The San Francisco Examiner from San Francisco, California • 74

6 S.F. EXAMINER Sept. 23, 1932 primary function, according to his bt'n'fctor, "is the preservation of human life." This road aruiaer to eoir.putfirucd It utomatially avoids ccllLlons, drives Itself anywhere without and talks. Yes, talks. When trouble arrr, lUthi-Tl at asyt "VD oh." It also rescues him from Jell So ml tata off Hie wayward knight The title, you lee, to a triple pa-1 8 helped on occasion by the car's Inventor, David Mulhare.

With luck, this vehicle will run out of gas is quickly as possible. THE QUEST (10 pm, Ch. Dt Rivaling Knight Elder for sheer Inanity, The Quest is an attempt to modernize a classic theme. Now pet this: Aging King Charles of the tiny European country Glendora wants a successor before he dies. A search is made for anyone with royal Glendoran blood, and four are found in America.

They're descended from a prince who emigrated here 400 years ago. Dan Underwood (Ferry King) is a handsome sports photographer, Art Henley (Noah Beery) Is a retired smalltown cop, Cody Johnson (Ray Vitte) ls a compulsive con man and Carrie Welby (Karen Austin) is a classy department store buyer. They're summoned to Glendora and subjected to a series of qualifying tests. Obscure poetry holds clues to the quest, and they are each given a horse, a sword and a day's worth of food. Off they go.

All the characters are caricatures, particularly Cody Johnson, a stereotyped black hustler (Vitte seems to be mimicking Richard Pryor). There's lots of exotic scenery and high action, hints of a developing romance between Underwood and Welby, elements of antiquity and mystery. Somehow, they've managed to make all of this very boring. I believe Glendora will still be waiting for the results when this show disappears from the airwaves. REMINGTON STEELE (10 p.m., Ch.

4k Laura Holt (Stephanie Zimbalist) is a private detective who believes she can't get any business because she's a woman. So she creates a fictional male boss, Remington Steele, and names her company after him. She even distributes a composite photo of the phony fellow to the media. Imagine how surprised Holt is when a rea Remington Steele (Pierce Brosnan) walks through the door one day and takes over. Steele's identity Is an enigma, but this doesn't stop Holt from falling in love with him.

Remington Steele wasn't available for preview. SATURDAY There are only two new shows, both on NBC. SILVER SPOONS (8:30 p.m., Ch. 4) concerns one Edward Stratton III (Joel Higgins), a multi-millionaire by inheritance ho never quite grew up (in other words, a sober His mansion is full of video games. He drives from room to room in a large toy train.

A generous sort, he gives his Ferrari to Toys for Tots. Who should appear at the door one day but 12-year-old Continued on next page J. I i-i Above, four of the doctors at 'St. Elsewhere': William Daniels (left) and Ed Flanders, back row; Cynthia Sikes and David Birney, front row; at left, Joel Higglns is the rich, childish father of Ricky Schroder in 'Silver Spoons' into a high-tech shoot out in the school corridors. Despite Gossett's considerable talent, this gimmick can go onlv so far.

Matthew may lose his powers before spring. THE NEW ODD COUPLE (8:30 p.m., Ch. 7k What's new about this odd couple? They're black, that's alL Ron Glass, the literary-minded Detective Harris in Barney Miller, and Demond Wilson, the younger partner in Sanford and Son, portray Felix Unger and Oscar Madison, roles previously popularized on television by Tony Randall and Jack Klug-man. Again, Felix is a persnickety photographer and Oscar is slovenly sportswriter, cast by the fates (simultaneous divorces) into the same apartment We'll see, once more, Oscar playing poker with his buddies, Felix tidying and cooking, and insults flying. Both men are talented actors so, depending on the quality of the writing and viewers' willingness to accept a recycled concept, The New Odd Couple could last awhile.

KNIGHT RIDER (9 p.m., Ch. 4k Every season has its silly show, and this is it. David Hasselhoff plays Michael Knight an undercover agent who gets his face blown off by the bad guys. He's saved by a dying millionaire who gives him a new mug and a new car. This isn't just any automobile.

