IN THESE TIMES JAN. 24-30,1979 23 TELEVISION Taxi mkes comedy and drama orking-class sitcom

_ By Albert Auste? "If you wanted to end the war made some significant adjust- in Vietnam all you had to do was ments to that old formula. For When The Mary Tyler Moors put it on ABC and it would be instance, they shifted the empha- Show was in its heyday a reporter cancelled in 13 weeks." sis of the old MTM format away asked Ed Asner (Leu Grant) if Some of Taxi's success comes from the contrast between the he ever got tired of his role, As- from its being conveniently ham- good sense and cooperation of rier answered, "We. never get mocked between two other ABC some of the workers (Mary, Mur- bored around here;. The scripts hits—Three's Company and Star- ray, Lou) against the uncooper- are too good/' The reason was sky and Hutch. It has other ative, egotistical, or misguided the two electronic Neil Simons things going for it, like concen- worker (Ted, SueAnne) to the co- who wrote the show; James 1. trating . on people rather than operation and even feelings of Brooks and Alan Burns. They punchlines and even nudging the solidarity of the cabbies as op- not only created interesting char- workplace family format pio- posed to the alienation and iso- acters (Mary, Loo, Ted Baxter) neered by Brooks at MTM along lation of their noisy and hostile but also wrote some great lines: the road to a video version of loudmouth boss, Louis DePalma Mary: "I think you're asking a working class solidarity. (Danny DeVito). lot of personal questions you have would never De Palma is a runty Italian no right to ask!" Lou: "You recognize the characters that pop- boss-dispatcher who sits above know, you've got spunk. I hsie ulate the Sunshine Taxicab gar- the drivers in a caged perch shout- spunk." age (a play on Amos'n'Andy's ing out Scrooge-like commands MTM Enterprises has fallen on Fresh-Air Taxicab, Inc.). For in- like, "Don't pick up cripples," or evil, days recently and ail its old stance, there is a woman, Elaine making single entendre jokes and standbys have either retired (The (Marilu Henner); a Rocky-type passes at Elaine. So far Louis , as Alex picks up elderly passenger Ruth Gordon, MTM Show, The Bob Newhart pug (Tony Danza); a Midwest- hasn't been touched by TV's- a "Sugar Mama" who likes to take expensive taxi rides. Show), been cancelled (Rhods, ern naif John (Randall Carver); heart-of-gold syndrome, and un- Phyllis), or are barely hanging an aspiring actor whose last try- less the show gets a bout of the on some interesting themes. For oped. Part of the credit here goes on (The Lou Grant Show, The out was for the horse's part in cutes he may continue to be some- example, in one episode John and to Hirsch. He had already starred White Shadow). This fail from Equus (Jeff Conaway); and an one you can actually dislike. In- his wife Suzanne (Ellen Regan)— in an ill-fated NBC series (Del- grace may have something to do immigrant garage mechanic (An- deed, for the moment the cabbies a woman he married on impulse vecchio), and could have dom- with the departure last year of dy Kaufman), who speaks a dia- either ignore or barely tolerate after one of the drivers told the inated the other younger and less Brooks and some other members lect half Spanish-half Polish, and him. shy John that a good line for experienced players. However, of the MTM shop (Stan Daniels, all nebbish ("Tanks you vebby Nevertheless, Taxi is not Odets. picking up women was "Why by constantly underplaying, David Davis and Ed Weinberger) mooch"). As a matter of fact, it most near- waste time on preliminaries—let's Hirsch has allowed an ensemble to • form their own production The elder statesman of the ly resembles O'Neill in focusing get married"—have their first effort to grow. This is a welcome company. group is Emmy Award winner on the characters' pipedrearns of fight over who should quit work change in a season where all the The first venture of the Brooks Judd Hirsch (The Law), who love, championship, stardom, and let the other support them applause and hoopla have gone group, the sitcom Taxi, is one of plays Alex Reiger. Alex is of some and success rather than any of through college. Of course Alex to Mark and Mindy and its star the few hits of the new TV sea- indeterminate—although, since their political or economic prob- saved the day with a loan so they Robin Williams, whom the New son. Taxi has consistently rated he's played by Hirsch, Semitic- lems (nobody mentions leasing can continue. By then the show York Times recently called "the among the top ten shows since the origin. While he is supposed to be or defective cabs here). However, had made the point that they comedian for the narcissistic late very beginning of the season. Taxi the group's center of stability, and it hasn't always played things couldn't go on because inflation '70s." Hopefully, Brooks and Co. also returns Brooks to the urban even likes his job (only heaven only for laughs, either. For in- had made it impossible Tor Suz- will continue producing the kind milieu he first used to such good knows why), sometimes the zani- stance, on the very first show of anne's parents to subsidize them of shows that support the very advantage in his late '60s Emmy ness catches his good sense off- the season the cabbies got togeth- as they had in the past. And both opposite of Mark. If they do, Award winning program, Room duty. er to drive Alex to a Miami re- John and Suzanne were equally someone ought to start thinking 222. An anthology series about a All of this sounds as if Taxi is union with a daughter he hadn't adamant about staying in school. about giving them their own net- black schooltcacher (Lloyd the Show gone seen since she was born. The show has not produced a work. Bl Ilaines), Room 222 was a hit on cruising among the working class. This warmedy (comedy-drama) Travolta or Winkler type star, Albert Auster is an editor of ABC when the industry joke was However, Brooks and Co. have approach has sometimes touched and a sense of a group has devel- Cineaste. MUSIC Disco swamps radio audience

