Banner Graphic, Volume 17, Number 40, Greencastle, Putnam County, 17 October 1986 — Page 28
Page 16
Robert Urich (right) plies his trade as a caring, if tough, private eye who is not above resorting to gunplay when necessary in "Spenser: For Hire," a Boston-based drama series airing on a new night, Saturdays on ABC. Avery Brooks plays Spenser's fearsome, yet well-dressed ally. Hawk. Spenser will have a new girlfriend and a new home as this season begins Oct. 18.
New chance for Urich/Spenser' on ABC
By ROBERT BARR Associated Press Writer NEW YORK (AP) A new girl, a new home and a new chance at life in a new time slot. But the first thing you notice about “Spenser: For Hire” this season is a difference in the theme music. “We changed it from from a minor key to a major,” said the show’s new executive producer, Juanita Bartlett. “Actually, Steve Dorff, who is the composer, had not been that pleased with it, and he brought in the tape he had made on his own, and we liked it a great deal. It had a more positive feel.” Spenser, who quotes great bodes, lifts weights and is happiest whipping up a gourmet dinner for the woman he loves, is the classiest private eye on television. But the show, based on the books by Robert B. Parker, struggled on Tuesday nights in its first season and is getting a second chance Saturdays on ABC. This season, Spenser (Robert Urich) has left his converted fire house, and his girlfriend Susan Silverman (Barbara Stock) has left Boston for San Francisco. Now living in a third-floor walk-up, Spenser got acquainted last week with assistant district attorney Rita Fiori (Carolyn McCormick), who will be around
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all season. One thing which won’t change is Hawk, the menacing muscle-for-hire played by Avery Brooks. It is Hawk, with his blood-curdling grin and telegraphic speech, who lifts “Spenser” out of the ordinary run of detective dramas. “Hawk is Hawk,” Ms. Bartlett said, “and will remain that.’ Susan was a problem, the producer said, because it was difficult to find reasons for her to appear in Spenser’s cases. “I suppose she didn’t have to go. That was something that was discussed at great length,” Ms. Bartlett said this week in a telephone interview from Boston. “If you recall, in the opening two-hour ‘Promised Land’ (last season), Spenser asks Susan to marry him, and she says no. In the Parker books, she is somebody who is still trying to find out who she is. She was somebody’s daughter, then somebody’s wife and then Spenser’s Susan.” It was an exemplary, settled relationship. “I think settled is dull,” Ms. Bartlett said. Parker, in fact, packed Susan off to San Francisco in “A Catskill Eagle,” and the author suggested Rita, who appears in the previous novel “Valediction,” as
Top ten Nielsens
NEW YORK (AP) Prime-time television ratings as compiled by the A C. Nielsen Co. for the week of Oct. 6-Oct. 12. Listings include the week’s season-to-date ranking in parentheses, rating for the week, and total homes. The rating measures the percentage of the nation’s 87.4 million TV homes. 1. (1) “The Cosby Show,” NBC, 33.9 rating, 29.6 million homes. 2. (2) “Family Ties,” NBC, 31.0, 27.1 million homes. 3. (3) “Cheers,” NBC, 26.4, 23.1 million homes. 4. “Murder, She Wrote,” CBS, 25.2,22.0 million homes. 5. (13) “The Last Frontier: Part 2,” “CBS Tuesday Night Movie,” 25.0, 21.9 million homes. 6. (6) “Golden Girls,” NBC, 24.6, 21.5 million homes. 7. (5) “Night Court,” NBC, 23.2, 20.3 million homes. 8. (15) “When the Bough Breaks,” “NBC Sunday Night Movie,” 22.3, 19.5 million homes. 9. (11) “Highway to Heaven,” NBC, 21.1, 18.4 million homes. 9. (10) “60Minutes,”CBS,21.1,18.4million homes.
the new TV interest. “This is not an instant romance with somebody else, because that would do a disservice to his relationship with Susan to leap into bed with somebody new, or commit yourself to somebody new,” Ms. Bartlett said. “Whether or not it develops into a romance, we really want to take the entire season to get these people to know each other.” “Spenser” has done marginally better this season than that protoypical P.I. “Mike Hammer,” CBS’ Saturday night sleuth, who subscribes to the love ’em and shoot ’em school of romance. “Spenser” started last year on Friday nights, and was hammered by NBC’s “Miami Vice” and CBS’ “Falcon Crest.” It moved to Tuesday nights, with the luxury of following high-rated “Moonlighting,” and then switched to Saturdays over the summer. Saturday night is a wasteland so far on ABC, and “Spenser” has to follow “Heart of the City,” the lowest-rated drama in prime time. Last week, “Heart” had 6.5 rating, and “Spenser” managed to build to a 10.6. But NBC’s “Hunter,” which follows a string of high-rated comedies, averaged 18.2 against “Spenser.”
The week's best in video
VIDEOCASSETTE SALES 1. Fonda’s New Workout” (Karl-Lorimar) 2. Sound of Music” (CBS-Fox) 3. (HBO-Cannon) 4. Music Man” (Warner) 5. “Down and Out in Beverly Hills” (Touchstone) 6. “Out of Africa” (Universal) 7. “Alien” (CBS-Fox) 8. “Jane Fonda’s Low Impact Aerobic Workout” (Karl-Lorimar) 9. Fonda’s Workout” (Karl-Lorimar) 10. “Kathy Smith’s Body Basics” (JCI) VIDEOCASSETTE RENTALS 1. of Africa” (MCA) 2. “Down and Out in Beverly Hills” (Touchstone) 3. (HBO-Cannon) 4. (Paramount) 5. “Wildcats” (Warner) 6. “Runaway Train” (MGM-UA) 7. Sherlock Holmes” (Paramount) 8. Romance” (RCA-Columbia) 9. “Crossroads” (RCA-Columbia) 10. (RCA-Columbia)