IU From Page El this: Filthy Rich Ls the worst show to come along In years. This Ls the tale of a family that is both rich and filthy. Slim Pickens plays the dead patriarch Big Guy Beck, who sometimes addresses his kin on videotape. Charles Frank is Big Guy's youngest kid, Stanley, lie's got money of his own. and coastantly attempts to block maneuvers by the other family crazies to garner the largest share of Big Guy's estate.

Filthy Rich not only shouldn't last; it shouldn't have made it to the air in the first place. But three episodes run this summer placed in the NeiLsen top 10, so what do I know? FAMILY TIES (9:30 p.m.. Ch. 4): Steven and Elyse Keaton (Michael Gross and Meredith Baxter Birneylare a middle-age couple who once wore long hair and demoastrated for good causes. Today we would call them liberals.

He manages a public television station; she's an architect Both are still concerned about social issues. Tina Yothers, Justine Bateman and Michael J. Fox are their children Jennifer, Mallory, 15 and Alex, 17. All "suffer "fear of sprouts." The girls like dates and television. Alex worships William Buckley and Kimberly Blatter, a high-school sex pot who doesn't like public television because she misses the commercials.

Are left-wing parents and right-wing kids funny? Sort of. But the youngsters are infected with a strained precocious-ness that's difficult to accept, the direction is rubbery and the ending Ls soft. This one probably won't last. TUCKER'S WITCH (10 p.m.. Ch.

5k When I saw this last June, it starred someone else and was called The Good Witch of Laurel Canyon. Presuming that they haven't changed the story line as well, this show is a combination of Hart to Hart and Bewitched. Catherine Hicks plays Amanda Tucker, wife of Rick (Tim Matheson). Both are detectives. She's a itch, but she's not very good at it.

Amanda has a psychic relationship with her cat. a beautiful thing named Dickens that looks like a cross between a Persian and a Siamese. The cat is my favorite Character in this show. Ellen Hobbes plays Amanda's non-witch mother (the talent skips every other generation). This show mixes too many premises and faces stiff time-slot competition from Dynasty and Quincy.

It's a likely candidate for cancellation. THURSDAY STAR OF THE FAMILY (8:30 p.m., Ch. 7. Brian Denne-hy plays Buddy Krebs, a tough-guy fireman whose 16-year-old daughter is on the verge of fame as a singer. This, of course, is a crisis for a conservative daddy, who still wants to protect his young'un, from whence the comedic tension derives.

Kathy Malsnik, as daughter Jennie Lee, is an attractive, sweet-hearted lass with a lot of ambition. She's managed by an Amazon named Moose (Judy Pioli) and she wears short skirts, much to daddy's dismay. Michael Dudi-kof plays son Douggie, a lout of sorts, and then there's the gang down at the firehouse motley, natch. The only thing this show has going for it is its placement. Star of the Family comes between Joanie Loves Chachi and Too Close for Comfort, other shows with soft humor that seems to appeal to teen-agers.

CHEERS (9 p.m., Ch. 4h If Newhart isn't the best new show of the season, it must be Cheers, a crisply written and nicely performed sitcom about life in a Boston bar. where sports is the favored topic of conversation. The drinkery is owned by by Sam Malone (Ted Danson), a former pro baseball player who quit the game because "I had an elbow problem I bent it too much." Yes, folks, we've finally got a lead character who's an alcoholic fully recovered, I might add. Shelley Long, a pert and charming woman, plays Diane Chambers, a teaching assistant who, in the opening episode, plaas to elope with her employer.

She's a snob of the first order but, when her fiancee suddenly leaves her for his former wife, she accepts a job at Malone's bar. We also have Rhea Perlman as the sarcastic waitress Carla Tortelli and Nicholas Colasanto as Ernie Pantusso, Malone's former coach, who suffered one beanball too many. Cheers comes from the former creators of Taxi, and it shows. The bar milieu makes a great setting for off-beat one-; liners. If everyone who drinks and who likes sports watches this show, its place in the line-up is firmly secured.

