The Boston Globe from Boston, Massachusetts • 64

64 THE BOSTON GLOBE FRIDAY, MARCH 4, 1994 TV and Radio Channels 5 and 7 clean up during sweeps By Susan Bickelhaupt GLOBE STAFF keeping in character hell (Jig up all the dirt he can on our governor. SUSAN BICKELHAUPT Barney blares onto radio The PBS dinosaur is now coming to radio. Barney that purple, prehistoric favorite of the preschool set will debut in "Bedtime with Barney" on WSSH-FM (99.5), Sundays at 7:30 p.m., starting this weekend. Each 10-minute syndicated segment will feature Barney reading both original and classic bedtime stories. The show may not attract advertisers' ideal demographic of adults age 25 to 54, but it's a good bet to have tots and at least some parents tuning in.

After all, points out WSSH-FM spokesman Adam Klein, the Barney fan club in Boston (OK, we admit we didn't know one existed) boasts a membership of 15,000. SUSAN BICKELHAUPT PaulDuke bids adieu Paul Duke will bow out of "Washington Week in Review" on a nostalgic note. The regular panel and others will pay tribute to Duke, who is saying goodbye after having been moderator of the program for the past two decades. Tonight's show (8 p.m., WGBH-TV) will begin with a segment of discussion with the regular panelists, as well as with Ken Bode, who will take effects of music on intellectual capabilities. 7 p.m.

WBZ (1030 AM) The David Brudnoy Show. Josh Binswanger is the guest host. mine that show's kind of comic gold. On the basis of the first two episodes, anyway, the Duck family is irretrievably dysfunctional. The little TV-raised-and-glazed flock includes a flatulent grandmother (coyly called Grandma-ma) and Duckman's two-named, double-headed son (who should have been called Double Bill but isn't).

The characters have neither the Simpsons' shreds of redeeming decency nor the incisive flat-out ugliness of "Beavis and Butt-head." Co-writers Jeff Reno and Ron Osborn place "Duckman" in a self-referential world of endless, circular television allusions. They come at you directly from the TV the ducks watch at home, in satirical ads o' Beans decaf is like sex without the and send-ups of the new universe of narrowcasters (there's a Rash of the Week Channel). Or they emerge from Duckman's star-crossed professional life, which repeatedly invokes TV and movies at the expense of narrative momentum. His partner is a little pig who mimics Joe Friday's "Dragnet" monotone; he encounters a Hannibal Lecter-style villain at a prison whose inmates, explains the warden, got there by seeing "too many violent cartoons." It's a clever but finally cloying, digressive game of an uncertain blend of satire and celebration, a closed circuit of familiar pop-culture allusions including a few (to Warhol; to Christo, "the great wrap to ingratiate the higher of brow. "Duckman" is stuffed near the point of explosion.

JOHN KOCH Still, Carson declined to look at the month in terms of winning or losing. He's got his eye on trying to keep the viewers who tuned in. "We're not even into winning right now," Carson said, "we're into growing. WeVe never pretended we're going to be No. 1, but it is a nice trend, and we're trying to keep going in that direction." Another hotly contested time period is the pre-11 p.m.

news. Both WFXT-TV and WSBK-TV started airing half-hour newscasts at 10 p.m. in September, vying for audience against WLVI-TVs hourlong "News at 10." In February, WFXT had a 3.1 rating5 share; WSBK had a 2.64; WLVI averaged a 2.44. 'Duckman': Toohiptofly Duckman is a featherless yellow fowl with a cigarette-shaped head and black Groucho brows over his thick glasses. A private eye who speaks with the voice of Jason Alexander (and acts a lot like Alexander's spineless "Seinfeld" sidekick, George), Duckman is the centerpiece of the newest adult, night-time 'toon.

Desperately seeking the popular magnetism of the animated "Simpsons," the USA Network's "Duckman" (Saturdays, 10:30 p.m., beginning tomorrow) has a lot going for it. In fact, the problem is that this often savvy, artful, pop-culture-steeped comedy based on the comic strip by Everett Peck has too much going for it. The artwork has a snappy, edgy style (something ABC's new animated series "The Critic" sorely lacks). The Maxwell Smart-ish protagonist (a quack detective?) inhabits the barren suburb of a dark, tangled city often seen in silhouettes that evoke Tim Burton's "Batman." But the striking visual presence like everything else about the new show is overripe, drawing attention to its own pop-hipness at the cost of consistency and concept. Flatteringly indebted to "The Simpsons" (seen in flashbacks, Duckman's late wife is a blue-haired homage to Marge), "Duckman" defeats itself by trying too hard to Two local stations took bragging rights for ratings on their newscasts during the February "sweeps." WHDH-TV (Ch.

