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BS takes viewers to the circus with a nifty specialome say that the bravest man who ever lived is the first guy to drink milk from a cow. I’ve got a new candidate : the guy who gets inside a cage with a group of snarling lions, tigers, bears, hyenas and a wolf on Friday the 13th, which just happens to be today.The event is tonight’s “120th Edition of Ringling Bros, and Barnum Bailey Circus,” an hour CBS special airing from 8 to 9 on KCBS/2.Of course, this was taped a while back. The lion/tiger/bear/hyena/wolf tamer, Luis Palacio, doesn’t actually have to face those beasts tonight. But it makes a better story that way.Tonight’s circus extravaganza is really pretty terrific, mostly because of the human acrobats, contortionists and artists rather than the animals.The acts include the death-defying Quiros highwire troupe from Spain, the Flying Morales trapeze artists from Mexico, the balancing Pellegrini Brothers from Italy and even a comedy dog revue featuring Johnny Peers.But the piece de resistance is surely performed by sisters Marguerite, Michelle and Andrea Ayala, who perform a juggling act while suspended from their waist-length hair. That’s right, their hair. No wigs for these ladies.There are only two problems with tonight’s circus special. One is that we know this is taped. That tends to lessen the suspense and danger quotient.We get the feeling that if some awfulRAY RICHMONDOn TVaccident had happened, it would have ended up on the cutting-room floor. Not that we want to see blood and guts, mind you. It’s just that videotape has a way of eliminating spontaneity.The other drawback is host Nell Carter, who should have ended up on the cutting-room floor. She shamelessly mugs, singing and joking and generally hogging camera time as if it’s her, and not the circus, that we want to see.Is Carter there because every circus is supposed to have a fat lady in it? If so, it would be better if the fat lady kept her trap shut next time.‘13 East’As a general rule, hospital comedies on television aren’t very amusing for the simple reason that hospitals themselves are no laughing matter. In recent years, only the dark “St. Elsewhere” has managed to capture the absurd irony of life inside a medical establishment.A show that falls into the former category and doesn’t come close to “St. Elsewhere” is “13 East,” an overly loud, strained and silly NBC sitcom that premiered with a limited run last summer and returns for a second trial Saturday at 8:30 p.m. (KNBC/4).“13 East” stars Diana Bellamy as Maggie Poole, a zaftig, no-nonsense head nurse with a heart of mush. Bellamy plays the bossy administrator to the hilt.On Saturday, Maggie runs into Ned Bailey (Nik Hagler), a former fiance who up and left her without explanation when both were stationed overseas during the Vietnam War.Now, 20 years later, Ned has checked into Maggie’s hospital, and she greets him cheerily with a pitcher of water over his head.It fortunately doesn’t get much funnier than that, ladies and gentlemen. Maggie forgives Ned, discovers that he has a brain tumor that’s going to kill him, plans to marry him out of pity and then ... oh, what’s the point?This “13 East” return is nearly devoid of humorous lines. The comic inspiration is as sick as the hospital’s patients.What happens next week? Will we get some laughs from someone dying of AIDS? Is this knee-slapping stuff, or what?If this is the midseason “quality wave” that NBC Entertainment president Brandon Tartikoff was talking about, it’s goingto be a long spring for NBC.‘Carly in Concert’The calendar says 1990, but Carly Simon remains firmly rooted in another time, as is made clear in her special showcase “Carly in Concert: My Romance” that airs Sunday from 10 to 11 p.m. on HBO.What we get here is Simon as seductress, the same one who found her way onto those pop album covers of the 1970s. She’s all steam and sensuality, doing a New York torch song chanteuse routine under dim lights, swaying dreamily in her shimmering, curve-accentuating outfits.Simon looks great. She even sounds pretty good. But as televised concerts go, she strikes out.First off, the songs from her new album of pop standards “My Romance,” aren’t compelling.And despite all of her sexy sashaying, it’s a curiously wooden performance in an artificial setting. See, Simon has always been shy of crowds, which is why she rarely does live concerts. To make her feel more comfortable, HBO gathered an audience, not of anonymous members of the public or record industry VIPs, but Simon’s closest friends.While it probably relaxes Simon, the effect is to make this more of an album-hyping public relations session than a memorable evening with Carly.Ray Richmond is the Register’s TV writer. His column appears regularly in the Show section.
Newspaper Details
Santa Ana Orange County Register
Santa Ana, California, US
Fri, Apr 13, 1990
Page 192
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CA 15 May 2021
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