Fox is getting heavily into the made-for-TV movie business to stock its new Monday movie night - and the fourth network is going about it in just the right way.
So far, no true-life crime stories. No ripped-from-the-headlines dramas. No sad tales of death and disease. Nothing about Amy Fisher.Fox has decided to leave that to ABC, CBS and NBC, who overrun the airwaves with that stuff.
Instead, Fox is trying something different: fictional stories. The sort of thing we all too rarely see on the Big Three.
The first airs tonight (7 p.m., Ch. 13) - "Lifepod." It's not an original concept - it's based on the movie "Lifeboat" - but it's certainly not the sort of thing you generally see in made-for-TV movies.
It's a dark tale - a mystery set a century in the future.
As "Lifepod" opens, an interplanetary spaceliner is headed from Venus to Earth when it suddenly explodes. Only one small "Lifepod" escapes, with but nine survivors.
Unfortunately, the force of the blast blows the pod well out of the standard search area, meaning the chances of survival aren't great. And the nine survivors soon realize the ship's destruction was the result of sabotage - and that the saboteur is among them.
Ron Silver directed and stars in "Lifepod" (he's the blind man). The cast also includes Robert Loggia, Jessica Tuck, Adam Storke, Ed Gale, Stan Shaw and CCH Pounder.
This is a tense, dark two hours that manages to keep a decent level of suspense. The performances are good, and so are the special effects - particularly considering that this is a television movie, not a theatrical film.
And, best of all, it's not like all the other TV movies you've seen. It's good and it's different.
FAREWELL DAVE - FOR NOW: David Letterman left NBC with a lot of class on Friday night. Class that wasn't entirely reciprocated by the network.
As he signed off, Dave told his audience, "I was never anything but completely proud of my association with this network, and I would hope that in some small measure they took pride in what we did."
The big chiefs at NBC have been conspicuously silent in recent weeks, failing to promote "Late Night" or even wishing Letterman well. Yes, he's going to another network (CBS as of Aug. 30), but the guy hosted an NBC show for more than 11 years, bringing in hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue in the process.
Apparently, all the thanks he got was the network allowing that last show to run seven minutes long.
NBC's corporate owner, General Electric, was once again the target of several Letterman shots on Friday. And they deserved it.
Now that the curtain has fallen on Letterman's NBC employment, it's time to say this:
Letterman deserved a shot at hosting "The Tonight Show."
Which is not by any means meant as a criticism of Jay Leno. But Letterman should at least have had the chance to show what he could do.
(Former NBC programmer Brandon Tartikoff even wrote in his book that, had he still been at the Peacock network, he would have given Letterman the job.)
Leno could have been given the "Late Night" slot when Johnny Carson retired from "Tonight." And, today, NBC would have both Letterman and Leno - instead of facing the prospect of Leno having to compete with Letterman and an unknown (Conan who?) about to take over "Late Night."
But it's too late now.
At least we have the "Late Show with David Letterman" to look forward to.
LIGHTEN UP: The National Italian American Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving Italian-American heritage, has launched a boycott of the CBS series "Johnny Bago."
The NIAF complains that "Bago" is too close to the ethnic slur dago (actually, it's shortened from Winnebago, the vehicle in which Johnny is traveling).
The group is also unhappy with the premise of the show, which features a former small-time mobster on the run from both the authorities and the mob. So the NIAF is encouraging Italian-Americans to boycott the show and its advertisers.
The oddest part of all this is that the boycott was announced before any member of the NIAF had seen "Johnny Bago." They don't even know what they're boycotting.
And, while I'm certainly not in favor of denigrating any ethnic group, this is more than a little bit silly. "Johnny Bago" is purely and simply a comedy - as anyone who's seen the show can attest - that can't be taken seriously.
Hey, NIAF, lighten up. Watch the show. You might even laugh.
CASTING ABOUT: Still another addition to the cast of the lame-o ABC sitcom "Hangin' with Mr. Cooper" - former "Gimme a Break" star Nell Carter signs on in the fall.
She'll play the principal at Mark's school.
`GAI-JIN': NBC has announced that it will produce and broadcast a miniseries based on James Clavell's best-selling "Gai-Jin" for telecast during the 1994-94 season.
It's not surprising that NBC is interested in the project. "Shogun," based on one of Clavell's earlier books, was that network's highest-rated miniseries ever.
What's at least a little surprising is that "Gai-Jin" will be eight hours long - which is about twice as long as most miniseries these days.
Set in 1862 Japan - 260 years after the end of "Shogun" - "Gai-Jin" is the story of a young French girl who comes between two men - Malcolm Struan, grandson of Noble House founder Dirk Struan, and Lord Toranaga Yoshi, a direct descendant of the "Shogun" title character - "who must battle the onslaught of foreigners and their own emotions to maintain control of their respective dynasties."
EVEN DUMBER: A lot has been said about CBS' payment of more than $1 billion for major league baseball rights - and its loss of more than half that on the deal.
But the deal looks dumber still when you look at the fact that CBS, having spent so much on baseball, allowed the NBA to move to NBC.
Not only is the NBA the only major-league sports package that makes money for the network that airs it, but NBC drew the highest ratings ever for the recent Bull-Suns championship series.
Meanwhile, network baseball ratings continue to decline.
STILL `STRANGERS': All you "Perfect Strangers" fans out there take note - the "lost episodes" are about to surface.
The long-running ABC sitcom wasn't on last fall's schedule, but it was supposed to be a midseason replacement show and six episodes were ordered. They never made it on the air - but they'll finally show up on Fridays at 8:30 p.m. beginning July 9.
And when they return, both recently married cousins - Larry and Balki - will return from their honeymoons with pregnant wives.
CHILL OUT: CBS is going to rebroadcast the four "coolest" episodes of "Northern Exposure" in July - episodes co-creator Joshua Brand says are "among my very favorites."
Not only that, but Cicely filmmaker Ed Chigliak (Darren E. Burrows) will give brief introductions to each episode and relate each to "esoteric film trivia."
The episodes include one from 1990 - in which Shelley's hockey-playing husband arrives asking for a divorce; one from 1991 - which features a Cicely-wide attack of spring fever; and two from 1992 - one featuring the wedding of Adam and Eve and the other the flashback episode about the founding of Cicely in 1909.
Just one danger with this, however. "Exposure" viewers will get a look at episodes from when the series was good - unlike this past season, when the quality fell off considerably.