IT TAKES TWO (9:30 p.m., Ch. 1Y. This unpreviewed sitcom draws on a modern social phenomenon the two- professional family for humor. Richard Crenna is Dr. Sam Quinn, and Patty Duke Astin is Molly Quinn, a lifelong housewife who has just earned her law degree and gone to work in the DA's office.

Obviously, this family Ls going through changes. Quinn TAXI (9:30 p.m., Ch. 4k ABC's loss is NBCs gain. This is listed as a new show, but it's more of a resurrection than a birth. ABC cancelled this series last spring and, after a brief flirtation with a pay cable service, Taxi landed at NBC.

There will be no substantive changes in the Taxi format. It's the same old show, and a good one indeed. Taxi should be picking up fares for some time to come. FRIDAY THE POWERS OF MATTHEW STAR (8 p.m, Ch. 4k This is one of two series originally scheduled for last year, then postponed due to health problems (the other is The Devlin Connection).

Peter Barton, a handsome young actor who plays the title character, was badly burned in an accident during filming. He still wears flesh-colored bandages on one arm. Matthew Star is a lonesome teen-ager from outer space, on the lam from evil forces on his home planet, where he went under the handle of Quadris. Considering that these folks are supposed to be 1,000 years ahead of us technologically, they have rather crude ways of killing people such as throwing things at them. lxiuis Gossett Jr.

plays Matthew's dedicated guardian. They settle down in a California town, where Matthew goes to high school like any Earthling his age. This enables us to see 1) yet another high school drama, as well as 2) a science fiction adventure story. In the opener, these are combined CBS's royalty beats ABC's NEW YORK (API In the battle of the Royal Wedding movies, ABC won the first skirmish, but CBS won the ratings war, according to A.C. Nielsen Co.

CBS broadcast "The Royal Romance of Charles and Diana" on Monday, three days after ABC's movie on the courtship of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer. Against the popular "Monday Night Football," CBS' film drew a 24 rating (percent of all TV homes) and 37 share (percent of all sets in use). Iast Friday, ABC's "Charles Diana: A Royal Love Story" had a 14.3 rating and a 27 share against "Dallas" and "Falcon Crest" on CBS. The Oakland Ballet Ronn Cuidi, Director .1 Zellerbach Auditorium, Berkeley Sponsored by SUPERBASUC Friday, Sept. 24 Saturday, Sept.

25 Les Biches NijinskaPoulenc (Premiere) The Tender Land LoringCopland Waterways EricksonTakemitsu (Premiere) Dvorak Dances GuidiDvorak (Premiere) BERKELEY BALLET THEATER with NEW YORK CITY BALLET STARS, KYRA NICHOLS DANIEL DUELL 3 PERFORMANCES ONLY MARGARET JENKINS STUDIO IN S.F. SEPT. 23 24 8:30 pm tickets still available SEPT. 25 SOLD OUT PHONE 841-5145 OR BASS OUTLETS FOR TICKETS INFORMATION Ticket Prices S6-S14. Available at Paramount Box Office, SUPERB Box Office (U.C.

Berkeley), BASS and major agencies. Iisll has no lury lite A bright, snappy, tatty fljlfrcv. KC' Wicked and boy. it it funny. KUOTV 1 THI WCHtOt AND MUSK OF 7 If Ml 1 TON1TE AT 8:00 TICKETS DY PHCaS (Q15) 775-71CSq! llLRRY DEFINITELY CLOSING THE VENETIAN 1 the music.il drama whose Dremieres shocked audiences with a sensual and erotic Preview Tonight at RGDM 1 fT I ICVK J'WIN UHRn UIOMM SMITH power never experienced before in opera.

A new San Francisco Opera production with musk by libretto by WW tl Willi SPECIAL MAT. SEPT. 29 ALL SEATS $10 still wants a wife who cooks and. cleans; Molly could use a husband who doesn't hold these chauvinist attitudes. Meanwhile, their teen-age kids Tony (Anthony Edwards) and Lisa (Helen Hunt) must cope with the compulsions of both parents.

