Shortly into ”TV 101” (7 p.m., Tuesday, on CBS-Ch. 2), the new journalism teacher at Roosevelt High announces that the idea of a school newspaper is outmoded and comes up with an updated replacement: a close-circuited video newscast.
”I want to get these kids in front of a lens, where they can`t hide what`s going on inside,” gushes Kevin Keegan (Sam Robards). ”That sense of reality is something the old student paper couldn`t touch in a million years.”
At this point, discerning viewers may very well wish to raise their hands and leave the room.
Keegan, it turns out, is a 29-year-old alumnus who, although a troublemaking rebel in his student days, has been hired through the intercession of his former journalism instructor (Brynn Thayer). Although she rightfully points out that high schoolers today watch enough television and could use a little more printed matter, her advice goes as unheeded as a public service announcement at 3 in the morning.
Keegan`s plan is for his students to create a daily 5-minute show four times a week, expanded to 15 minutes on Fridays. Damn the academics, full speed ahead.
His journalism class, of course, displays the usual demographic and personality mix: the dumb jock, the lithe blond anchorperson, the nerdy genius, the painfully shy computer whiz, and, most notably, the troubled hotshot with an attitude problem (played by Andrew White, who looks a little like Bob Sirott).
”What do we report on?” asks one of the teens, who is told:
”Yourselves . . . what bugs you . . . what you like . . . what you want to change.”
Hello, sweetheart, get me rewrite.
The problem is that the unregenerate black hat in the piece, the iron-willed principal (Leon Russom), promptly acts as censor. Demanding happy talk and happy stories instead of investigative segments, he wants the words
”toxic waste” changed to ”big mess,” otherwise denounces the
”subversive swill” and threatens to scuttle the show.
Outraged, Keegan`s kids discuss slapping the big guy with a lawsuit and going to (George Bush alert) the ACLU. Instead they opt for putting it on the local public-access channel, hoping that their program won`t ”bark the big woof.”
Robards, son of Jason Robards and Lauren Bacall, gamely plays his role with a nice breeziness, but ”TV 101”-literally the end of the line for this fall`s new offerings-is preachy, pretentious and phony. Holden Caulfield, for one, would have hated it.
Created by Karl Schaefer, the series` hour shows are worth little more than a 30-second sound bite. If ever a show deserved a few raps on the knuckles with a ruler, this is it.
Woof.
`50TH BARBARA WALTERS SPECIAL`
For those who haven`t had enough already, ”The 50th Barbara Walters Special,” which airs at 8 p.m. Tuesday on ABC-Ch. 7, marks the series` 12th anniversary. (Now, there`s a landmark).
Included are snatches of segments with such interviewees as John Wayne, Burt Reynolds, Eddie Murphy, Cher, Clint Eastwood, Bing Crosby, the Shah of Iran, Richard Pryor, Fidel Castro and Katharine Hepburn (Walters` favorite subject).
Mostly, though, it is a relentessly self-serving exercise. The real subject of all this, of course, is Barbara Walters, who variously acts modest, indignant, shocked, humble and coy. She also offers reflections on the past conversations but chiefly dishes out pap. ”Our aim,” she says at one point, ”is to have you see these people as they really are and make them think about things they may never have thought of before.”
Like explaining their idea of a perfect day, or ranking themselves on a scale of 1 to 10.
![An extra-alarm fire destroyed a home and damaged two others on the near West side Wednesday night, though fire officials said no one was injured in the blaze. The fire broke out around 8:30 p.m. on the 1300 block of West 16th Street in the Pilsen neighborhood, according to a social media update from the Chicago Fire Department. Officials quickly upgraded the blaze to a 2-11 fire. Neighbors who clustered around the scene Wednesday night said the home had been under construction and appeared to be vacant. Although the fire was declared struck out at 9:30 p.m. in a social […]](https://www.chicagotribune.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/ctc-l-structure-fire-041724-06.jpg?w=525 "An extra-alarm fire destroyed a home and damaged two others on the near West side Wednesday night, though fire officials said no one was injured in the blaze. The fire broke out around 8:30 p.m. on the 1300 block of West 16th Street in the Pilsen neighborhood, according to a social media update from the Chicago Fire Department. Officials quickly upgraded the blaze to a 2-11 fire. Neighbors who clustered around the scene Wednesday night said the home had been under construction and appeared to be vacant. Although the fire was declared struck out at 9:30 p.m. in a social […]")
