`Music City Tonight' Series Premieres With Big Names

As today's rock and rap music continues to appeal less and less to grown-ups, country music's popularity continues to grow. And starting tonight, fans will have a new weeknightly show - a kind of country version of "The Tonight Show," only with an emphasis on music instead of comedy - to look forward to with the launch of the Nashville Network's new "Music City Tonight" series. The 90-minute show, to air at 6 o'clock, with a repeat at 10 o'clock, will be hosted by Lorianne Crook and Charlie Chase.

Alan Jackson and Pam Tillis will be performing live in the premiere tonight along with Garth Brooks, who will perform, via satellite, from Canada. Tomorrow night Tanya Tucker will be featured, along with Don Henley and Trisha Yearwood. Patty Loveless and Larry Stewart are booked for Thursday. "Music City Tonight" could become a nightly show as entertaining as the recent Country Music Association Awards, only without the bother of the awards.

One of the advantages of the series is that it will be a great chance for country stars to plug their new albums - and for viewers to learn about the newest releases. Tomorrow night, for instance, Tucker will be talking about her new album, "Soon," while Henley will be discussing "Common Thread: The Songs of the Eagles," a new album featuring 13 country artists, performing songs associated with the Eagles, and done as a benefit for Walden Woods.

Another great showcase for country performers is the

entertaining new syndicated series, "Countdown at the Neon Armadillo," which airs at 9 p.m. Mondays on KSTW-TV. It's a slick entertaining hour, a country music cross between "Your Hit Parade" and "Solid Gold," with a mixture of live performances, music videos, dancing and the list of the top 1O country songs of the week.

Each week there is usually a segment that focuses on a particular songwriter; tonight's pairs Billy Dean with David Gates, former lead singer with Bread. They do nostalgic versions of some of Bread's better-known hits.

Incidentally, if you've yet to see Yearwood's terrific showcase special on The Disney Channel, "The Song Remembers When," it will be repeated Saturday and Nov. 1, 12, 18 and 21.

LONG AGO

Once upon a time, believe it or not, the Big Three networks used to do important, relevant documentaries. Now they're content to do their itsy-bitsy TV magazine shows, with the emphasis on sex and showbiz.

For thought-provoking documentaries, the intelligent viewer needs to look elsewhere, like HBO, in its "Undercover" series, which will repeat the powerful "I Am a Promise" look at education tomorrow at 12:30 and 9:45 p.m., or to PBS' long-running "Frontline" series or the Discovery Channel's new "Cronkite Reports" (CBS having decided Walter Cronkite no longer fits its image).

"Frontline" airs "Prisoners of Silence" at 9 p.m. tomorrow on KCTS-TV, an intriguing look at a controversial communication technique that was heralded as a breakthrough for victims of autism. But in the best "Frontline" tradition, this report offers evidence it was a mixed blessing at best. It's a first-rate report by Jon Palfreman.

Tonight at 8 and 11, Discovery's "The Cronkite Report" examines "The Faltering Dream" in which the host explores, with his usual perceptiveness, the concept of self-segregation which appears to be a phenomenon that has occurred among African-American college students and middle class, rather than the integration once hoped for by the Rev. Martin Luther King. It's a thoughtful and provocative report.

Meanwhile, CBS' Connie Chung, at 10 tonight on KIRO-TV, is going to profile a fitness guru. Way to go, CBS!

VIDEO NOTES

Nickelodeon has Linda Ellerbee hosting a "Nick News Special Edition" about kids and their views on TV violence at 8 tonight. . . . Jane Pauley hosts a PBS special, "The Breast Care Test" at 10:30 tonight on KCTS-TV . . . HBO repeats that entertaining special, "Tracey Ullman Takes on New York," at 10 tonight . . . Fox has a new TV movie, "Jersey Girl," starring Jami Gertz and unavailable for previewing, at 8 tonight on KCPQ-TV . . . KCTS-TV shows the last half of that discerning BBC dissection of the world of fashion, "The Look," at 9 tonight.

John Voorhees' column appears Sunday, Monday and Thursday in The Times.