It's a good cast i arid a timely concept, and, from what Crenna tells me, there's a crackerjack team of writers at work here. This show could be among the best of the batch, but it's got some Richard Strauss Oscar Wilde TONIGHT 'S- St" AT, 8:00 Sri' OuiiK fnr Tony Bennett NOW AITEARIG IHKOLGH OCrOBfcR3 Barbara Cook COMING OCrOBtK5 TOOCTOBLR13 Judy Collins rsyrrr Josephine Barstow's performance as Salome is described by the London Observer as the pertecl embodiment of the musical theater ideal, which demands that a Salome must be as seductive to look at as she is lo listen Cast; Barstow, Demescrt, Quittmeyer, HdrtliepBeltourt. Devlin, Hensel, Del Carlo. MacAllister. Dtrykers.

Qrcen.Tdtc. tiustt rud. Wt'xler, Stapp, Olaum, Kazatas. Conductors Mobufar. Sept 24.

28, Oct. 1. 6, 9, L2. 17 Call 864-3330 to charge your tickets. 2fm FIUIRCJSCO 0PEM S5J tough competition.

Across the dial on NBC we find Tonight at 8:00 I i fin COMING IKTOBtRU IOOCIOBIR24 CASCADE SHOWROOM IDI iPSYCHIC FAIR 'Psychics Palmists Tirol jkuri Photography Exhibits Ustrologors FREE ESP TESTING Venetian Room Reserva tions 772-5163. Cocktails dinnerdancing to the SHI FBUKOSW NpN Vk HOURS OF MAGNIFICENT PLEASURE. CAPTIVATING, ENTHRALLING, ALLURING, DYNAMITE. MARVELOUS!" Philip Elwood, SF Examiner "THE LADY IS SUFERHUMAN. 'LENA HOnilE: THE LADY AND HEn MUSIC IS All EXPLOSION OF PASSION!" Joel Clemons, Peninsula Timet Tribune trnie Heckscher Urchestra Entertainment charge Shows nightly at 9:30 and WIN FREE READINGS EVERY HOUR 11:31) except Monday.

THE FAIRMONT if 8 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. 1 I SEPT. 26 GOLDEN GATEWAY HOLIDAY INN 1500 VAN NESS SAN FRANCISCO '(Blwn. Pine and California) HOTEL CF THE YEAH! I With Host MICHAEL PRICHARD Starring EOC3Y SLAYTON, SOSEL JIM SAMUELS -O Anne on Fox 'g'f A Productions )SATV SEPT.

25TH 10:30 PiCH t'J $8.50 plus taxdrinks extra FAIRMONT HOTELS IN DALLAS, 52.50 Donation Church MINVIR AND NfcW OKI LANS Intuitive Development Institute class all tho way" OAKLAND TRIBUNE Theater Guide EEACH ELANKET "RUDDYGORE" BABYLON GOES TO c' Clll', ttmnMm imlo4rmi open ikn Sl Snt THE STARS AND is, Fn.stt to Oct. 30. md.K! prf A nw Vf Oct. 3, 17, Jilt trltmf tt. I0 (ouj bKUAUWATI 4.21d5or$)ChoctdsOK( NfWEST VfKStON Of STtVf SILVER'S LAMPLIGHTERS tx ottic.

36i Dokwej, AWARD-WINNING MUSICAL HEVUE. Wed. TKm. 3 fri. Sn I law Sue 3 PRESENTATION THEATRE WONI.

CHARGE IT 2350 Turk ot Mason: 752-7755 7fl FU0AZI 499 TOMFOOLERY 68 tireen Street ui-m $AN $MAsM MUSICAL TU. SATOE WITH TKE WORDS AND MUSIC Of 1 Hi Of TOM LEHHER. HELD tnght STAB VltJG CLASS KCBS' ii cZT a. Srt 7 4 Wel) M. HELD OVER! Sm 4-mi Mm.

