Anchor in rough waters; Dan Rather, a good sport in tough times; Gearing up for a fall ratings battle
June 25, 1990
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NEW YORK - Impressionist Jim Morris was warming up before the Radio and Television Correspondent's Dinner in Washington, D.C.
All the heavyweights - from anchors and national correspondents to network presidents - were there. So was President Bush.
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Pauley in prime time; Down-to-earth star settles into 'Real Life'; Can she break the NBC jinx? Network's past failures
July 17, 1990
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NEW YORK - "Reality - what a concept!" comic Robin Williams used to marvel.
But is everyday life a good enough concept for a prime-time TV newsmagazine? Jane Pauley thinks so.
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ON TV; Whodunit? And other mysteries of 'Twin Peaks'; Show clues in on a dreamy madness
May 23, 1990
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Who killed Laura Palmer? You're missing the point.
What is the point, you ask?
And more to the point, is there a point?
So many questions, so much fun. In a medium where so little merits even a first look-see, ABC and David Lynch's landmark, funny-scary-dreamy Twin Peaks rewards repeated viewings, and even then you're not sure what you may have missed. Or what exactly it is you've seen.
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The guerrilla network; Maturing Fox becomes the aggressor; Stalking the big three's weak spots
Aug. 23, 1990
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BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. - Producer Stu Silver (he wrote Throw Momma From the Train) had such a traumatic experience with his mother's funeral in 1982 that he wrote a sitcom about it.
Good Grief, the story of two wild and crazy undertakers, was deemed too weird by CBS, ABC, NBC, HBO and Showtime. Eight years later, Fox welcomed the project, giving it a 13-week commitment.
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On TV; Few peaks in Fox's bland Emmys
Sept. 17, 1990
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If not for a loony cameo by the Log Lady, chiding her splintered friend that "You should have thought of that before we sat down," viewers of Sunday's Emmy Awards might never have realized the surreal Twin Peaks existed, let alone that it was the year's most-nominated series.
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PBS' must see series starts Sunday; The Civil War; Epic TV film tells tragedy of a nation
Sept. 21, 1990
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Mine eyes have seen the glory of the epic called The Civil War. It's the Lonesome Dove of documentaries: heartbreaking and lyrical, vivid in sight and sound and music, its focus intensely human against the sweep of history.
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'The Simpsons' cast, finally unmasked; They bring character to the voices
Oct. 11, 1990
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HOLLYWOOD - When Nancy Cartwright was in Kettering, Ohio's Fairmont West High School marching band, she and her classmates had a cheer for band director David R. Finkam.
"We'd go 'D.R.F., D.R.F.,' " she recalls. "Then, we'd change it to 'Eat my shorts, eat my shorts.' It was a little inside joke."
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Commentary; On TV; Best && worst 1990; TV's highs and lows; Viewers had a taste for the peculiar
Dec. 26, 1990
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In 1990, TV's greatest hits came from left field. It was as good a place as any in a year that had the networks singing a now-familiar dirge:
Where Have All the Viewers Gone?
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Anchor in a storm; Gumbel rallies behind ailing 'Today'
Jan. 8, 1991
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NEW YORK - A wicked head cold has attacked Today anchor Bryant Gumbel, but with the help of some medicine and plenty of fluids he vows he will not be defeated and forced to take a sick day.
Defeat is one aspect of life Gumbel refuses to accept. In January 1982, when critics inside and outside NBC said the former sportscaster would never make it as Today host, Gumbel set out to prove them wrong - and succeeded.
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Tuning in minorities; Network TV is changing its colors
Apr. 23, 1991
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HOLLYWOOD - For Cheech Marin of the comedy duo Cheech && Chong, watching prime-time network television is a strange experience.
"There's not one Latino show," he says. "I feel cheated. It's like looking out in the country and saying these people don't exist."
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Network's great chase; Big Three in pursuit of survival
May 21, 1991
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ABC, CBS and NBC have been dubbed "The Big Three" for the past 30 years. But that nickname may not fit as well in the '90s.
