Chicago Tribune from Chicago, Illinois • 82

8 Secuon 4 Chicago Tntxjfw, Vi'txantsday. September 198? Expansion may be in SportsVision game plan 1 Ron Alridge TV ISdaO ee Burnett brings 'Beatrice' to life By Marifynn Preston mm ir OF THE TAKTYl TVt erf Bcatrl- oNour mov on CHS i.rmy (1 uht at iMMd tnM Mury. tt il I ftbuut Ueairu OKcUiy. luudmoutfaed, IomumM ftkutoJ got end promiMxl to the late 'us lluU if Hitr l't would help her quit druaUnf, thv'd speed the rel of her We helping ptwole. It did.

and sh did. and a few yean later, aha wei ea orsanue tha fin akuholic recovery bouse fur women Los Angels, il railed rriendahip lluuse, and at the end of tha movie, we hear that the real year-old Beatrice O'Reilly la cefebrating iu list i Carol Burnett and Lloyd Bridges in "Ufa of the Party: The Story of Bound to do some viewers, some good. D.MJTTING THAT hie pay-TV service tj hasn't beea as sueeestiui as he had IfS 1 hoped. KporUVision president Eddie Eiiihoni said Tuesday that he might lower subtcnptMiQ fees, expand programming, or both. lie also said he's putting together a "Sports-Visum of the Midwest" that would add college and professional games from throughout the Midwest to the Chicago-based service next year.

The heart of the programming, however, woukl continue to be White Sox, Bulls, Blackhawks and Sting games. "If I have any brains in this business, they will be tested by my ability to adapt to the changes In this business." Einhom said. Change already has taken Us toll on Sports-Vision, which like all subscription TV stations is broadcast via a scrambled signal that la unscrambled by decoders hooked to subscribers' TV sets. The Federal Communications Commission recently deregulated STV, allowing Chicago's other STV services. ON TV and Spectrum, to offer more programming.

ON TV now offers hours of programming a day. ALTHOUGH SPECTRUM and ON TV are mainly in the business of televising movies, not sports. Kinhorn reasons that their heavily promoted schedule expansions made Sports-Vision, with only about three hours of programming a day, look expensive by comparison. Indeed, the prices, if not the quantity of programming, are similar. Spectrum and ON TV charge 121.86 per month, plus an extra $5 for adult movies.

SportsVision, which is installed by ON TV. charges 121 a month. less for viewers who also subscribe to ON TV. "You always hope to lower It. Einhorn says TV preview gme both live almost every night- ll'S going to be dune." tinhorn vows, "it's fcjtft a question of how many are going to be in it." Einhorn says be has learned plenty during his first few months at the helm of SportsVissua.

For example, he has learned that ON TV suUcribert aren't especially eager to buy a sports service, too. He thinks that has something to do wan the fact that movie services are marketed mainly to women. Only about 10 percent of SportsVision subscriptions come from existing ON TV suUcntMsrs, be says, but research shows that lack of interest, not cost, to the primary reason. Einhorn brtstke at charge that moving the bulk of White Sox games from free to pay TV has hurt his team's attendance. Average daily attendance has dropped to 11 .000.

from last year's 24,000. he acknowledges, but last season was shortened by tls strike and there's a good chance the average would have dropped if more games had been played. Nevertheless. iMi.M fans have paid to see the Sox at Comiskey this season, and the figure to expected to reach I.MO.0OO by the time the season ends this weekend. That would give the Sox the second best attendance In the history of Chicago baseball, according to Einhorn.

"What I'm totally convinced of." Einhorn says, turning back to SportsVision. "to that it was the right Idea. If 1 have any apprehension. It's the wsy this business changes from month to month. I'm very positive, but it's a lot of work." Fast start for 'Knight Rider MOST OF THE new series that sneaked laie prime-time a week ahead of the official Premiere Week did well In the ratings.

NBC's "Knight Rider." about a smart indestructible car, was the most popular of the newcomers, finishing No. I In last week's Nielsens. CBS' "Gloria" was No. 8, ABC's "Tales of the Gold Monkey" was No. 12 and CBS' "Bring 'Em Back Alive" was No.

20. CBS won the week, followed by ABC and NBC, respectively. "The Royal Romance of Charles and Diana," a CBS movie, was the week's most popular show. talked to university officials, but nothing has been decided. FOR NOW, SpaftsVfatioa's subseriiHioM are well below the JO.U0O or so Einhorn once hoped to have when his service went on the air last May.

