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Show cnD53-Q-- 7 By Buck We interrupt for this important message... RIDE TO THE TOP: Few viewers realize how tough and twisting has been the road to success for Lee Majors. Ten years ago when he was making his TV debut in The Big Valley, several reviewers compared Majors to James Dean and suggested that Lee would be an overnight smash hit. They were wrong. In Big Valley, Majors was liked but not loved, perhaps because neither his role nor the series was outstanding enough to light the fire of stardom. The same was true years later for Owen Marshall in which Majors to Arthur Hill. Even "The Six Million played second-fiddl- e Dollar Man" did not bring stardom immediately. Against very tough, competition, the show was only reasonably successful the first season and was almost canceled the second. But in its third year, viewers pushed the show to the top of the charts. And it has been there ever since. Lee Majors' career has caught fire, finally fulfilling a prediction made ten years ago by "Big Valley" producer Jules Levy: The kid jumps out of the screen at you. One day people will come to discover him. The finally have. QUICK CHANGE: From wheels to steals Freddie Prinze, an auto mechanic on Chico and the Man," turning to theft as he leads four lady robbers in the NBC movie, "Money to Burn". ..From bubbles to doubles Lawrence Welk, the champagne music master of television, entertaining the bet and booze bunch at Harrahs Tahoe in Reno. CONFIDENTIAL: ABC has a difficult problem. What do you do when one of several supporting actors in a series PAGE 8 TV WEEK Biggers suddenly becomes a major star in his own right? The actor causing the dilemma is John Travolta, the handsome who portrays Barbarino, the gang leader on Welcome Back, Kotter. Virtually overnight, Travolta has become a star a combination singing-actin- g sensation whose fan mail greatly surpasses that of Gabe Kaplan, the star of "Welcome Back, Kotter! We are not judging Travoltas popularity solely by the number of fan letters he receives or even the number of records he has sold ("Let Her In on the Midland International label). We went out to Hicksville, L.I., to watch what happened when Travolta made a personal appearance at a shopping center. More than 10,000 screaming fans jammed that place. We almost got crushed in the squeeze, and Travolta managed to escape mayhem only by borrowing a policemans hat and coat! There was nothing fake about any of this response, a degree of enthusiasm we have not seen since the heyday of Elvis Presley. So how can ABC take advantage of this tremendous new popularity? If the execs try to push Barbarino character to center stage on "Welcome Back, Kotter," Gabe Kaplan Is almost certain to respond with anger. Yet if they immediately move Travolta to his own series, it would hurt "Kotter, a very valuable property. If they do nothing, Travolta will become unhappy. The seriousness of the problem has the midnight oil burning at ABC. Any suggestions? Until next time, look happy. |