Jollies and Follies

Merry Christmas to :

“MURPHY BROWN”: Dan Quayle’s criticism because the title character (played by Candice Bergen) had a baby out of wedlock set off a real national debate.

“LOVE & WAR”: For illustrating the direction of prime-time TV with the eyebrow-raising line “Your condom or mine?”

ARSENIO HALL: For added proof of TV’s new raunchiness by saying of competitor Jay Leno that he would kick his butt. Only he didn’t say butt.

RODNEY KING: For the most moving statement of the year: “Can we all get along?”

DAVID LETTERMAN: For giving new meaning to employee relations by roasting NBC and its owner, General Electric Co., in a yearlong public barbecue as he decided his future.

JOHNNY CARSON: A graceful finale as “Tonight Show” host. “The greatest accolade I think I received,” he said, was that “G.E. named me Employee of the Month.”

“COACH”: The most underrated hit on TV.

“THE COSBY SHOW”: For the most dramatic series episode of 1992 as its finale aired during the Los Angeles riots.

ROSS PEROT: For proving that you don’t have to be handsome or well-dressed to be a TV star. Of course, it helps if you’re rich enough to buy program-length commercials and avoid reporters’ questions. But his archaic, talking-head, chart-flipping performance was more entertaining than a dozen car chases.

JAMES STOCKDALE: Oh, just forget the debate--it was stage fright.

AL GORE: Loosen up. It’s only the vice presidency.

BILL CLINTON: For his 90-minute interview with a live audience on MTV, giving both him and the cable channel more validity.

JERRY BROWN: Never a real threat for the presidency, he nonetheless democratized politics for underfinanced contenders with his 800 number and use of free and inexpensive broadcast opportunities, from cable to radio.

RUSH LIMBAUGH: The conservative radio host, now on TV, told his viewers: “I don’t need to be balanced with equal time. I am equal time.”

ACADEMY OF TELEVISION ARTS AND SCIENCES: For unbelievably lumping guest stars with regular performers in Emmy Award categories, so that Christopher Lloyd won as best actor for a one-shot performance in the Disney Channel’s “Avonlea.”

MIKHAIL GORBACHEV: Thanks for all the help ending the Cold War--and don’t worry, we weren’t fooled by President Bush’s TV election campaign that ignored you and suggested he was pretty much the main guy.

BENNY HILL FANS: They know that comedy lost a true giant when he died this year. But his shows, at least, are still out there for viewing as funny as ever.

ABC, CBS, NBC AND FOX: Three-dozen new series on the original fall schedules and not a truly major hit in the lot. Great record. The year’s best new series: HBO’s Garry Shandling sitcom “The Larry Sanders Show,” a spoof of late-night talk programs.

THE DREAM TEAM: Sure, America deserved to have its best basketball players at the Summer Olympics, but as TV the games were interesting for maybe a minute or two. Unless, of course, you would have rooted for the lions against the Christians.

DAVID HOROWITZ, JOHN MARSHALL AND LINDA DOUGLASS: The loss of the three reporters has left gaping holes at KNBC. Another ex-KNBC reporter, Bill Lagattuta, is doing just fine at CBS News.

MARION ROSS: A treasure of a performance in “Brooklyn Bridge.” (above)

ANN MARTIN: KABC Channel 7 lost Jerry Dunphy and Paul Moyer, but she’s still there and the station’s still No. 1. She’s not the entire reason, but she’s no small part of it. Doesn’t hurt to have Oprah Winfrey leading into the early evening news, either.

KCBS: Love that promo “She’s 62 and pregnant. How she did it--(news) at 11.” That says it all.

TV WATCHERS: With the quakes, the floods, the Rodney King verdict, the riots, Hurricane Andrew, Somalia, the political campaign, the debates and election night, we learned again in an incredible year that fiction can’t compare with reality on the home screen. Not those contrived reality shows--but the raw, real reality.

TED KOPPEL: The “Nightline” anchor said of competitors Jay Leno and Arsenio Hall: “I’m funnier than both of them.”

ALISTAIR COOKE: Upon his retirement after 22 years as host of PBS’ “Masterpiece Theatre”--thank you, sir.

AARON BROWN AND LISA McREE: TV’s best anchor team is known only to middle-of-the-night viewers who can’t wait to tune in ABC’s “World News Now.” Witty, urbane and intimate, it’s the best news show around. The weather report often lists temperatures for Cicely, Alaska (oh, you know--”Northern Exposure”).

COMEDY CENTRAL: The cable channel hit its stride in 1992 with its deadpan, live coverage of President Bush’s State of the Union Address, the Democratic and Republican conventions and election night--with “Saturday Night Live” veteran Al Franken as ringmaster.

DENZEL WASHINGTON: He’s the star of “Malcolm X,” but TV viewers also remember him as Dr. Phillip Chandler in “St. Elsewhere.”

NATALIE COLE: For reviving the sound, image and song “Unforgettable” of her late father, Nat King Cole, in a memorable blending of their voices--the emotional highlight of CBS’ Grammy Awards show.

“THE MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW”: When Nick at Nite reran the Mary Tyler Moore series (above), it made you realize how far TV has fallen.

NBC PROGRAMMERS: For throwing out the baby with the bath water when they let go “The Golden Girls,” “Matlock” and “In the Heat of the Night” all at once in a drive for younger viewers. With “The Cosby Show” and Johnny Carson also splitting and “Cheers” unexpectedly calling it quits after this season, the network suddenly developed an identity crisis.

TELEVISION HISTORIANS: In 1992, TV continued to get racier. This is a recording. This is a recording.