March 8, 1987, Sunday, City Edition

St. Petersburg Times

Outlook not good for Arkin's 'Harry'

BYLINE: MARILYN BECK

SECTION: TV DIAL; Personalities; Pg. 11

LENGTH: 514 words

DATELINE: HOLLYWOOD

 

HOLLYWOOD - The future looks bleak for Alan Arkin's Harry. The    sitcom that debuted last Wednesday 
won't be around long, predicts    Arkin's co-star Tom Bray, "unless it pulls such significantly high    ratings 
that they - whoever they are - are willing to concede to Alan's    point of view."
 
    Actually, Bray knows who "they" are; they're the brass with whom    Arkin did battle throughout a series 
production that was, Bray says,    "extraordinarily stressful."
 
    Arkin, who is also Harry co-executive producer, stars as the    maverick head of a hospital supply room. 
The basic problem, says Bray    (former Riptide co-star) was that ABC wanted Arkin to play "a guy like    
Sergeant Bilko. He wanted a show with a lot of heart and didn't want    the name-calling kind of comedy."
 
    Bray reports that he and other members of the cast were so high on    Arkin's concept for a gentle 
comedy laced with realism that they worked    for less than their usual salaries to comply with the 
Touchstone    budget. Bray says, "It was exactly the kind of show I was looking for:    three-camera, regular 
hours, getting home in time to say goodnight to    my son. But what we made up in hours, we lost in stress."
 
    He says that, in the main, Arkin got his way. "I think what we    finally got was good, but it was tough 
getting there. People were at    cross purposes; there were a lot of writing problems. It was a tribute    to the 
production staff, the rest of the cast, director Bill Foster -    and Alan's genius - that Alan was able to make 
something out of it."
 
    Arkin isn't getting much of a chance to prove he's made something    special out of it. By the time the 
dust of battle had settled, ABC had    cut back its commitment on Harry from 13 segments to six.