7) was proud because the coverage of the Olympics vaulted the CBS affiliate (routinely a third-place finisher) into first place for the late-night newscast. Meanwhile, WCVB-TV (Ch. 5) could boast that for the period before and after the Olympics (excluding the days the Games were broadcast) it ranked No. 1 for all its newscasts, including late-night. WHDH-TV, which became the property of new owners seven months ago, has a new set, new reporters and new news programs, and the station is obviously looking for something to carry it out of its third-place hole.

That something came with the network's Olympics deal: The viewership carried over into the 11 p.m. news and then into David Letterman. "I knew the Olympics would have an impact, but this is incredible, much stronger than I anticipated," said general manager Mike Carson. He also was heartened that the station did so well in its early evening newscasts, where its audience at both 5 p.m and 5:30 p.m. grew.

"Oprah" on Channel 5 still wins hands down from 5 to 6 p.m., but Channel 7 moved ahead of Channel 4 at 5:30, when those stations both air newscasts. For the entire month of February, one of the quarterly periods used to set advertising rates, WHDH-TV averaged a 12.7 rating and 27 share of the audience for the p.m. news, ahead of WCVB's 10.5 rating21 share and WBZ's 10.121. (Based on A. C.

Nielsen numbers, a ratings point represents 21,000 households, or 1 percent of those counted in Greater Boston. A share expresses the percentage of all TV sets that are on at a given time.) WCVB won the time period during all the non-Olympic days, which new general manager Paul LaCa-mera said was his goal. "I couldn't be more proud of our news department for its victory," he said. The Boston Jason Alexander stars as the voice of "Duckman" on cable's USA Network. over the moderator's chair as of next week.

But the bulk of the program will comprise taped tributes and goodbyes to Duke from news colleagues like Dan Rather, Tim Rus-sert and John McLaughlin. President Clinton not one to be out of the loop even taped a farewell note when the show was at the White House last week taping an interview. SUSAN BICKELHAUPT Noon. WMSX (1410 AM) That's Life with Mark Snyder. Guests: dance group Ariana's Angels and trivia expert Morgan White Jr.

2 p.m. WBUR (90.9 FM) Talk of the Nation: Science Friday. First topic is how newspapers are beginning to use electronic means to deliver information; then it's the NATIONAL FORECAST finMvOsw rh X- t-w. i 805 an SyX Houston Pretun tartar Weather Mostly cloudy and windy, Good morning, Governor His syndicated show might be heard in El Paso and Sacramento, too, but radio host Don Imus seems to have a special affinity for Boston. His guest this morning (on WEEI-AM, 6-10 a.m.) will be Gov.

Weld. It's anyone's guess whether the two will talk about the Grateful Dead or gun control, but Imus has promised that Boston present W-ejfl I QbcibhII klr TeSH Washington 6 tun. WCRB (102.5 FM) Morning Music. Faure's "Masques et Bergamasques," Vivaldi's Flute Concerto and Mozart's Symphony No. 9.

Noon. WGBH (89.7 FM) Boston Performances. Live in the studio, guitarist John Muratore. 1 p.m. WGBH (89.7) Boston Symphony Orchestra live.

Seiji Ozawa conducts Perle's "A Short Symphony," Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 9 (with Maria Joao Pires) and Faure's Requiem. 9 p.m. WCRB (102.5 FM) San Francisco Symphony. Herbert Blomstedt conducts 'J John Harbison's Oboe Concerto (with William Bennett) and Beethoven's Symphony No.

5. high 38 Alternating shaded and clear bands show areas of common temperature forecast for 1 pm ESI Map 1994 Weather Services Corp. Friday. March 4, 1994 (EST) Sunrise 6:15 Moonnse 12:42 A.M. Sunset 5:38 Moonset 10:20 A.M.

Length of day 11:23 Day of year 63 a.m. p.m. HIGH nDE 3:47 4:28 Hgt. of Tide 10.8' 9 4- LOW nDE 10:12 10:30 Hgt. of low tide 0.4' MOON'S PHASES First Frit Lot Ktw DO(DO" Mar.

Mar. Mar. Mar. 20 27 4 12 EVENING STARS Look southwest around 8:30 p.m. for the constellation Orioa.

