Daily News from New York, New York • 44

News Around the Dials oBI, Seek Food Ad Ban for Kids By VAL ADAMS Action for Children's Television, a public interest group, asked a federal court yesterday to order the Federal Trade Commission to take action on a three-year-old i i i someone else was present in Porter's apartment when the Oriental Detective Khan Charlie Chan o. OS P3 en 5 peuuon io pronioic ioou adver tising on children's shows, The suit was filed in the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C. In its complaint against the commission, the children's TV group said that since it filed its petition in March 1972 the commission "has not 1 I Pat Hingle Hal Holbrook initiated a public comments per iod, initiated rule-making pro ceedings of any nature, nor de nied the petition. Repeated inquiries to the Federal Trade Commission about the status of the petition, the group said, have brought no response.

Peggy Charren, president of Action for Children's Television, said that the commission had been requested to adopt a rule banning the televised advertising of edibles to children on the grounds that such ads. a $400 million annual business, are un fair and misleading. Most all foods advertised on- children's shows, she said, have large amounts of sugar. "Children are urged to eat a food not because it is nutritious or will keep them healthy," said Mrs. Charren, "but because it is sweet, it is fun or it is the way to get a toy." The panel's suit against the Federal Trade Commission' was filed by attorneys of the Public Citizen Litigation Group in Washington.

The complaint requested that the commission be directed to take action on the petition within 15 days of a final court order. CBS, which postponed a Cher Bono special so that it would not have to compete with the movie "Airport" on -ABC, has scheduled a rerun of "The Wal-tons" on Sunday at 7:30 p.m. "Airport," the highest Nielsen-rated movie ever shown on TV (it was first presented in November 1973), will begin at the same hour. The rerun of an episode In "The Waltons" is the story of John-Boy falling seriously in love for the first time. NBC's "Wonderful World of Disney" on Sunday at 7:30 also will be a repeat Part 2 of "Johnny Tremain." Casting has been completed for "Twigs," the comedy starring Carol Burnett that CBS will televise on Thursday, March 6, at 9 p.m.

The seven male roles (Miss Burnett is the only woman in the cast) will be filled by Pat Hingle, Jack Gilford. Conrad Bain, Edward Asner, Alex Rocco, Liam Dunn and Gary Burghoff. "Prairie Lawyer," the third in the "Sandburg's Lincoln" series starring Hal Holbrook, will be televised by NBC on Monday, April 7, at 8 p.m. Charles W. Colson, who was convicted in the Watergate scandal and recently released from prison, will be interviewed by Barbara Walters on NBC's "Today" at 8 o'clock this morning.

Threat to Ky KAY Lucky for actor Khigh not to take on any screen private-eye series that begins can get on with better things nil hopefully someday no one will remember he whs associated with such a turkey. Set In San Francisco's Chinatown, the hour-long series, which features Dhiegh as a philosophi cal meditating gumshoe who's assisted by his son, Kim (Evan Kim), and a daughter Anna (Irpne Yah-LIng Sun), promises to be of little consequence to ABC's solidly entrenched "Streets cf San Francisco." Cliche-Ridden In fact, we can just hear Karl Maiden shouting, "There goes the neighborhood" as he watches this cliche-ridden, predictable script unfold tonight about a framed football quarterback, Ed Porter (Thalmus Kasulala), who thinks he murdered his girl and is on the run. Johnny Wong, a friend of his, brings Khan in on the case despite Porter's skepticism. Since Khan is the first large-sized Oriental detective to mastermind a case since Charlie Chan, who incidentally made a startling comeback in 1972, comparisons are bound to be made to the Confuclous-spouting Chan. But the Eurl Derr Bigger detective, who in our opinion has been misjudged by some Americans of Asian descent (we think Charlie was brilliant) still has no peers.

Certainly Khan is no threat. Hat Posh Apartment He's a corpulent, apparently affluent private eye, who lives with his children in a posh apartment with an atrium. lie displays none of Chan's inscrutability or deductive powers, since the case in hand seems to get solved despite him. As for his apparent dedication to meditation, none of his personal views are reflected in the script. The best we can get from him, in terms of a glimpBe into his soul, is a comment to his son when the young man an- GARDCI.LA Dhiegh (Kai Dee) he decided credit for "Khan the CBS tonight at 8.

This way he Khigh Dhiegh Nu privala eye nounces he changed his major in college and his father doesn re act. Comments Khan: "If I re acted everytime you changed your major I'd be completely drained of emotion. That is, if he has any. He does raise his voice once or twice but generally he speaks in a flat, dull monotone. Too-Familiar Case The case he's confronted with we've run into time and time again on television in variations.

Porter, who had a football injury before his girl's murder, blacks out and is unsure of what hap pened from the time he finds himself crashing over a cliff in his car and returns to his apartment to find his girl dead. As Khan suspects, he's the victim of frame. Khan's job is to prove it, as Air. iioimes used to say, elementary, tie looks over the scene of the crime, decides 5 if V. Sr.

'7 1 football hero passed out on the floor. When his girl arrived, and apparently admitted herself with a key, she took the intruder by surprise and he killed her. That's what Khan thinks. Solution in Hand He explains this to his daughter, with a pedantic reiteration of the scene, and she says: "Yes, provided Ella (that's Porter's dead girl) had a key." And then Papa immediately moves a dresser and voila! There's the key. As Khan fishes around the football team he learns a fellow, name of Reynolds, is the quarterback scheduled to play in Porter's spot in Sunday's game.

And Joe Fry (Clu Gulager), an assistant coach, is taking a lot of credit for running the team away from the coach (John Ireland), Khan eventually links Fry with a professional gambler, Cleery (Victor Buono), and the case begins to fall into place. Dreary Nevertheless It's the old football fix with Fry playing ball with Cleery. Keeping Porter out of Sunday's game is part of the plan, which backfired slightly when the girl had to be murdered. But we're not saying who did it. We should, though, to save you the trouble of sitting through this dreary detective adventure.

The CBS television network Is taking credit for producing the hour, written by kdward J. Lakso and directed by Ivan Dixon. Laurence Heath is also listed as a producer. All could do better, we're sure. Khan! can Can have a Sift? I'm running away from Yellowstone National Park.

Tonight at on SAFARI TO ADVENTURE IVNBC-TV4 Jllilijli W.i be reached in San Francisco's Chinatown. Every Fnday night Starring Khigh Dhiegh..