Banner Graphic, Volume 14, Number 83, Greencastle, Putnam County, 12 December 1983 — Page 6

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The Putnam County Banner-Graphic, December 12,1983

People in the news 'Didn't scream and cry/ Bochco says after NBC ax falls NEW YORK Death came quickly to “Bay City Blues” this season. The NBC program, which was the brainchild of Steven Bochco and was a younger sibling to the popular police program “Hill Street Blues,” was spared the lingering months of poor ratings and the weeks of pained discussion by executives that has accompanied the cancellation of several other major programs by the network. This time the ax fell decisively after just four broadcasts. NBC announced on Wednesday that the show was a failure, and Bochco, the program’s executive producer, said he quietly went along with the decision. "I didn’t scream and cry,” Bochco said in a telephone interview- “After four hours on the air we saw that the core audience wasn’t there.” The question remains, however, of how the program which was highly touted by the network and cost roughly $850,000 a segment to produce went wrong. With each Tuesday night broadcast the audience for “Bay City Blues” shrank dramatically. “Bay City Blues” looked and sounded much like “Hill Street Blues,” with a large ensemble of characters, several plots progressing at the same time, a sprinkling of scenes from the personal lives and professional lives, and a spicy dash of sex. But instead of working in an inner city police precinct, the main characters played for a minor league baseball team. That difference may have been critical, Bochco said. The fact that a police officer must face armed criminals in his daily work, he said, while a baseball player generally must face nothing worse than a mean curve ball might have made the show less compelling. “I think episodic television is adrenaline addictive,” Bochco said. “Virtually all the hour dramas I can think of have action, shooting or people actively engaged in destroying lives and destroying each other. That is a tough thing to get away from.” • NEW YORK (AP) Rock singer Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones says he’s “doing more now onstage than when I was 20,” but concedes “it can’t go on forever.” As the Stones close out their 20th year together, the 40-year-old Jagger says “I don’t want to sound like a spoiled child, but I’m still looking for fulfillment.” His personal wealth is reported to exceed $lO million and he says he recently signed a $3 million contract to write his autobigraphy. But concerning his unsettled feelings, Jagger says in the Dec. 19 issue of Newsweek, “I’m poised in every direction.” The man whose voice still can be heard shrieking “I Can’t Get No Satisfaction” suggests he might like to do straight acting roles in movies. • FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) - Gov. John Y. Brown, who gives up his office Tuesday to Martha Layne Collins, says one of his objectives was to “create an image of Kentucky as a place to do business.” And as the nation’s only female governor and the highest elected woman in the Democratic Party, Mrs. Collins says she hopes to follow up on what Brown has accomplished. “I am a rather private person,” says Mrs. Collins in an interview in People magazine. Brown and his wife Phyllis George Brown also are interviewed in the article, and described as a “flamboyant first couple.” In her interview, Mrs. Collins says she hopes she, too, can bring attention to Kentucky to “open doors for us.” “I have a background of not being a very public person or someone who seeks recognition,” says the incoming governor. “I just want to get the job done.” NEW YORK (AP) Judy Woodruff, Washington correspondent for the “MacNeil-Lehrer Newshour,” will anchor “Frontline,” public television’s weekly documentary series. Jessica Savitch, who died in a car crash earlier this fall, was the anchor on “Frontline” last season. Ms. Woodruff, 36, will anchor the program through May and then cover the 1984 election campaigns for “Mac Neil according to an announcement Wednesday. The second season of “Frontline” begins Jan. 16.

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ALAN THICKE: Ratings are thin

