The Roanoke Times from Roanoke, Virginia • 39

SPECTATOR SATURDAY SEPT 7 1996 KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS PLEASE SEE LOCAL3 Local station changes include ox newscast CABLE GUIDE 2 KIDS' STU 16 MOVIES 21 SOAP WRAP UP 18 SPORTS HIGHLIGHTS 10 0 0 Phylicia Rashad and Bill Cosby return in the CBS sitcom airing Sept 1 6 on WDBJ Channel 7 Sunday 7 8 pm (OX) This prime time game show is based on the classic Make a but done on a grand scale in an arena setting Mark DeCarlo is the host Not available for preview By CODY LOWE STA WRITER UPN show airs Sunday at 1 pm PLEASE SEE SER1ES2 Nearly 50 new series scheduled begins a 10 pm local newscast in conjunction with WSLS (Channel 10) The two stations have been working on an operating agreement for several months which has only recently been finalized according to their managers 7i ox managerTony Kahl said the program will include one of news anchors working with a new anchor to be hired by WJPRWXR The ox stations also will hire a news producer to work behind the scenes developing stories for that station but the newscast will rely primarily on the news sports and weather team at WSLS The stations have a two year agreement for the project a good deal that gives the the end of last season only seven of 42 new prime lime series were still breathing But hope springs eternal in the fall: This sea son 40 new prime time series will premiere over the next six weeks on the six commercial broad cast networks nearly 50 if you count first run syndication and cable networks Think ever see April? The best of the freshman class are mostly dramas: a dark frightening drama from the cre ator of iles" a seductive modern love story from (he makers of and So Called Life" with Annie Potts as a teacher of troubled youngsters Burning a breath lessly exciting thriller about a thinking virus out to get us all a thriller about extrater restrials among us with Ally Walker stalking and being stalked by serial killers and Streets" a complex drama about a savvy cop and his underworld counterpart Many of the new comedies are promising but my favorites are with Rhea Perlman as a mom after a college education with stand up comic Tom Rhodes as a hip teacher in a private school The Jamie oxx a hilarious show case for the former Living star and which brings back Sherman Hemsley as the ex con who may be messing up his march toward respectability previewed most of the fall shows but many of them have been revamped recast and reshaped so the following ratings should be taken as just hints of overall potential While the new fall network TV schedules are nearly always a jum ble of new programs relocations and old standards much of the other locally controlled programming stays the same from year to year Local news is predictably on in the morning at noon at 6 pm and at 1 1 pm i Once in a while an innovation such as local news at 5 pm surfac es but for the most part things stay pretty much the same This year however viewers of the big four commercial stations in western Virginia likely are already noticing changes in local and syndi cated programming Perhaps the biggest local pro market what heard in focus gramming news of this fall season groups it wants a 10 pm really break until Oct 28 when ox 2127 (WJPRWXR) Ally Walker (center) will star as former BI specialist Samantha Waters in Scheduled to debut Sept 21 on WSLS Channel 10 the drama co stars Michael Whaley (from left) Julian McMahon Robert Davi and Roma Maffia HUM THE ROANOkfeTlMES Prime time premieres I IS TiSW JMWWh'f 3 I'l i 'll i a 11 111 7 Ik ii 1 1 W4 a Yfl IM 'IL uHHHHi it 1 i i Er (D 0) CD 3' CD rWL cz to toc 7) 3 (S I.