European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - March 22, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Television Hollywood Hopes this Oscar show will be a Winner by Sarah Bottorff i hero s a Hunch of people in los Angeles right now working hard to produce an Academy awards show that we won t laugh at. Of course that s what they said they were doing inst year and they came up with a show whose highlight was As the new York times put it Quot a lengthy opening musical number featuring Snow White and dancers with fruit on their  Gregory Peck Paul Newman and 125 other i Hollywood megastar issued a Public letter calling the show an embarrassment and the Walt Disney co. Sued for the unauthorized portrayal of Snow White. 1 his year s show relies less on Quot Glitz and glitter a says producer Gilbert Cates. He told the times that he Hopes for something that is Quot contemporary and reflects the changes in the  live satellite links will connect . With celebrity parties in five foreign film capitals a London Moscow Tokyo Buenos Aires Argentina and Sydney Australia. Celebrities there will serve As Remote presenters for awards though Many recipients will be at the los Angeles music Center. Billy Crystal will be the Host for the second year in a Row. Among the stars who Are scheduled to present the awards Are Warren Beatty Jessica Lange Jack Lemmon from Moscow Jack Nicholson Steve Martin Jodie Foster Geena Davis and Kevin Kline. All this contemporary Ness worries some members of the Academy of motion picture arts and sciences who have told reporters that they fear the show will get too Stuffy. After All last year s show got the highest Nielsen ratings of any Oscar telecast in five years so Why mess with a Good thing and get tasteful you can see How it All comes out superstition Al n and Southern european broadcasting plan to carry live coverage at 4 . Central european time tuesday. Seb plans to repeat the three hour at least program at 7 05 . Tuesday an expects you to rely on your Var if you Don t want to see it live. What can you think about a program that the to critics say is terrible but has stayed in or near the top 10 shows in the ratings since it premiered nearly two years ago in the Case of empty nest Trust the critics i he show is a major disappointment. I his supposed sitcom is about a paediatrician living in a horribly pastel Miami House and being bugged by his grown daughters and his obnoxious neighbor. It is a big waste of talented comedians such As Richard Mulligan As the widowed doctor and David Leisure the lying Joe Isuzu of the car ads in better Days As the tiresome neighbor. An example of a line that got a big laugh from the laugh track or maybe lord help them a live audience was the doctor explaining the facts to a woman whose son has swallowed the ring she planned to Wear that night. Quot your function will have to wait for his function a says Mulligan. An a television critic said it s a shame that the one outstanding performer of the show is confined to a Small role. He was talking about the dog. Actually that s going a bit too far. The Best character is not the dog but the doctor s nurse played by someone calling herself Park Overall. She s got great comedic timing a Fine Deadpan look and a whale of an Arkansas accent that adds the one bit of liveliness to this dumb show. But it s not enough and it s sure not what one would have expected out of the people who created Golden kids. But there it is. It comes on just after the Golden kids in the states which might explain its relatively High ratings and it comes to us at 8 10 . Get thursday on an. Seb gets empty nest and the other shows mentioned below in mid May. Since Eric Clapton just completed a Europe tour Cream Farewell concert is a Well timed special on an this week. This is a straight Forward filming of Clapton Ginger Baker and Jack Bruce at the Royal Albert Hall in London in Cream s last concert in late 1968, a serious look at a Rock group that took itself very very seriously. The narration does t do much to explain Why this pre Crosby stills Nash Trio was considered at the time to be second Only to the beatles. The music goes a Long Way to explaining it All though particularly a Baker drum Solo toward the end. It airs on an at 10 40 . Get monday. Both seb and an Are taking the College basketball season very very seriously this is the final stuff. On saturday starting at 7 30 . Get in both Italy and West Germany 6 30 . In the United kingdom the East and then Midwest regional get aired. And then on sunday Are the Southeast and West finals a since Europe goes to Daylight saving time at Midnight saturday and conus does to the doubleheader starts an hour later at 8 30 . Get. The final four games Are set a half hour past Midnight March 31 00 30 get april 1. The title game is set for april 3 at 3 . Get on both stations. An also has a number of updated or returning series starting this week a 48 flours the lbs news Magazine is now appearing regularly on tuesdays at 7 40 ., rather than being popped into the schedule sporadically to fill holes. The one hour documentaries will run a week after they Are pulled off the satellite As 60 minutes is says an s Tom Baxter. A super Sloppy double dare is the latest incarnation of double dare and it starts at 9am get saturday on an. If anything it s less Sloppy a fortunately. Also for youngsters and those who