Fall Series Start Dates Announced by CBS

By DIANE HAITHMAN

Aug. 24, 1988 12 AM PT

Times Staff Writer

Fans of “Dallas,” “Newhart” and “The Equalizer” will have to wait until the last week of October to see new episodes of these CBS series.

The network reports that due to production delays caused by the 154-day Writers Guild of America strike that ended Aug. 7, most of its fall entertainment series will not debut until then--and the longest-delayed show will not enter the prime-time lineup until the end of November.

Three of five series that CBS had said during the strike would be used as interim programming have been postponed indefinitely, a network spokesman said Tuesday.

The three, all of which will go into production in September, are “Dolphin Bay,” a one-hour drama about a scientist and his family to be produced in Australia; “Jake’s Journey,” a comedy-fantasy about an American teen-ager in London, to be produced on location, and “The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour,” which the network previously had said would debut Sept. 3.

“These shows have just not been slotted yet,” the spokesman said, adding that the network had made no decision as to when the shows would become part of the schedule.

Another previously announced interim show, the magazine program “High Risk,” will debut Oct. 4. “Live! Dick Clark Presents,” a stop-gap variety program ordered during the strike, begins Sept. 14.

One returning series, “Tour of Duty,” has not received a start date yet due to strike-related production delays and the fact that production of the series is moving from Hawaii to Los Angeles this year, the spokesman said.

Until its series are ready, CBS will fill most of its prime-time hours with TV movies, both old and new. The debut dates for CBS’ fall series are:

Sept. 8: “48 Hours.”

Sept. 14: “Live! Dick Clark Presents.”

Sept. 25: “CBS Sunday Movie.”

Oct. 4: “CBS Tuesday Movie,” “High Risk.”

Oct. 8: “Simon & Simon,” “West 57th.”

Oct. 9: “60 Minutes.”

Oct. 23: “Murder, She Wrote.”

Oct. 26: “The Equalizer,” “Wiseguy,” “Mary Tyler Moore,” “The Van Dyke Show.”

Oct. 27: “Paradise,” “Knots Landing.”

Oct. 28: “Dallas,” “Falcon Crest.”

Oct. 29: “Dirty Dancing.”