Living Color

Dagny Corcoran's house, as designed by Gregory Evans ("Living Color," by Barbara Thornburg, Jan. 7), reminded me of the old saying, "Paint the cell red and drive the prisoner mad." Although I admire Evans' bold statement, I see interior design in the 1990s as more restrained and introspective, in response to a new respect for human rights stimulated by the events taking place in Eastern Europe. Contrary to Evans' design, the interior spatial experience would be "progression" rather than "inundation."

Up in the northwest forest where Washington, Idaho and British Columbia converge, there's a lazy little international border crossing called Nelway, about the size of a gas station. "Where are you headed?" a Canadian border patrol agent asked when my family rolled up a few months ago, heading north from Washington. "Nelson," I told him as he began his search of our car. "It's OK," said the officer, unenthusiastically. "Kinda hippie-ish. Very laid-back. " Not a problem, sir. The town of Nelson, semi-Victorian, substantially bohemian, sportier and more artsy than your average hamlet of 9,700 souls, sits in the Selkirk Mountains of British Columbia, about 30 miles north of the U.S. border.

Budapest, Hungary As I puzzled over a sign with too many letters I didn't recognize, a soft voice with a strange accent said, "I think I can help you." I was in the Rudas baths, a 16th century Turkish-style building by the Danube River, and I was one confused American behind the Iron Curtain. That voice belonged to Mr. Imre, whose first name I never learned. But I did find out that he had long before emigrated from his native Hungary to Canada and was back for a family visit that fall of 1984.

If government scientists haven't come through with solutions to the planet's environmental ills, not to worry. TV is on it. This summer, the government-relocated geniuses who comprise the fictional town of "Eureka" on the Sci Fi Channel will tackle issues such as global warming, solar energy and recycling. Season 2 will premiere Tuesday. Green issues have been sprouting up all over television in recent months.

It's midafternoon, and Keenen Ivory Wayans is in his office at Fox's Hollywood studios, frowning. A visitor with a 3 p.m. appointment has been waiting to speak to him for nearly an hour, but Wayans has other things on his mind, other phone calls to make. And other things to be steamed about. On the desk in front of him is a New York magazine that has just hit the stands. He is pictured on the cover with his sister Kim and his brothers Shawn and Damon, who all star with him on "In Living Color."

"In Living Color" is an embarrassing and inane program. It's full of racial stereotypes of the worst kind. Regina Brennan, Long Beach

Living Colour Sees Red Over 'Living Color': Hard rock group Living Colour has sued Fox Broadcasting Co. and its new "In Living Color" comedy show, claiming that the program stole the band's name and copyrighted logo. The suit seeks an injunction against Fox and producers of the show, plus unspecified damages. The show's creator, Keenen Ivory Wayans, has said the name was a take-off on the 1960s NBC peacock ad that told viewers the following program would be broadcast "in living color."

I found the show "In Living Color" to be amateurish, crude, racist and very offensive. The sexually suggestive scenes should not have been included at a time when children could normally be expected to watch TV. Tomas Eiser, Canoga Park

I found the show "In Living Color" to be amateurish, crude, racist and very offensive. The sexually suggestive scenes should not have been included at a time when children could normally be expected to watch TV. Tomas Eiser, Canoga Park

"In Living Color" is hilarious, and I'll watch it every week. But how could creator Keenen Ivory Wayans claim in the April 15 cover story that he doesn't watch TV? Every single skit was a spoof on TV! (Talk about "everybody has their own version of each other's shows.") I look forward to his "original" programming. D. W. Heller, Palms

It was perhaps foreseeable that a plan to lock some of Britain's most annoying personalities under the same roof would turn ugly. The defrocked beauty queen, the sniffy Bollywood movie star, the dimwit reality show veteran famous for wondering whether Cambridge was in London -- could it have turned into anything but a catfight? Hardly anybody, though, thought it would turn into an international incident.

THE extravaganza of color begins at the cobalt-blue front door festooned with abstract tiles and continues into the courtyard that pops with primary hues. Walk inside and the entry is white, white, white: floors, stairs, oversized paintings by the artists in residence. It's a bit like stepping out of the tropics into the Arctic. Except it's a townhouse on a promontory overlooking the Back Bay in Newport Beach.

Half the people trying to view Saturday's lunar eclipse will miss it because they'll forget to look up. Honest, says John Mosley, a Griffith Observatory astronomer who says the No. 1 piece of advice he gives is "remember to look up." If you don't forget, the rest is easy. Saturday's total lunar eclipse is the second and last of the year -- the first was in May. Another one won't appear here until next October. After that, those of us in the U.S. will have to wait until March 2007.

I was chagrined and dismayed by Angela Smith's comments (TV Times, May 2) about "In Living Color" (Fox). To me, the opening shots are symbolic and a statement of the fact that one of life's greatest gifts--humor--does indeed come in every color, and gives our hang-ups and hypocrisies a good airing. Anne Valentine, Glendale