BY JOHN KIESEWETTER
The Cincinnati Enquirer
"Killers on the Loose!" Only one more week of "Killers on the Loose!"
Then TV returns to normal after next Wednesday, when four weeks of sweeps silliness ends.
For the past three Fridays, WLWT (Channel 5) has heavily promoted a "Killer on the Loose!" special report at 11 p.m. (Another one is planned for Friday.) Channel 5 revisited an unsolved eight-year-old murder of a West Chester woman last Friday. ("Killers on the Loose -- for Eight Years!")
On April 24, Channel 5 focused on the four-year-old murder of a Finneytown woman in Columbus. ("Killers on the Loose -- 100 miles away!")
Actually, both were soft interviews with parents still upset about their Unsolved Mysteries, which would have been a more appropriate title for the series. Neither story included updates with police.
"There may be somebody out there who knows something, or saw something odd, who might come forward and contact law enforcement officers," explains Lyn Tolan, Channel 5 news director.
But it's hype month, and Channel 5 wants to scare you into watching. So far it's working. Usually third-place Channel 5 is in second place (behind Channel 9) at 11 p.m., thanks to strong NBC ratings (Merlin, Seinfeld, ER) and shrill news promotions. WKRC-TV (Channel 12), which won February sweeps, has fallen to third in overnight ratings.
By the way, the silliest sweeps promo aired last week on Channel 5, promoting a follow-up story about a fatal I-75 head-on crash. Channel 5 promised safety tips when you're "Sharing the Road!" (When are we not sharing the road??)
LIVING DEAD: Perhaps Channel 12 should promote the next seven days as "Dead People on the Loose!"
CBS, to celebrate its 50th anniversary, has edited scenes of old stars -- Lucille Ball, Rod Serling, Jack Benny, Edward R. Murrow -- into current shows through Monday.
Lucy, who died in 1989, appears in a one-hour wedding episode of The Nanny today (8 p.m., Channels 12, 7) through the same computerized "compositing" method used to let Fred Astaire dance in a Dirt Devil commercial.
"It's great fun to see stars of the past with stars of the present," says Craig Weiss, CBS director of visual effects, who has spent six months supervising CBS' birthday presence.
His favorite of the eight stunts are Mr. Benny chatting with Bill Cosby on Cosby (8 p.m. Monday), and The Twilight Zone clip of Mr. Serling addressing Kyle Chandler on Early Edition (9 p.m. Saturday). "In the clip, Mr. Serling was seated in a chair. We used him from the waist up, and then digitally had to create a frame of his whole body. That was really a lot of work," says Mr. Weiss, who created CBS' promos last year featuring David Letterman joking side-by-side with the late Ed Sullivan.
Elsewhere, Chuck Norris consults with the late Steve McQueen on Walker, Texas Ranger (10 p.m. Saturday), while Candice Bergen encounters Mr. Murrow, the legendary CBS newsman, on the last Murphy Brown (9 p.m. Monday).
But it isn't entirely the "Week of the Living Dead." Christine Lahti confers with Medical Center's Chad Everett on Chicago Hope (10 p.m. today), and James Arness appears as Gunsmoke Marshal Matt Dillon to Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman (8 p.m. Saturday).
The best should be be Dick Van Dyke encountering himself, when the Diagnosis Murder star goes to a radio station and sees Rob Petrie from The Dick Van Dyke Show in a broadcast studio.
Too bad few people will see it. Diagnosis Murder airs 9 p.m. Thursday (Channels 12, 7) opposite the final Seinfeld.
John Kiesewetter is Enquirer TV - radio critic. His column appears Monday and Wednesday. Write him at 312 Elm St., Cincinnati, 45202; fax: 768-8330.
