This week in TV Guide: November 6, 1976

I've written on-and-off over the years on the sometimes tempestuous relationship between television and the movies. The big studios have variously viewed television as a novelty, a threat, and a partner; for its part, network television has gone from lusting after major studio films to owning the studios themselves, while ceding actual movies to cable and streaming services.

We are, however, primarily interested not in the present but in the past, and so we go back to a time when big-screen films, interrupted by commercials and cut to fit timeslots (and broadcast standards) were not only an asset to a network, their debuts on home television were an event. And when it comes to this, there is no bigger event than the broadcast premiere of one of the biggest movies ever made, back when it was seen as a Hollywood epic and not a problematic political statement. 

Gone with the Wind, one of the most popular movies ever made, first hit movie screens in 1939, less than a decade before television began to move into living rooms nationwide. Throughout nearly 40 years, MGM resisted selling its rights to TV, and indeed why should it? Through its periodic rereleases in 1942, 1947, 1954, 1961, 1967, 1971 and 1974, Gone with the Wind proved to be a money-maker for the studio. There was, after all, no other way for people to see it, and as long as it continued to be popular in theaters (where it was often shown on a reserved-seating basis), why ruin a good thing?

This week, the movie makes its long-awaited television premiere over two nights on NBC (Sunday at 8:00 p.m. PT, Monday at 9:00 p.m.), and it's hard to describe how big a deal this really was. I mean, think about it: there's no home video, no movies hitting a streaming service a month after leaving the theaters. If you don't go see it in person, you're out of luck. It was one of the last of the great movies to hold out for so long before coming to the small screen (2001: A Space Odyssey will make its move to TV next year, after nearly a decade), and its showing becomes the hightest-rated television program ever to that point, with 65 percent of all Americans watching it—still a record for movies, by the way. 

Judith Crist says the broadcast will meet a "mixed jury" of viewers; "this major Hollywood achievement is nowadays regarded variously with reverence, sentimentality and reservations—and, of course, by newer generations, with curiosity." There can be little doubt, however, that Gone with the Wind remains "a prototype of spectacular romantic entertainment, generated by superstar power." Sunday's broadcast is packaged under NBC's Big Event umbrella, and for once, the hype is deserved. It was a time when movies could have that kind of impact on TV, and yes, it means I'm old. 

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Movies dominate this week's programming—it is, after all, ratings week—thus, they'll dominate this week's writeup. Judith Crist points out that Sunday night's movies give viewers the chance to "demonstrate their preference for romanticism or violence," as ABC goes up against part one of GWTW with 21 Hours at Munich (9:00 p.m.), a made-for-TV movie that "shows what really happened on the day that touched all our lives," the massacre of the Israeli athletes at the 1972 Summer Olympics. William Holden, as the Munich police chief, heads an all-star cast that includes Franco Nero, Shirley Knight, Richard Basehart, and Anthony Quayle; Jim McKay narriates portions of the movie. Crist's review of this movie points out a bitter irony: German officials rejected suggestions from the Israelis as to how the crisis should be handled; on July 4, 1976, the day that filming of this movie wrapped, the Israelis used the same plan to free their hostages at Entebbe.

That's not all to this big movie week; Wednesday sees a pair of network television premieres, the most significant of which is Death Wish (9:00 p.m., CBS), with Charles Bronson revolutionizing cinema as the architect-turned-vigilante after his wife is murdered and his daughter raped and traumatized. Crist, in her review, calls Death Wish an urban version of Walking Tall, a perceptive comment in that the movie brings the threat of violence out of the "hillbilly sticks" and into the city. Death Wish, like Dirty Harry three years earlier, was a "statement" film, a commentary on the disintegration of the American inner city. Bronson's everyman—a successful, comfortably liberal professional forced to confront the violence desstroying the cities—spoke to what Richard Nixon called the Silent Majority and its fears about the lawlessness enveloping the country in the 1960s and 1970s; in its portrayal of the urban jungle, it articulated the feelings that many Americans were afraid to voice themselves. Bronson, by the way, is just terrific in the role—"smashing," in Crist's words, creating a new type of action hero in the process.

