Syndie 'Evert' trips; 'Trek: TNG' flies

By JIM BENSON

Tennis star Chris Evert double-faulted in her first of four quarterly celebrity interview spex, but most syndie shows -- even those finishing out of the top 10 -- improved their barter-ranking performances during the week ended June 27.

Many had been watching to see how Worldvision Enterprises' "The Chris Evert Special" would match up against the competition, but the hour show only managed to net a 1.8 rating. It was cleared on 78 stations covering 89% of the country.

Elsewhere, King World's weekend version of the No. 1-rated strip "Wheel of Fortune" took a crazy bounce. Preemptions lowered its coverage level by 13% from the previous week, sending the weekly gameshow's ratings plummeting 38% to 4.0.

Paramount's "Star Trek: The Next Generation" served up an unworldly 30% gain from the previous week, with the weekly series rising to 11.6 from 8.9.

Also driving the baseline well was Columbia's "Married ... With Children," which sliced up an 8% gain to 6.6.

Col's other off-net sitcom, "Designing Women," aced its way into the top 10 for the first time this year, scoring a 9% gain as it rose to 5.8 from 5.3.

The designers' volley knocked Twentieth TV's "A Current Affair" out of the top-10 court, with the newsmag dipping one-tenth to 5.7 and tying its all-time low mark set two weeks earlier.

Two of the three other newsmags were soft, with Par's "Entertainment Tonight" lobbing a 6.5 (down 4% from the previous week) and KW's "Inside Edition" backhanding its way to a 6.1 (down 3%). Par's "Hard Copy" managed to stroke a 6% weekly gain to 5.0.

A number of talkshow players looked sharp. KW's "Oprah" (9.2), Multimedia's "Sally Jessy Raphael" (5.7) and "Donahue" (4.9), Tribune's "Geraldo" (4.5), Buena Vista TV's "Live With Regis & Kathie Lee" (4.2), Multimedia's "Jerry Springer" (2.0), Trib's "Joan Rivers" (1.7) and Warner Bros.' "Jane Whitney" (1. 6) all posted increases during the week.

Losers included Par's "Maury Povich" (down 5% to 3.9), Viacom's "Montel Williams" (off 3% to 2.9), Group W's "Vicki!" (dropping 8% to 2.3) and WB's "Jenny Jones" (slipping 4% to 2.3).

On the weekly syndie circuit, Par's "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" dipped 1% to a 8.8 while its "Untouchables" companion decreased 6% to 4.8. All-American TV's "Baywatch" dropped a notch to 5.3 and WB's "Kung Fu: The Legend Continues" volleyed for an 11% gain to 5.0.

It was advantage "Time Trax," with the WB show adding 4% to a 4.7. Rysher/TPE's "Highlander" stroked a 13% increase to 4.5 and Cannell Distribution's "Renegade" hit an outright winner with an 11% jump to a 4.2.