In its middle is a horizontal row of three stars. OHM'S Bell. The belt points left nearly to Siriaa. and right nearly to Albar Tomorrow Frest Hick ddy 34 ddy 64 19 Globe and The City of l-pc oTnblcxl705 XIV CoM Front Miaqi. the second annual Irish Writers Series winter storm is still milling around in the Canadian Maritime today.

This storm brought over 2 feet of snow to parts and New York on Thursday. Its influence will continue felt across New England today as clouds and a few flurries remain over the region. High pressure will gradually build midwest to bring nicer weather for the weekend. Elsewhere fine weather is found from the midwest through the sunshine and warmer temperatures. Unusual March prevails across the Plains states where some record highs yesterday.

Cooler air is starting to work into the Pacific accompanied by clouds and a few showers. Clouds are across Texas and New Mexico where a few showers may afternoon. Temperatures in the southwest will stay warm a few desert hot spots reaching 90 degrees. March Noon Literary Brunch Georgian RoomPark Plaza Hotel Sunday, March 6, 1994 FOREIGN CITIES Forecast for Today HI Weatktr Featuring: Peter Quinn, BANISHED CHILDREN OF EVE (Viking Penguin) Morgan Llywelyn, FINN MacCOOL (Forge Books) Thomas Flanagan, THE END OF THE HUNT (E.P. Dutton) Master of Ceremonies: James Carroll (Houghton Miffun) $25 per ticket, Call Colleen Cronin (617) 635-4505 REGIONAL FORECASTS Boston area: Flurries ending with skies remaining cloudy to partly cloudy.

Northwest wind 15 to 30 mph. Highs 36 to 40. Tonight: partly cloudy with lows 22 to 28. Tomorrow: variable cloudiness. Highs 38 to 42.

Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut: Partial clearing, windy with highs ranging from 35 to 45. Tonight: partly cloudy, cold. Lows 22 to 32. Tomorrow: fair skies return. Highs from the upper 30s to middle 40s.

Cape Cod and Islands: Cloudy in the morning with a chance of flurries, then becoming partly cloudy. Highs near 40. Tonight: partly cloudy with lows around 30. Saturday: partly sunny skies. Highs near 40.

Massachusetts coastal marine forecast: Gale warning. Northwest winds at 25 to 35 knots. Average seas subsiding to 8 to 15 feet Visibility below 3 miles. Tonight: northwest winds decreasing slightly to 20 to 30 knots. Seas 5 to 10 feet.

Maine: Snow north, light snow or flurries ending south. Highs ranging from 25 to 35. Tonight: overcast with snow tapering to flurries north. Lows 20 to 26. Tomorrow: mostly cloudy with scattered flurries north.

Highs in the low to middle 30s. New Hampshire: Snow in the morning north, scattered flurries south. Highs 30 to 35. Tonight: cloudy with flurries possible in northern sections. Lows near 20.

Tomorrow: mostly cloudy skies. Highs in the low to middle 30s. Vermont: Light snow in the north, partly sunny south. Highs 25 to 35. Tonight: cloudy to partly cloudy, chance of flurries north.

Lows mid teens to mid 20s. Tomorrow: possible light snow north, partly sunny south. Highs 25 to 38. EXTENDED FORECASTS Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut: Sunday: fair. Highs in the 40s.

Lows mid 20s to low 30s. Monday: fair. Highs in the 40s. Lows in the 20s. Tuesday: chance of showers.

Highs 45 to 50. Lows in the 30s. Maine: Sunday: fair. Highs near 25 north to near 35 south. Lows near 10 north to near 20 south.

Monday: fair. Highs in the 30s to near 40. Lows 5 to 15 north, teens to low 20s south. Tuesday: chance of flurries. Highs in the 30s north to near 40 south.

Lows 15 to 25. New Hampshire: Sunday: fair. Highs in the 30s north to near 40 south. Lows 17 to 23. Monday: fair.

Highs in the mid 30s to low 40s. Lows 18 to 28. Tuesday: chance of flurries. Highs 35 to 42. Lows mid teens north, mid 20s south.

Vermont Sunday: fair. Highs 35 to 45. Lows 15 to 25. Monday: fair. Highs 35 to 45.

Lows 15 to 25. Tuesday: chance of snow or rain. Highs mid 30s to mid 40s. Lows in the 20s. Forecasts 1994 Weather Services Corp.