You'll forgive me if the second part of Wednesday's premiere night arouses less enthusiasm in me. The Great Waldo Pepper (8:00 p.m., NBC) stars Robert Redford as a World War I flying ace (not Snoopy) who becomes a post-war barnstormer. It's a great role for Redford, who's as good as anyone at "capturing the dash and glamour of those golden boys," and the Roaring '20s are a fascinating time in American history. However—and someone once told me that it's never good to start a sentence with the word "however," because it sends a negative message right away—the movie is let down by William Goldman's screenplay, which, as Crist says, leads us "from sunlit skies into the gloom and doom of obvious metaphor." 

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On weeks when we can, we'll match up two of the biggest rock shows of the era, NBC's The Midnight Special and the syndicated Don Kirshner's Rock Concert, and see who's better, who's best.

Kirshner: Music by Lou Rawls and Dr. Hook, comedy by the teams of Jim Samuels and Marty Cohen, and Natural Gas. Songs include "Natural Man," "Pure Imagination."

Special: Lou Rawls (host), Neil Sedaka, Helen Reddy, Traffic, England Dan & John Ford Coley, the Lettermen and Dorothy Moore. Lou sings "Groovy People" and "You'll Never Find Another Love like Mine." Traffic and the Lettermen each sing a medly of their hits.

Well, it's obvious who the winner this week is: Lou Rawls. Seriously, after seeing these, I started paging through the rest of the issue to see if there was some other show he might have been on. I have to admit feeling a bit disappointed that I couldn't find one, but I felt a little better when I saw that Dr. Hook was on Wednesday's Merv Griffin show. It just wasn't the same, though. But back to the matter at hand: Traffic may have broken up in 1974, but thanks to the miracle of modern technology, they're the subject of The Midnight Special's weekly salute. No more calls; we have a winner, as Special speeds to the victory.

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Saturday, it's The World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party, otherwise known as the Georgia-Florida college football clash, live from Jacksonville. (11:15 a.m., ABC). Coming into the game, Florida is 6-1, ranked #10 in the country, and looking to win the SEC title for the first time. Early in the third quarter, with the Gators trying to hang on to a 27-20 lead, Florida coach Doug Dickey elects to go for it on 4th and one from his own 29-yard line, a play that has since come to be known as "4th and Dumb." Well, you probably guessed it; Florida doesn't make the first down, Georgia subsequently scores, and the Bulldogs go on to win 41-27.

Sunday, Disney celebrates Donald Duck's birthday in a World of Disney repeat (7:00 p.m., NBC). Now, I'm a little suspicious of this, given that nowhere in the ads or the description does it say just how old Donald is, only that the cartoons on tonight's show date from the late 1940s. For the record, he was created in 1934; assume then that this program was originally aired in 1974, for his 40th birthday.

On Monday, Mike Douglas continues a second week of programs celebrating his 15th year on television (4:30 p.m., KPIX). These anniversaries are tricky things, though, as we saw with the Donald Duck special; as we know, Merv has actually been on television since 1954, so the 15 years simply refer to his time with Group W syndication. Ah, the devil's in the details, isn't it? Later that night, a couple of programs on topics still very much in the news 45 years later: first, Merv Griffin  discusses transsexualism with psychologist William Rader (10:00 p.m., KGSC), while KQED's special asks the question "Is School Desegregation Working?" (11:00 p.m.)

There's a most unusual double-feature of sorts on Tuesday: two movies by Ingmar Bergman, at the same time, on two different PBS stations. KVIE in Sacramento has Bergman's Dreams, starring Harriet Andersson and Eva Dahlbeck; meanwhile, KQED is showing Monika, with Andersson and Lars Ekborg. That's one heavy night of television. Earlier in the evening, the Hallmark Hall of Fame presents something a little less depressing and a lot more inspirational: Maxwell Anderson's "Valley Forge," the story of George Washington trying to hold his ragtag army together through the winter of 1777-78, with Richard Basehart outstanding as the First American. (8:00 p.m., PBS)

Between Death Wish and Waldo Pepper, there's not much room for anything else on Wednesday, but let's go with The Andy Williams Show (8:00 p.m., KHSL), with guest Florence Henderson, and regulars Wayland Flowers and Madam. Yeah, I know, it's not quite like it used to be, but still. At 9:00 p.m.,PBS's Theater in America presents Shakespeare's classic comedy "The Taming of the Shrew," with Marc Singer and Fredi Olster.

