Television

TV critic David Bianculli says that the variety show is back, this time on cable. The new show Showtime Coast to Coast features a number of well-known celebrities and excellent performances.

Hugh Wilson created the television show WKRP. His much-anticpated, new program, Frank's Place, centers on a restaurant in New Orleans, and features many roles for African American actors.

John Peck, who also goes by the names The Mad Peck and Dr. Oldie, now focuses his professional interests on TV. His new book, called Mad Peck studio, anthologizes two decades' of his comics and writing.

Television critic David Bianculli reports back from a press tour in Los Angeles, where he was able to preview the shows debuting in the next few months. He shares his thoughts on the upcoming season.

Matt Neuman writes for the HBO show Not Necessarily the News, which lampoons political figures and current events. He joins Fresh Air to talk about his brand of edgy of humor.

The British performer is an accomplished film, TV and stage actor who also had a number of hits on the British pop charts. Her Emmy-nominated variety show on the Fox Network, The Tracey Ullman Show, was just renewed for a second season.

Guest critic David Marc looks at the growing popularity of 1950s TV sitcoms. He thinks the trend reveals a troubling desire for an idealized suburban culture where whiteness and paternal authority ruled.

Many viewers think Dennis Franz stole the show with his portrayal of Norman Buntz in Hill Street Blues. He stars in an upcoming comedy spinoff called Beverly Hills Buntz. Franz got his start early on in theater; small film parts later raised his profile as an actor.

Record producer, musician and songwriter Todd Rundgren joins Fresh Air to talk about his career both in-studio and on the concert stage. Recently, he's branched out into television, writing music for Pee Wee's Playhouse.

Critic Pat Aufderheide reviews two new PBS documentaries about the ways Japan struggles to remember the bombing of its two cities.

Listeners will recognize Frankie Laine's voice from the opening sequences of Rawhide and Blazing Saddles. Laine also makes a career performing and recording pop, country and jazz tunes.

David Bianculli is in Los Angeles along with other television critics to preview the fall season. He says he's most excited about two ABC comedies and a new version of Star Trek currently in production.

The robotic talk show host has been featured in films, commercials, and several television shows. TV critic David Bianculli says the ABC version is great; the Cinemax one is guano.

TV critic David Bianculli has been following the networks' coverage of Oliver North's congressional testimony on the Iran-Contra affair. While each station uses the same camera feeds, they deploy commentary and supplementary information in different ways, in alternately successful and distracting ways.

Merrill Markoe is one of the few prominent women television writers. She specializes in comedy, and helped launched Late Night with David Letterman. She is currently developing an HBO special show with Harry Shearer.

TV critic David Bianculli says that the Fox Network's newest offering, Werewolf, borrows the best elements from other horror and suspense shows.

Television critic David Bianculli reviews the new A&E miniseries The Life and Loves of a She-Devil, which he says surprises at every turn with its tales of sex and betrayal.

The new show CBS Summer Playhouse, which features failed television pilots, aims to draw in viewers by letting them vote for which programs they'd like to see more of. Critic David Bianculli doesn't see why people should bother. The show, he says, isn't very good.

Critic Ken Tucker recommends a new home video collecting TV commercials starring the hapless Southerner Ernest P. Worrell, played by actor Jim Varney.

TV critic David Bianculli reviews a new show that rebroadcasts the human interest stories journalist Charles Kuralt produced for the CBS Evening News.