. Clenott continues: "Whenever BC finished a distant second with pop is at its peak.of social con- a 7.1 share, certainly no slouclj as Disco now dominates the fierce- sciousness, as in the time of El- major market ratings go. But mir- ly competitive airwaves in the na- vis, the_Beatles and Woodstock, aculously, disco WKTU managed tion's largest city. Disco records something was very offensive to to tip all the givens of the ratings on the RSO label alone held the some sectors, threatening the ex- system in its very first "book." number one spot in the Record isting order. The people who get All of the city's Top 40, AOR World album sales charts for 39 into it really like it. Now that's (album-oriented rock), black, weeks last year. "Disco fashion" happening with disco, which is country and news/talk stations has become a volatile commodity clearly more than a go-go. It's a looked sickly in comparison. in the department stores and shop- social phenomenon." What is important about WK- ping malls. And disco has gained Apparently so, if WKTU's lat- TU's sweep is the broad social acceptability on 'television that est Arbitron listenership rating is range of its new listeners. On the rock'n'roll never attained in 20 any indication. The station, owned quarter-hour, the station reaches WKTU-FM program director Clenott discusses disco with market- years. by SJR Communications, a divi- an audience that is 63 percent ing consultant Wanda Ramos. Matthew Clenott, program di- sion of the San Juan Racing As- core city and 37 percent subur- from critics. But few feel the need ger's raspy sexuality or Spring- •ector of New York's top-rated; sociation, switched to disco from ban; 40 percent black, 34 per- to defend its merit. Theirs is steen's dramatic street sensibil- ,/KTU, an FM station playing what the broadcast industry calls cent white and 26 percent Latin. sales-proven "party music" and ity. Rock and disco have not ex- *':co music around the clock, "beautiful music" last July 24. The format attracts men and discos are temples for relieving actly proven the best of neigh- 'lys, "When pop is at a peak psr- Market researchers predicted women almost equally, dominat- "the week's tensions. Of course bors on the charts, especially now od, the artist is at the forefront, the station would secure a 5 or 6 ing certain segments of 18-34 disco is that, but rock fans claim that disco has claimed as many as '.n disco, unlike the dominant percent share of the New York males and females at different their music cures the same ills, seven spots on Billboard maga- periods of rock, the producer is radio audience, healthy even when times, though the age range of and that their "release" entails zine's Top 10 in an average week, :hestar," he says. compared against traditional fore- WKTU listeners spans pre-teens even greater abandon. Disco's the scant remainder divided be- Disco, indeed is a producer's runner WABC-AM's 7 or 8. WA- to late 40s. The station appeals proponents point to rock's aban- tween the Billy Joels and the .msic, the product of state-cf- BC, an ABC-owned "contempor- to a variety of income and edu- don and defiant flamboyance as Foreigners. he-arts studios and hundreds cf ary" (Top 40) station, has never cation brackets as well. the bane of the music merchan- "We're an environment," Cle- " __ icians whose names and faces been overtaken in the ratings by "There aren't too many class- dising world, and an accoutre- nott says. "An environment peo- re unknown, b-t whose rr.izsic a music station, receiving a bat- es of people we're not reaching," ment of the '50s and '60s. ple carry around on their transis- ; lately inescapable. Like prc- tle only from talk-oriented WOR- says Clenott. "Nobody anticipat- Rockers, in turn, boast their tor radios while walking through uction forsbeer Phi! Specter, AM. An FM station has never ed anything like this." music as one of the enduring vic- the Bronx, and one now heard in ne disco producer may literally dominated the ratings. tories of the Movement and, for banks, dentists' offices and de- antrc! stables cf vocalists and Until, that is, WKTU placed a Who has more fun? better or worse, the culmination partment stores, ones like Saks msicians, asssrTublssl to create an staggering 11.3 cumulative, re- Cold, grating, unchanging—few of 20-odd years of development. and Bloomingdales." • otempos happy ar.d anonymous portedly the first double-digit disco people would deny the No way, they claim, can disco's Gary Baker writes for Billboard jund on rating in New York history. WA- charges their music has faced mechanized beat displace Jag- magazine.

