12—SANDY (Ore.) POSTThurs., Jan. 22, 1981 (Sec 4)
CA8LEIOG^—
Pay-cables breathe
easy sans Premiere
by ANN FER R A R
If you're a subscriber to
either HBO. Showtime or the
Movie Channel, you may have
noticed a greater amount of
film encores and or unfam il
tar titles in your program
guide lately
For the last several months,
four m ajor film studios have
been withholding their movies
fro m
these
p a y -c a b le
networks Columbia Pictures.
Paramount. 20th Century Fox
and MCA combined forces
with Getty Oil to form their
own pay-cable channel, called
Premiere, intended to com
mence operations this past
Jan 2nd The main drawing
card behind Premiere was an
agreement giving it a nine-
month exclusive jum p on
choice film s produced by its
four film partners
HBO. Showtime and the
Movie Channel whose sched
ules are comprised m ainly of
feature films, went to court
against Premiere and won a
temporary injunction against
it Each of these pay rivals
filed affidavits stating in one
w ay
or
a n o th e r
th a t
Premiere s nine-month exclu
s iv ity s tip u la tio n w ould
destrov their ability to com
pete e/fectively
Premiere never did get off
the ground on Jan 2nd
because on New Year s Eve. a
Federal court judge issued a
permanent injunction against
it. based on the antitrust vio
lations of price fixing and
group boycotting
Premiere which feels it
needs the nine-month exclu
sivity condition to stay afloat
in the same waters as HBO
plans to appeal the decision
The fledgling network has
acknowledged, however that
it w ill probably fold if the
decision still stands
Stay tuned to this column
for the outcome of the appeal
HBO scoops Disney
Home Box Office, which
was incidentally, accused by
Ü N T A N G L 6 TM 6
Premiere of having a monop
oly on product from certain
film studios, recently signed
an exclusive contract with
Walt Disney Productions to
show selected Disney pro
grams and movies
HBO
experimented with a sepa
rate, family-oriented channel
once before, and is obviously
aiming for a fam ily audience
again The package of Disney
features began playing on
HBO Jan 5th in the 5 00 to
7 00 p m (EST) tim e slot
A m on g the a n im a te d
cartoons, adventure movies
and other special Disney
acqusitions planned for this
year are
"C h ip n'Dale.
"Emil and the Detective,"
"Donald Duck Quacks Up"
and "‘Prince and the Pauper ”
Feature film s set for prime
tim e showing are Cat from
Outer Space." "Return from
W itch M ou ntain."
"Mary
Poppins
and "The Black
Hole
Showtime goes country
Meanwhile, over at the
Showtime ranch, movies still
remain the No 1 attraction,
but the n e tw o rk hasn’ t
neglected its commitment to
specials, particularly those
featuring country A western
stars
Since the bulk of
Showtime's subscribers live in
rural areas, the service has
always been strong on country
concerts Loretta Lynn, often
called the "first lady of
country," w ill appear Feb 3rd
in her own special, aptly titled
Loretta ”
Movie Channel movies
Some highlights coming up
on the Movie Channel in Feb
ruary include Cheech and
Chong's comedy "U p in
Smoke." Stanley Kubrick's
science fiction epic "2001 A
Space O dyssey." "B e in g
There," starring Peter Sellers
and "G iida L ive ." which
in c lu d e s e x c e rp ts fro m
Radner's Broadway stage
show
AM P I S 6
ASK ME ABOUT TV
By VALCAREW
RELAX - Please tell me if
Jackson, who was on "The
White Shadow
with Ken
Howard, is dead If so. how
did he die?
K J . Oxnard.
Calif
The character of Jackson is
dead, killed in a liquor store
hold-up during last season’s
shows Hut Eric Kilpatrick,
who played Jackson, is very
much alive. Because some of
the actors on the series werr
outgrowing their roles, sever
al characters were graduated
But because violence is a part
ot today's life, the Jackson
character met a violent death
M ARKS SPOT - Please
help me I think Mark Shera is
an absolute doll I know he
hasn't been on TV since
“ 8 W" A T ,” but 1 would really
love to w rite him. but don't
know his address — Jmene
Wachter, Chicago. Ill
You're going to be angry
with yourself, because Mark
has been on T V since
"S W A T " He went into "Bar
nabv Jones" and was active in
the series during its last few
seasons The series is no long
er in production, but try w rit
ing him in care of "Barnah\
Jones,” CBS, Television City,
CA 98038. W rite "please
forward" on It Good luck.
GETTING TO THE ROOT
OF IT — Some tim e ago I
wrote asking you to send me a
picture of Brooke from "A ll
Mv Children." as I v,
have my hair cut like hers I
also wanted to know the name
of her hair style Please send
me the picture — Sharyn
Landis. Boardman. Ohio
We don't have pictures to
send out Your best bet is to
write Julia Barr, who plays
Brooke, and ask her to send
you the name of her hair style
and a photo The show origi
nates from New York, so
write her in care of "All My
Children,” ABC. 1330 Avenue
of the Americas, New York.
NY 10019 Good luck with
your new Brooke look
ISLAND T IM E - I have
some "Gilligan's Island" ques
lio n -
What was G illigans
first name’’ Also the first
name of Mr Howell and the
professor’s name"’ — Phillip
Laven. Wayland. Mass
Gilligan. like Quincy and
("olumbo. didn't have a first
name The other two were
Thurston llowell I I I (his wife
was Lovey) and Professor
Roy Henkley. You didn’t ask.
hut the actress was Ginger
Grant, the store clerk was
Mary Ann Summers and the
skipper was Jonas Grumby
Probably knew those, didn’t
vou’’
OLD SHOW — I have seen a
show called "Alias Smith and
im if
uni n.ivc often won
dered why Pete Duel and Rog
er Davis keep taking turns
playing Smith I have heard
that something happened to
Duel If so. what"’ Was th.
show canceled and then later
put back on to f ill empty time
slots’’ — V ic to ria Jung,
Surrey. B.C.
When the series first came
on ABC in January 1971, Ben
Murphy played Jones, and
Duel was Smith Then Duel
shot himself, and after his
death Roger Davis assumed
the role of Smith. The series
was canceled in 1973. What
you are seeing are syndicated
reruns, and obviously they are
not being shown consecutive
ly. Davis, by the way, was
married to Jaclyn (“Charlie’s
Angels”) Smith at the time he
did the series.
you have a question
about T V Drop us a line in
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