TV Time Capsule

For ‘Frasier,’ a Christmas – er, Hanukkah – to Remember

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

Night No. 8: December 17, 1998, when NBC aired “Merry Christmas, Mrs. Moskowitz,” the “Frasier” episode in which hapless Dr. Crane (Kelsey Grammer) pretends to be Jewish to please Helen Moskowitz (Carole Shelley), the mother of his girlfriend Faye (Amy Brenneman).

On Christmas Eve, Frasier hides his holiday decorations – and shares his bar mitzvah “memories” with Helen and Faye.

FRASIER: I can still remember reading from the Torah … before the … rabbi and, uh, the … cantor … and, uh, the mohel.

HELEN: The mohel?

FAYE: The one who did your circumcision?

FRASIER: Yes! Yes, I just wanted to show him that there were no hard feelings.

As the plan unravels, Helen spots Frasier’s brother Niles (David Hyde Pierce), the star of a local production of “Jesus Christ Superstar,” hiding in his powder room – with his Christmas tree.

“Merry Christmas, Mrs. Moskowitz” was seen in 16.7 million homes, ranking second in the weekly ratings.

See for yourself: “Merry Christmas, Mrs. Moskowitz” is part of the “Frasier: The Complete Sixth Season” DVD set.

 

On TV

Here’s the prime-time lineup for Thursday, December 17, 1998:

8: “Vengeance Unlimited” (ABC), “Promised Land” (CBS), “Greatest Christmas Moments of All” (Fox), “Friends” (NBC), “Out There” (UPN), “The Wayans Bros.” (WB)

8:30: “Jesse” (NBC), “The Jamie Foxx Show” (WB)

9: “I Love Trouble” (ABC), “Diagnosis Murder” (CBS), “Frasier” (NBC), “The Steve Harvey Show” (WB)

9:30: “Veronica’s Closet” (NBC), “For Your Love” (WB)

10: “48 Hours” (CBS), “ER” (NBC)

 

The Record

For the week of December 13, 1998:

Top novel: “A Man in Full” by Tom Wolfe

Top song: “I’m Your Angel” by R. Kelly and Celine Dion

Top movie: “Star Trek: Insurrection”

Top TV show: “ER” (NBC)

In the news: President Clinton’s impeachment was postponed

 

 

Captions: Allergy-plagued Niles (David Hyde Pierce) fills the lead role in Daphne’s production of “Jesus Christ Superstar” in the “Frasier” episode “Merry Christmas, Mrs. Moskowitz.”

You Go, ‘Gilmore Girls’

On October 5, 2000, the WB introduced “Gilmore Girls,” a popular comedy-drama about a single mother raising her 16-year-old daughter in a small Connecticut town.

Lauren Graham starred as free-spirited and quick-witted Lorelai Gilmore, who gave birth to Rory (Alex Bledel) when she was 16. This made the pair seem more like friends than family, with similar tastes in music, clothes and junk food.

Lorelai manages the Independence Inn in picture-perfect Stars Hollow, whose quirky denizens include Sookie St. James (Melissa McCarthy), the inn’s klutzy chef, and gruff diner owner Luke Danes (Scott Patterson).

In the untitled pilot, Lorelai reluctantly asks her estranged parents – wealthy Emily and Richard Gilmore (Kelly Bishop, Edward Herrmann) – for financial help when bright Rory is accepted at Chilton Academy, an expensive private school.

The parents agree to loan Lorelai the money – but only if she and Rory will have dinner with them each Friday night, a ritual seen in many episodes.

“Gilmore Girls” was developed with a pool of funds from major advertisers – including General Motors, Procter & Gamble and Sears – who said they were tired of hawking their products on network shows that exhibited excessive sex and violence.

The sponsors, who had no say in the content they bankrolled, hoped to replicate the success of the WB’s squeaky-clean family drama “7th Heaven.”

Gavin Polone, a “Gilmore Girls’” executive producer, resisted the comparison and claimed he wasn’t aware of his show’s connection to the family friendly fund until it was reported in the press.

