TV Time Capsule

‘Saturday Night Live’ Introduces Adam Sandler’s ‘The Chanukah Song’

“Eight Crazy Nights,” a celebration of Hanukkah-themed episodes, continues.

Night No. 2: December 3, 1994, when Adam Sandler introduced “The Chanukah Song” on “Saturday Night Live.”

 

 

 

The song exploded in popularity in December 1995, after Warner Bros. sent it to radio stations as a novelty single and it became an unlikely hit, the Sun-Sentinel in Florida reported at the time.

That Warner Bros. (Sandler’s label) won’t have the record in stores in time for the holidays would seem to indicate that the success of the song caught the label by surprise. …

“Everybody wants to hear this song; everybody is asking about it,” said Susan Sternkopf, a marketing and promotion staffer at Warner’s Burbank headquarters. …

“(Lack of a large Jewish population in some areas of the country) doesn’t seem to have any affect on its success,” she said.

Today, “The Chanukah Song” is a holiday staple; Neil Diamond covered it last year, and in 2002, it inspired Sandler’s movie “Eight Crazy Nights.”

See Listen for yourself: Several versions of “The Chanukah Song” can be purchased at iTunes and Amazon.com. “Eight Crazy Nights” will continue tomorrow.

 

On TV

Here’s the prime-time lineup for Saturday, December 3, 1994:

8: “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory”* (ABC), “Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman” (CBS), “Cops” (Fox), “Empty Nest” (NBC)

8:30: “Cops”* (Fox), “Empty Nest” (NBC)

9: “The Five Mrs. Buchanans” (CBS), “America’s Most Wanted” (Fox), “Sweet Justice” (NBC)

9:30: “Hearts Afire” (CBS)

10: “The Commish” (ABC), “Walker, Texas Ranger” (CBS), “Sisters” (NBC)

 

The Record

For the week of November 27, 1994:

Top novel: “The Celestine Prophecy” by James Redfield

Top song: “I’ll Make Love to You” by Boyz II Men

Top movie: “The Santa Clause”

Top TV show: “Grace Under Fire” (ABC) 

In the news: President Clinton limited federal funding for embryonic research

This Show Was No Drag: ‘Dame Edna’s Hollywood’

On November 30, 1991, NBC aired “Dame Edna’s Hollywood,” the prime time special that introduced Australian drag queen Dame Edna Everage to American audiences.

The lavender-haired matron, portrayed by Barry Humphries, became a phenomenon in her homeland and England in the 1980s.

In “Dame Edna’s Hollywood,” she delighted in embarrassing her celebrity guests, requiring Cher to wear a name tag in case viewers who forgot who she was and refusing to allow Mel Gibson past security.

In an article published the day before “Hollywood” aired, USA Today asked if she ever apologizes to her guests:

“On the contrary, they apologize to me!” she exclaims. “They ask, ‘Oh Edna, was I good enough?’”

“Dame Edna’s Hollywood” aired two days after Thanksgiving and was seen in 10.6 million homes, finishing 36th in the weekly ratings.

Additional “Dame Edna’s Hollywood” specials aired in 1992 and 1993.

The character now appears regularly on talk shows; in 2001, Humphries – as Dame Edna – joined Fox’s “Ally McBeal” in the recurring role of law firm client Claire Otoms.

See for yourself: “Dame Edna’s Hollywood” isn’t online or on video; visit TVShowsOnDVD.com and petition its release!

