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Boston Globe (02/May/1985) - NBC announces new lineup

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NBC announces new lineup

Alfred Hitchcock will be back, but Tony Orlando won't. NBC announced its schedule yesterday — a day early because it had been leaked to USA Today.

It will include the return of "Alfred Hitchcock Presents," with a reworking of stories from the '50s and '60s. NBC will also include the original introductions by the late director with color added by computer. A preview of the program airs this Sunday.

The biggest surprise of the schedule is what's not on it — a planned spinoff of "The Cosby Show," starring Tony Orlando. NBC spokesman Kurt Block said, "The pilot simply wasn't as strong as some of the other things we had and it was beaten out." (An introduction to the Orlando character is on tonight's "Cosby" at 8 p.m. on Ch. 10 and 10:30 on Ch. 4.)

NBC also announced a timetable for its news magazine program, with Roger Mudd and Connie Chung as cohosts. It will begin production in June, air once a month from August through December and once a week beginning in January. No time has been determined.

In all, the network will add only four hours of programming, the fewest in 15 years. "Hitchcock" will join another anthology series, Steven Spielberg's "Amazing Stories" from 8 to 9 on Sunday nights, opposite CBS' extremely successful, "Murder, She Wrote."

Based on the strong showing of the TV movie against "Dynasty" recently, Robert Blake will be back starring in "Hell Town" and will remain in the 9 p.m. spot on Wednesdays, opposite "Dynasty."

Also on the schedule is a superheroes' adventure series, "Misfits of Science" and two situation comedies, "The Golden Girls" and "227." Gone are "Diff'rent Strokes," "Sara," "Double Trouble," "Under One Roof," "Code Name: Foxfire," "Half-Nelson," and "The Best Times."

Block added that the Charles brothers' ("Cheers") new series, "All Is Forgiven," was a victim of the writers' strike and is now scheduled as a midseason replacement.