Banner Graphic, Volume 22, Number 103, Greencastle, Putnam County, 3 January 1992 — Page 26

Page 16

Putnam County Channel Selector

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Regular Broadcast Stations

WRTV-ABC 6 6 10 6 6 6 6 WBAK-ABC 38 19 WISH-CBS S_ 28 9 8_ 8 8 8 — WLFI-CBS 1823 WCIA-CBS 3 Availa >le only in some areas WTHI-CBS 10 1010 10 1° WTHR-NBC 13 13 12 13 13 13 13 WTWO-NBC 22_ WICD-NBC 15 Availa >le only in some areas. WXIN-FOX 59 11 22 2ZZZ 9 9 24 WTTV-IND 4 $1 2 4 4 4 4 WMCC-IND 23 199 9 24 WHMB-IND 4037 7 WFYI-PBS 2021 2 11 11 23 WTIU-PBS 30 29 WIIB-IND . 63

Putnam County Cable Channels

A& E 27 WGN-Chicaqo 5 11 9 3 3 9 TBS-Atlanta! 21 4 12 CNN 2 205 5 32 USA 25 16 ~ 1121 ESPN 24 13 3 12 12 3 TNN 15 6 10 2 2 FAMILY 4 29 1712 LIFE 9 DISCOVERY 12 26 1822 TNT 26 3135 NICKELODEON 3 15 19 20 MTV 18 20 19 CSPAN 17 AMC 23J

I Premium Channels

DISNEY 20 720 HBO 22 5 7 *ls 23 24 SHOWTIME _7 25 18__ IMG. 17 CINEMAXS ENCORE 14

* Channel 15 is HBO’s Comedy Channel

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Truth stranger than fiction in ’9l TV year

By DEBORAH HASTINGS AP Television Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) of 1991, truth was stranger than prime-time fiction and it got better ratings. From the Persian Gulf War to the U.S. Supreme Court confirmation hearings of Clarence Thomas, real life made for more compelling television than make-believe sitcoms. Ratings soared when networks pre-empted prime-time entertainment for extended war coverage. In October, ABC ran a late-night Thomas hearing from Capitol Hill and drew viewers in 20 million American homes. It was the night’s most-watched broadcast. SUCH WERE ISOLATED success stories. For networks overall, the number of viewers continued to drop. Though history in the making made for great ratings, the historical positions held by NBC, CBS and ABC as gods of nighttime television continued to erode. At midyear, the networks’ share of viewers had dropped to 62 percent, a far cry from the 90 percent audience share held by the Big Three broadcasters when they were the only game in town. Ratings experts predicted that share would soon dip below 50 percent as viewers increasingly click their way through a dial that, on the average, has 60 broadcast and cable stations to choose from plus a VCR. So, as we enter 1992 and an even larger television universe (or, as Bruce Springsteen laments in a new song titled “57 Channels and Nothin’ On”), let us remember the best and worst of 1991. AND GIVE THANKS for books. In the best of real-life events category, the competition is intense. The Persian Gulf War and CNN’s emergence as the network of record for breaking news topped the year in TV. But the war’s hopping Scud studs (green and overreacting TV reporters, broadcasting live from nowhere near the front) qualified as new lows in TV news history. Sex proved just as titillating in reality as in soap operas. Anita Hill’s articulate and blunt testimony about alleged harassment from U.S. Supreme Court nominee Thomas replete with pornographic movie titles and remarks about pubic hair in soda cans riveted and divided the country. WHO WAS TO BE believed? Who looked

more believable? Such questions and topics were repeated as William Kennedy Smith’s rape trial was carried live, gavel-to-gavel, on CNN, although an electronic dot obscured his accuser’s face to protect her privacy. After Smith’s acquittal, the woman agreed to an interview with Diane Sawyer on “Primetime Live” and Patricia Bowman became a household name. In the best of entertainment programs, the 1991 fall season was highlighted by a walk down memory lane. Nearly every new drama series was a blast from the past, with best being NBC’s “I’ll Fly Away,” about a Southern lawyer and his black housekeeper in the days preceding the Civil Rights movement. There were numerous lows in the fall season, most notably NBC’s “The Adventures of Mark and Brian” which proved that anything is indeed possible in Hollywood. Where else could two sophomoric disc jockeys whose most memorable radio skit involved persuading grown men and women to wet themselves on the air get their own TV show? THEIR SERIES, WHICH was only slightly more intellectual than their radio show, was thankfully yanked. The network, though, continued to produce additional shows for later broadcast. “Man of the People,” marking James Gamer’s return to television after a 12-year absence, also proved embarrassing and short-lived. ABC pulled nearly all of its hourlong drama shows as it ended the spring season and has languished in third place for most of the fall race. “China Beach,” led by John Sacret Young, an angry executive producer and co-creator,- went out with a bang. The acclaimed Vietnam War scries rode into the sunset with a string of stunning episodes examining its characters’ lives in their postwar years. “THIRTYSOMETHING,” meanwhile, on the same network, killed off one of its lead characters (Peter Horton’s Gary Shepard), cured Nancy’s cancer and left Hope and Michael’s pristine marriage decidedly on the rocks as its creators ended the show to pursue movie careers. And CBS, while hyping the return of variety show queen Carol Burnett and promising to become the No. 1 network, lost the important November sweeps and Miss Burnett. Earlier this month, the comedian announced her 4-week-old variety series was leaving the air because it was too costly to produce.

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