As TV Seasons Go, This One Wasn’t Bad

TV or not TV. . . .

SEASON’S GREETINGS: As viewers await the deluge of new, fall TV series, it’s instructive to consider what prime time brought us a year ago.

The truth is, we didn’t do too badly if you consider that we got about half a dozen decent new network series.

With the nation in rough economic times, the nostalgia trend produced three highly watchable and often superior shows: “Brooklyn Bridge,” “I’ll Fly Away” and “Homefront.”

While none is a ratings whopper, they all distinguished themselves with good storytelling that avoided sappy sentiment.

In addition to these three series, there were also “Reasonable Doubts,” “Roc” and the only new, breakaway hit last fall, “Home Improvement.”

We’ve had better seasons, but we’ve also had worse.

HURRICANE DAN: CBS anchor Dan Rather certainly wasn’t slowed down by being snubbed by President Bush at the Republican convention.

Still an aggressive, enthusiastic reporter, Rather beat the pants off his major broadcast competitors with his work on the Hurricane Andrew story.

If he wasn’t on TV, he was on CBS Radio. He was all over the place.

What’s more, Rather’s “CBS Evening News,” gaining on network ratings leader ABC in recent months, even bolted into first place a few weeks ago.

And his prime-time series, “48 Hours,” has suddenly gone on a ratings rampage, triggered in great part by its Hurricane Andrew coverage.

Rather, you recall, gained considerable fame when he was on another CBS news magazine, “60 Minutes,” a factor that reportedly helped him win the network’s anchor role in a fierce competition with Roger Mudd.

IN MEMORIAM: There’ll be a memorial service for the great CBS commentator Eric Sevareid Sept. 16 in Washington, and the speakers will include Rather, former news division chiefs Richard Salant and Bill Leonard, and Sevareid’s son, Michael.

The service will be held at the National Press Club, and music will be performed by the National Symphony Orchestra Brass Quintet. Sevareid died July 9 at the age of 79.

TRIBUTE: Cable superstation TBS is planning a huge remembrance of John Wayne, airing 30 of his films as a festival, “Ten Days of the Duke,” which will run from Oct. 31 to Nov. 9.

DESIGNATED HITTER: As of last week, “The Whoopi Goldberg Show”--an upcoming late-night talk series--was set for syndication this fall on at least 182 stations, including KCAL Channel 9.

THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT?: I’m still getting calls about the fact that the messed-up Emmy Awards had a lighting category on the prime-time telecast but relegated the best children’s show to the non-televised ceremony the night before.

In case you missed the children’s winner, it was the Disney Channel’s “Mark Twain and Me,” which starred Jason Robards in a tale of the writer’s friendship with an 11-year-old girl in the last years of his life.

ONE MAN’S OPINION: Candice Bergen is good in “Murphy Brown,” but I would have voted for Marion Ross--the matriarch in “Brooklyn Bridge”--in the Emmy competition for best lead actress in a comedy series.

EXECUTIVE SUITE: NBC Entertainment President Warren Littlefield says that David Letterman “is a complex man and it’s hard to know sometimes what he’s thinking.” Oh, I don’t know. It seems pretty clear.

By the way, according to Letterman, one of the Top 10 reasons Jose Canseco was traded is: “Instead of catching fly balls, just yells, ‘Heads up!’ ”

FAST STARTS: “Going to Extremes,” the new ABC series from Joshua Brand and John Falsey (“Northern Exposure,” “I’ll Fly Away”) about medical students on a Caribbean island, debuted to strong ratings. . . .

“2000 Malibu Road,” CBS’ glitzy look at Angst by the seaside, has also fared strongly in its first few shows. . . .

And “Martin,” Fox’s new sitcom about a disc jockey, has paired solidly with “The Simpsons” in attracting viewers.

It’s too early for long-term judgment because the heavyweight competition of fall isn’t in full swing yet. But if “Going to Extremes” and “2000 Malibu Road” hold up, it may be that their picturesque escapism is what viewers are looking for when times are tough.

NIGHT AND DAY: ABC’s durable “Nightline” was No. 1 in the late-hour competition for the week of Aug. 24-28.

And NBC’s “Today” is leading ABC’s “Good Morning America” by a whisker in the ratings for the last two months. It’s a major turnaround for “Today.”

PICKUP: The splendid “Life Goes On” series, about a family with a son who has Down’s syndrome, not only returns on ABC this fall but now has also begun airing Monday-through-Thursday reruns on cable’s Family Channel at 7 p.m.

HOMEWARD BOUND: Somehow, Larry King has taken all the myths and cliches about Brooklyn and made them seem real in a nostalgic, endearing new book about his roots. It’s called “When You’re From Brooklyn, Everything Else Is Tokyo”--and, hey, it’s better than the Ross Perot interview.

PURE GOLD: Caught “The Treasure of the Sierra Madre” for the 500th time on TV--and what a touch of genius it was to cast the lesser-known cowboy star Tim Holt opposite Humphrey Bogart and Walter Huston. A film trio for the ages.

BEING THERE: “Well, that’s how it is. You lose a few and you lose a few.”--Capt. Hawkeye Pierce (Alan Alda) in “MASH.”

Say good night, Gracie. . . .