Frasier

Wasn't Thursday supposed to be the best night of television on television again? Well, with "Seinfeld" in repeats, and only "The Simpsons" and "Frasier" enlivening prime time, that claim seems suspiciously thin. If today's column does as well, that's the reason.* "The Byrds of Paradise" (8-9 p.m., WJZ, Channel 13) -- Bruce Weitz makes another guest appearance as Dr. Murray Rubenstein, but the guest star I'm most enthusiastic about mentioning is Cha Thompson, who portrays a character named Lilinoe Nehonekaleookawaiolina.

On Wednesday, March 1, 2006, CHARLOTTE M., daughter of the late Frasier and Maude Gillings Hollenbeck, Sr., wife of the late Wilfred Wolthouse, survived by daughter-in-law Doris Wolthouse-Kammer, brother Frasier Hollenbeck, Jr. and sister Shirley Giamongo. She was predeceased by son Wayne Wolthouse. Funeral services will be held at the Pritts Funeral Home and Chapel, 412 Washington Road, Westminster on Friday at 1:00 p.m. Interment will be in Meadow Branch Cemetery. The family will receive friends at the funeral home on Friday from 11:00 a.m. until time of service.

It's the night of the sweeps-week guest stars, as Shelley Long visits "Frasier," George Hamilton shows up "The John Larroquette Show," and the space shuttle astronauts drop in on "Home Improvement." Such riches*"Married With Children" (6:30 p.m.-7 p.m., WBFF, Channel 45) -- Vanna White offers $1 million for a night with Al. Let's hope Al never saw "Goddess of Love."*"Cliffhanger" (8 p.m.-10 p.m., WBFF, Channel 45) -- Sylvester Stallone is such a bad actor it almost hurts, but at least here the photography is distracting.

These days, the Ghost of Christmas Present is Chase Manhattan Bank, selling a credit card at the holidays. That's who called while I was watching A Christmas Carol, the latest incarnation of the Charles Dickens classic starring Kelsey Grammer as Ebenezer Scrooge and airing tomorrow night on NBC (WBAL, Channel 11). The Chase guy on the phone didn't hit any of the themes of A Christmas Carol, didn't ask if I had enough love in my life, though in fairness I didn't keep him long. OK, I hung up on him. A short time later, Grammer as Scrooge was being led by the Ghost of Christmas Past (Jane Krakowski, of Ally McBeal fame)

The season premieres of "Nova" and "Frontline" arrive tonight, but NBC and ABC have the most indispensable offerings: "Frasier" and "NYPD Blue," respectively.* "Nova: Secret of the Wild Child." (8-9 p.m., WMPT, Channel 22 and Channel 67) -- One secret regarding this "wild child," a 13-year-old girl cruelly isolated from almost all human contact until her rescue by social workers in 1970, is that the hundreds of hours of videotape detailing her rehabilitation were almost lost to deterioration caused by poor storage.

According to "CBS This Morning," today's the day the network will relay coverage of the first practice session attended by both Nancy Kerrigan and Tonya Harding. Each, no doubt, has thought long and hard about how, and if, to react to the other, and this non-event is sure to be broadcast as many times as any medal-winning performance. Can you say "media circus," boys and girls?* "The 1994 Winter Olympic Games" (8-11 p.m., WBAL, Channel 11) -- The onslaught begins in earnest: In addition to the events covered by CBS tonight, the network has scheduled a prime-time "women's figure skating preview."

Color it another slow night, the highlight of which is a rerun of a "Frasier" Christmas episode that already has earned "classic" status.* "Prelude to a Kiss" (8-10 p.m., Channel 45) -- The funniest thing about Fox's on-air promos regarding its "world TV premiere" of this 1992 drama -- and there were tons of promos during Fox's football games over the weekend -- is that it makes no mention at all of the seminal supernatural event behind this particular "Kiss." Instead, Fox has promoted it to its audience as your everyday Meg Ryan-Alec Baldwin romance movie -- which it certainly is not. Fox.* "Something Wilder" (8:30-9 p.m., Channel 2)

An audience of 25.4 million viewers tuned into NBC Thursday night for the finale of Frasier, according to preliminary overnight ratings from Nielsen Media Research. That means the long-running sitcom starring Kelsey Grammer as Dr. Frasier Crane drew only about half the audience that tuned into NBC May 6 for the end of Friends (52 million). While 25.4 million is a fairly large audience, it is certainly not one for the record books. The finale of M*A*S*H on CBS was seen in 1983 by 105 million viewers - the largest audience for a final episode in network history.

