the series resembles in no way its predecessor. But the Lear productions are all starting to look alike, regardless of locale, social conditions or ethnic relations involved. Familiarity breeds contempt, it is said. So how long now does it take for all these series to finally lose their shine and glitter and 3 If XJ i By STEVE HOGNER Amusements SufT If at first you do succeed, why leave well enough alone? This.

the fundamental concept behind much of television programming, was brought home strikingly this past weekend with the premieres of "Baretta" on Friday night and "The Jeffersons" on Saturday night. U'hile "Baretta" fails miserably on almost all counts and "The Jeffersons" works despite itself, both series are like an old pair of shoes with holes worn through, milded and musty that, somehow, we just cannot seem to pan with though there is no life left. nn Johnny Lyon Janet Ly exists among the upper classes, often to a subtler and far more frightening degree. But, although these possibilities do seem infinite to satirize big business and the social register, the series already seems limited if this is all it is meant to be. And there has been no indication that it is to be otherwise.

CBS may be wrong, too, in. placing this series counter to and following "All in the Family." While "All in the Family" is still refreshing and still bitingly satirical, an audience can take just so' much assault on social decorum without being turned off completely. While this reviewer originally gave the now defunct "Paul Sand in Friends 831 Houston Street For Reservations 459-8851 444-8428 and Lovers" a less than favorable review, that series grew better and was finding itself when the axe was lowered. It had the subtleties and gentleness that is needed to offset the blatant and overt actions on "All in the Family." Noto CBS has given us a full-hour of Bunkers in the blue collar class and the Manhattan cocktail set. Follow this with the acerbic, fast-paced "Mary Tyler Moore Show" and there simply is no respite to TV's assault on our senses.

"The Jeffersons" is bound to be the winner that CBS wants it to be and will solidify the networks's iron grip on Saturday nights. But the question remains, just how much more can the public take without becoming witn ine Country Nu-Notes Tues. Jan. 21 8 P.M. Midnight S2.00 per person 4k "Baretta" micht he better f.

sake of violence, who needs it and who wants it? Meanwhile, over at CBS, the network has another winnner with "The Jeffersons," a feisty program that can aptly be called the black version of "All in the Famil. However, this series, despite its successful premiere and its good buildup on "All in the Family" the week before, raises important questions about the way television comedy is going. "The Jeffersons" is yet another spin-off of the "All in the Family "-N a Lear-Tandem Productions dynasty. Like "All in the Family," "Good Times" and "Maude," it is socially relevant and builds more on character than on situations. And like all its predecessors, characters embody the bigotry we love to hate and vice versa.

But, all this is becoming too familiar. Norman Lear may be pressing his luck with this series. First, George Jefferson, paterfamilias of the now wealthy neighbors of Archie Bunker who have moved uptown, is a black version of Archie, a counterbalance too easily recognized, too blatantly obvious. The Bunker mystique here emerges as a caricature of the original Archie, which is already a caricature of itself. Second, the trouble remains retitled "Death Wish brought rr to TV" and could stand an ft f-l CAROUSEL; 1 AHUftP ROHERT KLAKE Excellent actor loit in violent scries li 1110 E.

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Congress 'iv, am rating for TV viewers. At a time wtien all three networks are being more and more besieged by complaints against overt violence, ABC has wheeled out this property, full of mayhem, gore and cynicism about modern society. In the premiere episode, a number of people are violently killed and mauled, often by the "good" guy. In particular, one woman is gunned down in slow motion so that we sec her twirl spasmodically to the ground as glass shatters behind her. This series leaves nothing to the imagination.

The hero cop at one point beat up a numbers runner sent out to trail him. The beating included banging the man's head against a bathroom stall and an attempt to drown him in a janitor's basin. This is not exactly the stuff for family fare. The disturbing thing about this series is its paving the way for the incorporation of cinema of fascism on TV airwaves. This genre has already swept films with all those Charles Bronson-Clint Eastwood police films and thrillers that speak for might making right regardless of how it has to be used.

Television has been relatively free of this, building tough cops like Kojak and Columbo who are none the less likeable because of their own idiosynchronsies. But "Baretta" has none of the affability of a Kojak. Not only does this series encourage fascist cinema, it feeds upon it to an alarming AAQ0.1C1 n.i 2 '4 mfim sate' i. T.ri I Ml ill 11111.1111 iv.z. WAGONYARD Tonight "No tipping please.

Just leave us with a smile" Good wholesome American food ct right neighborly prices. RV'fc. fe: m-a, HI degree. The cop emerges as a frightening authority figure who, if he goes too far, can simply forget, or fail to remember, his responsibilities to society in favor of his own peculiar power gratification. "Baretta" opened with a story of revenge and blcxdlust when series hero Tony Baretta and his girlfriend are gunned down because Baretta had tried to break up a numbers racket.

Baretta survives, the girl does not, and he is out to avenge her death in any way he sees fit. The producers obviously want him to be as much like Charles Bronson as he can without looking absurdly obvious. But television, nor movies for that matter, does not need another Bronson figure set loose to shoot up the countryside the pursuit of "justice." Their justice is a bad dream of totalitarianism masquerading as the democratic process. It is particularly sad to sit fine talent like Robert Blake lost in this series. Blake is a sensitive, strong actor who 5209 Cameron Road 2815 Guadalupe 8005 Anderson Square Shopping Center 916 Ben White Blvd.

that this series is predominately written, directed and produced by whites, a charge that has been recurringly made against Lear's "Sanford and Son" and "Good Times." The situation in this series is a look at a family of blacks now placed smack dab in the middle of the upper middle class. Of course, the possibilities are endless for prejudice Bumbry In 'Salome' SAN ANTONIO Grace Bumbry is set to star in Richard Strauss's opera, "Salome," to be staged 8 p.m. Jan. 24 and 26 at the San Antonio Theater for the Performing Arts. Victor Alcssandrn will conduct the San Antonio Symphony Orchestra for the opera, which also features sets by Wieland Wagner, composer Richard Wagner's grandson.