Thursday, Carol Burnett is Dick Van Dyke's special guest on Van Dyke and Company (8:00 p.m., NBC). A couple of notes about this short-lived (11 episodes) show: first, it introduced Andy Kaufman to primetime television (but we'll let that pass); and second, the TV Teletype tells us that a future episode will feature Jim McKay singing, dancing, and playing a psychiatrist in a comedy skit. It's not a real stretch for the sportscaster, though; "Twenty-six years ago I was brought from Baltimore to New York to do a variety show on WCBS called The Real McKay, heaven help me." Up until that time, McKay had been known by his given name, Jim McManus; his name was changed to create the pun on "The Real McCoy."

And guess what: more movies on Friday! Three of them to be exact, all made for the small screen. First, Elizabeth Montgomery is outstanding as the titular murderess in The Legend of Lizzie Borden (8:00 p.m., KTVU). Meanwhile, two brand-new teleflicks premiere: The Boy in the Plastic Bubble (9:00 p.m., ABC), with John Travolta (one year away from Saturday Night Fever) as a teen born without an immunity system and forced to live in a sterile bubble; and Mayday at 40,000 Feet (9:00 p.m.,, CBS), with—well, the ad really says it all: "Killer on Rampage. . . Pilot and Plane Disabled. . . Untried Co-Pilot at Controls. . . Airport Snowed In." As they would say on Jeopardy, "What do you get when you cross Airport with Snakes on a Plane?" For something more sedate, Donny and Maire welcome Andy Griffith, Paul Lynde, Bo Diddley and Jim Connell. (8:00 p.m., ABC) 

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From time to time, as you know, we provide updates in this space regarding the on-and-off quest by certain networks to expand their evening news program to an hour, or move it to primetime, or both! CBS recently made a pair of pilots for an hour-long newscast, and NBC had "concrete plans" to add a half-hour. According to the Doan Report, those prospects, alas, are, for the time being, dead. Richard Salant at CBS said he's "disappointed as hell," while a source at NBC speculated that "It may be the final nail in the coffin."*

*And where was ABC? No plans, said one official, "At least until Harry Reasoner and Barbara Walters improve their ratings."

The culprit? The affiliates, of course, who didn't want to give back the half-hour they'd gained through the Prime Time Access Rule—you know, the rule that was supposed to provide for locally produced public affairs and educational programs but instead became an open door for game shows and endless reruns of insignificant sitcoms from the last couple of decades. Anyway, they don't want to lose the commercial revenue from that time, so they voiced their objections, and the networks backed down.

Of course, we have entire networks devoted to news nowadays, or "news," if you prefer. And 45 years later, the network news is still 30 minutes long, and nobody's talking about expanding it. In fact, last I heard, one network was quietly exploring the idea of getting rid of it altogether. 

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Finally, Thanksgiving's just around the corner, and you know what that means: food! So let's take a look at a couple of recipes that are just right for your Turkey Day table. First up is a delicious-sounding Apple-Sausage Stuffing, Pennsylvania Dutch Style. 

After dinner and dessert, with the dishes cleared away and the last football game of the day on television, nothing finishes things off like a cup of Hot Buttered Cider:

One of these days, someone out there is going to have to tell me how one of these recipes turns out.   TV   

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What's on TV? Sunday, November 2, 1980

Today we get to view America's two great pasions: football and politics. When they get to come together like this, it's the greatest combo since Reese's combined peanut butter and chocolate. Republican Vice Presidential candidate George Bush is on Face the Nation, while former President Gerald Ford is on Meet the Press. Paid political advertisements are scattered through the day, as are network analaysis shows predicting Tuesday's vote. On the football side, NBC has the doubleheader (and you'll notice that KCMT, which never caried the second game all the years I lived in the World's Worst Town™, is happily showing it now, two years afer we moved. But I'm not bitter; not at all), while CBS has the Vikings. And if you're not into all that, don't miss Solid Gold on KSTP, with a guest list that includes Gladys Knight & the Pips, Pete Townshend, Hall & Oates, Andy Gibb, and Steve Allen. Not bad, huh? Let's go to the Minnesota State Edition and see more.

This week in TV Guide: November 1, 1980

After months of long, hard, and at times tedious and controversial activity, Campaign '80 is at its conclusion.  And TV Guide tells you how you can pick the winner!

But first, a word from our publisher.

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"TV GUIDE has never before taken a position in a Presidential election and as head of the company that publishes the magazine I intended that it remain silent in this one. I, cannot, however, as a matter of conscience, refrain from speaking up when the result of this election is so critical to the future of this nation."

