Although the emphasis on the new fall television season rests squarely on what the four major networks are offering, independent stations always have enticing alternatives.
These days, the alternatives have been spiced up thanks to mini-networks UPN and the WB, both of which have homes on independent stations in the Chicago area.
The two upstarts are fighting it out for the auspicious title of fifth network, and the WB, which acquired five stations previously associated with UPN within the last year, is poised for that crown. WB helps its cause by expanding to a fourth night in January, adding Tuesdays to its Sunday, Monday and Wednesday lineup of programming.
The WB, which airs its shows on WGN-Ch. 9, has added two new comedies both set to debut Sunday:
The Tom Show (8 p.m.), starring comic actor Tom Arnold (The Jackie Thomas Show, True Lies) as general manager of a small Minneapolis television station who raises two daughters and Alright Already (8:30 p.m.), with comedian and writer Carol Leifer (Seinfeld, The Larry Sanders Show) as a single woman juggling love life and family life while running a Miami optometry shop.
On Tuesdays, the WB has two hour-long dramas on tap: Three, a cross between It Takes a Thief (times three) and Mission Impossible; and Dawsons Creek, a coming-of-age drama set in a Boston suburb.
UPN (WPWR-Ch. 50 is the local affiliate) has three new comedies:
Good News, 8 p.m. MondaysA young pastor (David P. Ramsey) takes over a church from its founding father, a situation that doesnt please the church congregation.
Hitz, 8 p.m. TuesdaysThe cutthroat world of the recording business is mined for laughs, as the ups and downs of two young executives (Claude Brooks, Rick Gomez) are followed. Andrew Am I Still Called Dice? Clay is the tough record company president.
Head Over Heels, 8:30 p.m. TuesdaysTwo young brothers run the South Beach, Fla., video dating service founded by their out-there mother (Connie Stevens).
UPN also rescued Clueless, the second-year comedy based on the hit movie, from ABC, and is putting it on at 7 p.m. Tuesdays, starting Sept. 23.
Although Channels 9 and 50 are affiliates of the WB and UPN, respectively, they and other independents boost their lineups with syndicated fare, which includes several new eyecatching shows.
Channel 50, which for years has been the home of the action series genre, adds Team Knight Rider, on Oct. 9. Yet another offshoot of the popular NBC series about a talking car, this one has several autos, each equipped with all kinds of gadgets and five operatives trained to fight lawlessness in the western United States.
Channel 9, no stranger to action series in syndication (Hercules, Xena), has a pair of freshman science-fiction shows. Gene Roddenberrys Earth: Final Conflict is based on an idea from Star Treks late creator. Debuting Oct. 18, the series uses a Midwestern city as the focal point for the arrival of aliens who might not be as friendly as they seem.
NightMan (Sept. 20) is based on the Marvel Comics superhero who is a musician by day and a defender of justice by night.
WCIU-Ch. 26 is heavy on adventure this fall. Stacy Keach makes another comeback as tough gumshoe Mike Hammer in a new series of adventures (Sept. 28). The future Mr. Barbra Streisand, James Brolin (Marcus Welby, Hotel), also returns to television in Pensacola: Wings of Gold (Sept. 15), as the head of an elite military force. And Conan, the pulp comics barbarian who made Arnold Schwarznegger a star, comes to television, premiering Sept. 22 and starring Ralf Moeller.
Fans of Due South, the former CBS series that is a cult hit all over the world, will be pleased to know that after a year off the air, the series returns Sept. 23 with all-new adventures of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer (Paul Gross) fighting crime in Chicago.
Action isnt the only watch-word for the fall.
Channel 26 is high on retelling of Fame, the movie and NBC television series that was successful in the 1980s. Fame L.A. (Oct. 4) is set in the Jungle, a two-block area near Venice Beach where young singers, actors, dancers, musicians and others try to live forever.
Rip Torn of The Larry Sanders Show serves as the host of Ghost Stories, a horror anthology series that debuts Sept. 27 on Channel 50. Also on Channel 50, Peter Scolari takes over for Rick Moranis in Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, a new series based on the Disney hit (Sept. 27).
Channel 50 gets into the reality game with two new shows, Americas Dumbest Criminals (Sept. 27), an Americas Funniest Home Videos type show with crooks caught on tape, and Wild Things (Sept. 28), a weekly documentary series that gets up-close and personal with animals.
Two new sports shows debut Sunday on WGN: Chicago Tribune Preps Plus a half-hour program patterned after the Tribunes high school sports feature and former Bears coach, and current New Orleans Saints coach, Mike Ditka in Ditka Live! on Channel 26, in a broadcast of the Chicago sports icons weekly Saints show.
Also offering a varied slice of new television programming are classic/shop-at-home station WJYS-Ch. 62, and inspirational television station WCFC-Ch. 38.
Beginning the week of Sept. 29, Channel 62 is airing American Adventurer, with adventurous stunts from around the world, 6 p.m. Mondays; the sports-bloopers themed Lighter Side of Sports at 6 p.m. Wednesdays; Main Floor, a fashion and beauty news magazine, 6 p.m. Thursdays; and a package of motion picture coming attractions on Preview Theater, 6 p.m. Fridays.
Channel 62 will also broadcast The Ron Turner Show, with the new coach of the University of Illinois football coach, at 11:30 p.m. Fridays starting Sept. 12, and a package of University of Illinois basketball games sometime in November.
Channel 38 programs scheduled to premiere the week of Oct. 6 include:
Swans Place, an hour of music, variety and comedy hosted by standup David Swanberg (8 p.m. Mondays); Body Matters, a health and nutrition show (11:30 a.m. Thursdays); Daily Grind, a program for women (10:30 a.m. Fridays); Prep Weekly, overviews of Chicago-area school sports (10 p.m. Fridays), followed by a prep Game of the Week at 10:20 p.m.; and Actual Reality, a variety show for teenagers (12:30 and 11 a.m. Saturdays).
