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Page 14 The Battalion Thursday, May 4,1989 J ‘Wiseguy’ creators try to return show’s spice ASSOCIATED PRESS “Miami Vice” has gone cold. CBS’ “Wiseguy” has become the hottest show in prime time. It’s also the hippest guest shot on TV. The current storyline, about the recording industry, guest stars rock stars Glenn Frey and Deborah Harry, cult actor Tim Curry (“The Rocky Horror Picture Show”) and former Don Johnson main squeeze Patti D’Arbanville. An earlier storyline lured reverse- cool Jerry Lewis into a rare television role. Tony winner Ron Silver (“Speed-the-Plow”) played Lewis’ son. The attention is welcome — for now — but the pitfalls of being an- nointed as hot by the coolest of the cool is not lost on the show’s pro ducer-writers, Steve Kronish and David Burke. “When you get too cool, you can get cold,” said Kronish, sitting in Burke’s office in the Stephen J. Can- nell Productions building in Holly wood, a long way from Vancouver, where “Wiseguy” is filmed. Kronish said he and Burke plan to avoid big-name stars in the future and return to the obscure, offbeat casting that impressed the industry and TV critics alike when the show premiered last season. The first storyline rejuvenated Ray Sharkey’s career. Then, un knowns Kevin Spacey and Joan Sev erance made a splash as an incestu ous brother-sister crime wave in a second storyline. Another of last sea son’s guest stars was ’60s Andy War hol film veteran Joe Dallesandro. “Wiseguy” is something of a dis tant cousin of “Miami Vice.” Burke co-wrote the pilot of “Crime Story” for “Miami Vice” executive pro ducer Michael Mann. Burke’s road to Hollywood was winding. His father, former late-night New York talk-show host Alan Burke, dis approved of his son’s show-biz aspi rations, but begrudgingly got him a job with a friend, director Otto Pre minger. Burke moved into documentary production and became a political media consultant for clients ranging from Jamaica to U.S. Senate candi date Jay Rockefeller. Kronish, armed with a degree in journalism, got a job as talent coordi nator on a local talk show in L.A. A play he had written landed him his first script-writing job after he was variously unemployed, an insur ance salesman and an assistant golf pro. His first steady TV job was a game show called, appropriately enough, “Anything for Money.” While still overseeing “Wiseguy,” Burke and Kronish found them selves with another series at midsea son, NBC’s “Unsub,” about a crack federal forensic unit. “Unsub” was a modestly success ful midseason replacement. “Wise guy,” meanwhile, has begun to catch on. CBS, picking up on the cult sta tus of the show, has launched an ag gressive ad campaign. Burke and Kronish are hoping, though, that the show is not a mega- “Maybe the fact that it isn’t does give us a certain amount of freedom to do things that a hit show might not be able to do,” said Kronish. “I think the people who like ‘Wise guy’ like it because we’ve done things that are relatively unexpected, and I think we deal with the sort of gray areas of these characters’ lives that a lot of episodic TV doesn’t deal with.” ‘Golden Girls ’ reaches ] 00th episode ASSOCIATED PRESS Susan Harris says “The Golden Girls” began with a suggestion that she write about a group of older women in Miami. But when the “suggestion” comes from Brandon Tartikoff, president of NBC Entertainment, it’s a little hard to dismiss. “I hadn’t wanted to do any more television,” said Harris, who had created “Soap” and “Ben son.” “But that appealed to me. I like writing about older people. They have more to say. They’ve led rich lives. That’s really how it started. After that I came up with the concept and the characters. We got the stars we wanted.” The 100th episode of “The Golden Girls” airs Saturday. The Emmy-winning series just com pleted its third season. It was fifth in the Nielsen ratings for the sea son. “The Golden Girls” are four women living in retirement in the same house in Miami. Bea Arthur plays Dorothy Zbornak, former schoolteacher whose husband left her for a younger woman; Betty Rose Nylund, a naive, grief counselor; Rue White is widowed _ McClanahan plays Blanche Deve reaux, an aging Southern co quette; and Estelle Getty is Doro thy’s mother, Sophia