With that, Walter H. Annenberg, President of Triangle Publications, Inc., makes a rare appearance in the pages of his most famous publication for the purposes of endorsing Ronald Reagan for the Presidency. "To put it bluntly," he says, "we see ourselves as a nation on the decline," a country overwhelmed with problems thought to be too big for anyone to solve. Inflation tops 10%, unemployment "especially among young black people" is glossed over, and foreign policy is a mess. "European and other world leaders are impressed by performance, not conversation," and talk seems to be all they get from the current occupant of the White House, "a well-intentioned, hard-working public servant" who has demeaned the office of the Presidency by portraying his opponent as "a warmonger with simplistic, antiquated economic ideas who would divide the country into antagonistic racial, religious and geographical factions." America needs "an administration determined to solve our painful problems by attacking the basic causes of social and economic ills rather than by applying local anesthetics in the form of quickly dissipated Government handouts."

Annenberg writes that "While I respect the President's supporters for their loyalty to him and have high regard for Rosalynn Carter and her dedication to her husband, his unfortunate record of performance in office does not warrant his reelection." Ronald Reagan, a man Annenberg has known for 30 years "as an actor, as a union leader and as a capable governor," will offer "in place of more years of political expedients to bolster weak domestic and international positions," an administration dedicated to ending "the feeling that we no longer can control our own destiny" and promises to "restore the self-confidence and the self-respect that until recent years have been the foundation of the American spirit." In conclusion, "As we achieve these goals, our friends abroad—and our potential enemies—will respect us too."

It might seem strange, given the pulp fan mag that TV Guide has turned into, to read Annenberg's words—to think that the magazine's political preference would matter, either to the readers or to the nation as a whole. But keep in mind that throughout these years of TV Guide, the magazine took its responsibilities to the public seriously, and felt that its readers were entitled to intelligent discussion of the issues of the day. A critic once observed that TV Guide felt itself closer to magazines such as The New Yorker than to television and movie magazines, and it often showed in the types of articles published in TV Guide.

The Annenbergs and the Reagans.

Annenberg himself was no stranger to Republican politics, having served as ambassador to the Court of St. James during the Nixon administration. (He was, in fact, the man who introduced Reagan to Margaret Thatcher,) Annenberg's wife Lenore was appointed the State Department's Chief of Protocol, and the Reagans and Annenbergs often celebrated New Year's Eve together. This was not merely an endorsement of friendship, though—Annenberg enthusiastically agreed with Reagan's philosophy, and saw in him a man with the confidence and the political acumen to lead the United States through trying times both at home and abroad.

Regardless of where one stands politically, it really is quite something to see a publication like TV Guide—one that took seriously the role and responsibility of television in the shaping of American culture—take a partisan stand like this.* Nowadays, it's more interested in what musical instrument a candidate plays, or what kind of underwear he or she wears.

*And what better way to demonstrate television's gravitas than to endorse for the presidency a man who once hosted a television series?

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In our lead article, Elmer L. Lower, formerly president of ABC News and currently a professor of journalism at the University of Missouri, gives readers a brief recap of each candidate's electoral strategy, and gives viewers tips on what to look for throughout what is expected to be a long and suspenseful election night. For example, the polls close earliest in Indiana and Kentucky; Reagan is strong in Indiana, so he's expected to take it at 6:30 p.m. ET when the evening news programs come on. Carter took Kentucky in 1976 but the state appears less certain for him, so "a Kentucky victory for Reagan would be significantly good news for him."

Meanwhile, five Southern and border states close between 7:00 and 8:00, all of which Carter swept in 1976. Reagan's best chances to break Carter's almost-solid South are Florida, Alabama and West Virginia. And the crucial hour, according to Lower, will be that 7:00 to 8:00 hour, when the networks are expected to project as many as 10 states, including New England and Texas. Reagan is sure of Kansas and Vermont, while Carter can count on Massachusetts. Back in 1976, Gerald Ford won both New Jersey and Connecticut; Reagan will do the same.

Lower is anticipating a long night—for example, by 11:00, it's likely that only Texas and New York, among the large states, will have been projected. Pennsylvania, Michigan and Ohio will still be out, and the polls on the West will just be closing, so "you'll have to stay up late, it appears, if you want to know who your next President is before you fall asleep." In fact, it may well be after 3:00 a.m. before a winner is finally projected; in 1976, NBC was first to project Carter as the winner, at 3:29 a.m., when they gave him victory in Mississippi.