“‘Gilmore Girls’ is not saccharine in the least; it’s very dissimilar from ‘7th Heaven,’” he told the Associated Press. “I think it will end up satisfying the people who want more family-friendly shows inadvertently, rather than intentionally.”

The Los Angeles’ Times Howard Rosenberg agreed, praising “Gilmore Girls’” depiction of “mother-daughter bonding that is tender, warm and loving in a natural way without heaping on the schmaltz.”

USA Today’s Robert Bianoco called the show “joyfully charming.”

The “Gilmore Girls” debut was seen in 3.5 million homes, ranking 67th in the weekly ratings. The series originated on Thursdays then moved to Tuesdays and aired seven seasons, transitioning in 2006 to the CW, the network created by the WB-UPN merger.

The “Gilmore Girls’” pilot can be downloaded for $1.99 at iTunes. The episode is also part of the “Gilmore Girls: The Complete Series” DVD set.

 

Also on TV

On October 5, 2000, the WB also aired the season premiere of “Charmed;” ABC broadcast “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire;” CBS showed “48 Hours;” NBC offered a one-hour “Friends” rerun; and the New York Mets beat the San Francisco Giants, 5 to 4, in a National League baseball playoff on Fox. ABC, CBS and NBC also showed the vice presidential debate between Republican Dick Cheney and Democrat Joe Lieberman.

 

The Record

During the week of October 1, 2000, the number ones were Tom Clancy’s “The Bear and the Dragon” (novel), Madonna’s “Music” (song) and “Remember the Titans” (movie). In Washington, Republican lawmakers tried to restrict the so-called abortion pill.

  

 Captions: “Gilmore Girls” stars Lauren Graham and Alexis Biedel in a photograph from TV Guide’s September 30, 2000, fall preview issue (top, photo by Challenge Roddie); the WB’s advertisement for the series premiere, also from that edition (bottom).

Monday, February 26, 1996

Think the plague of product placement in prime time is a new phenomenon?

Pfft!

Embedded advertising dates to television’s Golden Age, but 14 years ago tonight, CBS plumbed new depths in payola when Elizabeth Taylor appeared on the network’s four Monday night sitcoms to promote her new perfume, Black Pearls.

“Taylor Made Monday” kicked off at 8 on “The Nanny,” when La Liz – playing herself – entrusted a priceless black-pearl necklace to Fran Fine (Fran Drescher), who lost it to a cabbie played by Rosie O’Donnell. The missing-necklace storyline continued at 8:30 on “Can’t Hurry Love,” a short-lived “Friends” ripoff that starred Nancy McKeon. The necklace was mentioned briefly on “Murphy Brown” at 9, and was finally recovered at 9:30 on “High Society,” an Americanized version of “Absolutely Fabulous” that starred Jean Smart and Mary McDonnell.

Advertising Age slammed the stunt in an editorial, suggesting “it invites other marketers and potential advertisers to hold out for the same kind of deal. Why pay prime-time rates for a 30-second spot when you can have the whole show?”

In the Washington Post, Tom Shales linked “Taylor Made Monday” to the “watch-and-win” sweepstakes CBS and Kmart began in the late ’80s.

CBS used to call itself the Tiffany Network, but then a few years ago it started staging annual cross-promotions with Kmart. Last night was strictly a Kmart night. CBS appears to have become almost entirely a Kmart network. And that may actually be insulting Kmart.

Apparently, viewers didn’t care: The stunt helped third-place CBS post its first weekly ratings win in almost six months, with all four “Taylor Made Monday” sitcoms receiving a Nielsen boost. Two of the shows, “Murphy Brown” and “The Nanny,” even landed in that week’s top 10.

 

Elsewhere on Television

TV Guide listings for February 26, 1996:

8 PM NBC FRESH PRINCE (CC) – Comedy

After being accepted at Princeton, Carlton (Alfonso Ribeiro) changes his life plans and retreats to a place where everybody knows his name – the bowling alley. Rhonda: Doreen Brown. Madge: Darlene Kardon.

