Richmond Times-Dispatch from Richmond, Virginia • 70

F4 Rtatwnond Tlmes-Oispatcli Saturday August 23 1997 1 TELEVISION new comedies have more in common than their channel new comedies have a lot in common Their casts are mostly young unknown and playing aggressively single characters If they are female co-stars their clothes are shut and tight Almost everyone is given broad obvious dialogue that only a laugh track could love (9 pm Monday) stars David Ramsey as the new pastor or as members of his resistant congregation insist upon calling him of the Church of Life As an attractive need-we-say single man Pastor Randolph finds himself in many of the same predicaments that Clifton char- UPN TO BOLDLY GO TO A NEW CHANNEL TVek Voyager" starring Kata Muigrtw at CapL Kathryn Janeway ta ona of the UPN ahowa changing channels Trek: Voyager' to have a new home Channel 65 Night Sd-Fi it too will have a prime-time home At this point the truly alert (and I salute you) will be asking if WAWB is becoming the new UPN affiliate in Richmond happening to the WB programs it's dropping programs including The Vampire Slayer" Sister and "The Wayans Nothing at this point However WB series are also available on WGN which' is carried by both MediaOne and Comcast on their basic lineup UPN will launch three new comedies next week and "Head Over plus return four other comedies the "Malcolm and rescued from ABC joins the UPN schedule on Sept 23 Trek: returns for a new season on Sept 3 while has its season premiere on Sept 10 acter did on 10 years ago But tries to update itself with some issues like the gay parishioner who needs help in telling his mother that in love with another man of a different race The series which features enthusiastic preaching and gospel singing has a good heart but bad writing aiming no higher than the most obvious situations and solutions Wtz" (9 pm Tuesday) is set inside a struggling record company run by the loathsome Jimmy Esposito played by the loathsome Andrew (once again) Dice Clay Claude Brooks and Rick Gomez play two struggling (artists and repertoire) reps who will be fired unless they sign a major act to the label Coolio guest stars in next premiere Clay is the biggest name and has the least imaginative dialogue your pie-hole snapper are the first words out of his mouth is an MTV production which helps explain why the MTV Video Music Awards are mentioned so often Head Owr Haris" (9:30 pm Tuesday) stars Peter Dobson and Mitchell Whitfield as brothers who run a video dating service in South Beach One toother is almost all business the other wants to sample the merchandise Since this is a show about lusty Floridians almost all the talk is about sex having it or not having it (Patrick Bristow of plays a celibate staffer who has the office wondering were he to break his vows would it be with a member of the same sex or the opposite sex?) Meanwhile character is busy putting the moves on any female who walks through the door His motto: bed by Letterman out the door by Conan and you notice I had time to change the Viewers might get a few laughs out of this juvenile effort But they might also want to take a shower afterward (8 pjn Tuesday beginning Sept 23) is new to UPN but not to television Based on the popular Alicia Silver-stone film -(which was based on Jane Austen's believe it or not) about wealthy teen-ager in Beverly Hills it premiered on ABC a year ago starts its second year with much of the original TV cast in place including Rachel Blanchard as Cher and Stacey Dash as her best friend Dionne Back for another UPN season are: Mondays: tfca Hosts" (8 pm) featuring LL Cool Alton bo Ribeiro and Kim Wayans as partners in a sports injury clinic ft (8:30 pjn) starring Mai-colm-Jamal Warner as the owner of a sports bar and Eddie Griffin as his friend the owner of an auto repair shop and (9:30 pm) a comedy set in a law firm starring James Avery Robin Givens Miguel Nunez and Terrence Howard Tuesdays: (back-to-back episodes at 8 and 8:30 pm Tuesday normally airs at 8:30) starring Brandy as a wise teenager growing up in a middle-class neighborhood in Los Angeles Wednesdays: Trek Voyagti" (9 pm beginning Sept 3 preceded by 8 pm repeat of season finale) chronicling the adventures iff the Starship USS Voyager led by Kate Mulgrew as CapL Kathryn Janeway and Sssthsl" (8 pjn beginning Sept 10) starring Richard Burgi as a police detective whose five senses are heightened far beyond that iff an ordinary human UPN HYPERSENSITIVE starring Richard Bur-gl (front) and Garatt Ma ft-gart haa Its 10 BY DOUGLAS DURDEN Times-Disfatch staff Writer UPN moves to Channel 65 on Monday If you're not familiar with either UPN or Channel 65 that justifies the move even more UPN is one of television's two mini-networks offering six hours of programs a week with plans to roll out additional nights in the future Its best known series are Trek: the most recent of the "Star Trek" series and starring popular young singer Brandy Until now UPN programs were broadcast locally on WRLH-Channcl 35 WRLH is a Fax affiliate however That meant rather than cany all of UPhTa series in prime time it squeezed in the programs wherever it could often Saturday afternoons or late night Channel 65 is WAWB formerly WZXK and soon to be WUPV Channel 65 (which is cable channel 32 on Media One and cable channel 13 on Comcast) was launched in 1990 by Jim Campana as an outlet for religious programming In 1994 it became WAWB an affiliate of WB the other mini-network with aspirations toward bigger things WB have Trek: which is one of the few programs that distinguishes one from another both of which specialize in forgettable half-hour comedies Along with switching affiliation next week Channel 65 is also changing owners having been sold to Lockwood Broadcasting Inc David A Ilanna president of Lockwood Broadcasting wants the station to have a new identity Part of that new identity is new call letters WUPV which Ilanna hopes the Federal Communications Commission will OK sometime next week For UPN and its programs which include four new comedies and six returning scries the move is a good one For the first time since its launch UPN will be available locally on Ha national schedule which means 8 to 10 pm Mondays Tuesday and Wednesdays It also means that when UPN expands to four nights next year with the Thursday UPN starring (from lower left) Donald Fabon Rachel Blanchard HoEand and Stacoy Dash wM air at pav ItMsday beginning NEW TO UPN Elba Donovan Sean Sept 23.