Southern Illinoisan from Carbondale, Illinois • Page 46

Page 2 Southern AugusM6, 22 but Joins rox; fri 1 2lv Six series in production LOS ANGELES (AP) Fox Broadcasting Co. has announced six new prime-time series as it prepares to expand its national program service. The Fox plans include a variety show starring Nell Carter, a comedy about women behind bars and a "blue collar" nighttime soap opera. No specific date or week night was set for the shows, but Garth Ancier, head of programming for Fox, said that some of the shows would probably make their debut in March on Friday nights. The new Fox shows are: "The Nell Carter Show," a one-hour variety show with the former star of NBC's "Gimme a Break." 'Women in Prison," a comedy about women serving behind bars.

No cast announced. A one-hour drama-comedy from Dennis Klein, a writer-producer from NBC's "Buffalo Bill." A "blue collar" soap opera to be developed by Gloria Monty, who guided ABC's "General Hospital" from near-cancelation to the top of the daytime ratings. "The Family Man," a domestic comedy now in production. "Second Chance," a drama starring Kiel Martin, formerly of "Hill Street Blues." Hip to TV: Elvis and his band perform on a 1956 television program. comments) oy gnws airlv, vibrant Eiwl By Nancy Weil Of The Southern lllinoisan Michael DeClue has been station manager of KBSI-TV in Cape Girardeau for just three weeks, but has already overseen a major move for the independent station.

KBSI has joined the Fox Broadcasting Network, launched in the fall of 1986 to compete with ABC, CBS and NBC by offering programming on local independent stations. The network will debut on KBSI, Channel 23, Monday, Sept. 7, with "The Late Show" from 10:30. p.m. to 11:30 p.m.

That show is on Monday through Friday and is best known for swiping comedian Joan Rivers from her guest-host job on "The Tonight Show." Rivers has since been axed from the Fox program, which has a weekly rotating host schedule. Eventually, the show is expected to have a permanent host. On Saturday, Sept. 12, and Sunday, Sept. 13, the Fox prime-time weekend schedule will premiere.

DeClue said that the filing by Media Central the parent corporation, for reorganization under Chapter ll of the bankruptcy law led the local station to decide to join Fox, which is part of 20th Century Fox Television. "Given the peculiar financial position we're in, I wanted to do something that would show our stability to the area," said DeClue, who has worked his way up at KBSI since it began broadcasting in 1985. "We grew so fast that we really had a cash-flow problem." But the financial turmoil is on its way to resolution and DeClue is optimistic brighter times are in store for KBSI's parent corporation. Independent stations owned by the corporation are operated separately. DeClue said KBSI was approached by Fox last year, but held off joining the network because there was some thought that the station might be better to keep its usual movie lineup.

Fox, though, quickly began forging a name for itself, garnering acclaim for its programming. "Emphasis at Fox is not so much just on producing something," De-Clue said, "but on the writing of the show." During the weeknights, KBSI will maintain its usual programming, although this fall it will add "Star Trek: The Next Generation." Besides "The Late Show," the Fox Broadcasting Network offers these into th By John J. O'Connor New York Times NEW YORK Elvis Presley died 10 years ago at the age of 42, and for the past week, the occasion has been marked with everything from the publication of new books about the performer to special TV reports from the garish Memphis mansion he called Graceland. The Elvis industry clearly continues to flourish. Elvis remains a key pop icon for the 20th century, right up there with Valentino, Garbo and Garland.

Yet, he remains a puzzle. He was a star for more than two decades, but too many of his later years were merely a matter of coasting on show-business glitter. Pouty and bloated, he began to look like a huge sausage bursting out of the se-quined casings of his silly extrava ganza costumes. His 33 movies are generally forgettable. His recordings became ridiculously over-orchestrated, while he veered toward such crowd-pleasing standards as My Way.

Elvis gradually evolved into that saddest of spectacles, a self-parody. Now, neatly rounding out the cur HBOCinemax photo gllfimps And there are several invaluable kinescopes of Elvis on TV variety shows. Long before his famous appearances on "The Ed Sullivan Show," we are reminded, he was getting national exposure with such other TV performers as the Dorsey brothers (Tommy and Jimmy), Milton Berle and Steve Allen. Contrary to myth, Elvis was seen below as well as above the waist, his hips gyrating to the delight of his fans. Right smack dab in the middle of the Eisenhower era, complete with crew-cuts and manicured suburban lawns, along came Elvis wriggling his hips, singing songs out of the urban slums and sporting a pompadour and suspiciously long sideburns.

