The Commercial Appeal from Memphis, Tennessee • 23

I TV 30 gets new bosses sale pends By Tom Walter The Commercial Appeal Three officers of the company that owned WLMT-TV Channel 30 from 1983 to 1989 have assumed management responsibilities for the station The management contract is expected to continue even if as anticipated the station's license is transferred to a Virginia company BIT Communications the station's owner has engaged Max Media a Virginia company to manage the station its satellite station in Jackson Term and one in the Tri-Cities area of Tennessee The three managing partners of Max Media are former officers of the TVX Corp which put Channel 30 on the ur in 1983 The TVX stations were sold to Paramount Communications in February TVX sold WLMT to MT Communications in 1989 Michael Thompson president of MT Communications said Friday that he intended to sell the three stations to Richard Davis the former lieutenant governor of Virginia Davis referred all questions to Max Media signed a professional management contract with the said Max Media managing partner Gene Loving referring to the Thompson stations in Memphis Jackson and the Tri-Cities Thompson still is the Loving said Max Media didn't intend to trim the staff at Channel 30 and that there will be local management of the station of us will be personally taking over as the daily general manager of the station but probably have some announce- Please see WLMT Page C3 The photogenic stars of hit show Be very Hitts 90210 (clockwise from top right): Luke Perry 8hannon Doherty Jason Priestley Gabrielis Carteris Tori Spoiling Brian Austin Green Jennie Garth and Ian Zlering To their real-world fans their not-so-normal teenage characters seem genuine Smash show conveys teen angst in cool trappings rakes in fans By Deborah Hastings Tbs Associated Prats that time of the year People are resolving to do this and that in 1992 A lot of these resolutions begin with will never "or'I plan to always Some of them stick some Reporter Michael Donahue ked a mostly teen and 20-year-old crowd at the Mall of Memphis: you ever made a New Year's resolution? What was it? 99 LOS ANGELES There are T-shirts calendars trading cards backpacks pillows (yes pillows) and come next year 12-inch dolls from the makers of Barbie There are screaming fainting panting (in short hysterical) young women packing shopping malls and Jamming phone lines There are full-page cover spreads in TV Guide People Rolling Stone and' Entertainment Weekly not to mention Seventeen and every other pubescent magazine kn teenkind The success of Fox Broadcasting Beverly Hills 90210 is like totally beyond belief You know the show The one about Perry was whisked from the mall hidden in a William Baker called soccer What is it that makes this show so popular? Money? Good-looking girls? Well-built guys? Sure That and more BH 90210 or 90210 or That Show with All the Numbers in Its Title (as hip people call it) has the best of both worlds when it comes to teenage storytelling: Good clothes and deep emotions The popularity surprises even its creator think anyone expected this much success" said the 30-year-old Darren Starr who also is the supervising producer think it's tapped into a reality about (teenagers1) lives not mindless entertainment They believe real mean they know not Starr said they connect to it in a way that they to other That connection Starr said is predicated on a that the trappings pie Teenagers are still goi 00210 those white kids who live in Beverly Hills Calif those rich and beautiful kids whose parents let them stay out all hours of the day and night? That show where life is a soap opera and vice versa? the series where teenagers contemplate the complexities of life including AIDS suicide alcoholic parents peer pressure and the heartbreak of cowlicks Since it debuted more than a year ago as a neglected stepchild of Fox the ratings have nearly doubled Beverly lulls 90210 is the No 1 show among teenagers and a respectable contender in the weekly Nielsen ratinj The Brady Bunch had nothing on th The adulation accorded Beverly Hills 9021C surpasses all other teen shows to date The frenzy displayed by female fans for the two male leads Jason Priestly and Luke Perry is more reminiscent of the crying gnashing and hysterics exhibited by Beatles fans Such excitement resulted in five girls suffering injuries ranging from sprained ankles to -hyperventilation last May when