As promised, CBS is bringing back both "The Famous Teddy Z" and "City" from the limbo of hiatusland. The two sitcoms will be plugged back into the schedule on Saturday nights at 7 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. beginning May 5.
Ironically, both series started strong and faded fast on Monday nights. "Teddy" marked the return to TV of creator/producer Hugh Wilson, who brought us "WKRP in Cincinnati" and "Frank's Place," while "City" brought Valerie Harper back to the tube after "Rhoda" and "Valerie."Neither show lived up to its initial promise. Despite fine performances from Jon Cryer and Alex Rocco (as the obnoxious Al Floss) audiences couldn't relate to this tale of a mailboy suddenly elevated to Hollywood agent. The show was also weighted down by Teddy's totally boring and annoying family.
"City" started out looking like a return to the good ol' 1970s, Mary Tyler Moore-type of ensemble comedy, but its biggest failing was the writing - it seemed to run out of steam after three or four shows. Such are the dangers of rushing a show into production and onto the schedule.
"Teddy" ended up ranked 65th among the 130 shows on the networks this season, while "City" was 76th.
Still, this pair of comedies deserves a second look, if only because they're up against the atrocious "A Family for Joe" and "13 East" on NBC.
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NBC MOVES: The Peacock will bring back "Dear John" on Wednesday at 8:30 p.m., bumping "FM" to Saturdays.
Judd Hirsch and Co. still have three first-run episodes to air during this sweeps month.
"FM," which has failed quite badly in the "Dear John" slot, will take over the 9:30 p.m. Saturday slot on May 26, after "Down Home" finishes its limited run.
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-TONIGHT ON TV: If you liked last week's premiere of Sunset Beat (7 p.m., Ch. 4), you were pretty much alone. It's already been canceled, and tonight's second installment is also the last.
A pair of CBS series are taking their final bows for the season, and there's no guarantee either will be back in the fall. On Paradise (7 p.m., Ch. 5), Amelia agrees to marry Ethan, but it may be too late. And tonight's two-hour Tour of Duty (8 p.m., Ch. 5) shows what the series will be like if it is renewed: The war is over and the troops have to adjust to returning to their normal lives.
Columbo (8 p.m., Ch. 4) is after a dentist who murdered his wife's lover, but this episode is chiefly notable for its writer. Steven Bochco was a writer for the show back in the '70s, and has since gone on to create, produce and write such series as "Hill Street Blues," "L.A. Law" and "Doogie Howser, M.D."
Elsewhere, recovering compulsive gambler Dorothy is bitten by the bug again on The Golden Girls (8 p.m., Ch. 2) and Carol Burnett and guest Alex Rocco play a divorced couple in "The Battle of the Exes" on Carol & Company (9 p.m., Ch. 2).
(BU) LOOKING TOWARD SUNDAY: It's the Battle of the Network Movies on Sunday night, as all three networks air made-for-TV premieres.
CBS has Caroline? (8 p.m., Ch. 5), a fine Hallmark Hall of Fame presentation starring Stephanie Zimbalist. ABC has Summer Dreams: The Story of the Beach Boys (8 p.m., Ch. 4), which tells an overly simplistic tale of questionable accuracy. NBC has Fall from Grace (8 p.m., Ch. 2) a perfectly dreadful movie about the perfectly dreadful Jim and Tammy Faye Baker.