Word: dialing
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...array of clips: scenes from comedy movies, snippets of old TV series, excerpts from stand-up performances and other laughtoids. An occasional full-length movie will intervene, but mostly the comedy will come in quick bursts, aimed at a new generation of TV "grazers," viewers who flip around the dial with their remote control. Says HBO chief Michael Fuchs: "We're looking to make a very hot, today channel, and comedy is the place...
...seems almost insatiable. Seven of the ten top-grossing movies of 1988 were comedies, as are eight of the ten current top-rated TV series. Cable channels like HBO and Showtime have made comedy specials a staple of their schedules, while vintage sitcoms are being perpetually recycled across the dial...
Except for a few racy double entendres on The Golden Girls, network TV on Saturday night is a pretty tame affair. Twist the dial a few notches, however, and there's mayhem aplenty. One evening a few weeks ago, a man was impaled on the handle of a hay rake by a wolflike demon that had risen from hell at the behest of a satanic cult. A couple visiting an art gallery wondered why the sculptures of terrified people looked so unnervingly lifelike. (Any guesses?) And Freddy Krueger, the razor-clawed maniac from the Nightmare on Elm Street films...
Obscenity. This week the court will review a Dallas ordinance that imposes strict licensing and zoning requirements on sexually oriented businesses. Later this term an Ohio case will ask whether there is a First Amendment right to possess lewd photographs of children. In last term's dial-a-porn and flag- burning cases, the Justices maintained a tolerant free-speech stance; court watchers are waiting to see what change may occur...
...those William Safire wannabees who get huffy when someone misuses the word "disinterested," read no further. Popular culture has irretrievably eroded the meaning of the word "classic." A disc jockey at WSLQ in Roanoke, VA recently persuaded this listener to turn the dial when he announced, "Coming up next: A classic from...