Metropolitan opera baritone Lawrence Shadur stars as Jokanaan, and Herbert Doussant, a leading tenor in German opera houses, performs the role of Herod. 505 Neches 472-0061 Enjoy Real I FOOD PREPARED CONTINUOUSLY FROM FRESH MEATS AND VEGETABLES NO PRESERVATIVES ADDED! Ate. EL vvir --(- vrr if iinm irim iim i wiimfflinf 1 504 EAST AVENUE Plenty of free Parking OPEN fri Sun. I Mon. a can add more dimension to a role in one facial expression th3n most actors can through an entire play.

But here, he is wasted because the subject matter and its presentation is so ludicrous and second-rate that he simply cannot save it. Originally. ABC had styled this program as a resurrection of last season's failed "Toma" series. But when Tony Musante could not be reached or refused to do the series, the network had to revamp it. Musante was good as Toma, and that series had particular strengths that "Baretta" would do well to copy.

But with the new series bent only on exploiting violence for the 'Screaming' Nonsense, But Fun "And Now the Screaming Starts" is a taut little Gothic horror thriller that has just enough chills to make it an entertaining medium grade B-movie that might displease the purist but is enjoyable enough to make for an afternoon of casual movie slumming. The movie (rated at the State) is the tale of a young bride ho marries into a strange family of rural English aristocrats who are hiding a terrible secret from her regarding 1ier husband and a curse placed many years ago on the family. The movies blends a well-written screenplay of suspense and Gothic romance as the bride slowly finds out the secret of the family and what a secret it is. But going into it here would spoil it for the viewer. The director and cast have made a mild attempt to rise above the usual fare that productions like this hand us from time to time.

Peter Cushing is up to his usual devilish standards as the doctor who solves the mystery. Always properly harried and concerned, Cushing is fast becoming a camp version of himself which is all the more fun. Stephanie Beacham as the bride runs properly amuck as the panic-stncken young bride who knows something is going on but is too afraid to tell anyone because no one will believe all the apparitions she reports to see. Ms. Beacham is a typical B-picture heroine: beautiful, vacuous, high camp.

That's essentially what this movie is: camp of the fun sort. The actors actually look like they were serious about making this film which makes it all the campier as they spout off lines about demon'ism and the "unspoken and unspeakable" horrors that haunt the family name. Suffice to say, this is one of those ditties that is pure nonsense but enjoyable nonsense that requires only that the viewer leave his mind at home, sit back and let the movie takeover. STEVE HOGNER TONIGHT THRU WED. THE GONZO BAND FRI.

SAT. B.V. STEVENSON Steak See Coupon Offer Below. TrTrTovnJS'' OFF Buv one 5 1 with counon -n. $595 Large e9- TOTAL SPT-21 With this coupon, buy I dny gum, idi yc ui RESTAURANT lncuiuiH yiLta a regular price and receive one pizza of the next smaller 1 MISCELLANY Choral I'nion Auditions Auditions for the University of Texas "town and gown" choral ensemble, the LT Choral Union, will continue through Tuesday in the Music Building East on the LT campus.

Times are at p.m. Chorale Auditiims The Austin Civic Chorus will conduct auditions at 7:30 p.m. Monday in the First Cumberland Presbyterian Church at PW1 Wodrow (or its upcoming production of the Berlioz "Requiem." FIRST-REN MOVIES "The Front race" (PC) Billy Wilder remake of the IMOs play about journalists chasing down the big story. At Fox Tw in. "The Godfather, Part II" (R) Sequel to the 1IC2 blockbuster.

Stars Al Pacino. Robert De Niro and Diane Keaton. At Capital Plaza Cinema. "Island al the Top of the World" (G Disney offering at Fox Twin. "The Man With the Golden Gun." tPG) New James Bond adventure with Roger Moore.

At Village Cinema Four. "The Night Porter" (R) With Dirk Bogarde. At the Americana. "The Towering Inferno" (PG) Disaster epic about a fire in a skyscraper. With Steve McQueen, Paul Newman, Faye Dunaway.

At Highland Mai! Cinema. "Flesh Gordon" (X) Spoof of the Flah Gordon series of the 1330s. At the Texas. "Earthquake" (PG) Disaster epic starting Oiarlton Heston, Ava Garner, George Kennedy at the Varsity. "Andy Warhol's Drarula" (X) Paul Morrissey's adaptation of the venerable horror classic at Village Cinema Four and Aquarius Theaters IV.

"Freebie and the Bean" (R) Starring Alan Arkin, James Caan and Valerie Harper. At Highland Mall Cinema. CLUB ACTS Reunion at the Oasis. Southern Feeling at the Back Room. Blue Horizon at Hole in the Wall.

The Lost Gwzo Band at Castle Creek. Dean Scott at Caesar's. Top Hot for Snakes at Alliance Wagon Yard. Kim Cochran and The Southerners at Big Gil's. Jay Clark at the Carousel Lounge.

Family Way at Eli's. Cooper and Yoachurn at Soap Creek Saloon. Billy Joe Shaver at Johnny Mack Brown Night at the Ritz Theater. II 7 1 SO size with equal number of ingredients FREE! One coupon per visit. please.

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