The Los Angeles Times from Los Angeles, California • 80

8 Part VlWednesday September 28 1983 Cos Angeles Slimes THE CHAMP FROM 1911 TO 1927 best fiance who was linked to the killing of his lover and defended by the husband of the mixed-up daughter who drinks Moving right along the solid best friend is the daughter of a wealthy businessman who wants to hire the mixed-up husband and clashes with Adm Mallory who you just know is going to get involved with the devoted wife of a missing pilot because this is a saga of power and passion The cast is capable The story didn't sizzle much Monday however Maybe it will work as an hour Maybe it Speaking of juicy sagas Joan the beloved emcee of Emmy is guest-hosting Tonight this week All Rivers did on the prime-time Emmycast was do jokes about gays herpes hands up a woman's skirt and child abuse call Interior Secretary James Watt an and utter a "goddamn" which many people found offensive As for the so-called obscenity she said on Tonight Show" that she was "tense and As for the jokes she say anything But guest Shelley Winters did She gave Rivers a rose congratulated her for the Watt remark and said proud of it Guest James Coco said Rivers was at the Emmys On talk shows where sincerity runs pancake deep everyone is But Rivers And she had nothing to be proud of Someone called in with a new name for her Muddy Rivers hospital's snippy snot Good as they are meanwhile the alumni are character actors who eventually will need someone to focus on He may turn out to be Gene Pfeiffer (Jay Sanders) the young resident who do anything a regular doctor can do except In one hour the premiere of managed to do what few series accomplish in a season: push many buttons touch many emotions and leave you laughing and thinking "This is just like the old Klinger said Not really Not that high a reach But a welcome number just the same On to other CBS premiere that of power and passion" says the network that red-hot ripper about naval officers and their women that steam blast of love duty and yes betrayal "Emerald Point NAS" CBS promised in promo after promo "will burn up your My screen even singed It even smoke In fact after watching the bloated two-hour premiere I was the one doing a slow burn This is more punishment from Richard and Esther Shapiro another of the horrible-but-harmless soap operas on the rise in prime time creating their own valley of the dulls The setting is a Southern naval air station commanded by Rear Adm Thomas Mallory (Dennis Weaver) who has three beautiful daughters: one mixed up one solid one a recent Annapolis grad Now see the solid daughter is in love with her present in the two half-hours combined for Monday's rewarding opening episode: intelligence subtlety shading a mixture of heavy and light good writing and acting The conflicts have been set up Potter is already clashing with hospital administrator (John Chappell) and Klinger with prissy Hot Lipsy stick-in-the-mud secretary Alma Cox (Brandis Kemp) Within its comedy was always brainy but never preachy always finding ways to discuss social issues without lecturing So you can just bet that Korean wife Soon-Lee (Rosalind Chao) will encounter prejudice in River Bend Mo And that the war will linger with the veterans at Gen John Pershing a lot of these people their war goes on every day of their Potter said One of them in fact went a little crazy and tried to shoot himself Another a black amputee would wear his false leg only after Mulcahy painted it brown Without intending to perhaps the premiere also made a positive statement about senior citizenry from dynamic influence on the hospital to the spunkiness of his wife Barbara Townsend The script was very crisp very sharp very Gelbar-tian with Klinger seeming to have inherited most of wisecracking lines But the fun was spread around with Kemp in particular just a howl as the Continued from First Page financially support her One can also quarrel with director Gus Trikonis' staging of fight sequences His fighters are human punching bags a la "Rocky" blocking Sunday shots with their heads (this is defense?) receiving blow after blow then answering with the same Punches are seldom that clean or consecutive in real fights even one-sided ones The relentless pounding in also brings on a certain queasiness The movie arrives at a time when there is a cloud over professional boxing because of so many ring-related fatalities in recent years "The public goes to a fight to see someone get hurt to see they love it" Doc Kearns says in But the public want to see brains turned to mush In first big fight here he puts away a bum named Gunboat Smith really scrambles his eggs We move on of course tracing the ascent ignoring the loser But what happened to Gunboat Smith and all the other forgotten ones who fell to Dempsey? How long before they remember their names? Biff! Pow! Crunch On paper in skeletal form seemed like a sappy shellshocked exploitive idea from somewhere beyond the 38th Parallel Most of Hawkeye and company had departed and Alan Alda was making Atari commercials So who needed a post-series following the secondary characters of in civilian life after the Korean War? But then on CBS premiere (which attracted huge overnight ratings in several of the largest cities) Col Sherman Potter asked an emotionally bruised veteran ya And didn't seem like such a bad idea after all There they were reunited at the Gen John Pershing VA Hospital in River