European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - February 06, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Gulp the Coz shows his latest mystery Side by Bill Carter the new York times. Two years removed from the biggest Triumph in recent television history Bill Cosby has new characters to play. The genre is different mystery instead of comedy but surrounded by writers producers directors and a living room set cluttered with Art and books of his choosing the Coz is still very much in control. The Man who created and starred in the Cosby show probably the last television series that will Ever be Able to reach about half the available Audi ence on a regular basis has since encountered failure and disappointment. He became the Host of an updated syndicated version of the old Groucho Marx game show you bet your life. Despite a Strong lineup of stations and a promising Start the series never caught on and was cancelled after just one year. At the same time an Abc comedy that Cosby Cre ated and produced Here and now starring his Tele vision son from the Cosby show Malcolm Jamal Warner also succumbed quickly to Low ratings. That was especially frustrating to Cosby who had conceived the series As a Way to Send a Strong message of encouragement to inner City Young people. Since then Cosby has spoken out frequently about his concern with current Black oriented comedies on the networks which he says Are dominated by crude Gross out stereotypes. That Type of television is certainly far removed from the vehicle Cosby has chosen for his return to Abc. Cosby has gone the route now favored by Many Veteran television names the sophisticated murder mystery. This season there Are four television movies to establish Cosby s character. The first the Cosby mysteries was broadcast stateside monday night. The plan is to begin the show As a series next fall. Later in the week Cosby returned to his past on lbs j spy returns reuniting with Robert gulp for a fond tip of their hats to the Abc adventure series that ran from 1965 to 1968. When i began thinking about a new show i had nothing in mind Cosby said of the Cosby mysteries in an interview on the elaborate soundstage his show has constructed inside the old pier 62, just off the Hudson River at 23d Street in new York. All he was sure of at that Point he recalled was that the show must be set in new York City that it must have a new York state of mind but clean looking not that grim living on the Edge sort of feel and that it would never have people being blown  what he eventually settled on he said was a Classy cerebral mystery. Then he realized that he would be joining a crowded Field murder she wrote Matlock Perry Mason movies Columbo movies. It seemed every one time Star of television was being reincarnated As a detective Dick Van Dyke Larry Hagman even Gene Barry is due to return in a new version of his Burke s Law an artefact last seen in 1966. To reassure Cosby the new head of Abc s West coast entertainment operation Don Ohlmeyer promised that the network would aggressively recruit what Cosby called the a list  my feeling is the networks have lists of writers that Range from excellent to extremely mediocre Cosby said. It s difficult at times to get them to dig into the a list. Many times they will deliver you the Cist writers mainly because the a list writers sup ply the right demographic audience. But they Don t fill in the great lines you want to say the next morn  Abc went to some lengths to satisfy Cosby s con lbs Robert Culp reunites with Bill Cosby in i spy returns which ran thursday night on stateside television. Cerns which is understandable considering the for tune he brought the network in the 1980s. David Black one of the men Abc hired had written for Hill Street blues Law and order and Miami vice and is the author of several mystery novels. The other writer producer William link has enjoyed one of the most distinguished writing careers in television with his partner Richard Levinson who died in 1987, he created perhaps the most Origi Nal television detective Columbo. Link also created murder she wrote for Angela Lansbury along with numerous other series. And with Levinson he wrote some of the most prestigious and fondly recalled made for to movies including the execution of private Slovik that certain sum Mer and the storyteller. The character Black and link created for Cosby named Guy Hanks the actual name of Cosby s late father in Lawis a criminalist a forensic scientist employed by the police to put together evidence from a crime scene. He might study patterns of blood spatter or paraffin tests and Caliper of bullets that sort of thing link said. The role offers Rich opportunities for laying out Clever clues a specially of link s. Levinson and link first teamed up after they discovered their shared in Terest in mystery which began with a shared interest in magic. The two arts Are similar link said because they depend on deception and a kind of sleight of hand. My father was a textile worker in Philadelphia i have no idea Why i have a mind like this link said. I once had a perfect Way of getting rid of my wife and i checked it out with the los Angeles Coroner. He said that will work. But if she Dies you re going to be my first suspect i be never used it in a Story. I might use it yet. It involved a garbage  for Cosby the two writer producers envisioned a character who s a Little eccentric extremely smart an Urban Sherlock Holmes without the Watson As Black put it. The kind of mystery the two creators want to con coct is complicated but solvable by a viewer who is paying attention. You Don t want to tip your hand Black said of the writer s task but you have to be fair. It s very  few such shows exist on television today the two men added. Look what the networks Are doing in the movie of the week link said. There Are going to be four versions of the Menendez Brothers killing their parents. Four versions that s All they want crime ripped from the headlines. Look what happened to Perry Mason in recent years. The old Perry masons were very Good. But i talk a lot to Young writers in Hollywood and i be noticed one thing. They Don t read. They get All their Impact from the big screen and the Little screen. They read no books no magazines. They Don t take a daily newspaper. The result is All this formula stuff. They re All just replaying Back what they be seen in movies and  the Guy Hanks character will be a Man recently retired from the police Force after having won $48 million in the lottery. That will allow for the Glossy new York look and settings Cosby insists on. He will also have the expected Friend on the Force who involves him in cases. I also want the show to have Romance said Cosby whose character will have a relationship with a physical therapist played by Lynn Whitfield in the first movie. And of course we want  already Cosby is rethinking the plan to go to a weekly one hour series next fall. Sometimes you re finishing up at 10 30 or 11 at night and you can see them figuring out a Way to get you at least in a car at 8 45 the next morning. I was 28 to 31 when i did / spy. And at 56,1 have to look at Angela Lansbury and Andy Griffith and Jim Garner with a lot of and  Page 22 sunday february 6, 1994