Why has Tom Selleck gone island hopping?
Who's the new giant of TV?
Did Boy George get all choked up at the Apollo?
Remember the radio voices of World War II?
Entertainment Tonight is here today, Gone Ferrari, for Monday, May 6th, 1985.
I have a feeling that it's gonna be around for a long time.
Hello everyone, I'm Rob Weller.
And I'm Mary Hart.
Last Tuesday it was NBC, this Friday it'll be CBS, but today it's ABC.
The agenda? New primetime schedules for the fall.
ABC, struggling to get out of third place, announced lots of changes and ten new shows.
The biggest surprise, Different Strokes, starring Gary Coleman-Axt, last week by NBC, was added to the ABC slate.
And here's what the fall lineup will look like.
Monday is the only night without a switch.
ABC sticking with Hardcastle and McCormick, followed by Monday Night Football.
Tuesday starts off with Different Strokes.
Next, another new show, He's the Mayor.
Then, Who's the Boss?
Another new one called Growing Pains, then Moonlighting.
Wednesday starts off with a new show called The Insiders, then Dynasty and Hotel.
Thursday opens with The Fall Guy, Unite Same Time, then Lady Blue.
But Lady Blue will only be around until November when it will be replaced by the spin-off Dynasty 2, The Colby's.
2020 rounds out the Thursday schedule.
ABC has long had problems on Friday night, the night dominated by CBS and Dallas.
They're hoping to change that, leading off with Webster, followed by Mr. Belvedere and Benson.
Then two new entries, Mr. Sunshine, a situation comedy, and Family Honor, a dramatic series.
Saturday night, two new shows, Hollywood Beat and J.G. Culver, starring Robert Wagner.
To be a part of this schedule, I mean, this week looks wonderful.
I think you're going to have a great year, and I'm so delighted to be a part of it.
And I'm so thrilled for all of us, because this is going to be a good one.
Thank you so much.
Then, it's Love Boat in a new time slot at 10 p.m.
Sunday starts with Ripley's Believe It or Not, a new adventure show called MacGyver, and then the ABC Sunday Night Movie.
After the schedule was made public, network programming chief Lou Erlich outlined ABC's objectives.
We have two major objectives this fall.
The first is to continue to increase our household delivery.
And second, and even more importantly, is to once again be dominant in the key 18 to 49 young adult demographic.
The overnight ratings news for ABC wasn't good, but it made NBC very happy.
Alfred Hitchcock Presents scored a 10-mark at Nielsen Overnight average of 18.5 for NBC.
ABC's Lace 2 Part 1 averaged 17.2, and the CBS Sunday Night 9 to 11 competition was third at 12.6.
A Roper poll conducted for the magazine U.S. News and World Report Out today says a majority of Americans trust the TV networks to give them the straight news.
The poll said 58 percent of those surveyed agreed that network TV news coverage is neutral, objective, and middle of the road.
Network journalistic traditions date back to World War II, and the broadcast team put together by the late Edward R. Murrow for CBS Radio to cover the war in Europe.
Forty years later, that journalistic team has held a reunion in London. Peter Kwinhakas reports.
Hello, Johnny. How are you?
Some of them hadn't seen each other for over 30 years.
As part of this week's VE Day coverage, CBS flew in nine of its veterans who had fought World War II armed only with pens and microphones.
Here at the Cafe Royal, where once they spent many off hours, they sat down to trade battle yarns, scripts, and observations under the direction of another former war correspondent.
These men seated around this table, along with Edward R. Murrow and some others who were no longer with us,
they made the first drafts of history during the 1930s and 40s.
I'm just back from the biggest assignment that any American reporter could have so far in this war.
Walter Cronkite had been a wire service reporter competing with the radio boys to get the story out.
It was important for us at the United Press to get our stories back and more important than it was for them.
Our audience was a great deal larger than their audience in radio.
We thought we had priority. They didn't agree with that, but we fought for the phones.
I was known as reckless.
Andy Rooney was a soldier reporter with the Army's Stars and Stripes.
I went up to the front. And it's interesting, I have some opinions about bravery.
It was considered brave, but it was not brave. If you don't understand the danger, it's just dumb.
Eric Severide was a major player on Ed Murrow's team.