Bend Mo Potter (Harry Morgan) as the calming chief of staff Klinger (Jamie Farr) as the wheeling-and-dealing gofer and Father Francis Mulcahy (William Christopher) as the heart-on-his-sleeve chaplain who elevates himself by elevating others Almost like old times The lineage is impeccable on this new series developed by Larry Gelbart and executive produced by Burt Metcalfe It be another and try to be But many of the same elements were 10 Third Prize Winners of a US Treasury Receipt worth $1000 at maturity in five years 1 Grand Prize Winner of US Treasury Receipts worth $100000 at maturity in five years PUCK UJP ENTIW HBILANM AT PIHRiMIE CENTEIHL ABC BEATS EMMY IN NIELSEN RACE By LEE MARGULIES Times Staff Writer Despite the controversy that erupted around this Emmy Awards the telecast itself attracted only a moderately sized audience for NBC and even the most watched program in its time period That distinction went to ABC which drew the most viewers Sunday night with its new series and a repeat showing of the James Bond movie There was more good news for ABC in the AC Nielsen Co ratings that were released Tuesday for last prime-time TV schedule The network won the competition against CBS and NBC for the third week in a row and saw another of its new fall series finish with the second biggest audience of the week For the week immediately preceding the official launch of the fall TV season ABC placed five shows in the top 10 and averaged a i75 rating compared to 154 for NBC and 143 for CBS Each rating point represents 838000 homes The Emmy Awards telecast finished 13th among the 57 prime-time programs averaging an 18 rating (approximately 15 million homes) and a 30 share of the audience actually watching TV at the time The show sparked controversy when co-host Joan Rivers called Secretary of the Interior James Watt idiot" swore on camera and made jokes that referred to hookers herpes sex and child abuse Except for the 1980 Emmy show which was boycotted by most performers because of the actors strike it was the lowest rating for the TV industry awards in many attracting 3V6 million fewer homes than last year and 26 million fewer than in 1981 NBC could take heart in the fact that the season premiere of was the most watched program and that the season opener for "Remington placed sixth But the introduction of two new series did not fare so well: Love and was 42nd and "Mr was 47th ABC meanwhile premiered three new series last week Besides the No 2 showing by the network placed 25th with "Trauma and 33rd with Our The final episode of which attracted the largest audience in TV history when it was first broadcast last Feb 28 registered eighth when CBS reran it last week The 10 most watched programs last week were in order Love "Hardcastle Fall Facts of and "Magnum It With Our Products Products that dial emergency numbers at the touch of a button or that take messages and screen calls without the caller knowing We even have cordless phones that stay by your around the yard or house Remember when you buy products buying the peace of mind that comes with 108 years of telephone know-how and the highest standards of quality Play It Safe and you could win a financially secure future Just stop by our Phone Center for your entry blank and official rules And enter the It sweepstakes No purchase necessary You must be 18 years of age or older Void in the state of Washington and wherever prohibited by law Residents of the State of Ohio ONLY may receive an Official Entry Form and rules by submitting a self-addressed stamped envelope to Request for Entry PO Box 4393R Blair NE 68009 Limit one request per envelope Requests must be received by October 10 1983 Sweepstakes ends 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household Just buy any telephone TeleHelper adjunct Telesystem or Do-It-Yourself wiring products worth $30 or more (excluding sales tax) between September 25 and October 16 1983 and receive a It $5 Savings Certificate Send in the certificate along with your TELEVISION RATINGS Here are the ratings for national prime-time television last week Sept 19-25 as compiled by the AC Nielsen Co Each rating point is said by Nielsen to represent 838000 homes or 1 of the 833 million US households that have TV SOUTH ORANGE COUNTY Mission Viejo 24000 Alicia Parkway Mission Viejo 714-770-4081 Costa Mesa 3033 Bristol 714-641-0041 RIVERSIDE Tyler Mall 714-351-0304 RIALTOSAN BERNARDINO Rialto 714-874-9400 NORTH ORANGE COUNTY Buena Park Mall Buena Park 714-952-2267 Brea Mall Brea 714-990-0729 CENTRAL ORANGE COUNTY The City Shopping Center Orange 714-978-8812 Anaheim Plaza 714-999-0004 Santa Ana Square 1218 17th Street Santa Ana 714-953-1151 SAN FERNANDO VALLEY Topanga Plaza Mall Canoga Park 213-704-1375 Sherman Oaks Galleria Sherman Oaks 213-986-8342 Valley Plaza 6541 Laurel Canyon Blvd between Victory and Van Owen North Hollywood 213-760-7672 MID VALLEY Glendale 128 Central across from Glendale Galleria 213-240-0163 WEST SIDE Beverly Center Los Angeles 213-657-0007 VENTURA Buena Ventura 805-642-8501 SOUTH BAY Hawthorne Plaza Hawthorne 213-644-7729 Del Amo Fashion Center Torrence 213 328-3557 Carson Mall Carson 213-532-0031 SAN GABRIEL VALLEY Monterey Park Mall 404 Atlantic Monterey Park 213-281-0856 Pasadena Plaza Pasadena 213-792-3793 Santa Anita Fashion Park Santa Anita 213-574-1059 DOWNTOWN Broadway Plaza 7th Street Los Angeles 213-629-1531 Trademark of Co Registered Trademark of Co.