Something old.
Something new.
Something borrowed.
Something blue.
The big events for Wednesday, March 12th, 1986 are all right here on Entertainment Tonight.
Hello everyone, I'm Rob Weller.
And I'm Mary Hart.
The 4244 voting members of the Motion Picture Academy must have their ballots marked and back to the Academy by next Tuesday afternoon.
The votes will then be tabulated, winner's names placed in sealed envelopes and made public on the Oscar telecast March 24th.
Over 5,000 other Americans have already cast their votes via a Gallup poll telephone survey.
And last night the winners were announced on the People's Choice Awards.
Dale Harimoto reports.
Unlike the Oscars, Grammys and Emmys, the winners of this award are picked by a public survey.
I'm just totally thrilled and really surprised by this and very, very, very happy. So thank you very much.
Like all other award ceremonies, there are private parties afterwards.
But when it's a People's Choice Award, it has special meaning, even to celebrities who are used to picking up accolades.
It's the most touching award of all for me because it means that the people themselves care about what you do.
So often when we're doing television and film, it becomes, you get insulated from your fans and your people.
And this is really a special award to us to know that they appreciate us and love us.
We do it for ourselves and we do it for the money. We do it because we love it.
But if there's no people out there to communicate with, there's no point in doing any of it.
Makes me very proud of my mother. That's all. Thanks.
And I love him for it.
It's incredible. And you know, being here with all the other people, I mean, I met people from dynasty, you know, Meryl Streep,
but people that I've wanted to meet for a long time. Sammy Davis comes up to me and says, hey man, I'm proud of you.
I said, you know, I said, whoa, I'm like a kid at Christmas.
Pretty happy tonight?
I'm sure am.
Johnny, you want more pictures?
Yeah.
And in New York, there were also award winners.
Well, that's special about tonight is then I am receiving the prize from the people and through the hand of Mayor Koch, the mayor of this beautiful city of New York.
And they are two things very, very special.
It's just more important to us to hear it from the people than the critics. That's what we're doing it for.
It is in a blue ribbon panel. They call up a certain number of people and supposedly here's the results.
How was that special for you?
Well, it's important to us because the people have voted for us. And as long as they keep voting for us, it means we'll be on the air much longer and have a job for a long time.
Sylvester Stallone won the People's Choice Award as favorite motion picture actor.
The Favorite Actress Award went to Meryl Streep who was also voted favorite all around female entertainer.
An award she shared with Barbara Mandrell.
And Back to the Future was voted the nation's favorite movie.
The National Football League is going to use TV instant replays on a one year trial basis beginning this fall.
An official in the press box will watch a television monitor and have the power to overrule officials on the field.
Now, here's an entertainment tonight instant replay.
Notice the announcer going to straighten his tie. All choked up over that story.
Well, here's how the use of instant replay by NFL officials could have affected one game.
Super Bowl 17. Now the score was 20 to 17. Washington over Miami with less than two minutes left in the game.
Washington had driven to the six yard line when John Riggins was given the ball.
Now Riggins will take the handoff right here from the quarterback and he's hit by a Miami Dolphin.
This is a crucial point in the game. Looks like a fumble.
Now, was it indeed a fumble recovered by Miami or was Riggins down?
Here's the instant replay as the officials would be able to see it now in the upcoming year.
Is the knee down first or does the ball pop out? Still can't tell.
We'll take a look at one more angle.
There's the official signaling that he thought it was down.
Well, it's hard to say.
Now if Miami of course had picked up the ball they would have had a chance to tie or win the game.
As it turned out, Washington scored on the next play and won Super Bowl 17, 27 to 17.
Could you explain that again please?
Dennis the Menace, the comic strip character who gives Mr. Wilson fits, is 35 years old today.
Another 35th birthday of note being celebrated this year.
Sing it in the rain. Like Dennis the Menace, it's still going full speed ahead.
Good morning, good morning, it's great to stay up late. Good morning, good morning, do you?
Debbie Reynolds and Donald O'Connor first performed together 35 years ago.
Donald and I worked together in singing in the rain in 1951 and I called up Donald about two months ago I think.
And I said, Donald, this is 1986 and wouldn't it be fun, let's get together again.
The two have been rehearsing together in North Hollywood and will open their act this weekend at an Atlantic City hotel.
We're going to hoof Donald at a whole number because he's the choreographer and he puts these things together
because actually Donald taught me how to dance in singing in the rain. I didn't dance. Donald taught me.
Oh, thank you.
Just sing it in the rain. Just sing it in the rain.
Just sing it, sing it in the rain.
Next on Entertainment Tonight, Susan St. James talks about special children and a special friend.
And ahead, Yoko Ono, John Lennon lives on in Song and Son.
Mary Tyler Moore's news show may be floundering in the ratings, but she ranks right up there in two of the top five situation comedies of all time.
According to a recent poll of television columnists, they chose the Mary Tyler Moore show as the best,
followed by All in the Family, I Love Lucy, MASH, The Dick Van Dyke Show.
By the way, My Mother the Car was chosen worst of all time.
Next week will mark the second anniversary of one of CBS's most popular sitcoms, Kate and Allie.