 

On TV

Here’s the prime-time lineup for Saturday, November 30, 1991:

8: “Who’s the Boss?” (ABC), “The ’Burbs” (CBS), “Cops” (Fox), “The Golden Girls” (NBC)

8:30: “Growing Pains” (ABC), “Cops” (Fox), “Walter and Emily” (NBC)

9: “The Young Riders” (ABC), “Charlie Hoover”

 (Fox), “Empty Nest” (NBC)

9:30: “Get a Life” (Fox), “Nurses” (NBC)

10: “The Commish” (ABC), “Dame Edna’s Hollywood” (NBC)

 

The Record

For the week of November 24, 1991:

Top novel: “Scarlett” by Alexandra Ripley

Top song: “When a Man Loves a Woman” by Michael Bolton

Top movie: “The Addams Family”

Top TV show: “In a Child’s Name, Part 2” (CBS)

In the news: Toys are unsafe, consumer advocates said

 

 

Captions: Dame Edna Everage (top, photograph courtesy DragQueenDiaries.com; NBC’s advertisement for the special, from TV Guide’s November 30, 1991, issue (bottom).

Hi Again! ‘The Bob Newhart Show,’ 19 Years Later

On November 23, 1991, CBS aired “The Bob Newhart Show 19th Anniversary Special,” a one-hour retrospective of the 1972-78 sitcom.

The broadcast featured the show’s cast members returning – in character – to help Chicago psychologist Dr. Bob Hartley (Newhart) analyze a lengthy dream in which he was a Vermont innkeeper named “Dick Loudon.”

“Bob Newhart Show” clips were interspersed throughout the special, which ended when Bob spotted three elevator repairmen who resembled Larry (William Sanderson) and his brothers Darryl (Tony Papenfuss, John Voldstad) – the odd backwoodsmen who constantly befuddled poor Dick Loudon.

(TVSeriesFinale.com has a fuller synopsis.)

The Los Angeles Times’ Howard Rosenberg called the special a reminder of “just how funny, fresh and contemporary [‘The Bob Newhart Show’] remains.”

Too bad the “19th Anniversary Special” was a ratings bomb.

The broadcast drew viewers in just 6.7 million homes, finishing fourth in its time slot and ranking 79th out of 90 programs in the weekly ratings.

See for yourself: “The Bob Newhart 19th Anniversary Special” isn’t online or on video, but the first four seasons of “The Bob Newhart Show” and the first season of “Newhart” are on DVD.

 

On TV

Here’s the prime-time lineup for Saturday, November 23, 1991:

8: “Who’s the Boss?” (ABC), “The Bob Newhart Show 19th Anniversary Special” (CBS), “Cops” (Fox), “The Golden Girls” (NBC)

8:30: “Growing Pains” (ABC), “Walter and Emily” (NBC)

9: “Funny Farm” (ABC), “A Party for Richard Pryor” (CBS), “Charlie Hoover” (Fox), “Empty Nest” (NBC)

9:30: “Get a Life” (Fox), “Nurses” (NBC)

10: “Sisters” (NBC)

 

The Record

For the week of November 17, 1991:

Top novel: “Scarlett” by Alexandra Ripley

Top song: “Cream” by Prince and the New Power Generation

Top movie: “Cape Fear”

Top TV show: “60 Minutes” (CBS)

In the news: Massachusetts allowed bettors to play the lottery by telephone.

 

 

Captions: “The Bob Newhart Show 19th Anniversary Special” reunited cast members, from left, Bill Daily, Suzanne Pleshette, Jack Riley, Newhart, Marcia Wallace and Peter Bonerz (top, photograph from TVSeriesFinale.com); CBS’s advertisement for the special, from TV Guide’s November 23, 1991, issue (bottom).

‘Overkill:’ Jean Smart Does Aileen Wuornos

On November 17, 1992, CBS aired “Overkill: The Aileen Wuornos Story,” a TV movie that starred Jean Smart as the nation’s first convicted woman serial killer, a role that later won Charlize Theron an Oscar.

“Overkill” chronicled the 1990-91 dragnet for Wuornos, a prostitute who preyed on older men who picked her up along Florida roads.

It was one of Smart’s first dramatic roles after leaving “Designing Women” in 1991. Another sitcom star, “Empty Nest’s” Park Overall, co-starred as Tyria Moore, Wuornos’s lover.

The movie whitewashed their relationship and presented a mostly sympathetic portrait of Wournos, asserting she was a victim of childhood sexual abuse.