Don t demand much that s compelling or particularly funny for that matter in their entertainment Are the Hogan family at 7 . Get Friday and Small wonder at 7 35 . Get monday. A Wiseguy is Back for a third year of leather and conspiracy at 8 35 . Get monday. Ken Wahl wears most of the leather and stars As an unhappy fellow with one foot in the mafia and the other in with the feds. This is a fairly Good show a or does it just look that Way after a week of watching empty nest and the Hogan family a the Cosby show and wonder years come Back. Denise is Back where she belongs on Cosby at 7 10 . Get wednesday and Kevin continues to struggle with puberty and the 1960s on the the wonder years at 7 35 . Get wednesday. Things Are a Little quieter on seb. There is Only one new series the honeymooners at 3 . Tuesday. Well but. If there were Only one new series in the world would t this be the one seb gets a few movies but nothing spectacular. Desperate is John Savage the Deer Hunter and the onion Field As an sex Navy Guy Messing with cuban gun runners and the Ira in the Florida keys at 3 . Wednesday. And take my daughters please has females from tour of duty Hunter . Law our House and Golden girls together for a Story of Unm Arriage in the 1980s, at 9 30 .  5 movies a bit surprising by Bob Thomas associated press. All five movies nominated As Best picture of 1989 were films that Hollywood s heavy hitters thought would be financial flops. But their creators persisted and got the movies made and one of them will win the film Industry s top prize next week. Born on the fourth of july and driving miss Daisy both shunned by the major Hollywood studios Are the favourites for the Best picture Oscar. Contenders for acting prizes include 80-year-old Jessica Tandy and Marlon Brando 65, who both achieved Fame 40 years ago when they co starred on Broadway in a Streetcar named desire. Tandy the Cranky dowager of driving miss Daisy is deemed the favorite in a difficult to predict race for Best actress. Michelle Pfeiffer the sexy Singer of the fabulous Baker boys is also highly touted. Leading the race for Best actor Are Tom cruise who plays the disabled Veteran featured in born on the fourth of july and Daniel Day Lewis the cerebral palsy victim of my left foot. Brando was nominated for Best supporting actor for his role As a Liberal South african lawyer in a dry White season. The unpredictable Brando accepted his first Oscar for on the waterfront in 1954 but spurned his second for the godfather in 1972. All five nominees for Best picture of 1989 were movies that the studios spurned As being too special to attract a wide audience. For instance driving miss Daisy was Quot turned Down by All the major companies one by one says the co producer Richard Zanuck. Quot it took two years before i could find anybody to consider dead poets society Quot says Tom Schulman who wrote the original screenplay. Quot every agent turned it Down. Every studio turned it  dead poets society ended up with a $94 million Gross in the United states and Canada. Academy award nominees Best picture actress Jessica Tandy a driving miss Daisy Isabelle Dajani Quot Camille Claudet Pauline Collins Quot Shirley Valentine Quot Jessica Lange Quot music boxy Michelle Pfeiffer Quot the fabulous Baker boys Quot supporting actress Brenda Flicker Quot my left foot Quot Anjelyca Huston Quot enemies a love Story a Lena Olin a enemies a love Story Quot Julia Roberts Quot steel magnolias a Dianne West a parenthood a actor Morgan Freeman Quot driving miss Daisy Daniel Day Lewis Quot my left foot Tom cruise a ubom on the fourth of july Kenneth Branagh Quot Henry a Quot Robin Williams Quot dead poets society Quot supporting actor Marlon Brando Quot a dry White season Quot Danny Aiello Quot do the right thing Quot Martin Landau Quot crimes and misdemeanours Quot Denzel Washington Quot glory Dan Aykroyd Quot driving miss Daisy Quot director writer Phil Alden Robinson devoted six years to bringing Field of dreams to the screen. I was turned Down at every studio Quot he says. Quot i was told we can see what you like in the novel but it won t make a movie Quot the Field of dreams had a Domestic take of $63 million. Born on the fourth of july holds the record among this year s Best picture nominees for length of time in reaching the screen. Oliver Stone and Ron Kovic wrote the script based on Kovic s Vietnam experiences in 1977-78. Quot but the Money was not there it was t considered commercial Quot says Stone. Quot ten years later Tom cruise took an interest in it platoon was a Success and Universal pictures which had originally killed the picture came Back and financed  producer Noel Pearson did t even canvass the major studios for backing of my left foot realizing that a film about a cerebral palsy victim would attract a Chilly reaction. Slowly he accumulated enough for the budget a Quot under $3  the same pattern of rejection of Academy award nominees by the big studios has occurred increasingly in recent years. Why Quot even with smaller pictures the Cost of advertising and prints can amount to a major investment theorizes Zanuck. Quot the studios naturally avoid projects that they consider dangerous or not in the mainstream. But driving miss Daisy and the other nominees have proven that audiences Are hungry a material that is not devoted to rapes car crashes murder and  24 stripes Magazine March 22, 1990