Barbara Hauer talked with Kate, Susan St. James, about an upcoming episode and a past friendship.
For almost 20 years, which is nearly half her life, Susan St. James has been chalking up hits on television,
which entitled her to some special privileges, like CBS originating Kate and Allie not from Hollywood,
but from the East Coast where St. James and her family live.
She also managed to talk the network into having next week's episode of the show deal with a subject dear to her heart
and introduce a mentally retarded character.
I'm Kate.
Louis.
I know.
Does that mean I can stay?
Better make some coffee.
We wanted to present it the way we felt like presenting it, and because they would like to use him a lot,
and he's going to be a continuing character, and he's living in the basement of our building.
We can probably stretch, and as people love Kate and Allie more and more, they don't care if they laugh every minute.
And we can probably touch on what his pains are, but we've mostly focused on the charm of these children
and trying to alleviate people's fear of these kids, because for the most part, except in the most extreme cases,
these kids are extremely lovable and very likable.
And take the onus off it a little bit.
If Michael Contriman becomes a regular on the program, he'll likely be a part of what St. James considers her extended family.
To her delight, this has been the case with the cast of each of her three hit television series,
but such closeness compounded her great sorrow at the death of a former colleague on Macmillan and wife, Rock Hudson.
Mac?
What?
What's your number?
It's in the road, Max.
Mac, you're impossible.
That's possible.
He came to work, he was never late, he was never in a bad mood the whole entire time.
He had a class that I just don't see anymore, and I think that even the mystery that goes along with that is gone.
That's why we all love Lady Di. She's not allowed to talk.
You know, there's a mystery there.
You still miss him a lot, don't you?
I miss him a lot. In fact, when I was there, I went out there for the service, and everybody got up, it was,
and spoke all the way to the people that had worked in his home.
It was a really homey thing, and I thought, I know these people. These are my friends.
I really did go to work every day for five years with Rock Hudson. He really was my pal.
The loss of a loved one has made St. James philosophical about the future.
I think this is going to be it. I think Kate and Ally is going to be it, because my kids are getting awful interesting,
and that's what I want to do.
One other note, Lindsay Wagner will be guest starring on an upcoming episode of Kate and Ally,
and her appearance will be spun off next year as a series called Late Bloomer.
This will be the first sitcom for the bionic woman.
A new action adventure movie starring Sean Connery and Christopher Lambert opened last week.
Leonard Maltin says, if you're going to see Highlander, be forewarned,
dramamine is a must, both for the movie and his review.
I've just seen the new movie called Highlander with Christopher Lambert, Sean Connery,
and I'd like to tell you what I thought of it.
Now, how would you like to watch a whole movie where the camera's doing gymnastics like that every step of the way?
The guy who made Highlander is a refugee from rock videos, which I figured out real fast.
What I can't figure out is how he and his colleagues bungled a good fantasy idea so badly.
It's all about an immortal being who's fighting the same band of enemies who've been after his head since the 16th century.
Agh! Ramirez.
Aaaaaah!
The Highlander! Where is he?
Christopher Lambert is the Highlander who engages in a lot of high-tech, high-energy battles,
while a New York City police forensics expert tries to unravel the mystery of this ageless and suspicious character.
I don't know what it feels like to be immortal, but I do feel as if I spent a lifetime watching this movie.
Not only is it long and muddled, I thought I'd need a motion sickness bag from all those helicopter shots and crane shots and skycam shots.
But I think the frosting on the cake was the insult of watching a slew of blatant plugs for a big hotel chain.
So not only does the movie look like a rock video, it's even got commercials.
Boy, all that money, all those special effects, all for naught.
I'm giving Highlander a three. And I'm Leonard Maltin. Entertainment tonight.
Thanks, Leonard. We're still trying to get the cameraman off the ceiling.
Ticket buyers surveyed on both coasts by Movie Track gave Highlander only one and a half stars out of a possible four.
Three percent rated it the very best. Twenty-five percent loved it. Thirty-four percent liked it,
while thirty-one percent were disappointed, and seven percent rated it a bomb.
Movie Track survey found thirty-seven percent of the audience came to see Sean Connery.
That is an appearance, Movie Track says, will be missed by anyone going out for popcorn.
Movie Track's prediction, Highlander will take the low road at the box office.
John Lennon's widow talks about peace, love, and harmony among the Lennons.
Coming up on Entertainment Tonight, tomorrow, Linda Grey takes over as the boss for a Dallas episode
and an exclusive movie preview of The Money Pit starring Shelly Long and Tom Hanks.
Friday, Darryl Hall cuts a solo album in London, and twenty shows that change TV goes for high-tech humor with laugh-in.
Very interesting. All on Entertainment Tonight.
Coming up this weekend, Entertainment This Week presents Rona Barrett's special edition,
a report on the new bosses of the porn film business and the best customers also, women.
At Rona's house in Beverly Hills, an uncensored, uninhibited, and outspoken dinner with Diane Cannon,
Marriott Hartley, and Oprah Winfrey.
And in Paris, the first television interview in six years with director Roman Polanski,
since he fled the United States to avoid prison.