Smart and Overall received good reviews, although the St. Petersburg Times’ Janis D. Froelich asked why the movie put “glossy hair color and … nicely made-up faces on the actors portraying such cash-poor women?”

“Overkill” was seen in 14.3 million homes, tying with another TV movie – NBC’s “A Child Lost Forever” – for 14th place in the weekly ratings.

Theron won her Oscar for “Monster,” which was released in 2003, one year after Wournos’s execution.

See for yourself: “Overkill: The Aileen Wuornos Story” isn’t online or on video.

 

On TV

Here’s the prime-time lineup for Tuesday, November 17, 1992:

8: “Full House” (ABC), “Rescue 911” (CBS), “Quantum Leap” (NBC)

8:30: “Hangin’ with Mr. Cooper” (ABC)

9: “Roseanne” (ABC), “Overkill: The Aileen Wuornos Story” (CBS), “Reasonable Doubts” (NBC)

9:30: “Coach” (ABC)

10: “Going to Extremes” (ABC), “Dateline NBC”

 

The Record

For the week of November 15, 1992:

Top novel: “The Tale of the Body Thief” by Anne Rice

Top song: “How Do You Talk to An Angel?” by the Heights

Top movie: “Bram Stoker’s Dracula”

Top TV show: “The Jacksons: An American Dream, Part 2” (ABC)

In the news: The president-elect made baby boomers feels old

 

Caption: CBS’s advertisement for “Overkill: The Aileen Wuornos Story,” from TV Guide’s November 14, 1992, issue.

‘Twin Peaks:’ Laura Palmer’s Killer Revealed – Finally

On November 10, 1990, ABC’s “Twin Peaks” revealed Laura Palmer’s killer – 216 days after her body was discovered in the series premiere.

The network originally promised the mystery would be solved in the first-season finale.

It wasn’t.

ABC then said viewers would know the identity of Laura’s killer if they watched the second-season premiere.

That episode’s final scene suggested an obscure character named Bob killed Laura.

In “Lonely Souls,” the installment that aired 20 years ago tonight, viewers learned Bob was actually the evil alter ego of … Leland Palmer (Ray Wise), Laura’s father.

The revelation came when Leland/Bob brutally murdered Laura’s lookalike cousin Maddy (Sheryl Lee), a scene Entertainment Weekly has called one of television’s most disturbing.

“Lonely Souls” was seen in 9.7 million homes, tying with NBC’s “Ferris Bueller” for 51st in the weekly ratings.

The audience was fewer than half the amount that watched “Twin Peaks’” debut on April 8, 1990.

See for yourself: “Lonely Souls” can be streamed for free at CBS.com and downloaded for $2.99 from iTunes. The episode is also part of the “Twin Peaks: The Definitive Gold Box Collection” DVD set.

 

On TV

Here’s the prime-time lineup for Saturday, November 10, 1990:

8: “Young Riders” (ABC), “The Family Man” (CBS), “Totally Hidden Video” (Fox), “Parenthood” (NBC)

8:30: “The Hogan Family” (CBS), “Haywire” (Fox), “Working It Out” (NBC)  

9: “China Beach” (ABC), “Wiseguy” (CBS), “Cops” (Fox), “The Golden Girls” (NBC)

9:30: “Empty Nest” (CBS), “American Chronicles” (Fox)

10: “Twin Peaks” (ABC), “Hunter” (NBC)

 

The Record

For the week of November 4, 1990:

Top novel: “The Plains of Passage” by Jean M. Auel

Top song: “Ice Ice Baby” by Vanilla Ice

Top movie: “Jacob’s Ladder”

Top TV show: “Cheers” (NBC)

In the news: Food makers were required to put more information on nutrition labels

 

 

Captions: Leland Palmer murders Maddy in “Lonely Souls” (top, compilation from EW.com); ABC’s advertisement for “Lonely Souls,” from TV Guide’s November 10, 1990, issue.

‘Kojak’ Returns

“Reunions & Revivals Week” continues.

