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Drawing the Line
When Archie Comics chairman and publisher Michael Silberkleit
first read the script for Archie, To Riverdale and Back, a TV movie
(acted, not animated) that presents Reggie, Jughead — now a
psychiatrist known as Forsyth — and Betty, Archie,
and Veronica as 32-year-olds, he wasn't sure what to expect. ''[The
producers] said, 'What we have in mind is a Big Chill thing where we
reunite them in an adult show.''' Apparently very adult: ''There's a
scene where Betty tries to get Archie to take a shower with her. I
said, 'Wait a minute, we have a problem.''' But Silberkleit overcame
his reservations. ''I realized it was done in good taste,'' he says.
The movie will air May 6 on NBC.
Inn Conclusion
Closing day for the Stratford Inn as been set; Newhart will end
its eight-year run with a May 21 finale packed with plot twists and
good-byes. CBS is keeping silent about the ending, but the episode's
title — ''Everybody Leaves but Dick and Joanna'' — provides a clue or two.
Ad-vice
The networks won't announce their fall schedules until next month,
but one major ad agency already has turned its thumbs up — and down. In
a report on the 112 projects in development for the 1990-91 season,
FCB/Telecom of Burbank gives high marks to ABC, which it says ''may
very well be the best positioned for success in the coming season,''
and to CBS, which has taken ''a giant first step'' toward shaking off
its ratings doldrums. The agency expressed less enthusiasm for
first-place NBC (''Fine and broad tuning needs to be done on many time
periods, shows, and nights''). Fox also generated less interest than
it had in the past; many of its pilot ideas ''lack the innovation and
excitement of last year.''
Backstairs at the White House
The verdict on its spring tryout series isn't in yet, but CBS
already has announced a new sitcom for the summer — it's EOB (short for
Executive Office Building), a comedy about presidential speech
writers starring Mary Beth Hurt and Rich Hall. The show will tape its
episodes unusually close to air time to ensure maximum topicality,
and will return next season if its eight-week summer run proves
successful.
The Boys in the Band
''At first, everyone says, 'The Beach Boys — how gloppy! What could
be interesting about the Beach Boys?''' says Steven Gaines, whose
unauthorized book about the group, Heroes and Villains, has been
adapted into The Story of the Beach Boys: Summer Dreams, a TV movie
airing April 29 on ABC. According to Gaines, the strife behind the
songs makes a compelling tale. ''The Beach Boys were
representative of so many American social problems — alcoholism, drug
abuse, mental illness — it's a great story,'' Gaines says. Not according
to the Beach Boys, however; the group didn't cooperate with the
making of the film, and the songs viewers will hear are performed by
soundalikes. ''They have the reputation of being control freaks. For
somebody to come in and dig up the facts, they were petrified. But I
think the BeachBoys should be very pleased,'' Gaines says. ''You
really get to see how the songs were born.''