E.t I Wed. Mit. $11 9, tkni 926, 8:30 p.m. Tlws. JI3 4 ll.Srt.

$15 13. MAGIC THIATIR SOUTHSIDE ALCAZAR THEATRE Bidg. Ft. Mason 441-8822 650 GearyCHARGE BY PH. 775-7100 DANCE BETWEEN SHOW BOAT THE LINIS Sw, DON AID OCONNOR.

TV Kw mucjl now in its FINAL 5 1 ChSd! TJTCn 8o Mrt 2 RrOMANaS. TONtGHT AT I BASS' 2 30, Su Mrt 3: S25, 23, 17, 13 Fn i MUSIC HALL THEATRE omm Theitw 6o OHict, i mmv 931LarknSt. 776-8996 Menciei. Group tttn: (415i 441 0919 CHARGE WONfc i4I5i 474-3S0a LENA HONI: cpheum theatre THE LADY AND HER MUSIC 1 192 Market at 8th 474-3800 i TONIGHT AT 8:00. Tg.

Him St. it 8, Sun. Mit. tt 4. Thur.

A i J27, 24, 14. Fri. 4 J30, 27, 17 VAUDEYILUAN I Ticrieti it Gotden Gitc Theatre Boi OHice, "Unpntteled omtwitY te iee a BASS, Ticletron mjjor 9bcii. Group eomk" Nincy Scott, S.F. Eumicw, Feitunnrj silei: (415) 441-0919.

CHARGE BY joe Mm, Joan Mjnlun, Leo Downey, Djvrd tm PHONE: (415) 775-M00. and Joahua Rich. Thur -Sat. 8 30, Sun. 7.

GOLDEN GATE THEATRE OLD VENETIAN BAKERY Golden Gate at Market 775-8800 2202 Powel (necx Bay) 391-7373 i ALLEY'S FOLLY- YVES MONTAND i A ROMANTIC COMFDY BY LANFORD WILSON. HELD OVER! THE f-ULITIIR ar French mya bnnos ha onenun MIZE WINNING BROADWAY HIT! Tuej. Orpheum oVect horn its toloout i Sun. Sat. ft Sun.

Mat. Trrtet. H0-I7 Available at BASS, Tidetron, and all maior 9 Ll: October Tirtet Agencies. HURRY FINAL MRF- 115 at 8 PM, Octl 2 30 Ticketi no. FOeMANOES MUST CLOSE OCT.

i. At Orpheum Theatre Boi OHice, IaSS, Affirm aZSdVl THEATRE ON THE SQUARE ttnlloL 450 Post CHARGE tl fH. 433-9500 ORPHEUM THEATRE TH2 GN GAME 1 1 92 Market at 8th 474-3800 by D.L. Cobum. With Merrie Wahen vura i Wilbam Prterson.

Lo- prevte.j to- 1 WLLFTrl NECilT nisht at 8' Sat. at Ticketsy-Phone. SHAKESPEARE'S Mdert Fwwrt' AMEXMCVlSA. Thw, Sat. pm: Sun.

2 pn. thn. 1010 AMERICAN COWSrRVATCKY Thw. Sun. Mat $5 ec.

$7. THEATRE VICTORIA TVIATRE 41 5 Geary Street 673-6440 2961 16th St. (rr. Meson) 431-1993 DihijiLD 0'COIIiJUi tar nK a IN yrrrx IHt HOUSTON OS A tVx'Jki PPODUCI'ON I it II ZZZf NOVEMBER 6 i i 111 THE BIG LAFF-0FF NATIONAL FINALS Featuring the Five Regional IAFF-OFF Winners Competing for the 1982 Comedy Crown Audience will judge Friday night. Both Shows Taped for SHOWTIME TELEVISION SPECIALS.

SHOW 3 DRINKS $15.50 PLUS TAX TOHIGHT AT 0:00 Sit THEATER GUIDE FOR DETAILS 474-3800 7 Weeks Only'. Phone; ii -meatef Guide.