The Salt Lake Tribune from Salt Lake City, Utah • 56

E6 The Salt Lake Tribune CALENDAR Friday September 18 1998 new on the networks 'cc -n the fall TV lineup New senes are shaded Easy Green: The Best Of Kermit Is Coming to Video Fall TV: More Fizz v't Than Buzz best to give depth to the film hut alas to no avail drew its inspiration from the writings of German poet Rainer Maria Rilke is just a new-fangled version of He Got Game (R 1998 136 minutes Touchstone): Director Spike overly ambitious Got Game" is realty two good films that add up to one mediocre one The first is the touching story of reconciliation between an estranged father and his basketball-star son Jesus: the other is a parable about greed and corruption in society told through the eyes of that same highly recruited high-school senior ball player Together the stories undercut each power Contains gunfire a beating domestic violence profanity nudity graphic sexual situations and discussion of sex Hush (PG-13 1998 96 minutes Columbia TriStar): A devious matron (Jessica Lange) and her new daughter-in-law (Gwyneth Paltrow) vie for the affections of baby boy (Johnathon Schaech) in this amazingly idiotic combo of and Lange a widowed Kentucky belle wants her son to take over the failing horse farm but Paltrow wants to remain in New York City to pursue her career Mommie-in-Law Dearest about to give up on her plans Contains campy dialogue preposterous scenario and acting like you seen since high-school drama club Mercury Rising (R 1998 111 minutes Universal): delivers the predictable thrills and chills expected of any movie that boasts the shaved-headed cool of Bruce Everyman superhero despite a somewhat-formulaic plot about a 9-year-old autistic savant who has cracked the US most secret code BY MARTIE ZAD WASHINGTON POST As part of Sesame 30th celebration Sony Wonder and the Television Workshop has just released Best of Kermit on Sesame (30 mins $1298) For Kermit fans from ages 4 to 40 the video contains many of most memorable moments on and includes some of his classic songs such as Op and And for Halloween Sony Wonder is re-releasing Says (30 mins $1298) with all its favorite hit tunes Jim Henson Home in the Big Blue series debuts on home video this month with two volumes each containing a pair of episodes from the Disney Channel program (50 mins $1295 each) The Day You Were from the Minnesota series for 3 year olds and up is being released nationwide Tuesday It was previously released to the educational community and won the American Library 1997 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Video of the (30 mins $1995 1-888-666-6837) New on Videotape City of Angels (PG-13 1998 116 minutes Warner): Nicolas Cage is a soulful angel who yearns to become human when he falls for cute surgeon Meg Ryan in this banal adaptation of Wim award-winning 1988 film of The film looks lovely with stunning vistas of Los Angeles shot from an eye-view and Cage does his intense 7:00 7:30 8:30 Gannett News Service Garages By 3-B Continued from K-l i ARC is also lying to get some mileage out of its new sitcom flughloys" produced by comic Chris Rock The Hughleys" Mhich will follow Improvement" Tuesdays at 7 30 is a race-driven comedy about an Afri- can-Amencan family living in a white suburb a concept the net- --work is trying to hype as an in the Family" for the And ARC is hoping its "Drew farcy Show" audience will stick around for lie Sec ret Rives of a disapj omting sitcom I Wednesday at 830 pm In fact given the tried -and-true theme of most of its new shows it is surprising that two most promising new series are something different: "Sports (Tuesdays at 8:30 pm) is a clever well-mitten comedy based on the behind-the- scenes happenings at an ESPN-style sports network Cheeky and sophisticated looks promising other show of promise also is high-concept 'Cupid played by Jeremy Piven must unite 100 Earth-bound cou- Tpies before he can return to Mount Olympus It features two appeal- jilng TV stars in Piven (wasted on the defunct and the viva- 1 cious Paula Marshall Plus the show is assembled by some of the creative team behind So-Called and i may prove to be some- thing to love CBS Without and Quinn Medicine CBS is missing two of its female-oriented shows Sadly the Eye network is doing little to replace them with anything of interest Monday night is still where at for CBS which is trying to expand on the beachhead and its brethren established years ago King of and Brian Benben slot their way between and Loves at 7:30 and 8:30 pm respectively on KUTV-Channel 2 Of the two Benben (the former star of groundbreaking "Dream may have the name cachet but the working-class may be a more effective sit-com The night leads into the new featuring star Ken Olin as a slick Los Angeles surgeon Keeping its fans in mind CBS turns to co-star Faith Ford on Wednesdays at 7:30 to anchor her own sitcom (divorcee returns to her small-town roots to live with Mom) Ford makes what could be tedious appealing Not so for the comedy-drama Have To (Wednesdays 8 pm) which stars one of most wooden acton Jason Beghe as a police detective who marries a public defender (played by Moira Kelly) Imagine the sparks! By the weekend CBS goes for the dopey with the over-the-top private eye tries to solve cases in the modem era) and (action-ad-venture about a Shanghai cop named Sammo Law) For this they canceled Fox A couple of its signature shows past their prime and Hills A couple of its top shows are still hip and cutting-edge and A few fit either category but critical darlings of Simpsons" of the So Fox seems determined to begin the new season by only sticking patches on the old maintaining enough momentum around and to keep viewers interested and keep the ever-charging WB at bay Fox expands to Tuesday-night programming with a pair of new entries including the much-hyped (an annoying sitcom about a brash Boston waitress) at pm (following in its new time) on KSTU-Channel 13 Cf More promising