SISKEL GIVES A THUMBS UP TO NBA STARS ON FILM

     TNT's "Inside the NBA" examined the growing relationship
between basketball and Hollywood, recalling past and present
appearances:  Julius Erving in "The Fish that Saved Pittsburgh";
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in "Forget Paris"; Larry Bird in "Celtic
Pride"; and Shaquille O'Neal and Anfernee Hardaway in "Blue
Chips."  TNT featured O'Neal's upcoming film, "Kazaam" from Buena
Vista Pictures, in which he plays a modern-day genie that
materializes not from a lamp but from a boom box.  Critic Gene
Siskel, on the star power of NBA players:  "These guys are
wonderful walking advertisements -- for about 200 hours of prime
time television.  Their whole schedule is an advertisement for
their picture.  They're likeable, they're media savvy, they're
sharp and they can open pictures.  Shaq opened 'Blue Chips' huge,
Michael (Jordan) is going to open 'Space Jam' huge.  That is the
definition of a great actor" (TNT, 3/26).