The New Shows

Herb Shriner Time (Thurs. 9 p.m., ABC-TV) brings a latter-day and considerably less-than-life-size Will Rogers to the TV screen. Shriner, a transplanted Hoosier, has most of the master's mannerisms, from the errant lock of hair to the habit of quizzically scratching his ear. And he has some of Rogers' owlish humor. On the opening show, Shriner followed a comic monologue about an Indiana postmaster with a small-town skit that contained liberal borrowings from such poles-apart sources as Thornton Wilder's Our Town and Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard. Beneath all the imitative layers is a distinct and often funny Shriner personality, which shows to good advantage in his gentle ribbing of the sponsor's product, Arrow Shirts.

The Frank Sinatra Show (Tues. 8 p.m., CBS-TV), with the unenviable job of bucking the Milton Berle show, puts its major reliance on song. To the accompaniment of girlish squeals from the studio audience, Sinatra and his guests (Perry Como, Frankie Laine, the Andrews Sisters, Broderick Crawford) alternate their songs with rather painful comedy sketches. Though no longer in the best of voice, Sinatra keeps his 60-minute show moving, lends a hand with the commercials and engages each guest star in brief and occasionally entertaining badinage.

Keep Posted (Tues. 8:30 p.m., Du Mont) is also challenging Milton Berle, but with more adult fare than Sinatra. A 30-minute panel show intended to help televiewers "think clearly," Keep Posted is produced by two TV veterans, Lawrence Spivak and Martha Rountree (Meet the Press). The opening show, trying to decide "What's Next in China?", was something of a fizzle because of a last-minute cancellation by Henry Wallace, subpoenaed by a congressional committee intent on the same question.

Playhouse of Stars (Fri. 9 p.m., CBS-TV), another big-budget TV drama, concentrates on top Hollywood & Broadway names. So far, the star system has backfired: the talents of Helen Hayes and David Niven were wasted in a soggy romance called Not a Chance, while Cinemactor John Payne had only to tighten his jaw muscles menacingly as the Government agent in The Name Is Bellingham, a routine thriller about dope smugglers. But Bellingham was noteworthy for imaginative camerawork, some nice atmosphere touches, and the repeated scene-stealing of minor Actor Guy Thomajon as a devious Chinese businessman.

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