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Show - f , i, . by Gary )eeb Chicago Tribune , . 0 , ' , '''w.,4 ':, , , .... . Z:i13 another teen oriented program as its Friday prime-tim- e lineup starting next September. SEVERAL OTHER programs that have hit the air in the last six weeks ale giving their respective networks reason to smile. For instance: UFO," the Sunday night science-fictio- n series, has been racking up nice ratings for NBC. Latest survey indicates the show pulled 34 percent of the audience, whipping "Rhoda" and "On Our Own" on CBS and "The Young Pioneers" on ABC. k caper: A fellow occahimself into a d sionally transforms raging beats who fights evil forces. For an outfit that considers itself "the Tiffany of the networks," CBS certainly was sinking into rather juvenile, escapist fantasy. Besides that, the show bomb in the .sounded like a sure-firaudience ratings. NOW CBS IS having the last laugh. "The Incredible Hulk" still is a juvenile, escapist fantasy. But since premiering last month, it has become a very popular program. Indeed, it's so hot that inside sources say CBS soon might devote its entire Friday night block of schedule to a three-hou- r similar adolescent offerings. Because Friday often is viewed as "kids' night" on TV, CBS is toying with the idea of telecasting "Wonder Woman," "The Incredible Hulk," and e 11 - , ,,':: ADJUSTABLE BASKETBALL STANDARDS Teaches Proper Shooting Skills To Youngsters & Multi! fir Alt a ,.1 (3 ,It..1 , I!O Si3 Available ,1 ; , I ' ' ., , ( N :::: II 0 , 4 y :;,1 4r ...,..,,J.:,.... ., I , ,. ' Jim Henson, creator of the Mup pet inspiration, is the voice of such lovable characters as (clockwise from left) Row lf, Dr. Teeth, The Swedish Chef, Waidoif, and, of course, the one and 4 - '7d , only Kermit. 1 .! . .. . I; ''m : s (.) illtv. ifi ,,,, by Jack Anderson 111. ':'11161111'15M. iri...1 AlLtame gi as Knight-Ridde- r is. -- Televisions Moppets" may have buried an old axiom in the professional life of any show biz performer. To wit: avoid at all costs working with a child or an animal, it being an irrefutable fact that either one is a notorious scene stealer. o If such a still prevails, you'd never know it to see the steady stream of singers, actors and comedians winging their way to London, eager to appear on camera with the Muppets," one of the most larcenous aggregations in the business. I i1111 rav.o,o Economically Priced Family Fun no-n- Finest Quality Materials Easily Assembled & Stored Resistant oWesootetyr Pods ite 5' 6' x IV x 12' CREATIVE PLAYMATES 254 West 1st South I Al MAXIMUM I sEeuRITY STORAGE From s8Month es SITE ONE 801266-549- 8 SITE TWO 350 So Redwood Rd., Salt I ak P Utah 34104 801328-404- 3 1 SITE THREE 3528 So. 300 West, Salt Lake City, Utah 84115 801266-586- 1 0 Is Right SITE FOUR 300 West, Salt Lake City, Utah 84119 OF COURSE the "Muppets" aren't your traditional children or animals. puppets, strictThey are ly speaking. But they are so endowed with personalities by their creator Jim Henson and his associate Svengalis that a human performer could get hurt in their immediate vicinity. But that's not happening in the syndicated series of weekly shows that Henson's little (some not so little) charges are doing on more than 160 stations in their early evening access time. (Kum Mondays, in this area.) The likes of such disparate celebrities as Milton Berle and George Burns. Petula Clark and Nancy Walker. to say nothing of Elton John, have been only too happy to risk rubbing elbows with Kermit the Frog. Roy, If. Fozzie Bear, Miss Piggy and the other glamor creatures of the Ilensf,n world And making the trip all the way from I,os Angeles to England. where the show is being produced. to do it THEY Go GLADLY because the wetkly show has become the hottest in the early everung syndx,ded entertainment competition In t,oth Nelsen and Arbitron surveys it has toptwd even sueh once unassailable shows a "Ibillywikxl Squares- and 'The l'rice cloth-and-wi- Salt Lake City, Utah 84101 4560 South 900 East, Murray, Utah 84107 Writer .;11 .; 912 Feet High 6 Feet Wide 16 Foot Beam III'!!' ; y, , ; ni ,,,c,; ...s.,t t;If 8 Feet Long 114 - ,, , . - 6miN 0 , , TRAMPOLINES z s tro 0 Mini-Tram- ,e 11,11,1 - Easily odiusts to tiny height Heavy Duty Deluxe Quality MC rn & Nylon Not Backboard, ii.'. 11Nr MORE THAN A RIDE. . . A COMPLETE CREATIVE PLAY CENTER The "Play Chalet" .......-- -. 00 Ser.'".,060.111111...... .", a0.. . .. ioof - -- lk , - as "Having Babies," has been gaining in audience appeal each week. Latest episode drew 36 percent of the Tuesday night viewers for ABC. a soap opera-typ- e saga of two Texas families, premiered earlier this month to a rousing 37 percent of the viewers. The CBS entry outpointed movies on both rival networks, including a Clint Eastwood flick on ABC. CREATIVE PLAYMATES N . ,,o,!',.: , ,:e.,,e ,, fir j lik Farr, M.D.," formerly knov, a zq, t ...00)r- , ' $1,---,:- Everybody laughed when CBS announced the addition of "The Incredible Hulk" to its program roster. The premise was strictly a comic-boo- ., .. .;:. - . NA'rAer t 5174 So. 801262-134- 7 - Nationally, the show's a erage overIS A, which translates into iewrship of about In million. all rating is a That's inducement enough for any guest star to make the long trip to England to mix it up with Henson's zanies, which raises the question of why Henson is based over there and not in the film capital here at home. THE SHOW IS being done there because of the shortsightedness of this country's three major networks. Their program mentors wouldn't listen to Henson four years ago. He tried then to convince them that his success with a children's audience on public television's "Sesame Street" could be duplicated with adults in a prime evening time berth. NBC gave him a season and a half on its "Saturday Night Live" show because its producer, Lorne Michaels, insisted on it. But neither that network nor CBS nor ABC could see the "Muppets" as a serious contender in their evening time period. It fell to Britain's entertainment mogul, Sir Lew Grade, who produces many programs for the American TV g market, to step in. Grade, a executive who doesn't look unlike one of the "Muppets" himself, proved to be a cannier handicapper of the show's potential than the executives at ABC, CBS and NBC. Grade's ATV, one of Britain's i at TV broadcasting groups, brought os,er Henson and his staff and puppets and set them up at its Filstree studios in London where production on the third season of their syndicated shows is currently under way. The show k distributed through ITC, its American subsidiary in New York. cigar-chompin- corn-mer- e WITHIN TWo seasons the show has touched off a Muppetmania, not only attracting an unparalleled early evening TV audience but creating a boom in merchandising, rivaled only by the "Peanuts" newspaper cartoon character and its various TV specials. Kermit See Page 25, Column I |