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24 IN THESE TIMES JAN. 24-30,1979

mers were only . 1 second apart during older swimmers. By Anita Diamant most of the eight-lap race. (The entire The New England master's program On Sunday, Jan. 7, 150 women braved meet was raced on the "short course," (for people 25 and older) runs two meets the snow and chill to swim up and down which means swimming the width in- a month where women and men swim the five lanes of the Cambridge YWCA stead of the length of the Olympic-sized side by side, competing against their own pool. That's an average day at the 15-year- pool.) best times. The program attracts both ex- old pool where it sometimes gets so crowd- But the best was saved for last. A 400- competitors and people who never raced ed that women have to wait in line to use medley relay team consists of four swim- before. And though master's meets are the damp, dark locker room and the mers, each responsible for four laps (100 advertised almost exclusively by word of crowded water. mouth, last month's newsletter showed Meanwhile, in a clean, well-lighted pool an increase of 35 new members. across the river, 250 of the world's finest Between the 15-year-old wunderkinder swimmers were setting records at the Sec- and the 25-plus masters, competitive wom- ond Women's International Swim Meet. en's swimming is about to change, or so Women from 12 countries swam in 14 DOIN' said swimmers and coaches at poolside events at the two-day meet, hosted by during the meet. It seems that the predom- Harvard University at the new Blodgett inance of young teenage swimmers is less Pool. a physiological than a sociological phen- The real competition was between the omenon. U.S. and German Democratic Republic THE John Grady, who coaches a co-ed swim teams. The East Germans had blown the club in Ohio, said, "Having the time to U.S. team out of the water at the 1976 train is critical. In high school there's Montreal Olympics, apparently ending American domination of international swimming. But last summer at the World SWIM Photographs by Peggy McMahon yards) of one stroke. The U.S. and CDR "A" teams were locked in a battle for first place during the race while the two countries' "B" teams competed for third. The U.S. team opened a small but sub- stantial lead during the back and breast strokes but the East Germans gave them a run for it in the butterfly lap. By the final leg, the freestyle, the pool was echo- less time and different pressures. The ing with cheers and hoots of encourage- young kids aren't bothered by sex-role ment. Barbara Krause started a few sec- pressures so much, but when they reach onds behind Missy Gehan and gave chase, college, there's no incentives and a lot of ending only .24 seconds behind Gehan pressure for women to stop. Now with and the U.S. winning time of 3:46:15. The the changes in scholarships for women Games in Berlin, the American team took CDR "B" team took third place, .77 sec- swimmers, there's going to be a lot of nine of 14 events and restored parity to onds ahead of the U.S. "B" team. ! older swimmers staying in competition global competition. Although team stand- Fewer than 100 people were in the \ longer." Size and strength count in swim- ings weren't official at this meet, everyone stands at Blodgett pool on Sunday, and j -ming, especially at the turns, so there may was counting and the Germans walked off most of them were teammates, friends j well be a return of 20-year-olds to the with seven first place awards. The U.S. and parents of the swimmers. When a ranks of world champions within the next won five. Bonnie Bell 10,000-meter road race five or ten years. American coaches and press agreed that Recreational women's swimming is the U.S. team would have done much bet- changing, too, and not only in terms of ter had the American Athletic Union let numbers. More women are swimming the baby superstars of the Berlin games longer distances faster. But so far, parti- come to play. Stephanie Elkins, Linda cipation hasn't translated into spectators. Jezel, Joan Pennington and Tracy Caul- Coaches blame the lack of interest in kins, winner of five gold medals in Berlin, competitive swimming on the lack of haunted the U.S. team. The AAU sus- publicity given the sport. But swimming pended a dozen young swimmers for a meets aren't easy watching. variety of offenses. The big four violated a It's hot, muggy and slow going. Some curfew regulation, which will k'eep them races are over in under a minute and time from representing the U.S. for three drags in between. The false starts are frus- months. Cynthia Woodhead was also sus- trating and the faces and personalities of pended but she chose to compete for her the swimmers are barely discernable from hometown swim club. The other four comes to town, hardly a weekend woman the stands. Television has presented swim- decided to pass. jogger (much less an amateur competitor) ming in such short, edited and always The absence of those athletes made is unaware of the proceedings. And yet spectacular-finish segments, that most room for others who might not have had there has been a comparable boom in spectators lack the patience to sit through the chance to come. Marybeth Linzmeier, women's swimming. Between 1976 and the necessary lulls that swimmers fill up who won the 1650-yard freestyle, was right 1977, pool use at the Cambridge YWCA with card games, massages and "check- • on the edge for this meet. With this win increased by about 20 percent. The New ing out the cute guys;" as one 17-year- under her belt she figures as a world con- England AAU (Amateur Athletic Union) old Californian put it. tender. now has 92 swimming clubs of at least 50 Still, for the woman who swam her The Sunday night finals included a members each. mile that Sunday at the Y, the sight of few superb races. The 200-yard freestyle The Olympics has had a lot to do with Marybeth Linzmeier finishing the 1650- between Barbara Krause of the CDR and swimming's rise in popularity, especially yard freestyle (that's 66 widths) in Cindy Woodhead (U.S. A) lived up to ex- among youngsters. (The average age of 16:18:89 might be as inspirational as it pectations. Woodhead had beaten Krause last week's U.S. women's team was 16.) was exciting. But for now, the distance at the World Games, but this time Krause Children account for most of the AAU's from Montreal to Moscow seems shorter won it in 1:47:72. Her margin of victory growth, although there has also been an than the trip from Blodgett pool to the was only .4 seconds and the two swim- increased demand for competition among YMCA on Temple Street. •

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