The New Shows

The World of Mr. Sweeney (Tues.-Fri. 7:30 p.m., NBCTV) stars Oldtime Cinemactor Charlie Ruggles as a small-town storekeeper who likes to chuckle out warm, homemade philosophical comments while his dowdy customers cluck around palpating tomatoes and cantaloupes. Happily, the 15-minute show steers clear of the heap-o'-livin' or Just Plain Bilge routine and stays easygoing and amusing. Item: Sweeney's young grandson, played by Glenn Walken, asks for a candy bar, then borrows a dime from Sweeney and rings it up on the cash register; this, says Sweeney, "keeps him honest."

Out on the Farm (Sun., 5 p.m., NBCTV) is an hour-long pseudo documentary that aims at illustrating to the city viewer the grandeurs of bucolic life. The first program was just sow-sow. It originated mostly "live" from the Wilbert Landmeier farm near Cloverdale, Ill., with Country Singer Eddy Arnold on hand to greet viewers and help show the folks around the place. The cameras ranged nearly everywhere: to the dairy barn to watch the milking; to the front yard, for a talk with Mother Landmeier and her healthy youngsters; to the barnyard, where Weatherman Clint Youle spoke of the crops and elements ("In Georgia and Virginia, the pecans are doing pretty well"); and too frequently to tireless Eddy Arnold, who will twang out a li'l song at the drop of a cornball. The chief trouble with the show, in fact, is that it is too city-slick; it needs more hay, less hey-hey.

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