TUBE TALK CBS' decision last week to shelve several reruns of ''Family Law'' because of content objections from sponsor Procter & Gamble has drawn a protest from the Writers Guild of America. One of network TV's biggest advertisers, P&G told CBS last week that it wouldn't buy airtime for a rerun in which Kathleen Quinlan's law firm defends a woman (Dana Delany) in a custody case centering on her child's accidental shooting of a sibling with the mother's handgun. A P&G spokesperson said the company did not ask CBS to alter or pull the episode, but CBS chose to yank that rerun (scheduled to air last Monday) and others dealing with such controversial topics as abortion, the death penalty, and interfaith marriage.
John Wells, the president of WGA West and co-creator of ''ER'' and ''The West Wing,'' issued a statement of protest, saying, ''The Writers Guild views the CBS decision to pull episodes from its rerun schedule because one advertiser objected to the content as a serious threat to the creative rights of all artists in our industry.'' CBS' content decisions are of particular interest to Wells, since he's the producer of the upcoming CBS series ''Citizen Baines.'' A CBS spokesman defended the decision, saying, ''If you only plan to repeat a few episodes of a series, it is common business sense to rebroadcast the episodes with the most sales potential.'' Delany had been nominated for an Emmy for the gun episode, which does seem to give that rerun extra sales potential, and it is standard practice for networks to air Emmy-nominated shows in the weeks before the awards ceremony (this year, it's September 16) to influence voters. In fact, CBS says, it will find replacement sponsors for that episode and air it September 10....
When NAACP president Kweisi Mfume protested the lack of minority faces on network TV last week, he didn't mention that he recently shot a talk show pilot for NBC syndication partner Hearst Argyle. Mfume insisted there was no conflict of interest, since the show has yet to be picked up. Nor will he allow a possible deal stand in the way of the civil rights group's protest, an NAACP spokesman said. ''If it's a choice between being on a show on NBC or criticizing NBC for lack of diversity, he'll take criticizing NBC.'' Mfume has TV hosting experience, having hosted a public affairs show on Baltimore television for 10 years....
Vondie Curtis Hall, who spent a few years on ''ER'' rival ''Chicago Hope,'' will appear in several episodes of ''ER'' this season, but not in scrubs. He'll play the graphic designer husband of Lisa Nicole Carson's character and get involved in a child custody battle against Eriq LaSalle's Dr. Benton. It's a busy fall for Hall, who directed Mariah Carey's upcoming feature, ''Glitter.''...
''Baywatch'' may have gone under, but it's surfacing one last time as a TV movie, to air on Fox during February sweeps. ''Baywatch Blast'' will reunite David Hasselhoff with many of the lifeguards who served with him over the show's 10-year run, including Yasmine Bleeth, Carmen Electra, Gena Lee Nolin, Donna D'Errico, Traci Bingham, Alexandra Paul, and Nicole Eggert. Alumna Pamela Anderson has been invited as well, but has not yet confirmed her appearance. The movie shoots in Oahu in October....
''The Boys From Brazil,'' the 1978 Laurence Olivier-Gregory Peck camp classic about Nazi refugees trying to clone Adolf Hitler, is itself being cloned as a TV movie for TNT. Heywood Gould, screenwriter of the original movie, is on board for the remake....
Looks like the Latin Grammy Awards will go on as scheduled, despite the protests of some Cuban-Americans, upset that performers from Fidel Castro's Cuba are scheduled to appear on the broadcast. The activists had threatened to shut down the show, but they have agreed with the city of Miami to hold their protest across the street. Assuming the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences and the Latin Recording Academy sign on to the deal, the show will go on as planned on September 11.
Another music-awards show dustup is brewing between ''Soul Train'' patriarch Don Cornelius and MTV. He complains that MTV has been pressuring black stars not to appear on his annual ''Lady of Soul Awards'' because its September 1 date comes just five days before MTV's Music Video Awards. MTV admits that it asks all its performers to avoid competing programs within 30 days of its own show, but an MTV spokesperson adds, ''With all due respect to Mr. Cornelius, what he's describing is a standard practice in the television industry.'' Cornelius, however, calls such behavior ''anti-competitive'' and ''an abuse of power.'' He adds, ''If you don't knock this bullshit off, the next stage is a complaint to the Federal Trade Commission.''
LIBERTY FOR 'ALL' For the fourth time, Janet Jackson has had to reschedule a date on her ''All for You'' tour. She was scheduled to play Madison Square Garden tomorrow, but the WNBA's New York Liberty have a playoff game, so the show has been moved to tonight. Her Wednesday and Thursday shows at the Garden will go on as scheduled.
As for those other Jackson shows at the Garden, brother Michael's two-day tribute to himself next month, there are apparently still tickets available on Ticketmaster's website, despite concert producer David Gest's claim that the shows sold out in five hours when tickets went on sale in July. The reason could be that the ticket price, which ranges from $45 to $2,500, is keeping fans away; that was Jermaine Jackson's complaint during the several weeks he spent threatening to sit out the Jacksons' reunion.
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