By bis latest count (ss of Sept. l) there are 21,431 residential subscribers and 407 commercial accounts, mostly bars. The bars, by the way, pay up to Sioo a month for the service. "We're not far off from where our projections are, but I thought it could have been higher," Einhorn says. To break even, he needs 45.000 to 53,000 subscribers, depending on how many buy through cable systems, where there is less overhead.

Yes, cable. Einhorn, who also is president of the Chicago White Sox and who used to be a very successful television executive, is aggressively pushing SportsVision to cable operators, who in turn sell the service to their subscribers. Tuesday afternoon, he hosted a gathering of area cable operators at Comiskey Park to push SportsVision. He's also talking to the folks at Spectrum about offering SportsVision to their subscribers. His deal with ON TV is not exclusive, be says.

As envisioned by Einhorn, "SportsVision of the Midwest" would involve picking up games from throughout the Midwest and then beaming them via satellite to cable companies around the region. He's not sure of a startup date but to leaning toward March. EINHORN ALREADY has discussed the venture with various clubs and colleges and has rented a satellite transponder, starting In January. He also has studied team schedules, concluding that it would be possible during baseball season to broadcast a Sox game and another Sunday morning religious shows. Including a public service message for AkohoUcs Anonymous: heard about this new organization." Abbie Call Strickland tells her sister, the hopeless drunk, after Bea winds up in Jail but before she's carried to the mental hospital.

"Alcoholics Anonymous they make you feel welcome offices right here in LA." IN THE COURSE of the movie. Bea Joiaa A. stops drinking, starts loving, struggles to keep her marriage going I Lloyd Bridges plays her saintly husband, makes her pledge, goes to work In the Jails, starts Friendship House, becomes a widow, and In the final few scenes fights an organized group of neighbors who don't want her, her house or "her girls" around. It's an awful kit of story to be telescoped into a TV movie, but Johnson, one of Hollywood's most honored TV directors, does his best, and his featured players Burnett. Bridges.

Strickland, Marian Mercer. Geoffrey Lewis. Concha-ta Ferrell make It even better. Best of all Is that "Life of the Party: The Story of Beatrice" to the kind of TV movie, heavy handed or not, that is bound to do some viewers some good. It doesn't celebrate the hard-driving drinker, the way TV usually does, and it does tell the true story of a real woman with a vision and a promise who refused to give up.

So she was a little obnoxious. Who Isn't? attnivertary. la that time, 10.009 women hava been helped, or at leant aerved. and this movie is a tribute to O'Reilly's accomplishment, her drive, her heroic commitment to helping others-It's no wonder that Carol Burnett agreed to play her. Burnett has made no secret of her crusade against tha evils of drugs and alcohol addiction.

The Re illy character fits her well, and vice-versa. WHEN IT COMES to playiaf loudmouthed, feag-winded Texane, Burnett takes the cake and, with great skill, shovels It down our throat. She lets us know that O'Reilly can be an overbearing, obnoxious egomaniac, but at the same time she lets us In on the softer side, the damaged side. For Burnett, the movie is another standout performance. For me, though, the movie stands out as an uneven, episodic recital of events, all of them related to O'Reilly's heroic struggle but strung together in a way that 1 found heavy handed and unsatisfying.

For starters, it feels too much like a three-hour story crammed Into a two-hour time slot. Mltzle Welch's script (she and Ken Welch exec produced; Lamont Johnson directed) Is a straightforward narrative, laden with dead spots and cliche. Indeed, the first half-hour looks and sounds like one of those of SportsVision's fee, "and If we can we wUl. You've got to be competitive in the marketplace." He said he didn't know how much or whether he could cut his price, but that a flat is charge for everyone would be ideal. Einhorn plans to expand SportsVision programming to six hours In January, perhaps more beyond that Among the events he would like to pick up is De Paul basketball.

He has START YOUR EVENING WITH WORLD NEWS TONIGHT AT Wednesday's TV movies I 'THE-HEAL PEOPLE EKCP5SS1S 1 mmmm mmm Saras a A mm m.m mm. mm IMfMinAMII -2 7 1 -v a AMERICA! i-j mm HEAL PBDPIB Tonight, plunge into a whirlpool of action with Jake Cutter: the reckless soldier of on the high road to adventure! Sit The World's Most Perfect Body! a hn I nnl.AIikp Jk Hit 'A ii Needed Breakfasts For Needy Kids 4: It 9 a.m. CD "The King and Four Queens" OenKehoe aeraabie SaUna Beenot Parser Ma McOade Jo Van Fleet 0eote4 by ftaoul WWi (Origin running imw SS mnutee) (1956) Until 11 a.m. SoWler-oMortune Gable convinces lour beautiful women to show him where their gun-men husbands hid stolen money. The bawdy posslbll-Irlles here would seem perfect for Walsh, but some-'how the chemistry ust i wasn't there.

