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Show by Joey Sasso CONFIDENTIAL PEPORT: It shou'crVt co-re ss a t g surprise, but the early indications are that TV ve'S are not finding the re season terr b' ecit 'g A ieao -g industry traoe paper notes that the nurrt-er o'e network. AEC. had premiere wee ra' rgs which were 20 percent lower than last year's fg-'es. t-'-'i 're combined ratings for ail three networks were ccwn nearly 10 percent from 1978 s premiere weex. A.ltho-gn NEC had a freak number one week over ABC. on !- strength of its movies 'Comirg Home' and The Ojt a Josey Waies,' these films do not beg n to account for the drop-off. The blame must rest sq'jarey on t-e shoulders of the people who write, procuce ad broadcast the programs. The poor quant of much cf what is being shown is literal' driving pctent.gl viee'S away f'om their sets. Shows with irrational. b-"c' -g story lines and stiff actmg do not make for hits. S tco s with nothing but retread one-liners do not g!ue v-eers to their seats. We are. as viewers, being simp'y bored to death with a batch of very undazzlmg series. One network executive even asked me: "Do you tnmk anybody out there really cares about the new season?" The answer is an unequivocal NO! TV TICKER: Add one more name to The Dukes cf Hazzard' fatality list. In a move that has been kept very quiet, actor-turned-director-turned-actor James Best has walked off the CBS-TV series. Best, who p ayed Sheriff Coltrane in the top-20 show, says his decision to quit was based on "personal reasons" having to do with the pressures of making a weekly series. Best has been replaced although it may be on a temporary basis by Richard Sargent, best known for payng Elizabeth Montgomery's spouse on 'Bewitched.' This development on top of the recent breakup of Cathy Bach's three-year marriage makes Hazzard Country loc like a pretty tough place to work . . . During a recent bene'it performance for the Los Angeles Free Arts C mic. Cher's outfit drew more excitement than her pec-mance. pec-mance. Her costume was a littie see-through black number, complete with a G-string which let nothmg to the imag nation. She also shocked her dud ence by making X-rated remarks . . . Good nevs for all you E.gs Bunny and Daffy Duck fans. Varner Ercs. no has m production a number of animated specie's for tcth CBS-TV and NBC-TV. CELEBRITIES IN CANDID: Henry Winkler, the EC-TV 'Happy Days' star, has just inked a two-picture c'eai w.th Casablanca. First to go before the cameras is 'Furs- t' with Wmkier portraying airline hijacker D.B. Cooper . . . Snob Note of the day comes from the late Noel Coward, who once said: "Good heavens, teevis on is something you appear on you don't watch." . . . Bob Hope's $3 million Palm Springs 'dream home' is becoming a nightmare for neighbors and a headache for construction workers. Bob's neighbors complain the house, perched on a mountain top. spoils the view. And his wife Dolores is driving contractors up the wall with endless changes . . . Suzanne Somers pocketed $200,000 for just two days work on a candy commercial, filmed at a park in her old hometown of San Bruno. Calif. . . . Lee Majors warns: "If you help a friend when he's in trouble, he'll never forget you especially when he's in trouble again." . . . Scott Baio, Lance Kerwin, Ed Lauter and Mariclare Costello star, with special guest star Don Murray, in The Boy Who Drank Too Much.' a sensitive drama about friendship and loyalty played against the st3rk facts of teenage alcoholism, to be presented Wednesday. Feb. 6 on CBS-TV. Baio portrays a 16-year-old high school ice-hockey standout who lives an isolated existence with his alcoholic father. J |