CHy Amsterdam Athens Auckland Bangkok Barbados Barcelona 8eijing Beirut Belgrade Bedin Bermuda Brisbane Brussels Budapest Buenos Aires Cairo Copenhagen Dhahran Dublin Frankfurt Geneva Hanoi Harare Helsinki Hong Kong Istanbul Jerusalem Johannesburg Kiev Lisbon London. Madrid Manila Moscow Nairobi New Nicosia Osaka Oslo Paris Rome Sapporo Seoul Singapore Stockholm Sydney Taipei Tel Am Tokyo. Vienna Warsaw Menco City Rio De Janeiro San Juan Sao Paulo Calgary Chartooetown Montreal OUSatr Hi Our latest provinces of Pennsylvania to be will in from the today, south, with warmth were broken Northwest, also found develop this today, with LATIN 6-31, 1994 7PM 1994 8pm Thursday, March 17, 1994 7pm Book Reading Waterstone's Booksellers, 859-7300 Featuring: Marie Heaney, OVER NINE WAVES -A BOOK OF IRISH LEGENDS (FaberA Faber) Friday, March 18, 1994 Poetry Reading Waterstone's Booksellers, 859-7300 Featuring: Derek Ma boa and John Montague US CITIES Today City Freat Hl(k Albany ddy 36 Albuquerque cldy 66 Anchorage flrys 14 49 41 65 48 72 59 97 78 85 73 59 47 49 31 68 50 46 35 44 29 67 58 84 71 51 42 ...45 34 82 62 76 54 37 33 81 52 48 39 48 37 49 34 .64 56 76 57 75 59 21 12 64 56 48 36 67 42 75 56 35 22 cldy shwrs pekty pddy shwrs pcldy pcldy sunny rain ddy shwrs sunny cldy snow sunny sunny cldy sunny shwrs pcldy pcldy ddy sunny pddy ddy pddy rain sunny shwrs ddy ddy shwrs pddy sunny snow Pddy Pddy sunny sunny pddy snow cldy cldy snow ddy tstms Pddy sunny pddy sunny shwrs pddy asnevtite sunny oi 71 Atlantic City pddy 46 Austin 81 Baltimore pcldy 49 Birmingham sunny 73 Bismarck pcldy 45 Boise shwrs 61 Buffalo cldy 37 Charleston SC.sunny 71 Charleston pcldy 52 Charlotte sunny 64 Cheyenne sunny 62 Chicago pcldy 44 Cincinnati sunny 52 Cleveland cldy 45 Columbia sunny 72 Dallas-Fl 81 Denver 67 Des Moines sunny 51 Detroit pcldy 41 El Paso ddy 73 Grand 41 Great Falls ddy 57 Green Bay pcldy 39 Greensboro sunny 60 Honolulu sunny 82 Houston 77 Indianapolis sunny 51 Jackson 76 Jacksonville 72 Kansas City 61 Las Vegas pcldy 77 Littfe Rock sunny 73 Los Angeles pddy 76 sunny 55 Memphis sunny 68 Miami 74 Milwaukee pcldy 43 Minneapolis pcldy 43 Nashvilie sunny 65 New Orleans 76 New York City 44 pddy 58 Oklahoma City 73 Omaha sunny 58 Orlando 74 Philadelphia 48 Phoerm. 83 Pittsburgh ddy 42 Portland 56 sunny 62 Rapid City pddy 64 Richmond 57 Sacramento 71 Salt Lake 62 San Diego pddy 68 San Francisco pddy 66 63 52 52 44 61 41 91 77 21 12 81 56 74 61 81 51 65 53 48 36 24 19 55 41 58 40 34 23 46 29 89 75 29 21 81 65 61 71 54 48 48 36 47 32 39 31 AMERICA 68 51 pddy 75 49 pddy 84 73 shwrs 86 71 swrny 66 Tuesday, March 22, pddy sunny 57 sunny 71 pddy 46 shwrs 73 pcldy 46 sunny 69 shwrs 38 ddy 54 pcldy 34 sunny 71 sunny 54 sunny 63 pcldy 53 pcldy 46 sunny 50 pcldy 46 sunny 64 cldy 73 pcldy 58 pcldy 53 pddy 43 pddy 72 flrys 45 sunny 43 flrys 33 sunny 60 pcldy 83 ddy 72 sunny 50 pcldy 74 sunny 74 pddy 56 pddy 74 pddy 71 pcldy 73 sunny 54 sunny 69 sunny 78 pddy 44 ddy 45 sunny 62 pddy 72 pddy 45 sunny 54 ddy 65 pddy 56 sunny 76 pddy 47 pcldy 82 pddy 42 ddy 51 sunny 61 snwrs 46 sunny 54 snwn 67 ddy 57 pddy 66 shwrs 64 pddy 49 ddy 44 sunny 54 sunny 75 pddy 58 pddy 80 ddy 66 pddy 49 Tuesday, March 8, 1994 Poetry Heading Brendan Behan's Pub, 522-5386 Featuring: Paula Meehan, THE MAN WHO WAS MARKED BY WINTER (Eastern Washington University Press) Wednesday, March 9, 1994 6pm Panel Discussion: "Irish Women's Voices" Old South Meeting House, TremontStreet Call Colleen Cronin 635-4505 6402 Featuring: A.nt)a Bourke, Celtic scholar, Professor at Boston College Paula Met hail. Poet Marie Jackson, Irish Focus Film Series Maggi Peircc, Belfast Storyteller Moderator Liz Shannon, Boston University Sunday, March 13, 1994 3 pm Irish Poetry Slam Mr.

