Genafspiller søndag den 9. april 1995

A Precocious Sitcom Freshman

Date: 09 April 1995

By Andy Meisler

Andy Meisler

YEARS BEFORE THEY submit their first script, most aspiring television-sitcom writers are already steeped in the genre. Thousands of hours of television watching has burned hundreds of plot lines and characters into their brains. They are fluent in the language of sight gags and snappy comebacks, teasers and tag lines, sly topical references and quick moral lessons. And so, such aspirants may think themselves well qualified to write and even produce their own half-hour comedies -- until they meet Paul Simms. Mr. Simms is the writer, creator and executive producer of "News Radio," the new NBC sitcom that had its premiere in March and has been extended by the network for at least six more episodes on Tuesday nights at 8:30. A tall, thin graduate of Harvard, he is an American who was raised in third-world countries. Deprived of early exposure to "I Love Lucy," "The Brady Bunch" -- indeed to most of the sitcom canon -- Mr. Simms seems to have had to depend for inspiration primarily on the real world, including his own quasi-immigrant experiences.

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Trading Places

Date: 09 April 1995

By Holly Brubach

Holly Brubach

This latest round of fashion shows, which began in Milan five weeks ago and ended here in New York on Friday, will go down in history as the season of insurrections. First there were the walkouts staged by the French press, who had agreed to leave any show starting more than 30 minutes late. (One editor last season counted seven and a half hours' waiting time in a single day.) Then there was the dispute at Claude Montana between a TV cameraman and a bouncer, ending in fisticuffs and prompting the photographers to boycott the show. As for those of us less inclined to public protest, who could blame us if, in those idle moments when we were waiting for the lights to dim, we succumbed to fantasies of what would happen if we turned the tables. . . .

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OUT OF ORDER; Open Your Eyes and Read All About It!

Date: 09 April 1995

By David Bouchier

David Bouchier

IF you want to learn about a community read the local newspaper. I have followed this advice for years, and what I have learned about my community is not reassuring. The town seems normal enough. But judging by the tantalizing hints that appear in the newspapers, my neighbors live strange and secret lives. The most interesting reports come off the police blotter and are written in archaic language, as if the officers had been trained in Shakespearean rather than American English. "A female, 24, reported that her 24-year-old named fiance did enter and remain in her parents home, where she also resides, after he had been told not to enter."

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A Century of 'the Funnies'

Date: 09 April 1995

Humbly, we note that this is the centennial year of an institution known to readers of other newspapers as the comics. The exact day a newspaper first published this indigenous American blend of art and story is in dispute, but it was 1895 in The World, Joseph Pulitzer's New York daily, and the comic was a street urchin called "The Yellow Kid." It proved so popular that William Randolph Hearst hired the artist away to draw the kid for The Journal. Pulitzer then signed another artist to continue the character in The World.

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NEWS SUMMARY

Date: 09 April 1995

International 3-15 A REAPPRAISAL OF VIETNAM Robert S. McNamara, once a champion of escalating the Vietnam War, has concluded in a new memoir that the United States should have withdrawn earlier. 1 CHECHEN HEALTH CARE CRISIS Like most things in the capital of the Russian breakaway republic of Chechnya, Grozny, the health care system is in ruins, with only three civilian hospitals functioning. 3