On November 4, 1989, “Kojak” returned as a series of two-hour ABC movies.

CBS’s original 1973-78 show starred Telly Savalas as Lieutenant Theo Kojak, a streetwise Manhattan police detective whose signatures included his bald head and ever-present lollipops.

Co-stars included Kevin Dobson as earnest sidekick Bobby Crocker; Dan Frazer as Captain Frank McNeil; and Telly’s brother George Savalas as Detective Stavros.

Kojak was promoted to inspector in ABC’s movies, which aired monthly under the network’s “Saturday Mystery” banner.

Savalas was the only original star who returned, although Dobson appeared in one movie as Crocker, now a lawyer.

New regulars included Andre Braugher as Winston Blake, Kojak’s protégé, and Savalas’s daughter Candace as his secretary, Pamela.

The first movie was seen in just 8.6 million homes, ranking 69th in the weekly ratings; in March 1990, the fifth and final film drew viewers in just 6.7 million homes.

In 2005, USA briefly revived “Kojak” as a weekly show – this time starring Ving Rhames.

See for yourself: ABC’s “Kojak” movies aren’t on DVD or online, but the original show’s first three seasons can be streamed at Hulu. Season one is also on DVD.

 

On TV

Here’s the prime-time lineup for Saturday, November 4, 1989:

8: “Mr. Belvedere” (ABC), “Paradise” (CBS), “Cops” (Fox), “227” (NBC)

8:30: “Living Dolls” (ABC), “The Reporters” (Fox), “Amen” (NBC)

9: “ABC Saturday Mystery: Kojak” (ABC), “Tour of Duty” (CBS), “The Golden Girls” (NBC)

9:30: “Empty Nest” (CBS), “Beyond Tomorrow” (Fox)

10: “Saturday Night with Connie Chung” (CBS), “Hunter” (NBC)

 

The Record

For the week of October 29, 1989:

Top novel: “Clear and Present Danger” by Tom Clancy

Top song: “Miss You Much” by Janet Jackson

Top movie: “Look Who’s Talking”

Top TV show: “The Cosby Show” (NBC)

In the news: East Germany wobbled

 

 

Captions: “Kojak” star Telly Savalas on the Sept. 10, 1989, cover of the Philadelphia Inquirer’s TV Week (top, photographer unknown); ABC’s advertisement for its first “Kojak” movie, from TV Guide’s November 4, 1989, issue.

‘Empty Nest’ Draws a Crowd

On October 8, 1988, NBC introduced “Empty Nest,” a “Golden Girls” spinoff that starred Richard Mulligan as Harry Weston, a recently widowed pediatrician who lived in the same Miami neighborhood as the girls.

When “Empty Nest” opened, Harry was adjusting to single life with help from his two adult daughters: neurotic divorcee Carol (Dinah Manoff) and Barbara (Kristy McNichol), a self-assured undercover cop, both of whom had moved in with Harry by the time the season ended.

(A third daughter, Emily, was a college student who was referred to but not seen.)

The other cast members: David Leisure as Charley Dietz, Harry’s skirt-chasing neighbor, a cruise-ship purser; Park Overall as Laverne Todd, Harry’s sharp-tongued nurse, who spoke in a thick Arkansas drawl; and Bear as Dreyfuss, his enormous dog.

“The Golden Girls” – Dorothy Zbornak (Bea Arthur), Rose Nylund (Betty White), Blanche Devereaux (Rue McClanahan) and Sophia Petrillo (Estelle Getty) – also appeared occasionally.

“Empty Nest’s” original pilot centered on middle-aged couple George and Renee Corliss (Paul Dooley, Rita Moreno) whose adult children had moved away, and their neighbor Oliver (Leisure).

The pilot, titled “Empty Nests,” aired as “The Golden Girls’” second-season finale in May 1987. NBC wasn’t happy with the results, so creator Susan Harris reworked the concept, casting Mulligan as the new lead and dropping the “s” from the title.

