Trading Sally And Phil For Tempestt And Danny
Spokane’s local TV stations have plenty to talk about this fall, mostly about talk shows.
One station, KHQ-Channel 6, is getting rid of its two big talk shows (“Sally Jessy” and “Donahue”), while most of the other stations are loading up on even more.
The other big news is in sitcom re-runs, if “big news” and “sitcom re-runs” can actually exist in the same sentence. “Seinfeld” goes into syndication on KREM-Channel 2, and “Home Improvement” arrives at KXLY-Channel 4.
Here’s a roundup of fall changes on the local stations:
KAYU-Channel 28 - “Ricki Lake” is history on this station (KREM has picked it up). Meanwhile, this FOX affiliate is hoping that former “Cosby” kid Tempestt Bledsoe will become the new Ricki, or even the new Oprah.
“Tempestt,” the talk show, premieres Monday. It will run at 5 p.m. weekdays. Bledsoe, although fresh out of college, has the “experience and wisdom” to host a talk show because, as her promotional material puts it, she has “had her share of romances, breakups, friendships.”
Two other new talk shows will fill the mornings: “Mark Walberg,” (no, not the same as Marky Mark Wahlberg) weekdays at 9 a.m., and “Danny Bonaduce” (yes, the same “Partridge Family” guy) weekdays at 10 a.m.
Stephanie Miller, a former stand-up comic and L.A. radio personality, will launch “The Stephanie Miller Show” weeknights at 10 beginning Friday. Here’s a sample of her razorsharp wit: “I think men will watch a woman in late night. I think most men would love to turn on a woman every night. I know they know how to turn one off and then fall asleep.”
Look out, George Bernard Shaw.
Also new will be “America’s Most Wanted: Final Justice” weeknights at 6:30 p.m. This show will bring viewers up to date on stories featured on the weekly “America’s Most Wanted” show.
The other new shows are actually United Paramount Network programs, but because Spokane has no actual UPN affiliate, the shows are picked up by KAYU and shown on weekends. Those shows are:
“Star Trek: Voyager” Saturdays at 6 p.m.
“Nowhere Man,” a thriller about a man whose entire existence is “erased” by sinister forces, Saturdays at 7 p.m.
“Deadly Games,” an adventure series about video game characters come to life during a “freak lab accident,” Sundays at 6 p.m.
“Live Shot,” a drama about a television newsroom, Sundays at 10 p.m.
KHQ-Channel 6 - “‘Sally Jessy’ and ‘Donahue’ are gone,” said KHQ general manager Lon Lee. “The content got to be too much for us. They got to be worse and worse, and we said, ‘We’re getting out of the talk show business.”’
Guess what they’re putting on instead? Re-runs of “Baywatch,” every weekday at 3:30 p.m.
Say what you want, but “Baywatch” is, for some reason, the most-watched TV show in the world. It is huge in international syndication.
The other big addition at KHQ is “The Other Side,” an NBC morning show, which will replace “Donahue” at 11 a.m. on weekdays.
“Sally Jessy,” by the way, has been picked up on KXLY Extra! and will air at 1 p.m. on weekdays. “Donahue” has yet to be picked up by anybody.
KREM-Channel 2 - This station has picked up “Ricki Lake,” dropped by FOX. It will now run at 3 p.m. every weekday as a lead-in to the ever-popular “Oprah.”
Speaking of ever-popular, KREM landed “Seinfeld” re-runs in syndication for its 7 p.m. weekday slot. “Coach” re-runs, which used to fill that slot, move to 1 a.m.
Attention, all fans of “The Young and the Restless”: The soap is moving to 11 a.m. from its old 3 p.m. slot.
A couple of noteworthy additions on weekends: “Flipper,” an all-new syndicated series based on the old favorite about a dolphin, runs at 6:30 p.m. Saturdays.
“Outer Limits,” a new syndicated series based on the classic sci-fi series, will air Saturdays at midnights.
KREM’s news division also has a new addition: It is finally getting into the Friday night high school football business, along with the other two stations. The last 15 minutes or so of the 11 p.m. newscast on Fridays will be devoted to high school football.
KXLY-Channel 4 - This station has done a remodeling job on its early evening schedule with the addition of “Home Improvement.”
Re-runs of this top-rated sitcom will run every weekday at 7 p.m. This gives KXLY a strong re-run lineup of “Roseanne” at 6:30 p.m., “Home Improvement” at 7 p.m., and “M*A*S*H” at 7:30 p.m. every weeknight.
“Full House” re-runs move from evenings to afternoons at 3:30. It will follow “Family Matters” re-runs at 3 p.m., and precede “Star Trek: The Next Generation” reruns at 4 p.m.
A noteworthy weekend addition is “Haven,” a home show that will run Sundays at 9 a.m.
KSPS-Channel 7 - Spokane’s public television station will return with several locally produced series, including “Spokane This Week,” a panel discussion program featuring area reporters. It returns on Fridays at 8:30 p.m., and repeats Sundays at 4 p.m.
Also, the public affairs program “At Issue” will return the second Thursday of each month at 7 p.m. This is a live show dealing with controversial topics. The Sept. 14 issue is “Who Should Protect the Children?” and the Oct. 12 show will be about the city-county charter.
The “Northwest Profiles” feature series and the “Sit and Be Fit” exercise program will also continue this fall.
In addition, KSPS is planning to air a locally produced documentary, “Bella Vista: A View of World War II from Montana,” at a date to be announced this fall. It’s about Fort Missoula, which served as an internment camp for Italian Merchant Marines during World War II.
, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color photo