Duke’s ‘Grace’ Features Plenty Of Area Scenery

I have here in my possession an advance tape of the debut episode of Patty Duke’s “Amazing Grace,” which will air at 8 p.m. Saturday on NBC.

The show features tons of Coeur d’Alene and Spokane scenery, although the location is never actually specified; the police cars are labeled only “Metro Police.”

We see leafy Coeur d’Alene neighborhood scenes and exterior shots of the Spokane County Courthouse. The most striking scene shows Duke standing on the fog-shrouded shores of Lake Coeur d’Alene, delivering an emotional monologue to the Almighty. The nation’s viewers will know one thing for certain: This ain’t Manhattan.

I am withholding critical judgment for now, although we have received over the wire one extremely nasty review from R.D. Heldenfels of the Akron Beacon Journal: “Clumsily written, unconvincing in its piety … a generally absurd mess of a show.”

Hey, it’s not that bad.

Look for our full “Amazing Grace” preview in Saturday’s paper, the day the show premieres.

The sweeps ratings

Here’s the big news in the February sweeps Nielsen ratings: The O.J. Simpson trial on CNN was the undisputed ratings leader from 9 a.m. to noon on weekdays.

Yes, Spokane (and the rest of the country) was glued to that particular daytime soap. Nobody, not even Regis and Kathie Lee, came close to O.J. in the morning.

What a world.

As for Spokane’s local news rating race, the results are beginning to take on a monotonous regularity. KREM2 wins 5 p.m., KHQ-6 wins everything else.

Notable trends: KHQ-6 seems to be pulling away in the morning news competition … KHQ’s 4:30 p.m. ratings are not spectacular, but far better than the abysmal numbers for KAYU Fox News at 10 (which is also produced by KHQ) … KREM-2 grabs an impressive share at noon . . . And KXLY-4 is taking considerable consolation in its performance in the 25-54 age group, which is vitally important from an advertising/ revenue standpoint. KXLY is more competitive in that demographic group than it is in the overall numbers shown below.

These Nielsen numbers, courtesy of Dave Zack of Z Media, are for all households, Monday through Friday. The ratings number (the percentage of all TVs tuned to the show) is listed first. The share number (the percentage of all TVs in use at the time tuned to the show) is listed second:

6 a.m.

KHQ: 5.5, 35.

KREM: 3.1, 19.

KXLY: 2.6, 16.

Noon

KREM: 8.7, 32.

4:30 p.m.

KHQ: 6.8, 17.

5 p.m.

KREM: 14.2, 29.

KHQ: 12.1, 25.

KXLY: 9, 19.

6 p.m.

KHQ: 13.8, 25.

KREM: 11, 20.

KXLY: 7.5, 14.

10 p.m.

KAYU: 1.2, 3.

11 p.m.

KHQ: 8.1, 32.

KREM: 5.4, 21.

KXLY: 5.3, 21.

One other note: KHQ’s two-hour Saturday morning news show is annihilating the cartoons that it’s up against.

So long to Steve Becker

Steve Becker, a reporter and anchor for eight years at KREM-2, made his last broadcast Friday.

Becker has quit television news to work for People To People, a Spokane company that arranges foreign exchange trips for students and adults. It’s an amiable parting, and a big career change for Becker.

His reasons for leaving TV are “complex,” he said. For one thing, he said he doesn’t think people in TV news have the same impact that they did in the days of Edward R. Murrow and Walter Cronkite.

“I started out being very idealistic,” he said. “I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s a business.”

Instead of changing the world for the better, he said TV news people have now been “forced to work hard just to get people’s attention.”

He also said it has become increasingly difficult for him to be “dispassionate” about the stories he has to cover.

It’s this kind of thoughtful approach to his job which made him stand out as a reporter. He’ll be missed.

New KXLY sports guy

KXLY-4 has hired Todd Lewis, out of North Carolina, as the new weekend sports anchor/reporter.

Lewis spent the last three years anchoring weekend sports at WECT-TV in Wilmington, N.C. He also has hosted a nationally syndicated auto racing series, “Around the Track.”

He begins on Saturday.

The missing Silly Sacks

Some local Sports Illustrated subscribers were wondering why a March 20 spread on Ferris High School’s drill team was not in their magazine.

J. Todd Foster, Spotlight’s special Silly Sack correspondent, got to the bottom of this mystery:

The Silly Sacks feature went to one-third of the magazine’s readers, or about 1 million people, according to SI spokesman Roger Jackson.

Sports Illustrated has several different editions and mails them out by zip code. People living in the Ferris zone didn’t get the Silly Sacks edition, although (cruel irony) people in the Lewis and Clark area, and other areas, did.

Those Myst superstars

Remember when Robyn and Rand Miller, the Spokane creators of the CD-ROM game “Myst,” were considered shy and reclusive?

I guess they’re not so reclusive anymore.

There they are, in the March 27 Time magazine, in a Gap ad, photographed by Richard Avedon.

Changes at KKCH-FM

There are plenty of changes at KKCH-FM in Coeur d’Alene, a “hot-adult-contemporary” station, better known as Hot 94.5.

Lyn Daniels, a familiar voice from KZZU-FM, has taken over the afternoon shift. The DJ lineup now features Randy Young in the mornings, Kevin Knight middays and Daniels in the afternoon.

The station also has a new general manager, Bruce Deming, who came over from KEZE-FM.

Richland wins Kaleidoscope

There was an upset in “Kaleidoscope ‘95,” the bi-annual Washington State Community Theatre Festival competition, held last weekend in Spokane.

For the first time in many years, the Spokane Civic Theatre did not win first place. The Civic’s entry, “The Boys Next Door,” placed second behind The Richland Players’ entry, “Twenty-Seven Wagons Full of Cotton,” by Tennessee Williams.

Third place went to Roundabout Theatre Arts of Kennewick, with “Love Letters” by A.R. Gurney.

Western art honcho

Peter H. Hassrick, one of the country’s authorities on Western art, will give an illustrated presentation at a noon luncheon on Wednesday at the Crescent Court Ballroom, 707 W. Main.

Hassrick is the director of the Buffalo Bill Historical Center in Cody, Wyo. His talk is in conjunction with the special Cheney Cowles Museum exhibit “Indian Images: Art of the American West” in the River Park Square skywalk.

The luncheon is $15, and advance reservations are required. Call 456-3932 by 5 p.m. Monday.

Oscar party

Just one more reminder: Don’t forget the Oscar Night Extravaganza at Interplayers, 174 S. Howard, Monday from 6 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.

They’ll have food, cash bar drinks and giant TV screens. Tickets are $25 each, or two for $40, at the door. Call 455-PLAY for more info.

Good cause of the week

Tuesday will be “Child Abuse Prevention Day” on KXLY’s TV and radio stations.

This event, which includes special programming on both radio and TV, annually raises thousands of dollars for the Spokane Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention Center (SCAN), the Children’s Home Society and the Vanessa Behan Crisis Nursery. Viewers and listeners can call 326-9200 to make a pledge.