It was one of those bad moments, and I have an instinct of trying to erase them from my memory.
This weekend, as Entertainment This Week presents Rona Barrett's special edition.
Some musical chairs news on TV to pass along.
Actor Wayne Rogers will be filling in at the Good Morning America anchor desk next week while David Hartman vacations.
And Connie Chung's last day on NBC News at Sunrise is a week from this Friday.
She's currently in contract negotiations with the network,
and is expected to spend most of her time working on NBC's magazine show, American Almanac.
This Friday, Showtime will televise a program called The Lennon Legacy, John and Julian.
It's a combination of Julian Lennon's first concert tour in 1985 and John Lennon's last concert in 1972.
Appearing with Lennon that night was his widow, Yoko Ono, who talked with Barbara Hauer.
It was a hot August night in 1972 when John Lennon took over the stage at Madison Square Garden to raise money for mentally handicapped children.
It would be Lennon's final concert.
In 1980, he would be killed in the streets of New York.
But eight years earlier, it was an especially happy time in the life of the ill-fated Beatles.
We were very much in love with each other.
And after this concert, we just went to the backstage and we just hugged each other and said, we did it, we did it, you know.
And it was just an incredible moment.
Lennon and Ono had also won a personal battle against drugs.
Well, it shows, I think, because, you know, when people are clean, they tend to be a little bit overweight, not skinny, skinny, you know.
And that's how we look.
When I see myself there, I could have had maybe five pounds less, but it's all right.
With the public release of both videotapes, do you think it will finally lay to rest any lingering rumors that there's friction between you and Julian?
I hope so, because we're just getting along very well.
We always have been, really.
But people around us sort of made something out of it, especially the journalists, excuse me.
They just like a negative story or maybe they just like to have fun with it, you know.
If John were alive, what do you think he'd think of seeing his tape and Julian's tape played side by side?
Oh, he'll be very touched.
I think that he'll be very proud of our family and both children are just very special and very beautiful.
And they're both very talented.
And I'm sure he'll be very proud of them.
When we come back, the first music video from Crossroads.
Here's the ET Digest for Wednesday, the 12th of March.
New on home video, The Point, narrated by Ringo Starr.
And Codename Emerald, starring Max Fonsito, Eric Stoltz and Ed Harris.
And new in the record store, Chuck Berry's Rock and Roll Rarities.
Celebrating birthdays today.
Marlon Jackson is 29.
James Taylor is 38.
Liza Minnelli, 40.
Al Jarreau is 46.
Barbara Feldman, 47.
NBC's Lloyd Dobbins, 50.
And playwright Edward Albee is 58.
Rocky IV packed a mean punch at the box office and has had some heavy hitters on the pop charts.
Scott Osborne reports the latest movie music from Rocky IV is being served up by a New York singer who proves success comes to those who wait.
Meet music's answer to Rocky.
Less than a month ago, Robert Tepper was working for TIFFS, waiting tables in Times Square.
Here's the drinks you ordered. Here's your Bloody Mary. I can tell you need it.
Now, Robert Tepper is serving up the third hit from the Rocky IV soundtrack. No easy way out.
So many people submitted songs for that thing. I'm sure there were hundreds, you know. And you never know what the outcome's going to be.
There's an old showbiz expression, don't quit your day job.
There's some very talented people, you know, all over America, working in restaurants. It's probably the most untapped source of talent in the world.
So Robert Tepper, former TIFFE, is now the TIFFER.
All of a sudden the movie comes out and I don't know what's happening. I'm working here, I'm working here, I'm working here.
All of a sudden they start playing the song on the radio. It starts climbing up the charts pretty soon. No more restaurants.
It's amazing. Only in America. What can I tell you folks?
President Reagan, who has called daughter Patti Davis' new book a novel piece of fiction, today denied he's put any pressure on talk shows to block interviews with her.
And said he hopes she, quote, makes a lot of money from the novel.
Davis is currently on a promotional tour for the book, which tells of a California governor who becomes president and is married to a cold, fashion-conscious woman.
Scheduled appearances on the Merv Griffin show and The Tonight Show were recently canceled.
She did, however, appear on Donahue after reports of pressure to cancel her.
Phil Donahue told USA Today, quote, there was an effort to discourage us from doing the show.
The pressure did not come from anyone connected to or in government service.
In addition to Donahue, Davis has appeared on several network programs and entertainment this week.
Sounds like a story for a good novel.
The next one.
Yeah, the cancellation. Robin Williams, Whoopi Goldberg and Billy Crystal joined up to provide comic relief in Washington.
And all-star turnout for a hot new club in New York, plus Linda Gray. That's all tomorrow on Entertainment Tonight.
And we'll also have an exclusive movie preview of The Money Pit, which stars Shelly Long and Tom Hanks.
Crossroads, starring Ralph Macchio, opens this Friday and sure as spring follows winter, hopefully soon.
There's a music video. It's the theme from Crossroads with Ry Cooder. See you tomorrow.
Bye bye.
Now a magazine. Now stay tuned for Highway to Heaven. Next here on WJRTV 10.