White middle-class America had every reason to be wary. After 1956, Elvis would be swept up in the whirlwind of superstar-dom. He would not be able to walk around the streets of Manhattan unrecognized or return to a simple state fair as the hometown boy made good. Fortunately, this extraordinary documentary gets to the heart of the Elvis phenomenon. xoeriimeint ment deals with the frightened boy who is the unwanted baby's father and with the girl's mother, who says: "I had this one when I was 17.

I wish somebody had told me the facts." Then, the segment ends, leaving the audience thinking about the choices and the outcome. In subsequent segments, the two young people are merely part of a number of subplots. Eventually, several weeks later, the viewers learn about the road chosen by the pregnanl teen-ager. While there is a continuing story line involving the 10 central characters, subplots come and go in a technique that has become familiar in See 'Degrassi Page 6 rent period of tributes and remembrances, a new documentary takes us back to the beginnings, to an Elvis who was only 21 as he prepared to shake up the music industry, not to mention parents and their children around the world. Making its debut on the pay cable service Cinemax Sunday night at 8, the hourlong "Crazy About the Movies: Elvis '56" focuses on the single year of 1956, when Elvis would cut his first record under a new contract with RCA, "Heartbreak Hotel." His first TV appearances would provoke some critics to charge that "Elvis the Pelvis" could single-handedly trigger a national plague of juvenile delinquency.

"Elvis '56" has the good fortune of being crammed with superb raw material. Entire sequences are devoted to Alfred Wertheimer's large collection of photographs, which were shot on tour with Elvis and many of which have never been seen before; they capture both the lonely young man and the performer determined to succeed on his own terms. pear on a regular schedule, so they cannot build up a constant following. The new programs will deal with topics that engage and often trouble teen-agers: dating, peer pressure, friendships, drugs and alcohol, sexuality and family relationships. In one episode, at an unsupervised teen-age party, one couple disappears into a bedroom behind locked doors.

In a subsequent discussion, a group of girlfriends reassure the by-then panicky girl. "If it's the first time, you can't get pregnant," one youngster says. Another adds with a voice of authority, "Everybody knows that." In a later segment, the girl finds out that she is pregnant. The seg PBS ens' a bo te saim Stir shows: Saturday, 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.

"Down and Out in Beverly Hills," half-hour comedy; "The New Adventures of Beans Baxter," half-hour comedy-adventure; "Werewolf," hour-long horror; "Karen's Song," half-hour (information not available). Sunday, 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. "21 Jump Street," hour-long drama; "Married With Children," half-hour comedy; "Duet," half-hour comedy; "Mr President," half-hour comedy starring George C. Scott; "The Tracey Ullman Show," half-hour comedy-variety.

program for children, is now working with the WGBH Educational Foundation in Boston. Her partner, Linda Schuyler, produced an earlier prize-winning series, "Kids of De-grassi Street," for the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. Both producers are former junior high school teachers. The new programs sitcoms would be the best way to describe them in television jargon are intended as a response to the charge that much of what teen-agers see on television is harmful. Critics argue that the current fare on television reinforces the negative side of most of the personal issues that adolescents normally face in life.

These programs portray gun play and car t. for chases as a major adult activity, show cheating in business as a way of economic life, and glorify impromptu sex without mention of either birth control or protection against disease. Relationships between adolescents and adults are often trivialized or distorted. While there have been exceptions to that dismal record, as in "The Cosby Show," "Fame" or "Cagney and Lacey," the overwhelming fare is no help to teenagers struggling with conflicting values. Some of the afternoon specials, produced by networks for adolescents, deserve praise.

But they are often preachy or end up with pat solutions. Moreover, they do not ap By Fred M. Hechinger New York Times NEW YORK Public television is getting ready for a daring and significant test: Can teen-agers be won over to entertainment that is not mindless, violent or sexually irresponsible? The new 26 half-hour series, "De-grassi Junior High," will have its debut next month. It is an attempt to do for adolescents what "Sesame Street" did for children. Two producers who are experts on adolescents and experienced in television production have created De-grassi for children roughly 10 to 15 years old.

Kate Taylor, the executive producer, who some years ago produced "Zoom," a long-running.