8:30 NBC IN THE HOUSE (CC) – Comedy

Marion (LL Cool J) doesn’t see eye to eye with his dad (Charlie Robinson), an ex-marine, but Marion can’t believe his eyes when he finds him in the hot tub with Jackie (Debbie Allen). Austin: Jeffrey Wood.

8 PM FOX NED AND STACEY (CC)

Ned (Thomas Haden Church) has a gut feeling that his gallbladder is on the fritz. But when he enters the hospital for surgery, it’s his lack of guts that may keep him from going under the knife. Stacey: Debra Messing.

 

… And in the News

New York Times excerpts from February 26, 1996:

POLITICS: THE PRIMARY SPRINT
COMING PRIMARIES ARE UP FOR GRABS AFTER MIXED VOTE

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., Feb. 25 – As the Republican Presidential race enters its most consequential and chaotic phase, the combination of an unexpectedly competitive field and the most accelerated schedule of contests ever in American politics has thrown the competition in several pivotal states into a virtual free-for-all.

Thursday, February 18, 1999

Dear George Clooney,

If you believe the buzz, Jeff Bridges should be clearing space on his mantle for this year’s best-actor Academy Award, meaning you’ll once again be denied Hollywood’s top acting prize.

(Yeah, I know you won an Oscar in 2006 for “Syriana,” but that was in the supporting actor category and we both know that just isn’t the same thing.)

I’m guessing you’re a little bummed about this. Heck, if I were you, I’d still be smarting about what happened two years ago, when the academy awarded Daniel Day-Lewis’s shameless scenery chomping in “There Will Be Blood” instead of your brilliant turn as “Michael Clayton.”

If you’re feeling blue, then let me cheer you up by reminding you how much you’ve achieved since leaving NBC’s “ER,” 11 years ago tonight.

In “The Storm, Part 2,” your final episode as a series regular, your character, maverick-y Dr. Doug Ross, departs County General after bucking authority one too many times. The episode was one of the most-watched in “ER’s” history, drawing 36 million viewers.

You’ll recall that your departure was a big deal: TV Guide put you on its cover and People published a rather nice tribute to you, including a list of Dr. Ross’s five most-used medical terms. (No. 1: “Chem 7,” a test that measures the bloodstream’s seven basic electrolytes.)

Of course, back then, lots of folks questioned your decision to leave television’s top-rated show to make movies. Some suggested you’d come crawling, Caruso-style, back to TV; even your own dad joked in the press about you winding up as the center occupant on “Hollywood Squares.”

But you’ve proved everyone wrong, as demonstrated by your Oscar nomination for “Up in the Air” – my favorite flick of 2009, by the way.

Look, George, it’d be great to have you back in prime time (you’d be perfect for NBC’s “Rockford Files” remake), but you’re one of those actors who were born to make movies.

And even though you probably won’t win an Oscar next month, there’s always next year.

Until then, take comfort in your “ER” memories – including all the lives you no doubt saved with those Chem 7 tests.

Your pal,

Chris

 

Elsewhere on Television

TV Guide listings for February 18, 1999:

8 PM NBC FRIENDS (CC) – Comedy

The subject of marriage makes Chandler freak out, which makes Monica not speak to him; Ross alienates his neighbors; Joe’s girlfriend (Soleil Moon Frye) packs a punch. Chandler: Matthew Perry. Monica: Courtney Cox.

 

… And in the News

New York Times excerpts from February 18, 1999:

Taliban Says Bin Laden Is Gone

WASHINGTON, Feb. 17 – A top official of the Taliban, the armed religious group that controls most of Afghanistan, said today that Osama bin Laden, the world’s most-wanted terrorist suspect, is no longer in Taliban territory.

“We do not know where he is,” said the official, Abdul Hakeem Mujahid, a Taliban diplomat assigned to the United Nations who met today with senior American officials.

