Newsday (Nassau Edition) from Hempstead, New York • 241

THE mABVPI HITMAN SHOW The Landing and the dead TOP 20 These shows were highest rated in the Nielsen survey for the week ending Sept 30 1984 A rating is based on the percentage of all households with television sets tuned in a given program Now that the excit-ment of the and "Falcon premieres is over we can get down to the really important things in life the premiere of "Knots favorite Thursday night soap resumes tonight at 10 on CBS after a cruel interregnum Not knowing what happened in "Knots is what William Shakespeare had in mind when he coined the paraphrase "the summer of our You believe what pressure been under about this show since May My friends and neighbors would kill for inside information advance words or developments no coincidence that I should use the word in connection with this soap Death is a very important part of life on "Knots This is the show that made a Btar out of Lisa Hartman for example after she died The late Ciji came back as the spit image a twin sister or something Cathy Geary And of course last season Gary Ewing (Ted Shackelford) came back to life after an autopsy even more impressive if you think about it Arts Entertainment starts on Page 37 back? so rotten But she is not going to be killed Abby farm can breathe easy Not even Valene Ewing (Joan Van Ark) dies When last seen she was getting into a jeep about to explode You never actually see it exploding You get the impression someone carelessly left a bomb in the jeep Gary was trying to warn her when he was distracted by the shooting of Karen MacKenzie Gary get killed He get killed twice so quickly Not even Lorimar could be that barren in the imagination department You have to worry about Gary or 16 other lucky ones in the cast None of them gets killed If you happen to own an insurance company that has a policy on the life of Mark St Claire (Joseph Chapman) now is the time to worry the head of the Wolfb ridge Group the mob in "Knots Of all people! He joins the dearly departed as the first victim of the season At feast we he dies in the episode of Oct 25 You cant rule out anything when it comes to "Knots the miracle of all kinds of people coming back to life one of my favorite parts of the show nice psychologically when someone you thought was dead turns out to be not dead You can talk to him and everything again It makes you feel better for three seconds But St Claire who never had a big following is shot talking fetal Finito Blown away FYom what my sources say none of this coming back from Capestrano stuff curtains for St Claire especially interesting about all this is who shoots him Again not what you think Many have motives He was not a friendly guy Heads of organized mobs usually aren't Who shot St Claire? not Dear Abby Although St Claire had muscled in on her real estate deals not Patrick MacKenzie (Kevin Dobson) who was framed possibly ruined by St Claire not even Gary Ewing the poor shnook who gets blamed for everything His murder defense is usually "Well I think I did Of course itfe the person feast suspected That leaves only Gregory Sumner the crooked politician played by William Devane Where did he get the time to be shot? He has been sleeping with everyone in sight except his Teddy Bear the one Gregory Sumner it You could take this to the bank and bet on it "Fer as they pronounce it in California I don't know much else about the first death except that Greg Sumner will claim self-defense A flimsy case I have to remind you how important all of this is The first death on "Knots many scholars feel is the kickoff so to speak not to make a pun The real start of the fell season like throwing in the first ball in baseball Throwing out the first body marks the beginning Everything else is preseason the exhibition games of TV So you have nothing to be concerned about Unless you own the insurance company issuing the policy on Mark St Claire Then you should be calling or something parcel it out Long Island's No 1 "Knots fen Kim Coljeske of West Sayville also tells me the word is that there is going to be a major character change in Gary Ewing He went into the body shop for a brain transplant this summer and is coming back a tough guy a rat It runs in the Ewing family So all bets are off on Gary being voted Wimp of the Year Why even more impressive than having had CPR! But then Gary Ewing has had every misfortune but the bubonic plague and survives There is nothing like a little death Lorimar the producers has discovered in the 1980s how to pump a little life into dying ratings Death is not death at the box officfi in TV Death sells The breath of death is pumped into shows every season by somebody dying I be surprised if Count Dracula was counting the box office receipts at Lorimar At any rate what every body is dying to know so to speak is who will be the first to die on "Knots Tending Then we can all go back into our coffins And I have this inside info I know how I have been able to sleep all week They will throw out the first body so to speak not on the premiere tonight as you would expect As near as I can tell the first body will not land until Oct 25 The first death of the season will be not who 3 you think It will not be Karen Fairgate MacKenzie (Michele Lee) even though she was shown lying dead possibly on the floor in the diflhanger last May Several things were left hanging on the cliff one of which was Karen life She was last seen with a bullet in her body You know whether she was dead or alive Not even the producers knew depending on how contractual negotiations turned out with Michele agent Karen MacKenzie fens can rest easy spent the summer worrying Stop worrying now Also not Abby Cunningham Ewing (Donna Mills) who dies Dear Abby Everybody recalls she was captured and spirited away by the organized mob They had a reason to kill her She crowed the mob As we know crossing the mob can be detrimental to your health They may have trouble trying to ransom her Who would pay to get Abby Cable award competition The National Cable Television Association nominated 125 programs and individuals for the 1984 Network Awards for Cable Excellence or ACEs the Emmys of the cable industry Four big stars are competing for the Best Actress in a Dramatic Theatrical Program including Elizabeth Taylor and Carol Burnett for their performances in ISO's "Between Bette Davis for "Bight of and Jean Stapleton for "Faerie Tale Theater Jack and the Nominees for Best Actor in a Dramatic Theatrical Program are: James Stewart for "Right of Sir Laurence Olivier fin- "Mr Hal-pem and Mr Ed Asner and Daniel Tra-vanti fin: "A Case of Ben Cross fin: "The Far and Bon McLarty for The Disney "Tiger The winners will be announced Dec 4 during a ceremony to be videotaped for airing next Jan 6 to more than 31 million cable subscriber homes II 48Part II NEWSOAY THURSDAY OCTOBER 4 TV PICKS VICTIM Mack (Kevin Dobson photo) is powerless to save Karen (Michele Lee) whose life is threatened by a bullet in the premiere of at 10 pm on Ohs 2 3 (story on this page) BASEBALL The Detroit Tigers and the Kansas City Royals battle for the honors in the third game of a best-of-five series in the American League baseball championships telecast at 8 pm on Chs 2 3 POLICE Goldblume (Joe Spano) takes the law into his own hands when bin ex-wife is attacked and Davenport (Veronica Hamel) tries to stop the execution of a murderer -of a nun in Hill Street at 10 pm on Ch 4 r-A ggict aa qSHUMMUUIUII IJ Jiaill IIMI.