The battle to clear the Rhineland has gone well this Sunday.
I don't know if we had much conscious realization that we were creating a new kind of journalism. I think Murrow did.
This is London. The organized killing has ended in Europe.
Murrow put together this team who were wordsmiths and could graphically on radio tell you what they were seeing.
It was better in some ways than television today.
Do they yearn for the old wartime esprit? The common answer was they missed the camaraderie, but not the war.
In London, Peter Kwinhakas Entertainment tonight.
Portions of the reunion will run through Wednesday on the CBS Morning News.
Rupert Murdoch, who has vast publishing holdings in newspapers and magazines, today took a giant step into television.
Gene Wolfe has that story in our news studio.
Rupert Murdoch, international newspaper tycoon and co-owner of 20th Century Fox, is on his way to assembling what could become this country's fourth television network.
Murdoch and his partner Marvin Davis plan to buy six Metro media stations.
That's the largest group of non-network independent stations in the country.
We certainly see with these stations and with our programming capacities, which we have to develop in the future,
developing, I think a network would be the wrong word for it, but the independent stations generally across the country as a fourth force.
To assemble his force, Murdoch and his company are paying $1.5 billion for stations in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington, D.C., Dallas, Fort Worth and Houston.
This, in addition to the programming production capabilities of Fox, lead to inevitable speculation about what will air on the station.
The stations have been extremely well programmed. What we hope to do is to continue and to the degree that there are other resources to add to our program.
Any such transaction must be approved by the Federal Communications Commission.
FCC rules prohibit ownership of a newspaper and television station in the same market.
Murdoch, who owns the Chicago Sun-Times and the New York Post, may eventually have to divest himself of either the papers or the stations.
Also, the FCC requires station owners to be United States citizens.
Murdoch, an Australian, hopes to become an American in a matter of weeks.
I have been a resident here, a taxpayer, for 11 years.
A seventh Metromedia station, WCVB in Boston, is being sold separately in a previously arranged purchase with the Hearst Corporation.
The price? $450 million, the largest single station transaction in history, and more than double what Metromedia paid for it three years ago.
We think that we have appropriately pegged the value of this great station.
And the best answer I can give you is that it's our professional and considered a judgment that that's an appropriate value and price for the station.
And we therefore have agreed to pay that much money for it.
The final details are now being worked out, and the entire deal is expected to be finalized this week.
And we'll be right back.
We'll be right back.
Coming up next, the stars turn out for the reopening of Harlem's legendary Apollo Theater.
And ahead, Tom Selleck.
Magnum moved to England for a two-hour season opener.
The plight of the American farmer got a helping hand and helping voice from three of Hollywood's most famous farm wives,
as Jane Fonda, Jessica Lange, and Cissy Spacek testified before a Congressional Committee on Agriculture.
It was a full-fledged media event, complete with the traditional Washington photo opportunity for actresses Fonda, Lange, and Spacek.
Their Capitol Hill appearance turning a House agricultural hearing room into a standing room-only audience, and bringing full attendance by committee members.
What did the stars know about farm problems? Well, all had had tough farm experiences in recent movies.
The Reagan administration practices a double standard regarding free enterprise.
They want to subsidize silos for MX missiles, but not for family farmers.
We can't turn our backs on these people who have fed us so abundantly and so cheaply throughout our history.
They are in pain, and it is heartbreaking to witness their anguish as they watch their lives stripped away.
Farmers have tried a number of ways to bring their plight to the attention of the public and politicians.
Their hopeful today's Hollywood approach will make a difference in the kind of farm legislation Congress is now hammering out.
Two lives and two careers that span the spectrum of media and entertainment are over.
Tap dancer Hal Leroy, Harold, teen of the movies, died Thursday at 71 following cardiac surgery.
And Jules J. White, who called himself the fourth Stooge after directing or producing over 133 Stooges comedies, died Tuesday at age 84.
Harlem's legendary Apollo Theater was alive and well again Saturday night.
As Carol Miller reports, the evening's activities were kept under the watchful eye of NBC, taping the event for a special to air later this month.
It was opening night all over again for the Apollo Theater.
The music hall, which had been the home of the biggest names in black entertainment from the 30s through the 70s, was reopening its doors.