Thursday, February 9, 1995

“Be Mine Week” continues with “The One with the Candy Hearts,” the “Friends” episode NBC broadcast 15 years ago tonight.

The scene with the pep talk: It’s Valentine’s Eve at Central Perk, and Chandler Bing and Joey Tribbiani (Matthew Perry, Matt LeBlanc)  are trying to persuade Ross Geller (David Schwimmer) to ask out his pretty neighbor.

Chandler, say something funny!

CHANDLER: C’mon Ross, you’ve got to get back in the game here, OK? The Rachel thing’s not happening. Your ex-wife’s a lesbian. You – I don’t think we need a third.

The scene with the ritual: Later, Chandler finds himself on a blind date with Janice Hosenstein (Maggie Wheeler), whom he’s broken up with twice already, while Phoebe Buffay (Lisa Kudrow) leads Monica Geller and Rachel Green (Courtney Cox, Jennifer Aniston) in a “cleansing ritual” to break their “bad boyfriend cycle.” Phoebe’s list of ingredients includes sage branches and sacramental wine.

Rachel, here’s your chance to act like a patronizing bitch:

PHOEBE: Alright, now we need the semen of a righteous man.

RACHEL: Pheebs, if we had that, we wouldn’t be doing the ritual in the first place.

The scene with the breakup: After their blind date, Chandler and Janice get back together. Then, on Valentine’s Day, he decides to break up with her again.

Chandler, say something funny, and Janice, surprise us with your response:

CHANDLER: Look, there’s no way for me to tell you this. At least there’s no new way for me to tell you this. I just don’t think things are going to work out.

JANICE: That’s fine.

CHANDLER: It is?

JANICE: Mhmm. Because I know that this isn’t the end.

CHANDLER: Oh no, you see, actually, it is.

JANICE: No, it isn’t – because you won’t let that happen. Don’t you know it yet? You love me, Chandler Bing. … You can’t live without me – and you know it.

Now Janice is walking out the door. Chandler, you know the drill!

CHANDLER: Call me.

TBS is scheduled to show “The One with the Candy Hearts” on Friday, February 12, at 5:30 p.m. The episode can also be purchased through Amazon.com and iTunes and is part of the “Friends: The Complete First Season” DVD set.

 

Elsewhere on Television

TV Guide listings for February 9, 1995:

9PM NBC SEINFELD (CC)
A toupee makes George eligible to date Kramer’s friends; Elaine tries to change a gay man’s preference; a policewoman (Katherine Lanasa) challenges Jerry’s claim that he’s never seen “Melrose Place.” Robert: Robert Mailhouse. Denise: Joan Elizabeth.

 

… And in the News

New York Times excerpts from February 9, 1995:

Nominee Confirms He Performed More Abortions Than Disclosed

WASHINGTON, Feb. 8 – After several days of pummeling from anti-abortion groups over his abortion record, President Clinton’s nominee for Surgeon General broke his public silence tonight, saying in a nationally televised interview that he had performed 39 abortions, far more than previously acknowledged by him and the White House, but that he opposed the procedure.

Sunday, January 29, 1995

TV Time Capsule continues “Super Bowl Fumbles Week,” seven days of flashbacks to the critical and ratings failures that have aired after the big game.

The game: Super Bowl XXIX, in which the San Francisco 49ers lived up to their name, defeating the San Diego Chargers, 49 to 26.

The network: ABC.

The show: “Extreme,” a one-hour action   series starring James Brolin as the head of mountain-rescue team of hip Generation Xers, debuted at about 10 p.m.

The reviews: The Washington Post’s Tom Shales described “Extreme” as a ripoff of the 1993 Sylvester Stallone movie “Cliffhanger.” USA Today’s Matt Roush suggested the series was a ripoff of Fox’s “Melrose Place.” The Los Angeles Times’ David Kronke dismissed “Extreme” as a ripoff of “Cliffhanger” and “Melrose Place.”

