Public Doesn’t Ignore CBS’ ‘Murder’

TV or not TV . . .

STAYING POWER: Angela Lansbury complained last fall that the television industry virtually ignores her series, “Murder, She Wrote.”

But the public doesn’t.

In the so-called official ratings season that recently ended, Lansbury’s 8-year-old CBS mystery show was the only hourlong drama that ranked among the Top 10 series.

Other one-hour programs in the Top 10 were “60 Minutes” and the reality show “Unsolved Mysteries.”

CBS also had the only other hourlong drama series in the Top 20, “Northern Exposure”--if you can classify this droll human comedy as a drama, which the TV academy does during Emmy competition.

At any rate, “Northern Exposure” finished No. 16 for the season.

We caught “Northern Exposure” again last week, and, so far as we know, it’s the only prime-time network series that quotes Marcel Proust--and still finishes in the Top 20.

We won’t belabor the point.

MODERN TIMES: Last week, we suggested that Los Angeles’ new, Third World population called for more minority TV commentators.

The idea was that social and political opinion on the news programs of our leading TV stations should realistically reflect the changing landscape.

We heard from Nelson Davis, a black producer whose credits include the “Making It!” television series, about minority success stories.

“Most local television management,” he writes, “is suffering from the same lethargy the U.S. auto industry exhibited. They do know that something is going on in the marketplace, but they are not sure what to do.”

We also heard from Mario Machado, the veteran broadcaster who has advocated ethnic TV opportunities and in whose name American Honda Motor Co. is establishing scholarships for 10 “disadvantaged high school students pursuing careers in communications.”

Machado is one of the names that comes to our mind for minority television commentary. And if Michael Tuck can have his perspective, why can’t Tritia Toyota have hers?

THE LONG VIEW: Talk host Dennis Miller noted that Charles Keating, Mike Tyson and Leona Helmsley all got jail terms, and asked: “Isn’t this how ‘The Mod Squad’ got started?’ ”

BOUND FOR GLORY: If Jasmine Guy, who plays Whitley on “A Different World” and heads for the altar in the May 14 episode, doesn’t become a major film star, we’ll be greatly surprised. We watched her in an “E!” channel interview and came away convinced more than ever that all it takes is the right roles.

PAST PERFECT: Sitting through TNT’s rerun of “Born Yesterday,” with Judy Holliday, Broderick Crawford and William Holden, it seemed hard to believe that a remake is in the works with Melanie Griffith, John Goodman and Don Johnson. Remakes are part of Hollywood tradition. But it’s impossible to equal Holliday’s performance.

THE NIGHT STALKERS: Well, there were anchors Aaron Brown and Lisa McRee watching a report on the opening of Euro Disney on ABC’s overnight series, “World News Now.”

McRee: “If there’s anything worse than having ‘Small, Small World’ stuck in your head, it’s hearing it sung in French.”

Brown: “Looks like Disneyland to me.”

You really have to catch these cats.

LOST PATROL: The face on CNN seemed vaguely familiar, and after a few seconds we realized it was Michael Dukakis.

MURDER, HE WROTE: Dick Van Dyke does another turn as a doctor who solves crimes in CBS’ May 1 mystery “The House on Sycamore Street.” Seems a natural role for a few films each season--especially since producer Fred Silverman (“Perry Mason,” “Matlock,” “In the Heat of the Night”) shrewdly seems to understand the niche for this older-oriented entertainment.

Which reminds us: There we were watching the 1933 film “International House” on the American Movie Classics channel, and who should pop up but Baby Rose Marie--later just plain Rose Marie on “The Dick Van Dyke Show”--singing a red-hot jazz number. Fabulous.

SPRING FEVER: The Prime Ticket Network’s terrific series “Baseball’s Greatest Games”--from the 1950s to the present--returns May 17 as a weekly entry at 7:30 p.m. Sundays. On May 24, you can catch Nolan Ryan’s record seventh no-hitter, which he pitched last year in a Texas victory over Toronto.

Naturally, Kirk Gibson’s unforgettable homer for Los Angeles in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series against Oakland is on tap--on Sept. 27, just about the time that the Dodgers are wrapping up the pennant.

BEING THERE: “Rich? I’d be satisfied just to be poor! We’re not even that!”--Alice Kramden (Audrey Meadows) in “The Honeymooners.”

Say good night, Gracie. . . .