Critics liked the new, improved “Empty Nest:” the Washington Post’s Tom Shales was particularly gushy, calling it “a sparklingly wrapped gift package, one that many viewers will look forward to opening every Saturday night.”

The debut was seen in 18 million homes, ranking fourth in the weekly ratings, behind the season premieres of “The Cosby Show” (21.9 million homes), “A Different World (20.5 million) and “The Golden Girls” (19.5 million).

The series remained a top 10 fixture until 1991, when NBC broke up the “Girls”-“Nest” combo, moving each show to new time slots on Saturday nights.

When McNichol left the show in 1993, producers brought Emily home from college, casting Lisa Reiffel in the role.

Later that year, following the demise of “The Golden Girls” sequel “Golden Palace,” “Empty Nest” added Getty to its full-time cast as Sophia, who was once again living in the nearby Shady Pines retirement home. She remained with the show through its 1995 finale.

 

Also on TV

On October 8, 1988, NBC also aired the season premieres of “227,” “Amen” and “The Golden Girls” and a “Hunter” rerun; on ABC, the New York Mets beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 8 to 4, in a National League baseball playoff; CBS broadcast “Live! Dick Clark Presents,” the season premiere of “Simon & Simon” and “West 57th;” and Fox showed newsmagazine “The Reporters” and the science show “Beyond Tomorrow.”

 

The Record

During the week of October 2, 1988, the number ones were Tom Clancy’s “The Cardinal of the Kremlin” (novel), Bobby McFerrin’s “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” (song) and “Gorillas in the Mist” (movie). On the presidential campaign trail, Republican nominee George H.W. Bush portrayed Democratic opponent Michael Dukakis as sympathetic to criminals.

 

  

 

Captions: “Empty Nest” cast members, from left to right, Dreyfuss, Dinah Manoff, Richard Mulligan and Kristy McNichol in a photograph from TV Guide’s October 1, 1988, fall preview issue (top, photo by Roger Prigent); NBC’s advertisements for the series premiere, from the October 8, 1988, edition (middle and bottom).

Meet ‘The Commish’

On September 28, 1991, “The Commish,” Michael Chiklis’s first television series, debuted on ABC.

The crime drama cast the actor – who returns to the network tonight in the superhero fantasy “No Ordinary Family” – as Tony Scali, a tough-but-compassionate suburban police commissioner in upstate New York.

“The Commish” – which was Scali’s nickname – also explored the character’s domestic life, which included supportive wife Rachel (Theresa Saldana) and David (Kaj-Erik Eriksen), their young son.

Before “The Commish,” the thin-haired, doughy Chiklis was probably best known for portraying John Belushi in “Wired,” a 1989 film that focused on the late comedian’s darker side, including his drug abuse and fatal overdose.

Chiklis guest-starred on CBS’s “Wiseguy” later that year, impressing producer Stephen J. Cannell, who later cast him in “The Commish.”

Cannell based the series on the life and career of his friend Tony Schembri, the colorful police commissioner in Rye, New York. The producer initially tried to sell “The Commish” to CBS, but executives passed, fearing the 28-year-old Chiklis wouldn’t be believable in the role of a middle-aged cop.

“[CBS] thought the screen test was terrific, but that I looked younger off-screen,” Chiklis told the Associated Press in 1991. “I don’t look like a commissioner of police, but that’s what acting’s all about.”

Critics were lukewarm toward “The Commish,” but many liked Chiklis.

The Hollywood Reporter’s Miles Beller praised the actor’s “grand, embracing humanity,” while USA Today’s Matt Roush predicted the actor and his character would both “command respect.”

United Press International’s Joan Hanauer suggested the series was “unlikely to pull audiences away from their VCRs” on Saturday nights.

She was correct.

“In the Best of Families,” the show’s first episode, finished 76th in the weekly ratings.

“The Commish” never became a major hit, but it built a small-but-loyal following that made it a Saturday staple for most of its four-season run.

