Newsday (Suffolk Edition) from Melville, New York • 184

TELEVISION 1 THE MARVIN HITMAN SHOW BI'ailKg33ggga By Ben Kubasik The New Bradysomething Addiction Story WCBS 2 senior correspondent Jim Jensen recounts his experience with drug addiction and his battles for recovery during Ch 5 and 11 pm newscasts Tuesday through Friday next week The Jensen pieces are being taken from a 38-minute film Jensen: A Profile in Survival" The film was made by former Ch 2 director Dennis Axiom Productions with the Union County Council on Alcoholism and Drug Addictions Reiiven Frank Joins Eilerbee Reuven Frank twice president of NBC News has joined Linda Lucky Duck Productions as a consulting producer Frank 69 will work with Eilerbee on developing informational projects that Lucky Duck hopes to bring to the networks and cable THE OLD DAYS I used to deliver a lecture at high schools that raised one of the great unanswered questions in western civilization: What is the name of the family in Brady Is it a) Kelly b) Bundle as in Ralph Bundle c) Schwartz d) Partridge e) none of the above? And most of them got the answer right So much for those who would say TV is not a force for education The Brady family was part of our cultural heritage Everybody grew up either watching the Bradys or not watching them The latter was as much a profound statement as the former a rejection of traditional values and all that was sacred: well-scrubbed kids trivial problems and the relentless pursuit of a middle-class life Deep down in the psyche of the American people today the Bradys not the Bushes are the first family Even in the aloof rarefied intellectual circles in which I travel the Bradys live At a heavy literary public TV show like on WNYC31 employees sit around backstage at lunch talking about Brady The Bunch returns tomorrow on CBS (from the top): Susan Olsen Mike Lookinland Eve Plumb The impact of the series has been may be the word searching for The show originally ran from 1969 to 1974 on ABC Then there were the daytime reruns which really had cultural impact on the minds of a generation Brady Bunch a comedy-variety series starring the whole gang was a highlight of 1977 The classic special Brady Girls Get was followed by Brady series on NBC (1981) And most recently there was Very Brady the 1988 blockbuster that beat out and in the ratings and should be played as regularly now as the Scrooge King family and Perry Como specials combined So not surprising that a new Brady Bunch show is debuting tomorrow night at 8 with a two-hour TV movie on CBS (the series will run Fridays at 8 pm beginning Feb 16) Hie Schwartzes Sher-wood and Lloyd the creators writers and producers are truly indestructible The return of the Brady Bunch is an example of the post-modern thinking of network executives at CBS until now the only mqjor network nev-aasw er to have had a Brady series What does it mean? Christopher Knight Leah Ayres Barry Williams Ann Davis Florence Henderson and Robert Reed: Day DC' Fox Broadcasting has a pattern of originating a show on a Fox-owned station and then airing it or an imitation on one or more of its other affiliates The latest example: Fox-owned WTTG-Washington plans later this year to start its own version of WNYW Day New With WTTG strong on local news a local two-hour early-morning Day could be very successful Ratings preview of did not hold onto the lead-in provided by judging by the national Nielsens had a 225 rating 33 share 16 24 moves to its regular time Sunday (8:30 pm) Its audience composed of a high concentration of adults 18 to 49 teenagers and young children should do well coupled with the 8 pm Funniest Home and competing against She additions who are added to the story tomorrow night I tell you the exact number a good subject for an office pool if tired of betting on Lotto The most fascinating of the new family members is girl friend Tracy played by Martha Quinn ex-journalist at MTV Not since Willard Scott appeared in Hogans" has such a journalistic heavyweight appeared in a family TV series The dean of MTV news the Pauline Fredericks of rock is as believable as the other Bradys in her acting debut The latest version of Brady code-named is said to deal with serious adult problems The Schwartzes may have a basic misunderstanding of drama It is not enough that the beloved Bobby crashes his race car is paralyzed and works like the devil to rehabilitate himself This could be a moving two-hour show But the first episode also copes with infertility (Jan is ovulating but not conceiving) chronic unemployment (Wally has lost his job again) Bobby falls in love and in the lake There is an instant wedding in the Brady house with the arrival of an adopted Korean grandchild And the matron of honor gives birth walking down the aisle And as if that bad enough Cindy is dating her boss the station manager who is Jewish What are they going to do for the second show? But what was always so wonderful about the Brady Bunch They could cope Whatever came up family camping trip problems fights over use of the tele- Ehone or struggles to get into the bathroom all ended appily resolved at the end of 30 minutes As drama it tends to be shallow But hey very Brady This is not necessarily a negative Most people who watch TV are shallow why the show was so popular in the old days People could relate to it us which is where their heads are at after Brady at ABC is too heavy why its ratings go up Here is a prediction: will be first big hit It will get the network out of the cellar Then the Tiffany Network will do shallow programs that people really love It will no longer be the network of and the Beast" of and other quality programs that are miring it in third place see And Jeff Sagansky who had nothing to do with it will be acclaimed a genius What we have here is Law: Pure drivel drives ordinary drivel off the TV screen II South Africa (li) ABC News says Ted Koppel's three guests tonight (11:30) on the second of his six scheduled broadcasts from South Africa have never sat down together before Foreign Minister Pik Botha Thabo Mbeki international affairs director African National Congress and Gatsha Buthelezi prime minister of the Kwazulus Walters' Pre-Oscar Special Warren Beatty Chevy Chase and Arnold Schwarzenegger will be Barbara guests on hfr annual pre-Oscar telecast Monday March 26 on ABC Speaking of the Oscars Morning This and will cany live coverage from Los Angeles of the announcements of this year's top nominees after 8:30 1 It shows respect for the elderly (the thirtysomethings) and a return to traditional values 2 They have already run out of programing ideas 3 Somebody owed something to somebody contractually and debts are being paid be amazed how much of what passes for creativity today in TV has to do with contractural fulfillment commitments from past management that come back to haunt new management why TV schedules are often so uneven It is amazing to realize that CBS the network of Famous Teddy and the and is counting on Bradys" to change its fortunes The world is truly upside-down But why worry about that? The Bradys are back All of them except for Maureen McCormick (Marcia) She has hd a face transplant and is now Leah Ayres Even Susan Olsen (Cindy) is back after a hiatus on Very Brady caused by the playing Scrooge with her in salary negotiations The lisping youngest child Cindy is now a hip radio deqjay believe it or not host of at Sunrise" Almost everybody is working now Supermom Carol (Florence Henderson) is a high-powered real estate executive who never seems to go to the office Who has time with all those kids and problems? Superdad (Robert Reed) successful architectural firm is running itself he is into videotaping now Bobby (Mike Lookinland) is a professional race-car driver Marcia's husband Wally (Jerry Houser) is -out of work For a change good to see them all again like family Six is Enough we used to say But now the three daughters of the widow and the three sons of the widower have produced three grandchildren not counting the new Executive Producer NEWSDAY THURSDAY FEBRUARY 1990 PART 119 Dinkins on Philbin interview of New York Mayor David Dinkins by Reps Philbin on the syndicated with Regis and Kathie (WABQ7 -9 am) will be one of Dinkins' few s- appearances on national TV since -1 being elected II I.