No Respect, Just Money for ‘MacGyver’

TV or not TV . . . .

SURVIVOR: We have not been very respectful toward “MacGyver.”

We keep saying smart-aleck things like: “We don’t know anybody who watches it.” And every time we say this, somebody tells us they watch it.

Obviously, a lot of people do. Would you believe that this innocuous ABC action series, which stars Richard Dean Anderson, is going into its seventh season this fall?

A producer we know thinks he has the answer: “The network leaves it alone. Do you know how many shows have gone up against it?”

Well, yes. It has survived against such competing series as “Murder, She Wrote,” “Alf,” Steven Spielberg’s “Amazing Stories,” “Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” and “Major Dad.”

As we say, “MacGyver” is an action show. And ABC now pairs it, to good ratings effect, with Monday night pro football and television movies.

But because “MacGyver” is an action show, it tends to get expensive to produce. The word is that ABC puts up about $1.5 million for each episode. And with networks tightening their belts during the recession--well, this conceivably could be the last season for the series.

After which, of course, it will rerun forever in syndication. Clearly, we just don’t know art when we see it.

PARTY TIME: The Fourth of July weekend is always a treat for couch potatoes who love old movies. And this holiday weekend is no different.

On Thursday, for instance, the American Movie Classics channel offers “The Best Years of Our Lives,” with Myrna Loy and Fredric March, at 6 p.m.

And the same night at 8:35, TNT cable presents a restored print of the grand musical “Show Boat,” with Howard Keel (recently of “Dallas”), Kathryn Grayson, Ava Gardner, Marge and Gower Champion, William Warfield and Joe E. Brown.

On Saturday at 7 p.m., Debbie Reynolds is visited on her “Movie Memories” series on American Movie Classics by daughter Carrie Fisher and Shirley MacLaine for the presentation of “Kitty Foyle,” starring Ginger Rogers.

Also on Saturday, KCET Channel 28 launches a rather spectacular series of summer double features at 9 p.m. with “Smiles of a Summer Night,” followed by “The Seventh Seal.”

Other films in KCET’s Saturday summer lineup include “Shoot the Piano Player,” “Big Deal on Madonna Street,” “Paths of Glory,” “Grand Illusion,” “8 1/2,” “Juliet of the Spirits” and “A Room With a View.”

PIONEER: If you can pull in KOCE Channel 50, the Orange County public TV station, you can catch Nat (King) Cole’s significant series of the late ‘50s starting Saturday at 9 p.m. It was the first network variety series headlined by a major black star. NBC stuck with it for a year although it couldn’t draw sponsors. Cole later blamed Madison Avenue’s ad agencies, writing: “Their big clients didn’t want their products associated with Negroes.”

SLAM DUNK: If Bill Walton is really serious about TV sportscasting, he’ll go right to the top. He’s got it all--plus a built-in audience of admirers like yours truly who know he would have been the greatest basketball center ever if it hadn’t been for those foot injuries.

OUTFOXED: CBS is gloating that its Daytime Emmy Awards, broadcast last week in prime time, drew much higher ratings than last year’s regular nighttime Emmy Awards. The reason is simple: The nighttime Emmys are on Fox, whose relatively small audience has dragged down the impact and prestige of the TV industry’s highest honors.

DISAPPEARING ACT: The worst thing that happened to Fox last season was that nobody talked about it once its brilliant strategy of pitting “The Simpsons” against “The Cosby Show” had run its course. Being talked about is lifeblood for an organization trying to establish itself--and another silent Fox season could mean big trouble.

VERDICT: There’s nothing really groundbreaking about CBS’ new, courtroom reality series “Verdict.” Doesn’t anybody remember “On Trial,” the short-lived syndicated series hosted by Nick Clooney that presented real-life courtroom cases in the 1980s?

THINKING ALOUD: Is NBC for sale? Oh, of course it’s denied. But it’s kind of like your house--it’s not for sale, but for the right price . . . well, you know. Let’s just say owner General Electric will be giving NBC’s performance next season a real once-over. You’d be surprised, by the way, at how many industry folks think that CBS, or maybe ABC, will be No. 1.

CENTRAL CASTING: What a great idea to have Linda Ellerbee, who once anchored “NBC News Overnight,” sit in as guest host for the network’s late-night Bob Costas talk show the week of July 15. She interviews CNN ace Peter Arnett July 17.

MUST-SEE: If you missed it the first time around, catch the six-part series “Hollywood: The Golden Years,” hosted by Ed Asner, on KCET starting July 12.

THE NIGHT STALKER: We have become a dedicated student of those middle-of-the-night TV ads, from $19.95 woks to tapes of musical oldies--and, folks, every time we hear Jo Stafford singing “I’ll Be Seeing You,” it gives us goose bumps. And that’s no joke.

ON CAMERA: If you’ve never seen Paul Harvey, that amazing radio stylist who’s been broadcasting news his own way for about half a century, tune in “Live With Regis & Kathie Lee” at 9 this morning on KCAL Channel 9.

THE SKY IS FALLING: NBC is restructuring its affiliate relations department this week to improve its ties with its stations--in short, to hold on to them. Better hurry.

THE SKY IS FALLING, PART II: A study by the Federal Communications Commission says competition will probably force the Big Three networks into lower-cost and lower-quality programming, thus causing them “to lose their uniqueness to both audiences and advertisers.” Hey--no kidding.

BEING THERE: “Go to war. Keep the world safe for hypocrisy.”--Rowan & Martin’s “Laugh-In.”

Say good night, Gracie . . . .