if a bit of a feach is starring ex- 2 CAR GARAGEI $6000 wood siding 910-3344 FREE ESTIMATES 7200 vlnly siding Completely built on your level lot Including A Few Shows Stand Thirty-six new shows spread across six broadcast networks are ready to hit the tube Plus returning favorites this year are generating more interest than usual a handful of new series that may emphasize the word be the best of the crop: (Tuesdays 8 pm KUWB-Channel 30) The entertainment press keeps referring to it as "Ally McBeal in but starring the dynamic Keri Russell is more comparable to the brilliant coming-of-age drama So-Called on ABC a few years ago Russell perfectly cast is a joy as Felicity and the literate writing and textured pace should draw the of crowd The best show of the new year (Tuesdays 8:30 pm KTVX-Chan-nel 4) In-the-know comedy a less-profane version of the HBO hit Larry Sanders set at an ESPN-style sports network is well-written structured and acted and avoids the rat-a-tat pace of a standard network sitcom Josh Charles and Peter Krause are smooth in the lead roles they both act the way you would hope the real TV sports guys would actor Peter Horton as a New York City cop who gets killed and sent to hell only to be given a chance for redemption if he returns to Earth and captures sinners Elsewhere Fox's only new series that stands out (besides all those Something or clip shows) falls on Sunday after has already debuted to generally positive response Beyond that Fox is playing it safe the nice part about programming only two horns of prime time a night NBC Playing the hand? Or shuffling the deck? For No 1 NBC which had a real stand-on-its-own hit since "3rd Rock From the the issue comes down to holding Out From the Crowd (Mondays 8 pm KUTV-Channel 2) The show desperately wants to be a medical version of and in some ways it succeeds the vanities of the rich the excesses of Los Angeles Centered by the always-reliable Ken Olin (who could warm up some from the pilot) may not be perfect out of the box but it does stand a chance to develop into a solid ensemble drama (Mondays 8:30 pm KSL-Chan-nel 5) The beautiful Debra Messing plays a straight woman who must move in with her gay male friend played by Eric McCormack The show's writing makes it stand out from much of factory-room dreck this would probably have been a better choice for Thursdays at 7:30 pm than the OK (Saturdays 8 pm KTVX-Channel 4) Jeremy Piven who plays the title role is one of the most reliable performers on TV and co-star Paula Marshall has made the most of mediocre material in so-so sitcoms like "Chicago The two shine in this offbeat comedy-drama which should appeal to the romantic in all of us John Youngren onto viewers in the era NBC is introducing its next generation of See with new shows sprinkled throughout the week Most feel like they have been done before including (a lot like the and (which looks like a well-written outcast from Fox) on Monday nights On Tuesday NBC takes on and with the questionable (7:30 pm KSL-Channel 5) starring Nathan Lane as a washed-up Broadway star Though show has had a troubled birth it does come from the producers of NBC leaves its Thursday-night lineup mostly intact will fill the 8 pm spot) The new follows at Mexican Baja Construction FALL SPECIAL Expires 93198 concrete footings a floor Any size available ri 4 4-' 7:30 pm While is a lot like other See single-woman shows the difference is the luminous With daughter Christina Applegate who makes an appealing difference as a single mom By the weekend NBC which will he programming a fifth this fall goes to the dramatic well from two different angles: (Fridays 8 pm) from the executive producer of is a well-meaning but ultimately dense jumble of stereotypes that may not have the luxury of time to find its pace and voice on (Saturdays 7 pm) defies description but well try: Bo Derek stars as a widowed ranch-owner in Hawaii ostensibly a drama Would a sixth night of be such a bad idea? WBIUPN On a roll WB tries to keep its the Vampire momentum going with (Tuesdays 8 pm KUWB-Channel 30) a comedy-drama that may be the best hew show of the season on any network Other new WB programs of note include the well-written (computer-whiz millionaire returns to his hometown to deal with resentment and old relationships) Monday nights at 8 and (Wednesdays at 8 pm on KUWB) which stars the dream-team trio of Shannen Doherty Alyssa Milano and Holly Marie Combs as sisters who come to realize (good) witches after activating an ancient spell flawed but fun And better than anything new UPN has to offer including the clunky (Fridays 7 pm KJZZ-Channel 14) a sprawling drama about a family of ranchers in the 19th century and (Wednesdays 7 pm KJZZ) in which our hero played by Jonathan LaPaglia travels back in time a week to undo some wrong Of new shows only set on a space station) looks like any fun (it will be on Tuesdays at 8 pm) Which is why KJZZ viewers should hope the NBA lockout ends soon That way Utah Jazz basketball will often preempt network programming John Youngren works in advertising in Salt Lake City Tune Into KALL 910 Saturday Sept 19th 9 10 aia "wJa fiepe frcsiRCI Marianne from Travel Zone teStlisI 4 Wei We skipped the Fair to pass unbelievable savings on to voul! i(: 1 -Vt' SOUTHERN CARIBBEAN Applicable data: RtnysSCarffibeon imiminTu 1031 1114 1120 12S 121290 j-ilU Applicable datn: 112012111218122198 18 115 122 129 2599 $699 289 double occupancy I nctudn buFdae from pm perm float oecapaacylncludei Port Oiirfei 757 South Temple Salt Lake City Utah 801-53 1-16C5 1-800-727-1606 www travel-zonecom 3pc Moat at par paraoo baasd on double oooupancy and include all Port Service Foot Fata reflect Cniiee-Only Guaranty pricing OlMr lo baaed on cabin avalisbWty and may be withdrawn at any flma Certain msmetiona apply Government ouatom feat and departure teaee Of 16 60444 70 per penon ere eddllionel ShlpeofUberien Norwegian and Panamanian RagMry Cruise aele ll appMe- POORC.