As we now know, of course, such was not the case. The early news is indeed good for Reagan: in addition to Indiana, he does take Kentucky. In the next hour, Carter's "solid South" of 1976 goes entirely for Reagan, with the exception of Carter's home Georgia (which the president takes by a much smaller margin than he did in '76). At 8 p.m., Reagan wins Texas, as well as those two Eastern states he had to win, New Jersey and Connecticut.  And at 8:15 p.m., over seven hours earlier than in 1976, NBC's count puts Reagan at 270 electoral votes, enough to win the election.

Television coverage of the 1980 election is extremely controversial, to say the least. NBC's early projections rely heavily on exit polling data (the first time projections had been made on that basis), and in fact the polls are still open in many Western states at the time of the call. Carter's concession at 9:50 ET, again before the polls have closed on the West Coast, doesn't do the Democrats any favors either, despite reminders from network pundits that there is more than just the presidential election at stake, and the Republicans take control of the Senate for the first time since the Eisenhower administration.

*It wasn't just television; radio reports throughout the day gave updates on the exit polls, with one CBS mid-afternoon broadcast suggesting that the numbers indicated a possible Reagan landslide. 

In retrospect, the results shouldn't have been as much of a surprise as they were. Internal polls had already shown momentum moving toward Reagan, and the Reagan-Carter debate proves to be the decisive moment in the campaign. Reagan's eventual 489-49 victory in the Electoral College is the largest ever for a non-incumbent, and his popular vote percentage of just under 51% is remarkable for a three-way election.

But it's a surprise to most of the "experts," and the stunned expressions of NBC's anchors as they watch Reagan's sudden sweep of the early states remains a vivid memory, over 40 years after the fact.

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And now, some images from Election Night 1980:

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And now the rest of the week. Last Tuesday night, NBC had scheduled a two-hour Bob Hope special, built around Hope's campaign for President.* He's nominated by Johnny Carson, his campaign is managed by Tony Randall, and he uses Angie Dickinson and Stefanie Powers to appeal to women voters (although I think their greater appeal would be to males).

*Of course, having been born in the United Kingdom, Bob would technically have been ineligible to serve as president, but this is a comedy show, after all.

Unfortunately, something came up last Tuesday that prevented the special from airing, namely the Reagan-Carter debate. NBC didn't have many options left for a topical show as time-sensitive as this one, so look for it on Saturday (7:00 p.m. CT), followed by another special with political overtones bumped from Tuesday, an hour of comedy with the Smothers Brothers.

The recent end to the actors strike means we're still seeing season premieres of new and returning shows, and a big CBS player on Sunday night starts out with a bang: Archie Bunker's Place, the successor to All in the Family, opens the 11th season for the combined series with Archie coming to terms with the death of his long-suffering wife Edith. (7:00 p.m.) It's a struggle for Archie, who "refuses to acknowledge his grief." It's also a revelation for anyone who compares this Archie from the Archie of the first episode.

On Monday ABC (7:00 p.m.) and CBS (9:00 p.m.) block out an hour each for paid political programs, while NBC reserves 90 minutes (8:30 p.m.). Meanwhile, PBS comes in first in the early returns, first with the conclusion of the brilliant miniseries Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, starring the incomparable ◄Alec Guinness (7:00 p.m.); followed by the great political satirist Mark Russell in his Election Eve special (8:00 p.m.), live from Buffalo.

Tuesday is Election Day, and for one of the candidates, it will be High Noon (3:30 p.m., WDIO), but if you're looking for an alternative, PBS's Nova (7:00 p.m.) explores the search for a cancer cure, and Dick Cavett has the first of a two-part interview with the legendary Ray Bradbury (10:00 p.m.)

Wednesday's feature event is CBS's Wednesday Night Movie, George Hamilton's hit comedy Love at First Bite (8:00 p.m.), which Judith Crist calls "uneven but frequently very funny," and lauds Hamilton's "hitherto unexpected and unexploited comedic gifts." And on NBC (also 8:00), it's part one of Alcatraz: The Whole Shocking Story, which is not only shocking but "based on a true story," with Michael Beck, Art Carney, Telly Savalas, and Alex Karras.

