Tuesday, February 22, 2000

Fox takes beating on plan to air accused batterer's nuptials

The honeymoon is over for "Who Wants to Marry a Multi-Millionaire?" Fox has abruptly canceled tonight's edited rerun of the jaw-dropping extravaganza that drew more than 23 million viewers last Tuesday night. Turns out the groom, Rick Rockwell, isn't such a prize catch.
   Over the weekend Fox execs learned that Rockwell (born Richard Balkey in Pittsburgh) was once accused of hitting and threatening to kill an ex-girlfriend who took out a restraining order against him after she broke off their engagement. They also discovered that he might not deserve the "multi-millionaire" tag. On paper he's said to be worth about $2 million in real estate investments with his father, a San Diego developer. But Rockwell, 42, still earns his living as a stand-up comic known for stunts like telling jokes for 30 hours straight to set a world record.
   "In light of that new information, the network feels that to rebroadcast the special would be inappropriate, and consequently we have removed it from our schedule," the network said in a statement.
   The cancellation was the decision of Fox network chairman Sandy Grushow, who now finds himself having to defend the airing of the bridal auction in the first place.
   Only a month ago, in meetings with TV critics in Los Angeles, Grushow was promising that he would "rather fail with quality than succeed with garbage." He announced the phasing out of tawdry reality shows like "World's Scariest Police Chases" and "When Animals Attack" and vowed to put better shows on the schedule.
   Since then Fox has come up with only one good new show, the sitcom "Malcolm in the Middle."
   In February sweeps they've continued their how-low-is-too-low trend with the game show "Greed," a spurious one-hour movie about the JonBenet Ramsey murder and this bogus wedding special, which, until the allegations about Rockwell were revealed, they were planning to make a regular sweeps event.
   No word yet from Darva Conger, the 34-year-old nurse who exchanged vows and a rather slurpy kiss with Rockwell about one minute after she met him. He had picked her from among 50 women who paraded like harem girls in swimwear and bridal gowns in front of the eager groom, who remained a mystery man until just before the "I do's" were exchanged. You can bet she's being swamped with interview requests by every major newsmagazine and infotainment show. Can't wait to hear her side of the story.
   The couple were expected to return from a Caribbean "honeymoon" Sunday night. Conger had signed a pre-nup before last week's show. Another old girlfriend of Rockwell's told "Entertainment Tonight" that he had called her only two days before the special and told her he was only going through with the marriage stunt to help his career as a comic and corporate motivational speaker. He hinted that he'd have the union annulled.
   Sounds like everyone involved is now trying to divorce themselves from this whole idea.
   Radio waves
   DJs Dean Jaxon and Rusty Aldridge were dusted last month by KRYS-FM/99.1, but the morning team has found a new home at oldies station KEYF-FM in Spokane, Wash. They're already on the air there and they passed along their e-mail address: deanandrusty@yahoo.com.
   Suzi Camacho, newsgatherer on KEYS-AM/1440, was in a police car smash-up over the weekend. But it wasn't as serious as TV reports made it sound. Taking part in a "ride-along," Camacho was in the backseat when the cop car swerved to avoid another car and banged into a wall. Emergency workers had to cut through the mangled back door to get Camacho out. She was shaken up, but otherwise OK.
   Manuel Davila is still hanging on as owner and general manager of KCCT-AM/1150 and KBSO-FM/94.7, despite some recent problems with folks who'd taken on the stations in a management agreement. The partners are now out of the picture, said Davila. They had fired most of the DJs and sales staff back on Jan. 17.
   But, said Davila, "the stations are going to survive. They're not going to be the best in the world. But we're in the process of putting it all back together."
   KBSO is sticking with a classic rock format. KCCT is sports-talk. Davila said he's trying to hire some of his old DJs back.
   "We're not going off the air. But it's like starting from ground zero," he said.
   Nick adds Hispanic shows
   Nickelodeon will debut three new series later this year featuring Hispanic casts and crews. One is based on the old TV series "Fame" about kids at the Manhattan School for the Arts. The live-action show "The Brothers Garcia" will focus on a Hispanic family living in San Antonio. Based on an indie film of the same name, the series will be narrated "Wonder Years"-style by comic John Leguizamo.
   The third series is "Dora the Explorer," an animated half-hour aimed at pre-schoolers. Its characters will be bilingual and the show will also be available over the Internet. Dora is a character who lives inside a computer.
   Network vice president Cyma Zarghami estimates that 10 percent of Nick's cable viewers are Hispanic.
   Nick hasn't set definite telecast dates for any of the news shows .
  
  
  

 
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