The competition: NBC reran all four hours of “Diana: Her True Story,” a TV movie that aired in two installments in 1993. CBS’s lineup included “The Man Upstairs,” a 1992 Katherine Hepburn-Ryan O’Neal TV movie. Fox showed sitcom reruns and a fresh episode of its “Get Smart” revival.

The ratings: Super Bowl XXIX was seen in 39.4 million homes, ranking first among the week’s 92 prime-time broadcasts. “Extreme” was seen in 13.5 million homes, ranking 15th.

The next episode: “Extreme” didn’t join ABC’s weekly lineup until March 2, 1995, when the network began airing the Thursday nights at 8, opposite NBC’s “Friends.” This installment was seen in 7.2 million homes, ranking 72nd among that week’s 96 broadcasts.

The result: “Extreme” expired after six weeks.

 

From the Pages of TV Guide

Also airing January 29, 1995:

7 PM CBS 60 MINUTES (CC) 2:00

Charles Kuralt hosts an edition that combines portraits of the correspondents with clips from past reports to celebrate the series’ silver anniversary. Included: Mike Wallace recalls how his son Peter’s accidental death 30 years ago spurred him to “do [work] that would make Peter proud”; Ed Bradley talks about his other “freer” self; Steve Kroft shows a sequence originally edited out of his 1992 Superbowl Sunday chat with then-Presidential candidate Bill Clinton and his wife, Hillary. (Repeat)

Thursday, January 18, 1990

Twenty years ago tonight, NBC introduced “Grand,” an early example of the network’s tradition of rewarding mediocre sitcoms with plum Thursday-night time slots.

The series chronicled social class in Grand, Pennsylvania (“Grand, Pa.” in Associated Press style), a fictitious town dominated by Grand Piano Works, which was struggling to compete in a market overrun with Japanese electronic keyboards.

Pamela Reed starred as sensible Janice Pasetti, who lived in a trailer park with her “overweight” (by TV standards) teenage daughter Edda (Sara Rue).

Janice was the housekeeper for wealthy Harris Weldon (John Randolph), who owned Grand Piano Works and shared his mansion with underachiever son Norris (Joel Murray) and Desmond (John Neville), the family butler.

Other characters included Carol Anne Smithson (Bonnie Hunt), Harris’s niece, and her ambitious husband Tom (Michael McKean), an executive at the piano factory.

“Grand” was produced by Marcy Carsey and Tom Werner, the team behind NBC’s “Cosby Show” and ABC’s “Roseanne,” TV’s top-rated shows at the time.

The new series received mostly lukewarm notices from critics, who couldn’t resist playing off its title.

“‘Grand’ isn’t,” began Howard Rosenberg’s review in the Los Angeles Times.

“Clearly not awful but definitely not grand,” wrote the Washington Post’s Tom Shales.

In USA Today, Matt Roush praised the show’s rousing theme song (“If you’re going to play it, play it grand!”) but declared “little else about ‘Grand’ sings.’”

Nevertheless, NBC scheduled “Grand” on Thursday nights at 9:30, between hits  “Cheers” and “L.A. Law.”

It’s a practice that dated to at least 1987, when NBC placed freshmen sitcom “A Different World” – which was genuinely awful in its first season – in between “Cosby” and “Cheers” on Thursday nights.

The network continued the tradition throughout the ’90s, scheduling one forgettable sitcom after another in choice Thursday time slots following “Must See TV” staples “Seinfeld” and “Friends.”

Viewers gave “Grand” a chance: The first episode was seen in 19.9 million homes, ranking fifth in the weekly ratings.

But by the middle of the show’s second season, “Grand” was losing about a quarter of “Cheers’” audience. The network dropped the series after its December 27, 1990, broadcast; the following week, its time slot was inherited by yet another forgettable sitcom – “Wings.”