7 p.m. (22) "Come September" Robert Rode Hudson iUsa Ok Lodooriglda 1 Tony Bobby Derm 'Sandy SandraOee i directed by Robert Mumgan (Original running arm: 112 minutes) (1961) Until 8:59 p.m. Rock arrives at his sumptuous Italian villa a little earlier than usual, and discovers that his caretaker uses it as a hotel 11 months of the year. Limp farce with a predictable variety of comic Interludes and romantic en- counters. 8 p.m.

C23 "Life of the Party: The Story of Beatrice" (First run) i Beatrice O'Reilly Carol Burnett Johnny O'Reilly Uoyd BtWges I Rna Marfan Meroer Captain Rrmfflna Geoffrey Lewi Directed by Lamont Johnson (1982) Until 10 p.m. After i finally confronting her own i alcoholism, a strong-willed Texan (Burnett) kicks the TALES OF THE GOLD JOJVROl'n OUT OF SCHOOL? FAUTSurUre When budget cuts end Jo's scholarship, her only hope is the Warner Foundation. Bl I U-V 'JWUMTV t- Will Ulair give jo a nana 1 I before Eastland gives Jo the boot? 4 1 i 4 IS ALEX OLD EU0U0II aaaana asss eSBBafai afjf aaT mm) mm tm aV4V ia-MSVs. A wife and mother. In debt.

In trouble. When she believed that there was nowhere else She turned to prostitution. And discovered a secret side of herself she'd never TO BE A FA Ttlenr 1 tn ti iir I VI I I is. FAMILY TIES known before. Mhnn 1 TlQQli-nW Ala VVItCIt I 11 i-tin is left in charge for the weekend, can he deal with a sister who knows it all.

ana atriena wno wanes co I v. experience it all? 8:30 CAttOUirJCYUAILA TEEfJABE dromo obout women who ore living this story. Spllliil wfessv hit ma? cm HjS Jack Klugman Is 1st-1 ess wiOi Starring KAREN VALENTINE JAMIE LEE CURTIS LINDA PURL Special Guesr Star SUSAN LANNERY Directed by POBEffl COl LiNS Written byPjOnrWCOLUNi MOrT HNr UGCNE PfiCf mi trdnr nan Oumcv ID DUBiCUlrUU IV. 1 un m.rlanro tn nnnuint i habit and goes on, despite great opposition, to found ithe first recovery house for female abusers. 8 p.m.

CD "Money on the Side" (First run) Keren Valentine Jamie Lee Curtis Linda Purl i(1982) Until 10 p.m. Three suburban housewives are (unprepared for the emotional and physical dangers they face when they turn to prostitution. (Parental dls-1 cretlon advised). 11:05 p.m. CD "Blume In Love" I Stephen Blume George Segel Nina Sueen Anspech Elmo Kris Krlstotterson Ariene Marsha Mason Directed by Paul Macursky (Original running time: 116 minutes) (1973) Until 1:30 a.m.

Qul-jetly effective romantic about a divorce lawyer trying to win back the love of his ex-wife. 12:40 a.m. GD "It's Alive" John Ryen Sharon Fartell Andrew Duggan Directed by Larry Cohen (Original running ante: 81 minutes) (1974) Until 2:22 a.m. A woman gives birth to a monstrous baby, which seems to precipitate a national crisis. Cohen's movies are weirdly provocative, though not totally coherent.

1:40 a.m. CD "Law and Order" Darren McGavtn Robert Reed Suzanne Plesnette Directed by Marvin Chomsky (Original running erne: 150 minutes) (1976) Until 4:30 a.m. Adaptation of Dorothy Uhnak's best-seller about three 'generations of Irish-American New York cops that details their varying reactions to corruption, ethical, compromises, and family tensions. Poremol diiceon ADC WEDNESDAY NIGHT MOVIE Ur Will nb UCdUinui 1 icvif assistant prove the boy's innocence 9100 PM NEWS THAT HITS HOME 1 'i FOR COMPLETE NEWS. SPORTS AND WEATHER.

WATCH CHANNtL 10:00 PM Ron Magers tJ I spy and Linda Yu Up to the minute. Down to earth. Close to home. 0o MONITORS REPORT TONIGHT'S Rich Samuels 'Lessons in Moralriy..