It was a surprise to a VIP audience and a cast which reads like a who's who in entertainment.
This ushers in a new era for the Apollo and we'll just see what happens.
I have a feeling that it's going to be around for a long time.
Last time I was here I was screaming for the Tim Texians.
The Apollo was a very important part of entertainment history.
The TV extravaganza which is being produced by Motown Productions not only reunited stars who had played together, but those who had only dreamed about performing on the legendary stage.
What's it like being on stage at the Apollo, Rod?
Absolutely frightening. I mean when you come off stage there was little Richard and Wilson Pickett and they're pretty good singers, those guys, you know. So I was worried.
It was quite warm out there, I mean you know, warm feeling.
This is the club Apollo. Well, it's not actually a club, it's just a tent put up for tonight's dinner dance.
Now the dance is going to follow what was supposed to be a three hour TV taping. At this rate they ought to be serving breakfast.
It may have been late when the post taping gala started, but spirits were still high.
It means everything to me. I got my start at the Apollo Theatre in 1956.
The experience of being at the Apollo again is a moment of excitement, memories.
I swear to you the audience made me feel like a queen.
Carol Miller, Entertainment Tonight.
At a Hollywood party over the weekend, TV watching was the only thing on the menu for the cast and crew of Mike Hammer. Lisa Gibbons has that story.
The cast and crew of Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer gathered at producer Jay Bernstein's house to watch the first of nine repeat episodes of the show.
CBS is running the program during the important May ratings period to determine whether the show will do well enough to return to its schedule.
If so, it will go back into production when Stacey Keats gets out of jail on June 7.
When you watched the show tonight, when the opening theme music came on, what were you thinking about?
Well it brings us all back, you know, it's been a rough time for everybody and it'll be real good to go back in the air, you know.
It's momentous. We've weathered several storms in the past and I feel like this is just one more battle.
The one man crusader behind the re-emergence of the show is producer Jay Bernstein, who spent 37 days in 15 cities drumming up support for Mike Hammer.
I said, if you care about this show, if you're a fan of the show, write CBS and tell them to give it another chance.
They did write letters, but apparently not many of them tuned in Saturday night. Mike Hammer came in a distant third in the overnight ratings.
Lisa Gibbons, Entertainment Tonight.
The Tony nominations are announced and soap stars strut their stuff for charity. Those stories when we return.
Nominations for the 39th Annual Tony Awards were announced today in New York and once again shockwaves were felt all along the Great White Way.
The Tony nominating committee decided there will be no award given for choreography or for best actor in a musical.
This just three days after eliminating the best actress in a musical category. Dixie Wantley has more on today's nominations.
There were no real surprises in the best play category. As expected, the four choices are...
As is the Circle rep production focusing on the AIDS crisis.
Veloxy Blues, Neil Simon's sequel to Brighton Beach Memoirs. Hurly Burly, directed by Mike Nichols.
And Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, the story of a 1920's blues singer.
For lead actor in a play are John Lithgow in Requiem for a Heavyweight.
Derek Jacobi for the Royal Shakespeare Company's production of Much Ado About Nothing.
Jim Dale for Joe Egg, the story of a British couple and their handicapped daughter.
And Jonathan Hogan for As Is.
For outstanding lead actress in a play, the nods went to Glinda Jackson in Strange Interlude.
Stockard Channing in Joe Egg.
Rosemary Harris in Pack of Lies, a Cold War spy story.
And Shin-Ed Cusack in Much Ado About Nothing.
Broadway's claim to fame, the musical was particularly hard hit this year.
Out of seven new arrivals, only three are still running.
And all three were nominated.
Grind, marking Ben Varine's return to Broadway.
Big River, a musical adaptation of Huckleberry Finn.
And leader of the pack, about 60's songwriter Ellie Greenwich.
And the final entry, Quilters, the story of American pioneer women, which closed shortly after it opened.
The winners will be announced on Sunday, June 2nd in a live television broadcast on CBS.
Dixie Watley, Entertainment Tonight.
Sex, scandal and sin were put aside briefly this weekend,
as the stars of Daytime's number one soap opera entered the world of high fashion.
Gene Wolfe has the Suds and Duds connection.