Last September one of the more widely discussed new shows was “The Thicke of the Night,” a late-night talk program whose host was a Canadian entertainer named Alan Thicke. The program, broadcast by 124 independant television stations around the country, was designed to attract more youthful viewers from “The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.” “Thicke of the Night” remains on the air now with 128 stations carrying the broadcast. But if the current ratings are an indication, Carson does not yet have much to worry about. In its first 12 weeks on the air “Thicke of the Night” has averaged a 1.7 rating to a 6.4 for “Tonight.” An NBC spokesman, Gene Walsh, said that in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles the stations that show the “Thicke” program experienced significant drops in audience during the time period “Thicke of the Night,” was broadcast. Fred Silverman, the former NBC president who is an executive producer of the show, said that he was encouraged by the response to the show so far. “I don’t think 13 weeks of ratings proves anything,” he said. “The host is a very young, fresh face. He has got the basic elements to do well.” Silverman said he hoped to pick up ABC and NBC network affiliate stations that have late-night time periods to fill as a result of the cancellation of “NBC News Overnight” and the cutback of ABC’s “Nightline” into a halfhour program. LONDON (AP) Placido Domingo and Agnes Baltsa sang a “Carmen” duet in La Scala in Milan while other tributes to the late prima donna Maria Callas were performed in three other opera houses all linked by satellite. At the Lyric Opera of Chicago, where Miss Callas made her American debut, Jon Vickers, Ileana Cotrubas, Alfredo Kraus and Renata Scotto sang arias from “La Traviata.” At the Paris Opera, Jose Van Dam and Jessye Norman sang arias from Berlioz’ “Damnation of Faust.” And at the Royal Opera in London, Kiri Te Kanawa and James McCracken performed a scene from the last act of Verdi’s “Otello.” The two-hour “Callas: An International Celebration,” •was beamed live Sunday to television audiences in Greece, West Germany and Italy. Born Dec. 3,1923, Miss Callas died in Paris on Sept. 16, 1977, at the age of 53. Tickets sold for up to S6O for the production organized by Columbia Artists and the British Broadcasting Corp., and the Maria Callas Foundation, which will receive part of the proceeds for scholarships to singers. • THIS WEEK’S CELEBRITY BIRTHDAY PEOPLE: Entertainer Rita Moreno was 52 Sunday, while singer Connie Francis hit 45. Monday’s birthday boy-and subject of a Sunday TV birthday bash-is “01’ Blue Eyes,” Frank Sinatra, 58. Singer Dionne Warwick is 42 Monday. On Tuesday, it’s No. 58 for actor Dick Van Dyke and No. 42 for entertainer John Davidson. Actresses Patty Duke Astin, 37, and Lee Remick, 48, share Wednesday’s cake and candles with country singer Charlie Rich, 51, and comedian Morey Amsterdam, 59. It’s the big 5-0 on Thursday for comedian Tim Conway, while actress Liv Ullman, 44, and CBS News correspondent Lesley Stahl, 42, celebrate Friday.

B. J. Becker on bridge

South dealer. Both sides vulnerable. NORTH ♦QJ9764 <?876 072 ♦ 43 WEST EAST #52 483 <7 AQ9532 <?104 09 0J8643 ♦ Q 875 ♦ J 962 SOUTH ♦AKIO S?KJ OAKQIOS ♦ AKIO The bidding: South West North East 2 ♦ Pass 2 O Pass 3 0 Pass 3 ♦ Pass 5 ♦ Pass 6 ♦ Opening lead ten of hearts. All world championships are played in duplicate form in order to minimize the element of luck. But, even so, the outcome of some deals depends on relatively minor occurrences. Consider this deal from the 1975 match between France and the United States. At the first table, with the U.S. North-South, the bidding went as shown. The first two bids were artificial, but from then on the bidding was natural. North got to six spades, East led a heart, and the vulnerable

slam quickly went down one. At the second table, with France North-South, the bidding went: South West North East 2 ♦ 2 Pass Pass 2NT Pass 3 4 Pass 4 0 Pass 4 ♦ Pass 5 Dble 5 ♦ Pass 6 NT The American West chose the disastrous lead of the club five. Declarer won East’s jack with the ace, played the A-K-Q of diamonds, and cashed five spade tricks, producing this position: North ♦ 7 <?B7 ♦ 4 West East <?AQ <?10 ♦ Q 8 OJ South * 96 <?KJ ♦ KlO Declarer cashed dummy’s last spade, discarding the jack of hearts and poor West was in trouble. He realized that if he discarded a heart declarer would lead a heart to endplay him. So West discarded the eight of clubs instead. This availed him naught, because declarer led a club to the king, cashed his ten, and thus brought France a gain of 1,540 points on the deal.

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