Petrillo, whose uncontrollable bluntness was caused by a stroke. “Estelle Getty was the only un known when we started casting, said Harris. “She came in, read the part and in two minutes we said. ‘That’s it.’” Harris said she believes theres a lot of life left in the “Gids" mi that the award-winning show can go on for many more years. W; Nc he 1 ;ffori ,vas < ding chan; He i coun Nc Reporter plays self in ‘Baby Jessica’ story jury; conli Mari fight prev; “V and told lawy< dons Tl to 1C nons ASSOCIATED PRESS It took three auditions before for mer Midland TV reporter Rodney Wunsch convinced Hollywood that he could portray himself in the movie “Everybody’s Baby: The Res cue of Jessica McClure.” In October 1987, Jessica fell into an abandoned well in Midland and was trapped for 58V2 hours. Wunsch, 25, stayed on the accident scene for 45 hours, often broadcast ing live. Intense news media coverage turned then-18-month-old Jessica into a household name and now a movie event. The film will air May s 21 on ABC. The Midland area ABC affiliate is KMID-TV Channel 2, Wunsch’s for mer employer. In a telephone interview from his North Hollywood home, Wunsch said the rescue drama will be accu rate. “The producers are really making an effort to produce a factual dra ma,” he said. “I think West Texans will be pleased.” When the Odessa native moved to Hollywood six months ago, he noted his interest in the movie project to producer John Kander. Kander con tacted Wunsch a few months later and said the studio had written him into the script. “I was really excited about it,” Wunsch said. “Out of four weeks of shooting, I am on for three weeks. I feel confident. Basically what I say in the movie is what I said on television reports during the rescue.” Wunsch, who left KMID to pur sue a career in screenwriting, said he has missed some of the excitement and creativity involved with news re porting. Wunsch works at AME Inc. in Hollywood in video postproduction. He still hopes to become involved in screenwriting, and was allowed to write a few of his own lines for some of the movie’s simulated newscasts. In a dramatic scene, reporter Wunsch has to pause during a live report because of tears. “We ll have to see how I do on that,” he said. Wunsch said much of the set re sembles the Midland neighborhood that for two days became the nation’s focal point while men work feve rishly to free Jessica. “The Midland Fire and Police De partments sent down decals for vehi cles and patches for the rescue wor kers,” Wunsch said. “It is very realistic. Walking around, it looks like Midland.” Wunsch’s screen portrayal of him self often involves a compilation of several reporters. “Things that happened to myself and other reporters during the res cue are together in my character,” he said. “But a lot of it is things I ac tually experienced.” Along with Wunsch, the film stars Beau Bridges as Midland Police Chief Richard Czech, Roxana Zal as Reba McClure, Will Oldham as Chip McClure, Patty Duke as victim’s sistance worker Carolyn Henry,) Pat Hingle as Fire Chief JamesR erts. Also, Sam Whipple as O’Donnell, Walter Olkewicz as An Glasscock, Rudy Ramos as Mar. Beltran, Miles Watson as CM Boler, Scott Fults as Ribble and Molly McClure as Maxine & ue - The actors, often inquisitiveabt the rescue, have turned to Wuiu for answers. “They are all very nice,” W'um said. “They ask a lot of questit about what went on during the cue. They’re really professionals want it to be accurate.” Wunsch isn’t sure if this rolecoti lead to others. “I don’t know, maybe it will,Bi being involved with a movie Id been a lifelong dream of mine, lii kick.“ The timing for such a nwiei right, Wunsch said. any gress “abs< sion. N< nel c Com adm fort ragu Tc F Vol. SUMMER COOLERS CLASSIC COTTON DRESSES *36 tug!® Two crisp summer dresses from You Babes in cool, clean-cut white cotton. One with a red striped inset, the other trimmed with nautical navy. Out spoken style at an understated price. Sizes 3-13. Junior Dresses. ■ HI is*? A ‘-vi-i ’if < vVv wmm 1 INY ADS. BUT REAL HEAVYWEIGHTS WHEN RESULTS REALLY COUNT. L o matter what you've go to say or sell, our Classi fieds can help you do the big job. i: tan Battalion FOLEY’S me ■ pf< Classified ■ so | : tlOl 1 of I “all 845-2611 i i wri ant spi prt sta \ve