Tyler Morning Telegraph from Tyler, Texas • 49

Tyler Courier-Times FRIDAY, JULY 29,1988 Tvler Morning Telegraph FRIDAY, JULY 29, 1988 Sec. 6 Harper Lands Lawyer Roles On CBS Guild strike, but the fact that it is not on the CBS fall schedule. The network, however, has ordered 13 new episodes and Kim LeMasters, president of CBS En-" tertainment, has promised the show a mid-season replacement spot, preferably in a compatible time slot. "I hate to use the word family about 'Frank's to say we're a family," Harper said, "because in little theaters they used to say that and I'd think, no, you're not my family because you can fire me. You can't get fired from a family.

"I'd rather say we're a very good working unit, a productive artistic collaboration. That works much better than the old overused CONVERSION 125 SS ft IIS'SS HI GUIDE-CABLE Sf iu 5 ij" 5" KTBS ABC SHREVEPORT 3-15-- KDFW CBS DALLAS 444-4444 KXAS NBC DALLAS 7 5 5 5 5 5 5 KTAL NBC SHREVEPORT 6 -14 KLTV ABC "3 7 7 8 2 7 7 7 WFAA ABC DALLAS 888-8888 CJ KTRE ABC LUFKIN KTVT IND. FW 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 KERA PBS DALLAS 13 13 13 13 13 13 13 0 KXTX IND. DALLAS 9 29 2 9 9 9 9 fi KLMQ CBS LONGVIEW 8 31 -12 10 8 KETK NBC JACKSONVILLE 5 36 26 6 10 12 3 9 (ESPN) 24 HR, SPORTS 12 12 3 13 14 10 12 23 (A E) ARTS 1 ENTERTAINMENT 14 14 34 (WGN) IND. CHICAGO 25 19 (WTBS) IND.

ATLANTA 26 17 12 4 6 6 10 10 (TNN) NASHVILLE NETWORK 29 25 24 C10 16 30 15 28 (NICK) NICKELODEON 27 27 2-C11 17 31 20 17 (USA) SPORTS 8 VARIETY 28 28 21 18 29 (LIFE) LIFETIME HEALTH 22 22 15 18 23 36 (ACTS) CHRISTIAN 21 (CBN) CHRISTIAN 23 23 10 10 23 17 21 12 (SIN) SPANISH 15 15 (TDC) DISNEY 16 38 20 24 24 16 27 (HBO) HOME BOX OFFICE 17 30 17 C-12 25 25 14 22 (CMXJCINEMAX 19 40 19 C8 25 (SHOW) SHOWTIME 20 41 21 22 24 (TMC) MOVIE CHANNEL 11-2 26 26 15 about all this is the recognition. After all, I'm not a name, I'm just a working actor. But when you do a series you're exposed to more people. I get a lot of letters and I answer each one. It's enormously satisfying." People stop him, calling out, "Hey, Bubba!" One woman woman recalled all the details of an episode that had aired seven months earlier.

He went to buy insurance and met a man who knew every episode that had aired. Fans approach him saying, "I never watch television but I always watch 'Frank's The big question is whether they will be able to watch the show next season. "Frank's Place" not only must contend with the Writers On The Dial: Tyler Radio Stations Nielsen Ratings Network Viewing Down During Demo Convention KDOK Pure Gold -1490 AM KEYP Contemporary Hits 99.3 FM KGLY Christian, Classical 91 .3 FM KNUE Contemporary Country -101 .5 FM KOOI Easy Listening FM KROZ Urban Contemporary 92.1 FM KTBB-News Hits -600 AM KTYL Adult Contemporary 3:1 FM KVNE Inspirational, Christian 89.5 FM KZEY Gospel, Rhythm-Blues 690 AM NEW YORK IUPI) Robert Harper says he is becoming the CBS lawyer. Harper plays New Orleans lawyer Bubba Weisberger in the network's series "Frank's Place." He plays a Beverly Hills lawyer in the upcoming CBS movie "Outback Bound." In the CBS miniseries "Murder Ordained," he played the Kansas prosecutor who tried a minister for murder. "I've been playing a string of them lately," Harper said in an interview, "but I've played a lot of other things, too.

I was eaten by a monster in I play a chemist in 'Twins, '(the twins are Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito) and I once played an accountant who turned into a werewolf in a CBS pilot." He also has played a lot of other roles as a member of the repertory company at the Arena Stage in Washington, D.C., he performed in plays by Shakespeare, Ibsen, Arthur Miller and Thornton Wilder. Harper made his Broadway debut in a revivial of "Once in a Lifetime" and "The Inspector General" and last appeared there in Arthur Miller's "The American Clock." "But I like lawyers and I like the law," Harper said. "The law deals with interpretations, what does this or that mean. That's what we do when we perform in Shakespeare do we use what was done when it was written or how it applies now? "I'm something of a law buff" he said, adding that when he was at Arena Stage, he acted by night and by day amused himself listening to tapes of the Watergate trials, and out of curiosity he also visited the Supreme Court. All this stood him in good stead for the role of Bubba, the gentle, rumpled southern Jewish lawyer.