In 2002, a newly buff Chiklis returned to prime time in FX’s “The Shield,” playing less-than-lovable cop Vic Mackey – a role that later won Chiklis a best-actor Emmy.

“In the Best of Families” can be streamed for free at Hulu and downloaded for $1.99 at iTunes and Amazon.com. The episode is also part of “The Commish: The Complete First Season” DVD set.

 

Also on TV

On September 28, 1991, ABC also moved fading sitcoms “Who’s the Boss?” and “Growing Pains” to Saturday nights and aired the season premiere of its western “The Young Riders;” CBS broadcast the 1989 Tom Selleck flick “Her Alibi” and “P.S. I Luv U,” a breezy detective show starring Connie Selleca, Greg Evigan and Earl Holliman; Fox showed “Cops,” “Totally Hidden Video” and “Best of the Worst” and NBC offered “The Golden Girls,” “The Torkelsons,” “Empty Nest,” “Nurses” and “Sisters.”

 

The Record

During the week of September 22, 1991, the number ones were Tom Clancy’s “The Sum of All Fears” (novel), Color Me Baad’s “I Adore Mi Amor” (song) and “Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare” (movie). In Washington, the Senate Judiciary Committee deadlocked 7 to 7 on Clarence Thomas’s Supreme Court nomination.

 

  

Captions: “The Commish” star Michael Chiklis in a photograph from TV Guide’s September 14, 1991, fall preview issue (top); ABC’s advertisement for the series premiere from the magazine’s September 28, 1991, edition (bottom).

Monday, February 6, 1989

Let’s say it’s the late ’80s and you’re Brandon Tartikoff, programming chief for NBC, television’s top-rated network.

The first Monday of the February “sweep” – one of four annual periods when broadcasters try to goose their ratings so they can charge more for airtime – finds your competition bringing out their biggest guns.

CBS is airing the second installment of its critically lauded “Lonesome Dove” miniseries; ABC has scheduled Peter Falk’s first “Columbo” movie in more than a decade.

What do you do?

Why, you stunt like crazy, of course!

So on this night 21 years ago, with CBS showing “Lonesome Dove” and ABC airing “Columbo’s” comeback, NBC counterprogrammed with “Night of 1,000 Laughs” – five new episodes of “The Cosby Show,” “ALF,” “The Golden Girls,” “Empty Nest” and “Cheers,” followed by a “Night Court” rerun.

The result?

An average 18 million homes tuned into NBC’s all-comedy night, compared to 15 million for CBS’s lineup (which also included new episodes of “Newhart” and “Kate & Allie”) and 13 million for ABC (which also showed a new “MacGyver”).

NBC aired a second “Night of 1,000 Laughs” on February 12, 1990, but the stakes were lower (the competition that night: ABC’s premiere of “The Jewel of the Nile” and a “Love Boat” reunion movie on CBS), and the ratings were smaller.

 

Elsewhere on Television

TV Guide listings for February 6, 1989:

11:30 ABC NIGHTLINE (CC) – Ted Koppel

11:30 CBS PAT SAJAK; 90 min.

Scheduled: Actor John Goodman (“Roseanne”), author Joseph Wambaugh.

11:30 NBC TONIGHT; 60 min.

Scheduled: Guest host Jay Leno, violinist Itzhak Perlman. Doc Severinsen orchestra.

 

… And in the News

New York Times excerpts from February 6, 1989:

MOSCOW REPORTS EXIT OF ‘LAST SOVIET SOLDIER’ FROM AFGHAN CAPITAL

Soviet troops completed their withdrawal from the Afghan capital of Kabul yesterday, Moscow radio reported, and the last columns of Soviet soldiers were expected to cross into their homeland shortly, ending the Kremlin’s nine-year military intervention in Afghanistan.

For ’88 Returns, ’86 Tax Cuts Are All in Place

As taxpayers begin filling out their 1988 returns in the next few weeks, many will be paying at the lowest rates since World War II. The reason is that 1988 was the first year in which the rate reductions of the Tax Reform Act of 1986 were fully effective.

