Word: offbeats
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Dates: during 1990-1990
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...once again flocking to buy Gucci -- but it is Gucci with a modern twist. In addition to the subdued browns and blacks that were once Gucci's trademark, the new line of leather goods boasts a rainbow palette of splashy colors. Traditional suede moccasins ($265) come in a dozen offbeat shades, from bubble-gum pink to purple to bright orange. A new line of $500 knapsacks, aimed at a younger and hipper clientele, ranges from scarlet suede to bronze satin. And Gucci's spring line includes tiny bamboo-handle evening bags ($395 and $495) that are perfect for the trendiest...
...woman insisted that her daughter schedule her wedding around the event. Another loyal customer told her husband that his open-heart surgery would just have to wait. And what was the big occasion? Opening day of a sale at Tuesday Morning. The offbeat discount retailer, with stores in 52 cities, engenders a loyalty bordering on fanaticism among its customers. And that loyalty has fostered frantic growth. Since 1980, the Dallas-based discount chain (estimated 1990 sales: $110 million) has expanded from 35 outlets to 132 stores in 21 states, with profits climbing from $695,000 to a projected $5 million...
...main challenge for the networks, however, is to find ways of wooing back viewers who seem bored by the sameness of network programming. The success of such offbeat shows as The Simpsons and Twin Peaks early this year demonstrated that these viewers will perk up for formula-breaking fare. The result, say many TV producers, has been a rather confused quest for unusual shows. "The question is always, 'Why is this show different?' " says David Gerber, president of MGM/UA Television. "((Network programmers)) are worried that they might get a well-executed show but that it won't be different enough...
Though he makes rounds in hospitals including Babies Hospital, a unit of New York City's Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center, Stubs is clearly no ordinary doctor. To those who witness his offbeat bedside manner, Stubs' true trade is obvious. He's a clown, a founding member of the one-ring Big Apple Circus. But to Stubs, a.k.a. Michael Christensen, working with young hospital patients is serious business...
...single one ranks in the Nielsen Top 30. Is there a comedy glut? Or, more likely, are viewers simply recoiling against network packaging that has grown so boringly rote and predictable that all signs of life have drained out? If so, relief is at hand: increasingly offbeat shows are cropping up in out-of-the-way places on the dial. Some deserve their obscurity. Others might shrivel in the glare of too much mass-audience attention. But what they all share is an eccentric, homemade, try-anything quality...