schedule to Sunday to Friday," says Gold with pride. "They rearranged the schedule so I could get off early Friday afternoons." He knows one could easily get wrapped up in the mishegas of Holly- wood and Vine, but Gold opts for tefillin instead. Not that Gold isn't anticipating tsuris. Not everyone will see eye to eye with the concept of his new show: "You're the One" focuses on a mixed marriage - a Southern belle (Cynthia Geary) married to Gold's Jewish boy, Mark Weitz. Chicken soup with grits and ham? "Let me say immediately, I don't rec- ognize mixed marriages, I don't con- done them - I am playing a charac- ter. "In real life, I am married to a won- derful Jewish girl," he says of Sacha. "I am just playing a role." Part of Gold knows he's in for problems. "I'm expecting to get heat. I'm already getting it from relatives: Why are you marrying a shiksa?''' His answer: It's a living - and a good one at that. Indeed, adds Gold, the TV chemistry between him and Geary ( Shelly Tambo on "Northern Exposure") would melt a Bunsen burner. Not that it's all a marriage made in heaven; having "mixed" relatives can cause wedded blitz. Indeed, Gold's TV father-in-law wouldn't know a tallit from a toll booth. "It's not that he's a bigot - he just doesn't understand," says Gold. The series should help others understand what it means to be Jew- ish. "We're exploring it more than a lot of other shows" with Jewish characters, he says. For Gold, there is a major silver lin- ing in all this - the show's focus allows for self-exploration, too. "I'm such a proud Jew and I get to repre- sent my people on TV in a good light," he says. "Believe me, I'm not going to embarrass us. It's good for others to see more Jewish leading men in sitcoms." "It bothers me," he says, "when other shows with obvious Jewish chr- acters don't identify them as such." He is annoyed at "Mad About You." "Paul Reiser is great; he's my men- tor," says Gold of the show's star and co-creator. "But they always gloss over the issue of his being Jewish. That bothers me. At least on `Sein- feld,' Jerry has talked about being Jewish." 4/24 1998 When talk turns to comedy, Gold can laugh off early setbacks. After all, this is something he's always wanted to do. When other teens were concerned with opening lines on dates, Gold had dates at comedy clubs with lines form- ing at the door. "I started doing stand- up at 17, all through college," he says. The payoff for the economics major at Boston University was that by the time he earned his degree, he had already graduated to the big time, doing Showtime TV appearances and appearing at the Montreal Comedy Festival. Today, his love of the art drives him on. Maybe it's inherited. "My father [Sid] always had a love of show busi- ness," Gold says. "When he was in college, he produced plays for the school - Al Pacino was in one of them. "My father would invest in Broad- way musicals," he says, although one show Dad didn't invest in was Fiddler on the Roof which makes his son hit the roof. In real life, a Jewish wife. "That is why I grew up in the Bronx and not Scarsdale," says Gold with a chuckle. But his dad's interest grew into a second career. "After he retired as a teacher and principal, he became a tal- ent manager, working with a number of people now on Broadway," says Gold. So it all worked out for his dad, just like Gold knows it will work out for him. "It was always the other guy getting the part," he says of angst-filled audi- tions. "Now it's the other guy that can say that." While Gold says he wasn't ready for success when he first appeared on the short-lived satire "She-TV," he's ready now And he's ready with an answer for those who complain that "You're the One" should have featured two Jewish married characters instead of one. "I promise," says Gold, "I promise in my next sitcom, I'll marry a Jew." "You're the One" airs 9:30 p.m. Sundays on WDWB-TV, Channel 20. Check your local listings. Crossword Puzzle by Kathi Handler 2 1 4 3 6 5 17 16 ill 21 111111 20 24 23 33 36 35 55 43 44 58 59 50 . 56 111111 60 61 63 64 III Across 1. Comedian Murray 4. Greenberg tools 8. Author Yael 13. Before 14. Richard Tucker spe- cialty 15. Lock 16. Lauder products 18. Ben Yehuda street 19. Digits 20. Broke the eighth 22. Sleeper for servants 24. Five of Moses 25. Lox starters 28. Rothschild action 29. Made aliyah 30. Shape 31. Switch positions 32. Rainbows 33. Hubs for Tsahal 34. Catastrophe pro- Allen ducer, 36. Asher's second 38. Villain 40. Merkavahs 42. American Mossad? 45. Esau 46. Gad's son 47. Sid Caesar's " of Shows" 48. Orthodox minyan 49. Omri and Saul 50. Wallenberg 51. Birthplace to Amos 27 52 1111 51 54 26 say 42 111 49 48 III 47 46 45 12 37 40 ill 38 53 30 32 34 U 25 III 29 31 11 18 19 28 10 1111 15 III 13 22 9 8 7 III III 52. Hamsa 53. Hebrew ancestor 56. Tops 60. Said Kol Nidre 61. Alephbet member 62. Prophesize 63. Mother to line of Judah 64. Name on towel 65. Chazzer Down 1. Jewish American Princess of Spain 2. Golden 3. Industrialist (2 wds) 4. Alias Joyce Brothers 5. Uzis 6. Gelilah act 7. Haircare guy 8. Monty Hall special- ties 9. Israeli city 10. Rickles hope 11. Exist 12. Biblical fishing device 15. Prepare Lox 17. Sukkot decoration? 21. Crumbs at Tashlich 22. Zeigfeld's nickname 23. Nimoy casually 24. Bookstore Mogul 25. New month 26. Solomon's find 62 65 27. Mems (Eng.) 29. "Friend" to Mon- tand 30. Air Org. 32. Possess 33. Terrorist target 35. Offering often 37. Mt Hermon activi- ty 38. Tsitsit site 39. Lemon drink 41. Tales (Hebrew) 43. Usurious instru- ment 44. Leather punch 46. Did Masada 47. Negev plenty 49. Torah crown (Heb) 50. Noah's forecast 51. Actress Louise 52. Shema starter 53. Used his tuches 54. Arkia stat 55. Bathsheba to Solomon 57. Pastrami on 58. "Joys of Yiddish" Rosten 59. Portion (abv) For the Crossword answers, please turn to Page 158.