Times Sure Have Changed for Pearl Jam

Can Pearl Jam still get good radio reception? Watch this week to see how the new single from the Seattle band does on playlists, where alt rock has become a tough sell. The grunge band scored the sleeper hit of 1999 (and its first No. 1 single) with “The Last Kiss,” a remake of a 1962 teen tear-jerker, but there are doubts that the brooding new single, “Nothing as It Seems,” can find a warm welcome. Here in Southern California, for instance, “Nothing” has been ignored by KROQ-FM (106.7), a station that once championed Pearl Jam and all things grunge. The station did not play the song at all during its first three days of availability. Why? KROQ program director Kevin Weatherly cites a slew of new songs from fan favorites such as Offspring, No Doubt and Limp Bizkit--all acts that work to reach out to radio and fans, he says, unlike the reclusive Pearl Jam. “There is so much stuff out there, you have to do something to cut through, and the groups that do are on the top of the minds of our listeners,” he says. “Pearl Jam is not.” The song is getting more support in other regions, cracking the playlist Top 10 at stations in Chicago, Philadelphia and Boston. Still, none of those stations have embraced “Nothing” with the vigor seen before rap-rock replaced grunge as the genre of the moment. “It’s not a first-listen record, it’s challenging,” says Sky Daniels, general manager of Radio & Records, the trade publication. “Still, I know that radio wants this song and album to do well. Radio folks would love to have career acts. . . . Pearl Jam is as close to that as they’ve got in this era. Do they want them to do well? Yes. But is there also skepticism that they can do well in this market now? Yes.” The new Pearl Jam album, “Binaural,” arrives in stores May 16, and the band will tour in support.

‘Party’ to End in Old, Familiar Time Slot

Fox’s “Party of Five” returns this week to its former 9 p.m. Wednesday slot following “Beverly Hills, 90210,” where the network will air the final original episodes over the next three weeks. While never a major hit, the series about five young orphans has been popular with a younger audience and provided Fox much-coveted prestige, including its Golden Globe win as best drama series in 1996. That surprise victory was especially sweet, as it occurred after the program teetered on the brink of cancellation and survived a pair of changes in the network’s executive regime. Ratings fell with the show’s shift to Tuesday nights last fall--slipping to an average of 6.2 million viewers this season, down from more than 10 million the year before. The spinoff series, “Time of Your Life,” starring Jennifer Love Hewitt, also fizzled. Whether or not “Party” goes out with a bang ratings-wise, it has certainly made its once-unknown cast big-screen commodities, including Hewitt and Neve Campbell, featured in the “I Know What You Did Last Summer” and “Scream” films, respectively. Perhaps ironically, the program will finish its run against another critically lauded teen drama, the WB’s “Felicity,” which has also struggled this season, prompting fans to launch an Internet campaign to save the show.

‘Family Tree’ Opening on Eve of Earth Day

There’s something about trees that seem to arouse passions in people. In December 1997, for example, a 23-year-old woman named Julia “Butterfly” Hill climbed a 189-foot, 1,000-year-old redwood in Humboldt County, Calif., to draw attention to the clear-cutting of old-growth redwoods and didn’t come down for two years. Tree-sitters have waged similar protests in Oregon, Minnesota and New York. Film and television director Duane Clark still fondly remembers a tree that grew in his own backyard growing up. People love trees, he believes, because they represent continuity. “The presence of a tree in a town is an anchor,” Clark said. On Friday, Clark’s new film, “Family Tree,” will open in 10 cities across the country--on the eve of Earth Day. The film tells the fictional story of a 9-year-old boy who is plunged into conflict with his father when he discovers that a desperately needed factory is going to be built on the site of the town’s “Old Oak.” With the help of the town hero, a former football star, the boy rallies friends and neighbors to the cause. Clark believes that the recent popularity of “My Dog Skip,” a low-budget film that has grossed more than $30 million to date, demonstrates that there is a strong market for films that parents can take their children to see. “This doesn’t have high-powered animation. I think parents will bring them in [to see “Family Tree.”]” Produced by the brother-sister team of Mike and Carole Curb, the film is being distributed by Curb Entertainment International and WarnerVision Entertainment Inc. Written by Paul Canterna, the film stars Robert Forster as the father, Cliff Robertson as the town hero, real-life brothers Andy and Matt Lawrence, and singer Naomi Judd as the boy’s mother, her first starring role in a theatrical motion picture. Clark said much of the cast agreed to do the film because of the lessons it imparted. He noted that Judd, in particular, remembered an old family tree that had fallen victim to development. “The film has an environmental bent,” Clark said, “but on a larger scale, it has to do with maintaining your principles in the face of the lure of money.”

--Compiled by Times Staff Writers