Measuring Blasts From the Past

There was a time in the ‘60s when the Beatles and Beach Boys weren’t just competitors on the pop charts, but also great admirers of each other’s work. Paul McCartney was even quoted as saying that the Beach Boys’ “Pet Sounds” inspired the Beatles’ legendary “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.” Three decades later, the Beach Boys’ mastermind, Brian Wilson, and the Beatles’ cuddly drummer, Ringo Starr, will be vying for chart position again Wednesday when SoundScan releases first-week figures for their new solo albums. Though neither Wilson nor Starr has generated much excitement among record buyers in many years, both believe they have something a little extra going for them this time around. Wilson’s album, titled “Imagination” and released by Giant Records, includes remakes of two Beach Boys songs (“Keep an Eye on Summer” and “Let Him Run Wild”) and has received mostly favorable reviews. Starr’s “Vertical Man,” on Mercury Records, includes a remake of the Beatles’ “Love Me Do” and features several big-name guests--from McCartney and George Harrison to Alanis Morissette and Steven Tyler. “There are a lot of good ties to the old days on both records,” says Pete Howard, editor and publisher of the ICE CD newsletter. “But the sales haven’t been there for these guys [in recent years] because they haven’t broken any new ground with the under-35 crowd. The audience for both albums was established a long time ago, and every year a few more of those fans fall out of the music-buying market.”

Move to CBS Was Last ‘Step’ for ABC Duo

After years of being drubbed by ABC’s family-oriented “TGIF” comedies on Friday nights, CBS was sure it had found the solution in February 1997, when the network made an agreement to steal away “Family Matters” and eventually “Step by Step,” two aging but still popular series. CBS reportedly paid nearly $40 million for rights to “Family Matters” alone, outbidding ABC, whose executives were furious at the time. The transplants didn’t take root, however, and this Friday, CBS will quietly air “Step by Step’s” series finale, with the last “Family Matters” slated for July 17. Since their premiere on CBS last September, both shows watched their audiences plummet more than 35% compared to the previous season on ABC, which continued to hold the ratings edge Fridays thanks to “Sabrina the Teenage Witch” and “Boy Meets World.” CBS was ultimately forced to yank its onetime ABC sitcoms, replacing them with the video-comedy series “Kids Say the Darndest Things” and “Candid Camera,” which have improved ratings. Even with “Step” heading into the great beyond after seven seasons, the news isn’t all bad for co-star Suzanne Somers, who still has a CBS gig as the co-host of “Candid Camera.”

Compiled by Times staff writers and contributors