America's sets: It will either blast
off in the ratings or crash and
burn immediately.

PHOTO BY BOB D 'AM ICO/ABC

CHAMPS, 9:30 p.m. Wednes-
days, premiered Jan. 9, ABC
(Channel 7 in Detroit): East
Lansing native Timothy Busfield
("thirtysomething"), jock-turned-
actor Ed Marinaro ("Sisters") and
"Saturday Night Live" escapee
Kevin Nealon lead the ensemble
cast of this half-hour comedy cre-
ated by Gary David Goldberg
("Brooklyn Bridge") and produced
by the DreamWorks triumvirate
of Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey
Katzenberg and David Geffen.
Busfield, as Tom McManus, is a
man balancing two families: his
own, with his law-student wife,
Linda (Ashley Crow), and his ex-
high school basketball team-
mates now stuck in middle age.
ABC thinks so much of "Champs"
that it's tossing the popular
"Coach" on a temporary shelf to
make room.

Opposite Page:
Ken Campbell (seated on couch) stars in the
male-bonding comedy "Local Heroes," to
premiere on FOX at a later date.

Top:
Newcomers Ryan Hurst (left) and Ben Bode are
"Campus Cops," Saturdays at 9:30 p.m. on
USA Network.

Above Right:
Created by Gary David Goldberg and produced
by DreamWorks' Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey
Katzenberg and David Geffen, "Champs" airs
Wednesdays at 9:30 p.m. on ABC.

Right:
"Second Noah" mixes "Eight is Enough" with
"Wild Kingdom" to produce this family drama
which will premiere Monday, Feb. 5, at 8 p.m.
on ABC.

PHOTO BY TIMOTHY WHI TE/ABC

Above:
R&B sensation Brandy (right) stars as
"Moesha," a 16-year-old growing up in L.A.
Countess Vaughn (left) is also featured.
"Moesha" premieres Tuesday, Jan. 23, at 8
p.m. on UPN (Channel 50).

REMEMBER
WENN, 9 p.m. Satur-
days, premiered Jan. 13,
American Movie Clas-
sics: The first original,
live-action series on vin-
tage cable movie net-
work AMC features
Patti LuPone (a Tony
Award winner for Evita)
as Grace Cavendish, the
musical diva at a fic-
tional 1930s Pittsburgh
radio station where the
entertainment is as ex-
citing off the air as on.

PRIME TIME
COUNTRY, 9 p.m.

weeknights, premiered Jan. 15,
The Nashville Network: With the
departure of TNN talk-show
stalwarts Crook and Chase this
month over creative conflicts, it
falls to onetime "Dukes of Haz-
zard" star Tom Wopat (most re-
cently seen as an -ex-husband of
"Cybill") to host a revamped, 90-
minute, five-nights-a-week ca-
blecast of music, information and
chat from Nashville. A country
singer in his own right, the for-
mer Luke Duke will quite likely
croon an occasional tune himself.

SAVANNAH, 8 p.m. Sundays,
premieres Jan. 21, The- WB
(Channel 20 in Detroit): Aaron
Spelling refuses to give up on the
prime-time soap opera, bless his
heart. This time, according to the
network releases, the mega-pro-
ducer is placing three provoca-
tive Southern women "against
the backdrop of pure wealth, ro-
mance, power and scancial."
Sounds like "Dynasty" with an
accent.

MOESHA, 8 p.m. Tuesdays,
premieres Jan. 23; UPN (Chan-
nel 50 in Detroit): Brandy, the 16-
year-old R&B singing sensation,
plays — what else? — a hip; 16-
year-old girl, coping with the
pressures of growing up in L.A.
in the '90s and with her father's
new wife (Sheryl Lee Ralph of
Dreamgirls).

MINOR ADJUSTMENTS,
8:30 p.m. Tuesdays, premieres
Jan. 23, UPN: Copying the move
of fellow .fledgling network The
WB, which snapped up "Sister,
Sister" after it was canceled by
ABC and gained a measure of
success, UPN is adding
this gently amusing
contedy following is
brief run on NBC, star-
ring stand-up comic
Rondell Sheridan as a
family man and child
psychologist who often
reverts to childhood
himself.

WORLD'S FUN-
NIEST VIDEOS, 8
p.m. Thursdays, pre-
mieres Feb. 1, ABC:
Just can't get enough
of those embarrassing,
injury-inflicting home
movies on TV, can
you? Well, whether you
can or not, here comes
another repackaged
batch of lowbrow
laughs, from the people
who gave you "Ameri-
ca's Funniest Home
Videos."

BEFORE THEY
WERE STARS, 8:30
p.m. Thursdays, pre-
mieres Feb. 1, ABC: A

TV LINE-UP page 70