Networks Bank on the Bakkers, Beach Boys

TV or not TV. . . .

VITAL SIGNS: The networks are about to resurrect cultural history--Jim and Tammy Bakker, the Beach Boys and “Green Acres.”

All will be the subjects of special shows during the monthlong May ratings sweeps, which begin Thursday.

But wait--there are also Frank Sinatra, Joe Cocker and Richard Nixon if you look elsewhere than the networks, which more and more people are doing.

If you go by their stratospheric ratings on “Nightline,” Jim and Tammy figure to get a big look-see when NBC offers their story, “Fall From Grace,” on Sunday.

Except that this is with actors--Kevin Spacey and Bernadette Peters. Will viewers accept anything but the real thing--with which nothing compares?

Anyway, if you’d rather make other plans Sunday, ABC is counterprogramming the Bakkers with its own drama, “The Story of the Beach Boys: Summer Dreams,” which goes into the group’s personal lives.

For those who want nothing to do with reality, May 18 seems a good night to splurge--CBS will present “Return to Green Acres,” a two-hour epic reuniting the cast of the old series, headed by Eva Gabor and Eddie Albert.

These TV revivals always seem to get good ratings. A “Batman” reunion, right after the movie, would probably break the Nielsen meters.

Speaking of revivals, that’s where Sinatra, Cocker and Nixon come in.

On Sunday--if the Bakkers and Beach Boys don’t grab you--the Disney Channel is presenting the first show of what promises to be a wondrous television experience: 13 Sinatra musical specials of the past, with a different one every other month.

The first is the 1973 beauty, “Ol’ Blue Eyes Is Back.”

On May 4, meanwhile, KCET Channel 28, via PBS, offers up “Richard Nixon Reflects,” a 90-minute interview with the former President.

KCET, in fact, has a rather colorful May sweeps planned. Consider these outings: “This Is Spinal Tap” on May 4, the Bob Dylan documentary “Don’t Look Back” on May 11 and “Joe Cocker: Mad Dogs & Englishmen” on May 18.

LAUGH TRACK: Seems absurd to say that “Roseanne” may be slipping since it just finished No. 1 for the season. But NBC notes that since the start of last November’s sweeps, “The Cosby Show” and “Cheers” have been the top two series. Hmmm.

BANK NOTES: If you say it fast, Tom Werner and Time Warner sound an awful lot alike. They both mean money. Werner, who just bought the San Diego Padres, is the partner of Marcy Carsey in producing three of TV’s top four hits this season--”Roseanne,” “The Cosby Show” and “A Different World.”

HOMER: KTTV Channel 11’s weekend marathon marking the Dodgers’ 100th anniversary hooked me time and again. And what a Hollywood climax when that 105-year-old woman tossed what looked like a perfect strike --just a few feet, of course--to get the next century going.

GO WEST, YOUNG MAN: Did anyone at KTTV note how many times the Dodgers have been rained out since moving to L.A. from Brooklyn 32 years ago? Answer: all of 15 times.

LOVE’S SWEET SONG: Will ABC’s “PrimeTime Live” offer regular updates of Marla Maples, Donald Trump’s friend, now that her interview last Thursday gave the series a rare winning night? The show averaged 25% of the national TV audience. Diane Sawyer’s talk with Maples even knocked off a rerun of “L.A. Law.” Look at it this way--it’s “Dynasty,” but with Donald, Ivana and Marla instead of John Forsythe, Linda Evans and Joan Collins.

THE FACTS OF LIFE: NBC’s “Cheers” and “Wings” brought ABC’s “Twin Peaks” back to Earth--down to a 21% audience share--in last week’s clash. With “Cheers” simply devastating, ABC’s ads suggesting that admirers tape “Twin Peaks” are right on target: Several of our callers indicate that’s what some of the younger audience is doing, as well as passing around copies to friends.

MAN OF THE HOUR: Isn’t Kyle MacLachlan, the off-the-wall FBI agent in “Twin Peaks,” kind of kin to “Columbo” with that cheerfully foxy and deadly efficient manner? Think about it. If “Twin Peaks” folds, ABC should retain the MacLachlan character for another series. MacLachlan, by the way, should feel right at home in the Pacific Northwest setting of “Twin Peaks”--he was born and raised in Yakima, Wash., attended the University of Washington in Seattle and then joined the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland.

PARTNERS IN CRIME: This Saturday’s “Columbo” on ABC was co-written by Steven Bochco, who wrote for the old, initial run of the Peter Falk series before hitting the jackpot with “Hill Street Blues” and “L.A. Law.” In Saturday’s outing, Columbo tracks a celebrity dentist who murders an actor who’s been having an affair with his wife. Title: “Uneasy Lies the Crown.”

HEAVY DUTY: If it’s curtains Saturday for CBS’ Vietnam series “Tour of Duty,” it sure goes out with a bang. After three seasons of being matched against “The Cosby Show,” “Roseanne,” “The Wonder Years,” “The Golden Girls” and “Empty Nest,” the wartime drama hits pay dirt with a fine two-hour bid for renewal that makes its move from the battlefield to the home front. With proper handling, it could evolve into a whole new series drawing on both “Born on the Fourth of July” and--despite the huge differences in the conflicts--the post-World War II film “The Best Years of Our Lives.”

PLAYBACK: Get out the VCR. Producer Aaron Spelling talks about his life and career in a two-parter on NBC’s “Later With Bob Costas” next week--on Tuesday and Wednesday nights.

BEING THERE: “I hate spunk,” said Lou Grant (Ed Asner) on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.”

Say good night, Gracie. . . .