This week on ”Powers` Up,” which can best be described as a comedy-talk show, Chicago playwright John Powers will dine with author and inveterate Chicagoan Studs Terkel in an Arlington Heights restaurant.
Powers aptly and comically illustrated what it`s like to be reared as a Catholic in his hit play ”Do Black Patent Leather Shoes Really Reflect Up?”
”I did my doctoral dissertation on Studs Terkel. I`ve been a guest on his show a number of times. Studs is a real nice guy, he`s fun, he`s interesting, he has a real fast mind,” Powers said.
Powers has been hosting the weekly, hour-long program since its debut in May. The guest list has included cartoonist Joe Martin of ”Mr. Boffo”
fame, columnist Jack Mabley and a panoply of college presidents, novelists and even the occasional palm reader.
Usually set in what producer Laura Friend characterized as a ”tacky, bachelor kitchen,” the show rolls along, maintaining momentum with the help of Chicago comedians Bill Gorgo, Mike Manton, Don Czowizcki and Kevin Lampe.
”They`re always on the show one way or another,” Powers said. Broadcast live at 6:30 p.m. Wednesdays on Continental Cablevision, ”Powers`
Up” harbors a very real element of surprise, often reinforced by this merry band of jokers. ”Sometimes they plan things and not tell me. Bill (Gorgo) is often the mastermind,” Powers said.
Viewers will welcome Powers` return Wednesday, after a one-week absence. Last week, he was in Philadelphia appearing in his new one-man play, ”Scissors, Paper, Rock.”
”Powers` Up” can be seen by communities served by Continental. In the northwest suburbs, the show is broadcast on Ch. 13, in the western suburbs it can be seen on Ch. 3 and in the Romeoville area, it`s shown on Ch. 15.
Other cable highlights:
– ”Tax Tips” will present hints for overseas taxpayers and military personnel (9:30 a.m. Monday, Centel-Ch. 37 in Wheaton).
– Third through 6th-grade athletes from Wood Dale and Itasca will face off in ”Youth Basketball” (7:30 p.m. Friday, Metrovision-Ch. 8).
– Glenbard North takes on West Chicago in high school basketball (7 p.m. Wednesday, Metrovision-Ch. 8).
– A look at legal and technological remedies for air pollution on
”Contemporama” (8 p.m. Thursday, TCI-Ch. 21).