"When I went down to New Orleans to do my homework (although the show is not shot there), I went to Tulane law school and attended some classes on evidence and procedures. I actually took notes," he said. "We felt Bubba went to Tulane and I wanted to be familiar with the campus and the Napoleonic code. I had a copy of the Louisana code in my dressing room. I went to court down there lawyers call it the zoo.

You can absorb a lot that way. "By going down there and soaking it in, where he went to school, where he lived, I could feel like Bubba. He always wore a suit he even went to class in a suit." Parker also carried a tape recorder to pick up the cadences of local speech his own accent is standard American without a trace of drawl and pored over the short stories of Tennessee Williams. "He helps instruct me on the rhythms and elaborations of New Orleans speech. Tennessee never says in three words what he could say in a 10-word elaboration," Parker said.

He also read the letters of Eudora Welty and Flannery O'Connor, to become steeped in the southern sensitivity that he called distinct, pronounced and rich. Harper said he feels about acting the way Willie Mays did about baseball he can't believe he's being paid to do it, considering the joy and psychic income he gets from performing good material. Place' is like a short story filmed each week," he said. "You don't know what to expect. "One thing that surprises me CHER DENNIS QUAID SUSPECT" i AM FVrN' i.

I NEW YORK IUPI) The Democrats put on a good show last week but about 2 million fewer Americans watched it than viewed the Democratic National Convention in 1984, it was reported Tuesday. The Democrats might have gotten even lower ratings if it hadn't been for Jesse Jackson's stemwin-der Tuesday night, preceded by Ted Kennedy asking the audience, "Where was George?" Tuesday achieved the highest ratings of the four-day convention. NBC won the ratings race for the week and was the most-watched network for convention coverage, but its ratings sank to their lowest of the 44-week season. Three-network coverage of the convention achieved a 20.8 rating and a 40 share, compared to a 23.2 rating and a 45 share for the 1984 Democrats. Greg Kasparian, director of network research services for CBS, said the ratings marked about a 10 percent ratings drop, with 18.4 households viewing, compared to 19.4 million four years earlier.

I my contacts 1 -DISPOSABLE LENSES-FREE TRIAL ExtendedWearorTinted $199 DaflyWear '159 "includes: Exam, Fitting, 6 mo. follow up No "Cheap" Lensei Only the BEST Quality Service a lar Kit -A The numbers people figure on 1.7 viewers per household, which translates into about 27 million people watching this year, compared to 29 million who saw the nomination of the Mondale-Ferraro ticket. The drop in people watching the Democrats is no reason for Republican high hopes instead, it marks the explosion in alternatives to network viewing. At one time, the networks had a captive audience, but today it's a viewer's market with independent stations, cable and pay-cable and VCRs all competing for audience. In the competition among the three networks for convention viewers, NBC had an overall 7.4 rating and 14 share, ABC was second with a 6.9 rating and a 13 share, and CBS was third with a 6.5 rating and a 13 share.

Four years ago, CBS and ABC tied for the lead and NBC was last. While Jackson's Tuedsay show was the most popular, the Dukakis acceptance speech and Democratic love-in on Thursday came in second. In the full prime time ratings race, NBC had a 9.4 rating and an 18 share. CBS was second with a 7.9 rating and a 15 share. ABC was third with a 7.8 rating and a 15 share.

In news, the "CBS Evening News" with Dan Rather was in first place with an 8.6 rating and 19 share, while ABC's "World News Tonight" with Peter Jennings was second with an 8.4 rating and a 19 share. "NBC Nightly News" with Tom Brokaw was third with a 7.8 rating and a 17 share. Each ratings point represents about 887,000 households and a share is the percentage of TV sets tuned to a particular show. The top 10 prime time shows for the week ending July 24, according to the A.C. Nielsen were: 1.

Golden Girls (NBCI 2. (tie) Hunter (NBC) The Cosby Show (NBC) 4. 60 Minutes (CBS) 5. Deliberate Stranger, Part 1 (NBC) 6. Murder, She Wrote (CBS) 7.

Amen (NBC) 8. (tie) 2020 (ABC) Sin of Innocence (CBS) 10. Alf (NBC) 3 CHER and DENNIS QUAID take the law Into their own hand, in "SUSPECT," the daring tutoenic thriller where everything revealed in except the truth. NOW AVAILABLE AT THESE GREAT STORES i 111 TYLER VIDEO VIDEO STOP CIRCLE.T.VIDEO VIDEO AT WOODCBEEK OUTSIDE TYLER VIDEO JOE'S EAST TEX AS VIDEO-UN DALE CLASSICS VIDE0-BR0WNSB0R0 MINEOLA V1DE0-MINE0LA MOVIE HOUSE-VAN CINEMA Ill-BIG SANDY Distributed by vhs SSevJ? VIDEO KID-WHITEHOUSE MOVIE PLACE-CHANDLER HOME VIDE0-6RESHAM MOVIE MAGIC-E. LOOP 323 VIDEO RENTS-ON INDIAN CREEK EES! SUG.

RETAIL PRICE Dr. John R. McGough Optometrist "Contact Lens Specialist" 593-2109 i TJf if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if Jf?.