 

From the Pages of TV Guide

Also airing January 18, 1990:

8 PM CBS 48 HOURS (CC); 60 min.

“Cold Shoulder” reports on “America’s growing indifference and, in some cases, hostility toward the homeless.” New York is the locale for the hour, which includes segments on the controversial destruction of makeshift shelters in a Manhattan park by police in December; the “forced” evacuation of homeless people from Penn Station because of “commuter complaints.”

10 PM ABC PRIMETIME LIVE (CC); 60 min.

Scheduled: In Moscow, Sam Donaldson and Diane Sawyer lead a tour of the Kremlin, the 65-acre administrative center of the USSR. Included: the palaces of the tsars; cathedrals; Lenin’s quarters; a former Stalin residence; working areas of the Supreme Soviet. Also: the history of the Kremlin. (Live)

Thursday, Nov. 3, 1994

Fifteen years ago tonight, NBC aired “Blackout Thursday,” threading together three of the evening’s four Manhattan-set sitcoms with a plot about a citywide power failure.

The story began at 8 on “Mad About You,” where Jamie (Helen Hunt) triggers the outage by illegally installing cable TV in her bedroom.

At 8:30, the blackout spread to “Friends,” trapping Chandler (Matthew Perry) in an ATM vestibule with supermodel Jill Goodacre, who portrayed herself.

Fellow freshmen sitcom “Madman of the People” picked up the storyline at 9:30, when Dabney Coleman’s character is jailed after being mistaken for a post-blackout looter.

Appropriately, nothing – or at least nothing to do with electricity – happened at 9 on “Seinfeld,” which didn’t participate in NBC’s stunt.

Instead, “Seinfeld” aired “The Gymnast,” the episode in which Jerry dates a Romanian athlete and George’s girlfriend’s mother catches him eating an éclair from a trash bin.

NBC heavily promoted “Blackout Thursday,” even recruiting “Today” weatherman Al Roker to provide “news” updates on the power failure during that evening’s commercial breaks.

The network probably hoped to recreate its success from Nov. 9, 1991, when “The Golden Girls,” “Empty Nest” and “Nurses” scored their highest ratings of the season with a seamless storyline about a hurricane striking Miami, where each show took place.

On Feb. 29, 1992, a similar stunt – this one about a full moon causing Miamians to act strangely – also scored big ratings.

How did the gimmick work in 1994?

Each “Blackout Thursday” sitcom won its time slot and landed in that week’s top 20: “Mad About You” was 11th, “Friends” was 12th and “Madman of the People” was 17th.  

But “Seinfeld” – the lone “Blackout” holdout – turned out to be the evening’s most-watched show, ranking second for the week.

 

From the Pages of TV Guide

Also airing Nov. 3, 1994:

8 PM FOX MARTIN (CC)

Martin’s efforts to impress his future mother-in-law (Judyann Elder) may be in vain when he gets a visit from a boy claiming that he’s Martin’s son. Martin Lawrence. Angie: Kimberly Brooks. Mr. Jim: John Wesley.

8:30 FOX LIVING SINGLE (CC)

Fired by passion – and full of advice from nosy friends – Synclaire and Overton (Kim Coles, John Henton) take their relationship to a new level. Meanwhile, Khadijah (Queen Latifah) learns the power of a chain letter.

9 PM CBS CHICAGO HOPE (CC) – Drama 1:00

Dr. Geiger (Mandy Patinkin) performs a risky heart operation on an overweight mob killer (Ron Karabatsos) who’s a key witness for the FBI; two weary residents plot to get even with Geiger for his dour temperament; and the budding relationship between Dr. Shutt (Adam Arkin) and Dr. Antonovich (Margaret Colin) takes an alarming turn. Dr. Carney: Jon Favreau. Dr. Bradley: Taylor Nichols.

10 PM ABC PRIMETIME LIVE (CC) – Donaldson/Sawyer 1:00

Scheduled: An interview with former President George Bush, his wife Barbara, and sons George Jr. and Jeb (who are gubernatorial candidates in Texas and Florida). Also: a segment considering the extent of cheating on college campuses.