Newsday (Suffolk Edition) from Melville, New York • 135

HIE MARVIN HITMAN SHOW IN SHORT TV Executive Game winner Jimmy Lowe of Seaford if the winner of the first annual Fred Silverman Think-Alike Trophy He waa the only contestant in the "Flay TV Executive -the contest announced on June 'll which gave readers of this column the chance to think like a TV ex- ecutive by predicting which of the 21 new shows this season would be cancelled to say the first axe would be given to "WEB" a dynamite NBC Thursday night series -Lowe beat out 42 other readers who-put their reputations as future TV executives on the line To increase name of $400000 Pyr- PBS is offering a documentary that many public TV stations are reluctant to accept called "The California and about West Coast neo-Nazis and virulent hatred for Jews and blacks According to Lawrence Grossman president of IS "a substantial of his 270 member stations scheduling the program Station executives at Ch 21 previewed the one-hour documentary and decided it would be to the community to show it especially "at the time of the Jewish Neither does the sta- tion plan to show it later in the year A spokesman for Ch however called the film "an important revelatory account of a phenomenon that we better under- stand and said that it would probably air early in November Opposition has prompted PBS to feed stations a "final vertion" with appended opening and closing statements aimed at establishing the descriptive nonjudgmental nature of "The PBS has also circulated a letter to station managers exhorting them to let viewers decide for themselves whether they want to watch it A commercial run of the film in tandem with a stag -ing -of Eugene play "The in its New York premiere begins Wednesday at the hew Harold Clurman Theater on West 43rd Street Manhattan was cancelled by NBC top boss Fred -long bunt of ni lw the cancellation of Silverman in a week-1 energy which saw i around to reviewing yet was a rotten program It was "Welcome Back on the basketball court without Kotter but with Joe Namath returning to acting after his triumphs in the panty hoae commercials (he was the Joe DiMaggio of panty hoee as Anita Mohrman has described him) The scripts were terrible which was a waste of a new talent Joe Namath He was surprisingly relaxed in tire three episodes present- -ed He was theimly man I know on TV who delivered his lines while chewing gum And as Pat Rhodes of Shirley put it "He is still one hell of a football There are no prizes for finishing second in "The Play TV Exeaitives As in real life being number one is everything rough You five runners-up have the satisfaction of knowing -that it waa only Joe Namath whose presence probably kept this show running for an extra five minutes or so that stood between you and fame as Long leading Fred Silverman think-a-like As for Jimmy Lowe of Seaford not only is he a superstar of the day He will now be able to choose one from the following list of big wonderful prizes: 1 A free tour of a historic TV landmark a fabulous trip to the "Bowling For set at Ch 9 led by the noted TV historian and critic Marvin Hitman '2 A genuine autograph: a rare signature by Andy Carra of Huntington an editor of Backpacking Journal the magazine of backpacking and the man who had been urging me to run this exciting contest for months 8 A letter of recommendation It will recoin-1 mend that you be hired to the Junior Executive Program at one of the three major networks of your choice Remember CBS is preparing for William departure And NBC may not have Fred Silverman around very long if his cancellation goes through 4 A $5 gift certificate to a Burger King or a NOT ONLY THAT Also a free package of after-diniier mints Even Dim Pardo enhance the list of prizes for this contest! So which will it be Jimmy Lowa of Seaford TV superstar executive of the day? Notify me right away collect Be decisive Next year's prizes in the only TV contest that requires no purchase and nothing more than imagination will include an actual shot at running a TV network for a day (networks willing) which will prove once and for all that anyt can do the job ative verly and other changes In the fury of activity that week it waa feared that Silverman may have signed a piece of paper cancelling him-Bell The producer who recently acquired Town Hall has modified hia plane to renovate the theater in an effort to conform with regulations of the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission The commission is expected to rule on landmark status for the concert hall soon Pro ducer-Craig Anderson said that instead of creating two 600-seat theaters on separate levels inside the building as originally announced he intends now to add one of the 500-seat theaters to the roof That plan would leave the interior of the hall largely un-changed The commission will hold a hearing Nov 14 before deciding whether to give the West 43rd Street structure landmark status Such a decision is considered a certainity by observers Landmark desig- nation would impose restrictions on alterations to the 57-year-old building Patricia Rich speaking for the commission said that the agency would render its decision "about a month or two after the Manhattan Community Board No 5 voted overwhelmingly last week in favor of such a designation for the exterior and interior of Town Hall Anderson said his altered "The axing of WEB came as no the trade paper Variety reported "But the quickness Not to junior TV executive prospect Jimmy Lowe The show was officially cancelled at 2 PM' Pacific Coast Time 5 PM Eastern Standard Time on Oct 3 Lowe not only picked the right first show to go but he said the show would be cancelled at 1 AM Oct 4 He was off in his calculations by only eight hours Great minds it has been said run in the same channels Jimmy Lowe probably could sit in right now for Fred Silverman at NBC if the rumor that Silverman has accidentally' cancelled himself turns out to be true Let me put achievement in perspective Last summer the TV columns and papers were filled with lengthy accounts of Fred Silver-man's statements that ratings didn't mean anything Not only that he said they are bad for quality He also created doubts that quality can flourish with ratings Lowe didn't let this throw him off as it threw off NBC affiliate owners TV reporters and others who swallowed all that forget-the-ratings stuff as if it were the gospel according to St Fred Lowe correctly perceived that there was a built-in contradiction in the premise of "WEB" It was all about the TV business The public" Lowe intuitively knew feels- it is bad enough to watch the programs on TV They have to see how they got there also I never would have picked "WEB" as the first to go despite its very very bad ratings Still "WEB" had some obvious problems You tell whether to laugh or cry at it Sometimes producer and creator Lin view of the Tv industry was hysterical in its inaccuracies and sometimes it was as soapy as a soap opera Bubbles came out of the characters mouths when they spoke A laugh track would have made a winner out of "WEB" if it was a comedy Or a sigh and groan track if it was a soap opera Five contestants tied for second place in the "Play TV Executive They showed they almost could read Fred mind by picking "Waverly to get the fastest axe The almost perspicacious readers included Anita Mohrman of Lake Ronkonkoma Pat Rhodes of Shirley Peter Goodwin of Plainview Reid of Bluepoint and Philip A Rose of Cen-tereach "Waverly which I hadn't gotten plan would keep the ground floor hall "intact except for partitioning off some of the Town Hall proponents are cerned that alterations would affect' its acoustics "What we intend to Ander- son said "would not change the He added that hia renovations would probably be acceptable if Town Hall was grant ed landmark status Anderson producing director of the Hudson Guild Theater an Qff-Off-Broadway group last- month acquired a lease to Town Hall and was proceeding to raise $1 million to-make a performing arts center out of it The hall waa acquired by New York University as a gift but operating expenses were too much for the school lit turned the hall over to the Town Hall Foundation which in turn signed the lease with Anderson Anderson said that he would delay the renovations until the Landmarks Preservation Com Coach Namath of Waverly Wonders mission made its decision.