Things are popping all over the dial this week. Laura Palmer's killer is revealed (belatedly) on ABC's Twin Peaks. On NBC, Cheers celebrates its 200th episode with a retrospective. CBS's Wiseguy rolls out a new dark hunk, Steven Bauer. Sesame Street kicks off its 22nd season on PBS, focusing this year on race relations.
Still, what's most on my mind is a bizarre casting phenomenon that slapped me as I mused on the career of Patty Duke (her TV bioflick is reviewed below). This year you can see both Elinor (Get a Life) Donahue and Shelly (Coach) Fabares in prime time. Eons ago they played the bobby-soxer daughters on Father Knows Best and The Donna Reed Show, those archetypal Eisenhower-era sitcoms. It's as if a time capsule of '50s ingenues just opened up and out they spilled.
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