European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 9, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse To briefs Page 4 this is family to thinks so James Endrst Hartford Conn Couran a lot of people look to to families to set some sort of example. I Don t know Why. In All but the rarest of cases television has taken either a profoundly shallow or highly unlikely approach to the american Brood painting them in loud colors and Broad strokes. As seen in the big Blue eyes of the Small screen fathers Are ego fragile Semi incompetents who bluster and whimper their Way through life surviving it seemingly by Accident wives Are Street sagacious in control Independent but inevitably frustrated because they feel underappreciated and the kids More often than not Are wisecracking. Little More is demanded of them of course it is hard to say precisely what constitutes a family. Certainly it has moved Way beyond the Standard husband-wife-2.5-kids definition. And the new fall season More than Ever to seems determined to Bend fold and otherwise reconfigure the american family in ways that often defy logic if not imagination lbs to begin with looks like it will have some sort of Corner on unhappy Homes in the primetime Market. The half hour series Uncle Buck starring Kevin Meaney for example changes the end of the John Candy movie that inspired it just a bit. Instead of mom and dad returning from their trip and relieving the Low brow Buck of his parental duties the parents die. Or As one of their surviving children put it Quot they bought Uncle Buck s household can Only be described As mean spirited slightly foul mouthed and not funny though As always the family laugh track loves them All. Lbs s the family Man starts on a sad note As Well. Gregory Harrison stars As a fire fighting widower who s left to raise four boys after the sudden and tragic death of his wife. The show tries to impart some familial tenderness but that does t prevent the kids from making those sitcom cracks that kids so often do like Quot when you re asleep tonight i m going to spit in your Mouth Quot Fox network which bikes to push the to limits and often its Luck would seem to have the most provocative new prime time family in its sitcom True colors. The half hour which is still tentatively titled stars Frankie Faison a and an As yet unnamed actress the part is being recast a As an interracial couple. He s a dentist she s a kindergarten teacher he has two teen age boys from a previous marriage and she has a teen age daughter and an opinionated Mother in Law is there any other kind on to played by Nancy Walker. Whether this will be just another sitcom or a half hour show that makes a difference in the Way americans View the modern family remains to be seen. Based on the Pilot it does t look like much of a breakthrough. 30s and lives at Home with his parents played by real life father Bob Elliott and june Lockhart. Further comment is unnecessary. The title says it All. And there s the sitcom married people which takes an Urban melting pot approach a or what Calls its version of Quot a 20th Century extended family a not related by the sitcom features three couples living in a Brownstone near the North part of Manhattan scentral Park. At the Fanelli boys Are the new seasons most ethnic family. A widowed italian matriarch in Brooklyn orders her four adult sons Back to the nest to get their lives in order. Also at american dreamer Robert Urich is cast As Tom Nash one of to s growing number of single parents a a former network news journalist and now a widower. He has two kids a 14-year-old daughter and a 12-year-old son who it seems have about As much respect for their dad As any other to kid. Quot dad Quot his daughter tells him Quot Don t take this personally but i d rather die than talk to you about but its no cd a spinoff of the movie parenthood that seems to Sti Ike the truest chords. Its about As close to a slice of family life As you can get without falling into the soupy self conscious angst of s thirty something. De Begley or co stars with Maryedith Burrell lbs and then there s get a life a sitcom starring Chris Elliott in which the late night with David Letterman Star plays a paper boy who s in his tvs portrait of family life a Uncle Buck Quot starring clockwise Dah be Chodan Kevin Meaney Sarah Martineck and Jacob Gelman. William Windom and Sheila Macrae in what is but far the Best new comedy of the �?T90-91 season. Quot let s not be like our parents Quot Gil Buckman Begley tells his wife Early on Quot Well be different Quot she assures him. But in the very next scene Buckman is chasing Down one of his three kids asking in loud frustration Quot Why would you want to put an ice Cream Down your pants anyway Quot the answer Quot i was saving it for now that s what family life is really about. M 99 m m m r m 1 r oot o Nielsen the following Are the latest available rankings of television shows in America starting with the top shows As compiled by the . Nielsen co. The season to Date ranking is in parentheses or an a for firs time showing and the final figure is the rating which notes the percentage of the nations 92.1 million Homes where people watched the show.1 cheers 1 16.6 rating. 2 in the heat of the night 17 ,15.7. 3 empty nest 10 14.6. 3 designing women tie 21 lbs 13.6. 5 the Cosby show special x ,14.0. 5 Murphy Brown tie 25 lbs 14.0. 7 Golden girls 7 13.8. 8 Roseanne 2 13.6. 9 i know my first name is Steven fart 2 a monday movie 33 13.4. 10 a different world 4 13.3. A ind these Are the East watched shows the ones at the Bottom of the Nielsen ratings. 80 haywire Fox 4,7. 81 China Beach 4.6. 82 glory Days Fox 4.3. 83 totally hidden video Fox 4.2 84 21 jump Street Fox 3.9 85 America the Beautiful 3.8 86 alien nation Fox 3.6. 87 pure insanity special Fox 30. 88 Tracey Ullman show Fox 2.9 c to plus sunday september 9,1990