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NEWS SUMMARY

Date: 10 April 1995

International A3-9 BOMBINGS IN GAZA Palestinian suicide attackers killed 6 Israelis and wounded at least 45 in two car bombings near Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip. A1 Some Israelis question the wisdom of hard-to-protect settlements. A9 NEW PLUNGE BY DOLLAR The dollar fell to a postwar low of 80.15 yen, down more than 4 percent from Friday's level. It then recovered modestly after Japan's central bank bought dollars. A1 WOMEN AT THE UNITED NATIONS The United Nations Charter included a farsighted pledge of equality for women. Fifty years later, the organization has failed to live up to its promises. A6 BUCHENWALD MEMORIAL With a gathering at Buchenwald, Germany began a month of ceremonies to remember the victims of Nazi concentration camps. A3 MYANMAR'S DRUG WAR A drug lord responsible for much of the heroin in the United States is facing a wave of attacks by Burmese troops. A5 ELECTION SURPRISE IN JAPAN Voters in Tokyo and Osaka jolted the political establishment by choosing television personalities unaffiliated with a party. A7 HOW MUCH REFORM IN GUATEMALA? The agency that spied on, and sometimes killed, Guatemalans is still in business under another name, diplomats and others say. A8 FUJIMORI AHEAD IN PERU Exit polls showed President Alberto Fujimori had enough votes to avoid a run-off for re-election. A8 Maid hanged in Singapore probably was innocent, a panel said. A7 Jijiaying Journal: Discontent in China's countryside. A4 National A10-13, B9-12 GETTING SOME OFF WELFARE A San Diego program to help people on welfare get jobs is widely praised by experts, but its successes have been modest. Only a few welfare recipients receive the job assistance. A1 MCA DEAL IS WRAPPED UP Seagram and Matsushita announced the completion of a deal yesterday for Seagram to buy 80 percent of MCA from Matsushita for $5.7 billion. A1 A DILEMMA FOR DOLE On the eve of his announcement that he is running for President, Senator Bob Dole is again wrestling with the differences between Congressional and campaign politics. This time it's over the tax bill the House sent to the Senate. A1 REGULATING THE SALE OF BULLETS Pasadena, Calif., passed an ordinance requiring a buyer of ammunition to fill out a registration card and show a driver's license. A10 ROOSEVELT'S WHEELCHAIR Throughout his political career, Franklin Delano Roosevelt studiously hid the fact that he could not walk, but now the disabled are upset that a memorial in Washington to the former President fails to acknowledge his handicap. A10 CLINTON IN FROM THE DESERT After spending 100 days in the shadow of the House Republicans, the President is making a show of force, threatening to veto the legislation inspired by Republican campaign promises. B11 PEROT CASTS A NEW SHADOW Speaker Newt Gingrich appealed to supporters of Ross Perot not to form a third party, warning them that such a move would help the Democrats. B9 DEMOCRATS SHOW UNITED FRONT California Democrats managed to avoid a public split over affirmative action by promising to defend their programs, but stating that they were not endorsing quotas or preferential treatment. A13 LIFE DOESN'T IMITATE SITCOMS Demographers went over all the data and kept arriving at the same conclusion: married people are healthier and happier. A10 CHARITY LOOKS TO HOME The international relief agency CARE has started a program to encourage American parents to read to their young children. A11 Metro Digest B1 SHORTAGE MAY HAMPER AIR TRAVEL The Federal Aviation Administration office that handles New York's three major airports is so understaffed that controllers work mandatory six-day weeks and officials are drawing up contingency plans to cut flights during the anticipated summer rush. A1 MAKING EXECUTIONS EASIER Connecticut has a death penalty law, but it hasn't been used since the 1950's. Now, lawmakers and the Governor want to make it easier for juries to impose the death penalty and the state to carry it out. A1 Obituaries B14 Alton Meister, biochemist. George C. Edwards, former Federal appeals judge. Arts/Entertainment C9-14 An interview with Ruth Rendell. C9 Theater: Simon's "London Suite." C9 Music: Belly at Roseland. C12 Y's Schubertiade ends season. C14 Dance: Ballet Inc. C12 Books: Critic's Notebook C9 "Shrouds of Glory." C13 Television: "City Arts," on WNET. C14 Business Digest D1 Sports C1-8 Baseball: Selig's fans. C5 Brogna belongs. C5 The free-agent fire sale. C6 Basketball: Bonner on bubble. C3 Boxing: Holmes' farewell. C8 Columns: Anderson on Norman's Masters. C4 On Hockey. C2 Golf: Crenwhaw wins Masters. C1 Hockey: Devils zip Rangers. C1 Muller joins Islanders. C2 Racing: Filly in the Derby? C8 Sports People C8 Editorials/Op-Ed A14-15 Editorials More budget pain for the city. Tremors in China. Topics: Wetland politics. Letters William Safire: Gambling fever. Anthony Lewis: Israel -- a new voice. Phyllis Hwang: Taiwan for the Taiwanese. Steven D. Gold: What tax cut fever? Bridge C14 Chronicle B12 Crossword C13

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Man Is Arrested in Killing of News Vendor

Date: 09 April 1995

A man was arrested on Friday in the death of a midtown Manhattan newsstand vendor who was fatally shot early last year during a morning robbery near Pennsylvania Station, the police said. The man, John Poole, 21, was leaving Rikers Island on Friday afternoon after serving 11 months of a one-year sentence for armed robbery when he was arrested by detectives of the Midtown South precinct.

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A Newspaper Chain for Japanese Abroad

Date: 10 April 1995

By Thomas Crampton, International Herald Tribune

Thomas Crampton

When Brian Kay first tried to start a Japanese paper in Britain in the early 1980s, he was confronted with a Chinese puzzle: The only affordable way to print in Japanese was to ship the text out to Japan, making a weekly paper an unpublishable 12 weeks l

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Joseph W. Tansey, Ex-Journalist, 87

Date: 10 April 1995

Joseph W. Tansey, a journalist who spent 30 years at The New York Times before retiring as assistant national news editor in 1978, died yesterday near his home in Dallas. He was 87. A son, James, said Mr. Tansey had suffered a heart attack while taking a walk.

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Joseph W. Tansey, Ex-Journalist, 87

Date: 09 April 1995

Joseph W. Tansey, a journalist who spent 30 years at The New York Times before retiring as assistant national news editor in 1978, died yesterday near his home in Dallas. He was 87. A son, James, said Mr. Tansey had suffered a heart attack while taking a walk.

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