DooleVs Pub, 338-5656 Featuring: Sugan Theatre Company with Michael Sherlock Judy Collins, Betty Whyte, Susan McConnell, Aidan Parkinson and others Tuesday, March 15, 1994 7pm Book Readine Waters-tone's Booksellers, 859-7300 Featuring: J.P. Donkary, THE HISTORY OFTHEGINGER MAN (Houghton Mifflin) SOURCE: Alan MacRobert CLIMATE DATA 7 p.m. EST Thursday, March 3. 1994 BOSTON TEMPERATURES High yesterday -35 Low 30 Mean 33 Departure from normal -1 Departure this month -19 Departure this year -298 BOSTON DEGREE-DAY DATA Degree-day units r32 Total this month 112 Total for season. 4496 Total cones, date last year 4259 30-yr.

normal, cores date 4156 BOSTON tctPrrTK)ai bckn Total 24 hours, ending 7 p.m 1 31 Total this month to date Ml Departure from normal 0,96 Total this year 9.48 Departure from 167 SNOWFALL Total today Monthly total Total for season BAROMETER AT SEA LEVEL i7 882 At 1 p.m. 29.42 in 9961 At At 7 pa 29.21 ft 989 0 mils At 7 p.m.. relative humidity 8 YESTERDAYS SUNSHINE INDEX 0 of possible Boston record temps for March 4 are in 1974 and 2 in 1950. HIGH TIDE A.M. Old Orchard ME 3:38 Hampton Beach NH 3:52 Plum Island ..4:09 Ipswich 3 50 r.n.

4.35 452 433 4:27 4:28 436 4v28 425 4 429 113 412 531 624 442 444 53S 5:00 xi Gloucester ManXehead 3:47 .3:47 .357 347 345 .3:55 348 42 3:31 4:51 5 44 4:02 404 4:54 4:19 37 30 BOSTON AREA Sotuate Plymouth Cape Cod East Cape Cod West Falmouth llyannis Port Chatham PlDVNKetDwfl Nantucket Harbor Oak Bluffs New Bed'onj Newport Rt1 The Poets'TTieatre presents: Verse vs. Fiction: Ah Evening witA Stomas Htaney and John McGakem Agassi Theatre at Radcldtb Collboe, 496-2222 General Admiinon: SIS; Students Senior: $12; Special S25 ticket for reserved seating tod party following the performance with the iutboct, Celtic music, and For tickets, call (617) 496-2221 Monday, March 28, 1994 4 pm Poetry Readme Irish Studies LibraryDonahue Hall, Stonehill College (508)238-1081 Featuring: Paula Meelun, THE MAN WHO WAS MARKED BY WINTER (Eastern Washington University Press) Thursday, March 31, 1994 1:30 pm BookReadine Mass Boston, Harbor Gallery, 287-6752 Featuring: Cbet Raymo, THE DORK OFCORK (Warner Boors) Thomti M. Menlno, Mayor of Boston 79 ddy aeaoie. CANADA Spokane 53 SL Lows sunny 57 Tampa. 73 Topeka 66 Tucson ddy 78 Tulsa.

71 WasMngtcH pekty 52 53 23 pddy 29 16 snow 32 22 fays 35 22 pddy 52 40 Shwrs Sponsors: Boston Globe Boston Pirirj and Recreation Boston Park Plizi Hotel Consulate General of Ireland Mayor's Office of Arts arid Humanities Viitentone'l BookseDen WQBH-FM Supporters: Boston Public Library Brendan Behan's Pub Mr. Dooley Pub The Poetf Theatre U-Misioslon.