It seems ridiculous now, to imagine that people once feared television would kill radio.
TV, of course, has grown from a baby full of promise into a sickeningly healthy and fertile adult, an amoeba that can’t stop dividing. Radio has had to change to accommodate television, yet in the face of such swagger, the aural medium survives, even thrives.
In fact radio this month is mounting a sort of assault on Mt. Television, an attempt to plant a flag in the prime-time schedule. Of six new sitcoms debuting in March, three of them-one per major network-are about people who work behind a microphone.
In CBS’ “The George Wendt Show,” the ex-“Cheers” barstool occupant plays half of a fraternal broadcasting/car mechanic team not unlike the brothers Magliozzi of National Public Radio’s sublime “Car Talk.” In NBC’s “Newsradio,” ex-“Saturday Night Live” most valuable player Phil Hartman plays a prima donna anchor on a New York station similar to Chicago’s WBBM-AM. And in ABC’s “Bringing Up Jack,” Jack Gallagher-a standup comic who is not the Gallagher who attacks watermelons-will play a Philadelphia sports radio guy.
Let us assume that the television powers did not suddenly decide there is nothing on Earth more fascinating than seeing those red “On Air” signs go on.
The reason for the embarrassment of radio shows is probably five parts “Frasier” (the ex-“Cheers” character is a hit as a Seattle radio shrink); three parts Howard Stern (the New York vulgarian has proven America will buy a national radio personality); and seven or eight parts the general TV climate.
Unless he’s a lawyer or a cop, every character on TV right now-this is only a slight exaggeration-has some kind of media job. Seinfeld is a standup and TV producer; Larry Sanders is a latenight TV host. Ellen just bought a bookstore; Martin Tupper of “Dream On” is a book editor. Then there are Murphy Brown (TV reporter), Dave Barry (newspaper columnist), Paul Buchman (filmmaker), Tim Taylor (TV host), Lois and Clark (preternaturally attractive newspaper reporters) . . .
These mediacentric shows aren’t the chopped liver of broadcasting. All of them do at least pretty well. Most are big hits. Given the disdain Americans profess for the media, it is a little ironic that they gleefully open their homes each week to so many of its members.
But in that list, radio is sort of the missing medium despite its fast pace and faint hint of glamor. So it makes sense that to replace the failed shows of fall, the networks would look to radio.
“The George Wendt Show,” which debuts Wednesday (7 p.m., WBBM-Ch. 2), has the highest hill to climb. It is loosely based on one of the most entertaining hours in any medium.
In NPR’s “Car Talk” (9 a.m. Saturdays, WBEZ-FM 91.5), Boston brothers Tom and Ray Magliozzi take calls from people with auto trouble. When they venture under the hood, they are expert.
But they might just as easily spend a call disparaging the caller’s Peugeot or poking fun at her spouse for being too cheap to get the brakes fixed. What propels the show is the Magliozzis’ infectious laughter, their evident delight in each other’s company and the special intimacy of the medium.
All of which is to say, the Wendt show ain’t that, at least not in the first episode. The only radio bits come early and, while funny, they are not funny in the right way.
As brothers George and Dan Coleman of Madison, Wis., Wendt and Pat Finn play cards and toss a ball as they take calls. Not to harp on real life vs. TV life-certainly the reduction of Dave Barry to silly sitcom person in “Dave’s World” is as disappointing-but anybody who has listened even once to “Car Talk” understands that it works because the hosts are wholly engaged. To portray them as uninterested is as much a violation as Jiffy Lube putting 10W40 in the windshield fluid receptacle.
The Colemans spend the rest of the premiere in their garage and at the Catholic church they grew up attending. There are some bright moments: When Wendt and Finn make talking puppets out of their priest’s statues of saints, they enjoy each other in the manner of the Magliozzis for the only time.
But overall the episode is down a few quarts. Wendt needs the lubrication of a strong ensemble to really shine, and it does not seem to be there. Finn, a much more recent Second City alum than Wendt, is a little stiff as the younger and more puppylike of the brothers.
A much better half hour is NBC’s “Newsradio,” which premieres March 21. Like the not-really-lamented “WKRP in Cincinnati,” it’s set in the radio station, with a wacky cast of characters. It even starts almost like “WKRP” did, with a new news director (the excellent physical comedian Dave Foley, of “Kids in the Hall”) coming into the station and having to fire his predecessor.
But this is “‘KRP” with a modern, peppier sensibility, and there’s nothing in sight that might start hogging, and bogging down, the show like the bosom of Loni Anderson did. The ensemble is deep and talented: Besides Foley, the amusingly bluff Stephen Root and the arch Hartman as a sort of smarter Ted Baxter stand out. It’s supervised by executive producer Paul Simms (“Larry Sanders”) and directed by James Burrows of “Cheers,” say no more.
“Bringing Up Jack,” the ABC show dealing with radio, debuts March 29 and was not available on preview cassette. My strange optimism can be traced primarily to the fact that-did I mention this?-the star is not the Gallagher who attacks watermelons.
– Quickly: NBC’s new and promising “Hope & Gloria” sitcom debuts Thursday night (7:30, WMAQ-Ch. 5). The media link here is that Hope (Cynthia Stevenson), one of two Pittsburgh neighbors who become friends, produces a local talk show. More on this appealing program later . . . Starting Wednesday, WPWR-Ch. 50 is broadcasting, a sort of mini-series, five 2-hour nights that tell “The History of Rock ‘n’ Roll.” It’s a Time-Life production, but you can see it without waiting six to eight weeks for delivery.