Thursday night, it's the presumably shocking conclusion of Alcatraz (7:00 p.m., NBC), and PBS scores again with Live at Lincoln Center presenting something they barely have time for anymore: classical music, in the form of Rossini's charming opera La Cenerentola (Cinderella), performed by the New York City Opera. (7:00 p.m.) For the rest of us, 20/20 (9:00 p.m., ABC) has a profile of David Bowie, who was probably promoting his latest hit, "Ashes to Ashes," and NBC presents a "pilot" from 1968: Lassiter (9:00 p.m.), starring Burt Reynolds. The ad boasts that it's the "first time on TV!" and you have to ask yourself just how good a pilot can be if it's taken twelve years to make it to television.

Friday's season premiere of Dallas is preceded by a literal bang—it's a rerun of the season-ending "Who Shot J.R.?" episode (8:00 p.m., CBS). As TV Guide's preview notes, though, "the solution to this whodunnit is still weeks away."

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Finally, a note in the TV Update section that Saturday Night Live is about to be "reborn," with an all-new cast and 15 new writers. New producer Jean Doumanian sees "the public going crazy over them. I went crazy over them." In fact, most people probably would have amended that last sentence to read "I went crazy over them." Doumanian and her new cast almost killed the show.

The new "Not Ready For Prime Time Players" consisted of Charles Rocket, Denny Dillon, Gilbert Gottfried, Gail Matthius, Joe Piscopo, and Ann Risley, with Eddie Murphy as a featured player. This cast is probably best known for the February 21, 1981 program in which Rocket, during a spoof of the "Who Shot J.R.?" craze, dropped the F-bomb on live television. He was fired, along with Gottfried and Risley, and Doumanian was replaced as producer by Dick Ebersol, who had been involved in the creation of SNL and was now being asked to help save the show. At the end of the season he axed the rest of Doumanian's players, with the exceptions of Piscopo and Murphy, around whom the next generation of SNL would be built.

In fact, SNL had fallen behind ABC's Fridays in both audience ratings and critical approval, and was coming quite close to being cancelled altogether. The fact that it continues on the air today, more than 40 years later, may be a testament to the inertia that grips late-night television, but it also demonstrates the necessity of acting quickly in the midst of crisis. Had NBC waited until the end of the 1980-81 season to make changes, there might not be a Saturday Night Live today. Whether or not that's good news? I'll leave that up to you. TV

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Around the dial

WIt Cult TV Blog, John's season of posts about the villainous Doctor Who Autons continues with "Spearhead from Space," the inauguaral eposide from the great Jon Pertwee's run as the good Doctor.

There were a lot of celebrity deaths announced this week, and by the time you read this, there might even have been more, but we'll begin at Comfort TV, where David remembers Michael Gray, whom people of our age remember from Shazam!

At A Shroud of Thoughts, Terence looks back at the career of Walter Koenig, whom we all know as the wonderful Ensign Chekov from the original (and best) Star Trek, who died at the ripe old age of 90.

And speaking of Star Trek, undoubtedly we'll be reading more in next week's blogs on the death of Patrick Stewart. Stewart was never one of my favorite actors and I didn't care for his Captain Picard, but that's no reflection on the man, or his obvious talent.

We'd also be remiss if we didn't comment on the death of Elke Sommer, whose wonderful career stretched for decades, and whose beauty remains timeless. I hope we'll be hearing more on her in the future as well.

Television Obscurities reports on the career of Barbara Barrie, who died on Wednesday. Robert also continues his review of the 1966-67 season of TV Guide with this issue from October 29, 1966, featuring Van Williams and Bruce Lee on the cover.

This week's A-Team review by Roger at The View from the Junkyard is the episode "The Duke of Whispering Pines," and this episode focuses squarely on Mr. T, which means plenty of action. TV

If you enjoy the content here and want to support my broader creative work, please consider leaving a tip at my Ko-fi page. Any amount you contribute helps me continue writing, researching, and sharing these articles and projects. Thank you!

What's on TV? Saturday, October 25, 1969

An uneventful day in an uneventful week, and I suppose we should be grateful for small favors like that. Over on NBC, one of the two schools on College Bowl is the University of Minnesota at Morris, located about ten miles from the World's Worst Town™. They lost badly to Bradley, though, so I don't feel too bad about it. On the syndicated music show Upbeat (1:00 p.m., WGR), whoever edited the listings managed to misspell Lesley Gore's name, but considering the number of typos I make, I shouldn't complain too much. And on tonight's Boston Symphony concert, the narrator of Copland's "Lincoln Portrait" is Senator Ted Kennedy. I wonder when this was recorded; Chappaquiddick, after all, was only three months before. What would Honest Abe have thought?