Tartikoff: The Education of a Yale Man

TV or not TV. . . .

THE RAVAGES OF AGE: Pretty strong blast by NBC’s Brandon Tartikoff against Fox.

But why?

I mean, we really try to understand things like why he’d say Fox Broadcasting panders to the “worst aspects” of viewers.

After all, Fox has aired “The Simpsons,” “The Tracey Ullman Show,” “It’s Garry Shandling’s Show,” “In Living Color,” “Cops” and “Alien Nation.”

Not bad for a network that’s less than four years old.

Maybe we’re getting there.

First, Tartikoff, a refined fellow who studied under Robert Penn Warren (“All the King’s Men”) at Yale, is also a fierce fighter. His NBC network is No. 1, he has no match as a programmer and he hates to lose.

So perhaps Fox should take the blast as a compliment. No one bothers attacking a weak competitor.

Second, Fox does put on a lot of greasy kid’s stuff, since its target audience is between 18 and 34 years old.

And, well, we hate to say it, but Tartikoff--a boy wonder when he became the president of NBC Entertainment 10 years ago--is now 41.

He’s suddenly the grand old man of network programmers. Before you know it, he’ll be giving up softball for golf and subscribing to Modern Maturity.

Greasy kid’s stuff can indeed get on one’s nerves. But appealing to viewers’ worst aspects is not exactly exclusive to Fox: It was NBC that put on Geraldo Rivera’s satanism special and the “Favorite Son” miniseries.

Still, Tartikoff loves to put on the gloves. And then there’s the optimistic view: After his decade atop the TV dogfight, we may finally be learning--from his reaction to the greasy kid’s stuff--that you can take the boy out of Yale but you can’t take Yale out of the boy.

We like happy endings.

ROCK AROUND THE COP: Steven Bochco’s new musical drama series for ABC, “Cop Rock,” is the best argument yet for stereo TV.

The way to watch it is loud , to get the full effect.

We managed a look at the hour pilot for the fall police show with music (by Randy Newman), and if any new series is going to rouse debate, it’s this one.

“You may hate it,” producer Bochco has said, knowing he’s venturing into an offbeat concept for viewers.

Maybe. But you may well love it, too.

Hard to figure why people think a musical drama series is far out for TV. The form certainly isn’t new to theater or movies. Is it that we’re conditioned to sameness and mediocrity by the networks? If so, then we’re in TV’s hip pocket.

“Twin Peaks” broke the rules, and it’s exciting. So were several wonderful PBS miniseries that integrated music, fantasy and drama--”The Singing Detective” and “Pennies From Heaven.”

And “Cop Rock,” kind of a “Hill Street Blues” with music, should create excitement too.

The key will be whether consistently good musical numbers can be composed each week--especially with Newman gone after the first show.

“He’s got a full table,” Bochco says.

It’s a little early--but keep an eye out for the premiere.

And turn up the volume.

SPECIAL DELIVERY: What a remarkably tasteful and buoyant episode of a pregnancy exam last weekend on Lifetime’s “The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd.” Molly (Blair Brown) looks fine with her added weight. And--speaking of music--there it was again as her late father materialized and sang to her as she sat on a park bench. Very charming.

SUMMER AND SMOKE: Yes, indeed, says ABC--”Twin Peaks” will open its new season with a two-hour special following a late-summer rerun of the series.

NEW AGE: How has ABC changed? Well, a decade ago, its big Saturday-night tandem was “The Love Boat” and “Fantasy Island.” This fall, it’s “China Beach” and “Twin Peaks.”

DOWNSIDE: Alas, says ABC, Dr. Ruth (Westheimer) got pink-slipped for her proposed new-season sitcom. The pilot of “Dr. Ruth’s House,” in which she plays a university professor who shares her home with five students, airs on ABC June 22. And then, says a network spokesman, it’s all over.

THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT: The show business coverage on KTTV Channel 11’s nightly news is by far the best turned out by a local TV station. There’s some real reporting instead of just the usual rundowns on openings and electronic press releases from the studios.

MAN ABOUT TOWN: Next to Stan Chambers of KTLA Channel 5, is there a better all-purpose reporter on local TV than Phil Shuman of KNBC Channel 4? Out on the street, filling in on sports--or whatever--he’s a very workmanlike fellow. No slop, no sentiment, no small talk.

UPDATE: Gay-bashing is the subject of CBS’ “48 Hours” on Thursday. CBS, of course, is the network that took heat from the gay community for Andy Rooney’s comments about homosexuals. Hmmm. Well, let’s just assume “48 Hours” is tackling the subject simply because it’s deeply disturbing and, unfortunately, very timely.

TOMORROW IS ANOTHER DAY: Morton Downey Jr., one-time symbol of “trash TV,” has a couple of gigs on NBC. He’ll be a panelist on this fall’s daytime revival of “To Tell the Truth.” And he’ll appear in the Mary Tyler Moore-Tony Curtis TV movie comedy “Thanksgiving Day.” There’s no business like show business. Right?

BEING THERE: David Letterman says he woke up in a cold sweat: “I dreamed I was in one of those Dockers commercials.”

Say good night, Gracie. . . .