Losing Her Partner a ‘Trial’ for Gless

TV or not TV . . .

STARTING OVER: Cagney misses Lacey.

Sharon Gless says her new CBS series, “The Trials of Rosie O’Neill,” is “more difficult” than her former “Cagney & Lacey” cop show.

Gless played policewoman Chris Cagney, Tyne Daly her partner, Mary Beth Lacey. They won six best actress Emmys between them. Now Gless is a public defender in the hourlong “Rosie O’Neill.”

“Tyne carried half the load before,” says Gless.

“The first day I started the new show, I put Cagney aside and was into Rosie. Then I got this huge yellow balloon and a card from Tyne that said ‘From Your Partner,’ and I just started crying and realized I missed her.”

Gless says she still gets edgy when the national ratings arrive on Tuesdays: She remembers how CBS canceled “Cagney & Lacey” early in its run--until an outpouring of letters from viewers helped bring it back.

“I’d like to stay,” she says.

STAYING ALIVE: The ratings for “Roseanne” show slippage in the first two weeks of the new season--but it still gets dynamite demographics.

Even though the series drew only 26% of the audience last week compared to 25% for a competing special from “Matlock”--which stars Andy Griffith as a lawyer--”Roseanne” got the viewers that TV executives yearn for: young women and kids.

What’s more, “Roseanne” got them in droves--41% of women 18-34 years old, 45% of teens and 39% of children 2-11. “Matlock,” meanwhile, got the 50-and-older audience.

When it’s time to sell “Roseanne” into the rerun market, its demographics will be perfect for syndication’s most profitable hours--late afternoon and early evening, when children control TV viewing and sitcom repeats are dominant.

RULES OF THE GAME: “L.A. Law,” of course, won over “Twin Peaks” for best drama series at the Emmy Awards. But there’s a rather interesting footnote.

The panel of jurors that voted the award wasn’t shown all of the “Twin Peaks” entry--the two-hour pilot.

That is confirmed by John Leverence, awards director of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, which presents the Emmys.

Leverence says a “special rule” for program entries limits them to “the standard running time for a series episode.” The competing dramas were weekly one-hour shows.

According to Leverence, the “Twin Peaks” office was informed of the situation and “they said they felt the best work they had done was on the pilot.”

Indeed.

A producer who served on the panel said he and another producer-juror looked at each other in disbelief when the truncated “Twin Peaks” pilot was begun well into the show.

“Twin Peaks” was totally shut out on the national, prime-time Emmy telecast.

ONE MORE TIME: “The Steve Allen Show” of 1956-60 was as funny as any series in TV history, with a classic ensemble that included Tom Poston, Don Knotts and Louis Nye.

And that’s a good reason to demand that your cable company carry the new Ha! comedy channel--because this week, 100 segments of the Allen series will become part of the daily program mix.

“What I’m glad about is that all the guys have had good success in their careers,” says Allen. “I don’t think they got credit for how brilliant they were as a group. I sent them all fan letters three weeks ago.”

Poston, who recently wound up a long run as handyman George Utley on “Newhart,” is right back at work.

He does voice-overs, he played Cap’n Andy in a Sacramento production of “Show Boat”--and this Sunday he joins Fox’s new sitcom “Good Grief” as a con artist who’s the minister in a mortuary, the setting of the show.

“I was so content with the ‘Newhart’ experience, I had no difficulty with the show going off,” says Poston. “I’ve always said I’d be willing to go into the twilight with Bob Newhart because I would work with him on absolutely anything.”

ABOUT FACE: If the early season blossoming of Gerald McRaney’s “Major Dad” holds up, the show could be a key player in CBS’ comeback attempt--useful in any number of places throughout the schedule to help the network build comedy blocks.

A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC: Carol Burnett’s 30-minute anthology may expand to an hour for a November comedy special with music, featuring Hal Linden and Bernadette Peters. “I don’t know why we should limit ourselves,” says Burnett. Hmmm. The old Burnett series on CBS was an hour of comedy-variety and lasted 12 years and . . . well, just thinking.

DOUBLE TAKE: Now, let’s see--wasn’t NBC the network that didn’t believe in “dramedy” and canceled “The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd” because it fit into that part-drama, part-comedy mold? Well, then, what was Saturday’s episode of Ed Begley’s new NBC series, “Parenthood”? And what is NBC’s new “American Dreamer”?

NEW FACE: Kim Devore, who’ll join Ross Becker as co-anchor of KCOP Channel 13, is a local product--Beverly Hills High, USC. She replaces Wendy Rutledge Oct. 22.

HEAVY HITTER: To realize the huge impact of last week’s five-part series, “The Civil War,” consider that PBS usually gets only 3% of the prime-time audience. “The Civil War” averaged 13%--an increase of more than 400%. On the final night, Thursday, the Ken Burns series pulled an astonishing 21% of San Francisco TV viewers. Los Angeles: 11%.

Say good night, Gracie . . .