Stars from General Hospital appeared out of uniform in designer Eileen Warren's glitter.
Modeling in a fashion show to benefit the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation,
a project Leslie Charleston has been dedicated to for eight years.
Cystic Fibrosis is the number one killer of young children and adults.
And we are close to finding a cure or a control.
We just need the money and that's why we're all here. It's very important.
How did Leslie talk you into helping out on this one?
With these clothes she did not have to talk anybody into it.
A lot of us did this show for her last year and it practically sold out last year for this year because it was such a success.
Does it make you feel more glamorous?
It makes me feel like I want to strut.
I mean all these things, particularly with all the pearls and the beads,
I mean it just makes me feel real hot.
I liked a couple of the dresses and two of the four that I'm wearing I've ended up buying.
So it's proved to be a rather expensive charity event.
Gene Wolfe Entertainment Tonight.
From T-shirt to tux, Tom Selleck has an eye-opener for the season opener.
That story when we come back.
Coming up this week all on Entertainment Tonight.
Tomorrow, Gene Kelly, a salute to the movie's legendary hoover.
Wednesday, Barbara Hauer in France with a preview of the Cannes Film Festival.
Thursday, Danny DeVito, he's going for laughs in Wiseguy.
And Friday, Sharon Gless, she's co-starring with John Ritter in Letting Go.
All this week all on Entertainment Tonight.
Music
What can a private eye from Hawaii do when he's getting beat to the ratings punch
by an obstetrician from New York City?
In the case of Magnum P.I. versus the Cosby Show,
the decision by Tom Selleck and company was obvious.
Trade in one island for another.
There's nothing really new.
Somebody told me once there's only seven plots, seven basic plots, that may be true.
It's kind of how you do it.
And we felt we were putting a slightly new wrinkle on it.
The new wrinkle for next season's premiere of Magnum P.I. is a radical change of locale.
Selleck will temporarily trade in his Ferrari and the informality of Hawaii
for a helicopter and the stately grounds of a British castle.
I like it because I think it's a natural for a show.
I didn't want to go someplace just as a reward for the cast and crew.
That's right.
The cast and crew of Magnum P.I. are taking a vacation from Hawaii
for a two-hour episode that will kick off their sixth season.
Magnum!
I'll be right back.
According to the storyline, Magnum is hired to set up security at the castle,
the ancient moat around the place apparently having outlived its effectiveness.
Roll camera.
236, take one.
And, playback.
Back in Hawaii, Selleck usually wears a flowered shirt,
but England called for a bit more formality.
I wrestled with the rest of his wardrobe because I've been quite specific about what he wears in Hawaii,
but he can't wear those kind of clothes over here.
It was interesting finding a wardrobe that would suit Magnum
because he really doesn't have a lot of money.
He lives well because he's a bit of a freeloader.
So, Magnum will trade in his trunks for a tux and lose the baseball cap,
but only for the first episode.
Cut!
I frankly was quite worried.
I felt after five years of a series I'd be getting scripts that really just had new titles
that we'd already done and somebody rehashed them.
And, I'd be tired of the character.
And, none of that's happened.
I get very tired physically and emotionally from doing the show, but I'm not tired of it.
Are all the changes for the Magnum P.I. premiere
a reaction to being on opposite the Cosby show, the hottest show on TV?
I'm not too concerned. I think more, as some people are,
but I don't think we should ever make decisions based on what somebody's doing on another show.
You just do your show the best way you can.
And our show has always evolved and changed and it will continue to do so,
but it won't be as a reaction to anything.
He looks good over there, doesn't he?
Doesn't look tired.
Tomorrow on Entertainment Tonight, Tony Danza, Gene Kelly, Wayne Rogers,
and backstage coverage of the Academy of Country Music Awards.
We're going to leave you today with a new video from Katrina and the Waves.
It's called Walking on Sunshine.
I'm on sunshine, baby. Oh, yeah, I'm on sunshine, baby. Oh, I'm walking on sunshine. Whoa!
Tonight, after the Action 6 news night guest
catch the craziest crew around on WKRT on Cincinnati
followed by the incomparable Benny Hill Show
the fun gets underway at 11.30, here on Channel 6