Fury Over Lawmakers’ Raise Finds an Outlet on the Radio

Across the country the airwaves have buzzed for six weeks with the voices of Americans venting their fury over a proposed 51 percent pay increase for members of Congress. …

Roy Fox, a disc jockey on Detroit station WXYT, where some listeners have called in with their own rap songs and musical parodies protesting the raise.

Mr. Fox started the “Tea Bag Revolution” in mid-December by asking listeners to mail their representatives in Washington tea bags bearing the slogan “Read my tea bag, no pay raise.”

Saturday, Nov. 11, 1989

Twenty years ago tonight, Jaclyn Smith returned to series television as “Christine Cromwell,” a San Francisco financial advisor whose wealthy clients tended to get mixed up in murder.

The two-hour show, a “spoke” in the “ABC Saturday Mystery Movie” wheel, aired monthly. It was Smith’s first series since “Charlie’s Angels” folded in 1981.

Celeste Holm co-starred as Christine’s socialite mother and Theodore Bikel, Mel Ferrer and Richard Bradford played the older woman’s ex-husbands, whom Christine regularly called upon for advice.

Critics hailed the supporting cast as the best thing about an otherwise forgettable show.

“Each of the character actors blows the star out of the water,” wrote Newsday’s Marvin Kitman, who also suggested Holm could play Jessica Fletcher if ever Angela Lansbury quit “Murder, She Wrote.”

About 8 million households tuned into the “Christine Cromwell” premiere – the 62nd most-watched show among the 84 programs that aired that week.

It turned out to be the best performance of the series, which aired its fourth and final installment on Feb. 17, 1990.

 

From the Pages of TV Guide

Also airing Nov. 11, 1989:

8 PM NBC 227 (CC)

Bobby Brown (appearing as himself) exercises his prerogative to shoot a video at Brenda’s high school, while Brenda (Regina King) is on her own when she plagiarizes an old essay of Mary’s to win a part as an extra.

8:30 FOX REPORTERS; 60 min.

A profile of singer-choreographer Paula Abdul (“(Just) The Way That You Love Me”); a report on celebrated divorce and custody cases.

8:30 NBC AMEN (CC)

Thelma (Anna Maria Horsford) goes overboard at her bridal shower to impress her high-school nemesis (Jackee) with reports that she’s living the good life. Rev. Gregory: Clifton Davis. Deacon: Sherman Hemsley. Dr. Davenport: Conroy Gedeon.

8:30 ABC LIVING DOLLS (CC) – Comedy

Rick (David Moscow) thinks a girl in his class has her sights on him, but she’s focusing on Trish (Michael Learned), who could make things click for her in modeling class. Debbie: Kelly Packard. Emily: Halle Berry.

[Postponed from an earlier date.]

9 PM NBC GOLDEN GIRLS (CC)

An ailing friend (Geraldine Fitzgerald) wants Sophia (Estelle Getty) to be there when she takes her life. Meanwhile, an ailing baby turns the others into singing nursemaids. Dorothy: Beatrice Arthur. Blanche: Rue McClanahan. Rose: Betty White. Harry: Richard Mulligan.

9:30 NBC EMPTY NEST (CC)

While Carol (Dinah Manoff) basks in glory after subduing an armed robber, Barbara (Kristy McNichol) tries to steal the spotlight by playing supercop. Meanwhile, Rose (Betty White) seems to be holding Harry’s car hostage. Lt. Valdez: Luis Avalos. Charley: David Leisure.

10 PM CBS CONNIE CHUNG (CC); 60 min.

Scheduled: A report on teenagers who seek abortions without parental consent chronicles the case of a Massachusetts girl via recreations. Included: comments by Planned Parenthood officials.

11:30 NBC SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE; 90 min.

Chris Evert (host) and Eurthymics are the guests. Regulars include Jan Hooks, Kevin Nealon, Victoria Jackson, Phil Harman, Jon Lovitz, Dennis Miller, Nora Dunn. (Live)