Yesterday, we had the first new TV series of 1995. Tonight we have the year's third new telemovie (the networks unveiled the first two Sunday), as well as new episodes of "Frasier" and "NYPD Blue."* "Wings" (8-8:30 p.m., Channel 11) -- For some reason, perhaps that of its affable leads, this series manages to get renewed, even though what it brings to the table is somewhat meager. Tonight, though, should be worth a look: Valerie Mahaffey of "The Powers That Be" is a guest star, for the second time, as a somewhat unstable woman with a crush on Joe (Tim Daly)

"Frasier" vs. "Roseanne" at 9 p.m. Tuesdays? It's prime-time's most hotly contested fall matchup -- but it might not happen. ABC appears ready to blink, by switching "Roseanne" out of its current 9 p.m. Tuesday slot and into the 9 p.m. Wednesday slot currently occupied by "Home Improvement," Advertising Age reports this week.The switch has been rumored ever since NBC challenged the six-year-old megahit "Roseanne" last spring by moving "Frasier," the Kelsey Grammer hit comedy, from Thursday nights to Tuesdays.

On Thursday, July 29, 2004, PATRICK JAMES, beloved husband of the late Sylvia Howell, devoted father of Patricia Frasier and Roberta Douglass, loving grandfather of Stephanie Frasier, Cynthia Frasier, Philip Douglass, and Margaret Douglass. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to Augsburg Lutheran Home, 6811 Campfield Rd., Baltimore, MD 21207. Arrangements by Loring Byers Funeral Directors, Inc.

An audience of 25.4 million viewers tuned into NBC Thursday night for the finale of Frasier, according to preliminary overnight ratings from Nielsen Media Research. That means the long-running sitcom starring Kelsey Grammer as Dr. Frasier Crane drew only about half the audience that tuned into NBC May 6 for the end of Friends (52 million). While 25.4 million is a fairly large audience, it is certainly not one for the record books. The finale of M*A*S*H on CBS was seen in 1983 by 105 million viewers - the largest audience for a final episode in network history.

After 11 years, NBC's Frasier ended its acclaimed run last night with Dr. Frasier Crane (Kelsey Grammer) quoting Tennyson to his Seattle radio audience and then flying off to Chicago in pursuit of a woman named Charlotte (Laura Linney) whom he had met just three weeks ago. Along the way were a birth, a wedding, low farce and some of the most highly intelligent sitcom writing prime time network television is ever likely to see. Final episodes of long-running series are almost impossible to craft, and this one had its flaws.

THERE ARE DAYS, most everybody has them, when the best way to smooth the rough edges before bedtime is with a little bit of comfort television. No news. No investigative reports. No athletic competition. No violence. No corporate cutthroatedness. And absolutely no half-clad pseudo-survivalists eating bugs. We yearn in these moments for something funny, something friendly, something familiar, maybe a little heart-warming and not so complicated it can't serve as background for reading mail or checking homework.

With "undercover footage" from Iraq in Uncle Saddam, French filmmaker Joel Soler offers a portrait of Saddam Hussein that is billed as "surreal, uniquely intimate and darkly humorous." But current events could have a lot to do with whether anyone is ready to laugh. The film airs tonight at 7 on Cinemax. At a glance Direct Connection (7:30 p.m.-8 p.m., MPT, Channels 22 and 67) - Joe Jones, president and CEO of the Center for Fathers, Family and Workforce, is a guest, discussing elder care.

Here are last week's top TV shows, according to A. C. Nielsen Co. figures: ........................................ ....................................................................Rating 1 ER...................................... ........................................ NBC.... 20.1 2 Friends................................. .................................... NBC.... 18.7 3 Law & Order................................... ..........................NBC.....14.5 4 West Wing......

The most important thing to know about the new NBC sitcom "Frasier" is that it airs at 9:30 Thursday nights right after "Seinfeld." If the "Cheers" spinoff can't make it there, it can't make it anywhere on the NBC schedule."

Only Sam Malone could get away with describing his fiancee by saying, "Oh, yeah, you know, she's a terrific person. She's smart. She's funny. She's horny. She's just the kind of chick you'd want to stick up on a pedestal."Oh yeah, Ted Danson's Sammy Boy has still got it. "It" being that pre-feminism, big-guy, retro sensibility, which leaves him stuck somewhere on the male evolutionary time line between the end of the Rat Pack era and the days of Joe Namath as jockdom's swinging sex symbol.

The Baltimore Zoo plans to put on a new face this weekend, wart hogs and all. Tomorrow, zoo officials are slated to unveil a new wart hog exhibit for the first time in nearly 50 years. Brother wart hogs Frasier and Niles will make themselves at home under the trees and in the dry riverbed near the antelopes and gazelles. Far from their natural home south of the Sahara Desert, they'll be on display with a white baby camel named Lucky, born at the zoo May 2. Since the wart hogs arrived last month, horticulture and maintenance workers have been building a lush 1-acre habitat to resemble an African jungle.

NBC, which appears headed for a third-place finish this season, is nevertheless sticking with its long-time formula -- a lineup dominated by familiar faces in sophisticated sitcoms. When the Peacock announces its fall schedule on Monday, it will feature four new comedies starring Michael Richards ("Seinfeld"), Katey Sagal ("Married ... With Children"), Steven Weber ("Wings"), Delta Burke ("Designing Women") and David Alan Grier. By the end of next week, all six networks will have announced their fall schedules, and started selling advertising time for the 2000-2001 season.