European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 17, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse When on the spot television makes the mind blink by Howard Rosenberg los Angeles times its happening its now its live. We watched democracy gasp and gurgle in Tiena men Square live. We watched the Berlin Wall being razed live. We watched the soviet Union unravel live. Recently we watched parts of los Angeles explode live. And on the screen May 8, there was los Angeles police chief Daryl Gates addressing criticism of his departments performance during the riot live. Thus live television is always valid. Its always glorious and necessary. Its always preferable to videotaped television. Or is it its May 4. You re on television being interviewed about riot coverage and you re rolling along really cooking. You be never been More eloquent. Your words form sentences that express thoughts that blend together As perfectly As a Matisse. You re magnificent. You re the Prince of the airwaves. You re thinking that you deserve your own show. And then. Your House of cards collapses. The interviewer asks you a final question and As soon As you answer it a a millisecond after the last word has been launched from your lips a you know you be made a terrible mistake. Addressing a highly sensitive topic you did no to say what you intended to say. This time or. Writer there Are no safety nets. There is no computer a a delete key to erase your error. There is no editor to Rescue you. Nor Are your comments a Yoyo that you can yank Back. Its too late. You re history bumped from the screen by a commercial betrayed by your own inability to communicate orally. And by live to. This scenario happened to Tongue tangled yours truly at approximately 5 20 . On lbs this morning. Responding to a question by co Host Paula Zahn who was doing the interview by satellite from new Yorki urged to to provide More balanced coverage of minorities. Very Nice. But i also said that to pictures of the los Angeles riots a affirmed the gorillas in the Mist image that Many think underlined sic the Rodney King incident in the first affirmed the image oops. I blame Zahn or television or lbs this morning. The fault was All mine. I had been informed what area Zahnis questions would cover and had formulated my spontaneous Brilliant answers. 1 had intended to say that the to pictures a reinforced the inaccurate and unfair gorillas in the Mist stereotypes that Many believe motivated the King beating. Not too shabby. But what my brain was saying my Tongue was disobeying. As a result one could infer from the response that i gave that i endorsed the very ugly stereotype i meant to criticize. Some people did infer that. For example immediately after my segment aired in los Angeles delayed 3 hours to allow for the time zone difference woman identifying herself As african american put a message on my Telephone answering machine lambasting me for what i had said on to. She was livid and emotional All but calling me a Kun flux planner. She said angrily a what do you know about us living in your comfortable White suburb a not much. But that a another column. The Issue Here a the reason for mentioning this incident at All a is the danger of live television. In be done a bit of it. So if / can goof like this a to say nothing of the frequent miss peaking of anchors and reporters who do television for a living a imagine the perils facing interviewees who never do live to. Air Tim Allen Taran Smith Patricia Richardson in the rare hit that opened last my Home could use improvement with their programming by Rick do brow los Angeles times w Ries last fall. Ith the networks announcing their 1992-93 schedules during the next few weeks its amazing to consider that All their huffing and puffing produced exactly one new smash hit be that was abcs Home improvement starring Tim Allen. And there a no telling How Well even it would have done if it Hadnot been cushioned Between two major successes full House and Roseanne. So Why is tvs seemingly insane programming system still intact because a single smash hit can reap hundreds of millions of dollars and turn the fortunes of an entire network around. Roseanne no cd a the Cosby show and cd so Murphy Bro a have paid a lot of Bills for their networks. Still its the crap shoot to end All Crup shoots with the Odds much better in Las vegas. Consider some of the Long gone new series that debuted last fall with big hype and visions of Dollar signs occupying the dreams of the casts producers and writers remember tech ? How about pros amp cons with James Earl Jones and Richard Crenna in a lighthearted reworking of Gabriel a fire i had a weak spot for princesses the situation comedy with Twiggy and Julie Hagerty. But apparently no one else did. Anyone remember Good amp evil Palace guard . Luv a Pacific station Man of the people and alas the Carol Burnett show which showed Good sense by folding quickly when things clearly weren to jelling. And who could forget that world class program misjudgment the adventures of Mark and Brian just about everyone it turned out. But now visions of vast fortunes will Start All Over again. It happens every Spring. Our favorite Mogul no cd a Maria Shriver interviewed Cable giant Ted Turner. Shriver a what is the secret of your Success Quot Turner a Early to bed Early to Rise work like hell and casting coup weather Guy Willard Scott is almost always Over the top on the today show but that same Quality makes him perfect As the Host of the family channels revival of major Bowes old Amateur hour. I caught Scott chatting warmly on one show with a Little girl who had played the Harp and to was just terrific and charming. Man of a thousand facts there s just no better actor than Robert Duvall and in Hbous upcoming film Stalin he looks astonishingly like the late soviet dictator. Momont in Elma Marlene Dietrich who died two weeks ago was never better than in Billy Wilder a masterful postwar comedy a foreign affair in which she played the cynical mistress of an american army officer in Berlin. Her songs Black Market and ruins of Berlin Are As Good As any she Ever did sizzling with the ring of truth and the sense of locale. Any to festival of Dietrich a films should not Overlook this underrated motion picture. Toth Point according to Abc the lineup of personalities for Johnny Carsons Friday finale on the tonight show is simple de Mcmahon and Doe Severinsen. Natural All Lanco or. Ruth Westh Cimer who first became famous in her 50s, has joined up with cables nostalgia Channel whose target audience is viewers 45 and older. Starting in september Shell launch a new series for the Channel or. Ruth s never too late in which Shell Deal with topical issues. Our town the american movie classics Channel has become part of my life Cycle and that s How i know that this is the 80th anniversary of both Universal pictures which was founded by Carl Laemmle and Paramount which had its origins As Adolph Zukor a famous players film co. Being there a when to began to close the form in the minute they went to Hollywood the minute the Money part of it meant that you filmed the half hour situation comedy and that you could fake the laughs you set in motion a series of really degrading influences. For one thing most of the producers persuaded themselves that straight lines Are funny. It was just a Pat Weaver former head of Abc to. Lbs getting personal on june 15, lbs starts a perfect score a new relationship game show following its personals. The show is based on the premise that your Best friends arc better at picking your dates than you arc and each night will show results of a couples first Date. Larson definite on today Abc news wednesday confirmed that today news Anchor Faith Daniels has started devoting All of her time to a closer look with Faith Danels. Daniels has been succeeded on today by Abc news correspondent Margaret Larson. Racing against 60 Man Stoa Abc news correspondent Forrest Sawyer definitely begins anchoring a new newsmagazine sundays nights this summer against lbs news 60 minutes which Only in exceptional circumstances has run anything other than repeats during the hot weather months. In taking the assignment Sawyer ended an impasse Over renewing his Abc news contract. Until he signed again with Abc Sawyer was strenuously wooed by lbs news. Sawyer says he will stay As Ted Koppel a primary substitute Anchor on nightlife but the newsmagazine a demands Means he will Stop being a nightlife correspondent and anchoring the Early evening world news sunday. It has not been decided if Sawyer will have a newsmagazine co Anchor. May 17, 1992 sunday a Page 11