With federal regulations limiting networks' profit potential in the syndication market, cable stealing audiences daily, declining ad revenue and rising production costs, a better moniker may be simply The Three. Some say it could become The Big Two.
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H-e-e-e-e-ere's Jay; 'Now I've got the ball ... I can't drop it'
June 6, 1991
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BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. - The heir to Johnny Carson's late-night TV throne is in coveralls on the floor of his garage, tinkering with his navy blue 1931 Bentley roadster.
He's calm, even though today NBC will put him in the TV history books, officially coronating Jay Leno as the fourth full-time host of the 36-year-old The Tonight Show.
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Reality TV reeling in the ratings
Aug. 1, 1991
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NEW YORK - People used to retreat to the TV set at night to escape from reality. But these days, viewers can't escape reality TV.
In the fall of 1987, there were three types of network series: sitcoms, dramas and newsmagazines. Just four years later, the fourth genre, reality series, is entrenched on all four networks. Reality shows use re-enactments or as-it-happens filming to tell real-life stories. Two reality series rank in the top 30 of all TV shows, and with more in the works, it's a trend that shows no sign of being a fad.
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Where was Emmy's wit? Fox lets 'big one' get away
Aug. 26, 1991
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Comedy? That was supposed to be the theme of Sunday's Emmy show, starting with a pie in double-winner James Earl Jones' face and mostly going downhill from there - co-host Jerry Seinfeld's glib charms aside.
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Eight is enough for Cosby; Huxtables inhabit their final season
Sept. 19, 1991
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NEW YORK - Bill Cosby has an idea for The Cosby Show finale that will put his critics to rest:
Obstetrician dad Cliff Huxtable will be slapped with a malpractice suit. Mom Clair will be fired for being a bad lawyer. Son Theo will be arrested for rape, 12-year-old daughter Rudy will be pregnant, 5-year-old step-granddaughter Olivia will be hooked on crack, and "bricks are flying through the window with hostile white people outside, saying 'Get these niggers out of this neighborhood now.' "
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Beverly Hill High; Fox's '90210' is far cry from reality; The school is no haven for rich kids
Oct. 17, 1991
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BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. - Here are scenes you won't see on tonight's episode of Beverly Hills, 90210.
Persian, Asian, Hispanic and black kids, walking the corridors of the fictional West Beverly Hills High, side by side with the series' Brandon, Brenda and Luke.
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'Cosby' empties nest; Fond farewell to top family of television
Apr. 28, 1992
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The answer comes too glibly, an unfairly off-the-cuff remark for so remarkable a series. "Will you miss The Cosby Show?" "I've been missing it for years."
Even if its cozy spell has waned over eight seasons, this Cos and his mighty effect on TV can't be ignored. And they surely won't be this week as NBC celebrates its savior, the flagship sitcom that reversed a network's fortunes and revived a durable genre - the living-room family comedy - that took over a cost-conscious industry. (The sitcom boom seemed pretty bad until the reality boom kicked in.)
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Informing or inciting? Riots' red glare falls on TV-news ethics; Live footage under fire as L.A. erupts
May 1, 1992
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Jeff Zucker was excited early Thursday, right before NBC's Today aired.
He and other Today producers were reviewing a particularly gripping piece of news footage from the riots in Los Angeles - the kind of pictures news producers crave.
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King Carson; Johnny we hardly knew says goodbye
May 22, 1992
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BURBANK, Calif. - A teary eyed and embarrassed Johnny Carson, the quintessentially cool king of late night TV, had lost control.
"Come on, now really. I don't think I can stand any more of this," Carson told the audience that waited 12 hours to get in Thursday night.
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Taking it on the chin; Leno deflects a barrage of criticism
Aug. 7, 1992
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LAS VEGAS - Jay Leno seems slightly mystified.
Forty-five shows and a little more than two months since the Leno era began on NBC's Tonight Show, the comic with the reputation as the nicest guy in show business is under attack.