Perry (who plays the James Dean-esque Dylan McKay) made an appearance or rather tried to make an appearance at a suburban Washington mall DENIECE EDWARDS 25: lose Ditto for HEATHER JOHNSON 15 JUSTlN CHANDLER 18 JILL BRI-GANCE 17 BRIAN ROBERTS 15 and MONET AUTRY 33 always make a New Year's resolution to lose said MAFARA HOBSON 16 MONICA WILKINSON 15: PENNY MANESS 28 quit And quit hollering at my DAVID LEVINE 29 resolved to quit smoking too So did AMANDA RHYMER 24 JASON RHYMER 24 and BART CLAYTON 32 ANDY HALL 19: One year he made the resolution get a better job than I DON FLETCHER 18: lift weights every day for a month and get big He kept it about a VALETTA WAYNE 17: through the same emotional crises as anyone else The show also makes the very relevant point that nuclear family is not the norm anymore" Starr said fact that they're rich is less important than the fact that a lot of the kids come from a single family The plot of Beverly Hills 90210 concerns a recently transplanted Minneapolis family whose twin kids (Shannen Doherty who lived in Memphis as a child and Priestly) now attend fictitious West Beverly High School Friends are the ultimately cool Perry (whose dad is in the slammer and whose mom lives in Hawaii) Tori Spelling Gabrielle Carteris lan Ziering and Brian Austin Green How close to reality the TV series is to actual life at Beverly Hills High School (where students really do drive Porsches Jeeps have movie star parents and cellular phones) is something real-life Principal Ben Bushman discuss "WeTe really not making any comment about the Bushman said have anything to do with Beverly Hills High Indeed Andrea (Gabrielle Carteris) terrorizes her classmates in a dream sequence of the episode Exteriors for the campus have to be filmed at a considerably less affluent school some 15 miles away BHHS students are Involved however They have formed viewing dubs and meet each Thursday night for their weekly dose of angst and adulation While most are flattered at having their school indirectly portrayed on national television some are quick to point out that not everyone at their Please see SHOW Page C3 Please see VOW Page C4 DortkiMo rT isT dTd iv tops Golden Globe nominees first film television awards Jan 1 8 By Bob Thomas The Assodatad Press BEVERLY HILLS Calif Be a Holiday Hero call 274-7477 ii jj i a a i a a mnMopnwmmnmnoiMiNaKOfK LaaIMJ LyJLAiaa SA ama Aum npwN noMouae vw Momfiw mn ran putic places through Jan 24-hour ssntosi The Individual friend or bartender must be able to give Holiday Hero the address of hie or her location Holiday Hero wM not take ridere to another bar or party Hold Hare Wganaored by MUOniSi Hospital Coon Brewing Co Tba Criaia Cantar City wide Cab Call Carecab 577-3668 CaracabprmfdMridM horns onty tan pubic places kite Memphis ama for people who are drinking and need a ride faugh Mew Yert 9 pm to 3 am The first 20 milts are free The Individual must be able to give Carecab the address of his or her location Carecab wlH not taka riders to another bar or party Cmcab sponsored by Tha Cm UNt al 81 JoMpnHaaptal WMC-TV Action Nm 5 and The OomiMreW AppaaL Bugsy Warren Beattys version ei Friday I Globe Awards gel gar-ig eight nominator the Golden my Awards However the foreign correspondents bestow split nominations for dramatic films and musicals or comedies So instead of five nominees for best ing Arts and Sciences the Golden Globes list 10 The bulk of the Fbreign Press Association nominations in television went to regular Emmy winners Cheers and LA Law Both received four NBC shows received the largest number of nominations with 20 CBS was second with 19 fol- nation and the female buddy movie Thelma Louise Winners for the 49th Golden Globes awards will be announced Jam 18 in a program scheduled to appear on cable TBS network Barbra Streisand's The Prince of Tides was nominated for best dramatic film and Streisand received a nomination for her direction but the Hollywood Foreign Press Association overlooked her performance in the film The Golden Globe nominations are the first of the major Hollywood awards and usually provide a clue about the Acade- The Fisher King and The Silence at the Lambs each received five nominations Beauty and the Beast new animated film of the classic fairy tale received four nominations as did two controversial movies: JFK Oliver Stone's look at the John Kennedy assassi- 274574SZ7 5i7r7c3'6'68l Please see AWARDS Page C4 4 'i re.