A prep course for the month-long World Cup soccer tournament, a worldwide pheno

al . There are numerous recurring characters , such as the mean Neighbor Lady wh

o keeps all the Frisbees and balls that land in her yard , and Where 's Walnut ,

 a weird guy in a red-and-white-striped shirt who poses conspicuously in tableau

x and asks the audience to find him , and the Principal , who sounds like George

 Bush and whose head is always covered by a loudspeaker . Few pop-culture figure

s escape the vicious attack of the youthful `` Roundhouse '' writers not `` Vann

a Very Very White '' ; not Michael Bolton ( whose hair is sold for dish scrubber

s ) ; not `` Sylvester Shalom '' with a hanger in his jacket , `` coming soon ou

t of a coat closet near you . '' There 's `` Dr. Seuss , M.D. , '' who talks onl

y in rhymes : `` Open your mouth and say ah/ Raise your arm and say ha-ha-ha . '

' And the `` Pointless Sisters , '' who are about to quit . `` We push the envel

ope right out there without going too far , '' said Buddy Sheffield , 44 , who c

reated the show with his ex-wife , Rita , 47 . `` Kids today know so much more t

han we think they do . '' Don't expect great , profound thinking here . Like muc

h of modern life , this show is fast , over almost before you know it , relying 

on an in-group familiarity with the characters and the shortcut vocabulary of te

levision culture . Each half-hour episode , with an original script and music , 

plus fresh dances , is produced in one frantic week and played live before the a

udience on Friday night . Tomorrow the show will be broadcast live without a net

 to kick off the summer season . It 's kind of like vaudeville in Doc Martens . 

A roundhouse , explains Rita Sheffield , is where trains come in and `` go anywh

ere from . '' The first read-through of the script is on Monday afternoon . Seat

ed at tables in a double-wide trailer next to the theater , the cast of 15 , who

 range in age from 17-year-old Natasha Pearce to 32-year-old John Crane , flies 

through the script with deliberate nonchalance . There are 33 `` items , '' or b

its , in this 26-minute script , ranging from plot moments ( `` Our kid hates sc

hool '' ) to commercial parodies ( `` Hooked on Moronics '' ) . After a few run-

throughs they break for lunch in late afternoon , most of them turning to the ta

ble of fruit and packaged goodies in the rehearsal room . `` They used to have a

ll low-fat , healthy stuff here , '' said cast member Shawn Daywalt . `` We had 

to put a stop to that . '' Meanwhile , three teams of writers are laboring in a 

nearby office on future scripts , meeting occasionally at a long table supplied 

with Gummi Bears and Tums to audition their ideas for Buddy Sheffield , who laug

hs appreciatively at many of them . And then cuts most . The show is done on wha

t in television passes for a shoestring , reportedly around $ 300,000 per half-h

our episode . ( Nickelodeon willn't say what the show 's budget is , or what its

 Nielsen ratings are , and had a press representative sit in on every interview 

. ) The low budget influenced the show 's creatively minimalist style there are 

no costume changes , the set pieces are movable and made of found objects , and 

when the actors break into a commercial parody they hold up a cardboard rectangl

e to represent a TV . ( That is unless the commercial has been turned into a maj

or bit , such as a recent skit about `` Tried-it , the pre-chewed gum collected 

by janitors across the country , '' or a sun tanning lotion called `` Toxzema , 

which contains actual material found at the beach cigarette butts , raw sewage a

nd contaminated syringes . Give your skin that burnt blistery look the girls lov

e . '' Alfred Carr Jr. , one of the cast 's two black members , then gave a test

imonial : `` I used to be a white guy until Toxzema gave me a major dose of sun 

poisoning ! '' ) Although the Sheffields are divorced , they seem to work well t

ogether , and the team now includes Rita 's husband , Benny Hester . All three a

re listed as executive producers , but the division of labor is that Buddy is in

 charge of the scripts , Benny is in charge of music , and Rita does most of the

 directing . Benny and Buddy won a CableACE Award for the song `` I Can Dream . 

'' `` We 've all raised kids , so we know what they 're like , '' said Rita Shef

field . `` Especially the teen-age years . By the time they are 20 you 've loose

ned up a lot . '' The show is so fast it 's easy to miss something ; by the time

 you realize it , there 's something else center stage . The skits are never lon

ger than two minutes because `` a kid 's attention span is much shorter , '' sai

d Buddy Sheffield , who also wrote for the Fox show `` In Living Color . '' `` Y

ou don't give 'em a chance to get bored . ''

 WASHINGTON In yet another blow to the perks of office , senators and their seni

or staffers were notified this week that they no longer are entitled to free ass

igned parking in underground garages unless they are willing to pay taxes on it 

. Underground parking at the Russell , Dirksen and Hart Senate office buildings 

will remain tax free for those willing to hunt for an open parking space . But s

enators and their aides who insist on reserved parking will be socked with addit

ional income taxes on the imputed value of that space , based on new Internal Re

venue Service regulations governing employer-provided parking . `` I doubt there

 will be very many who will require reserved space , '' said James O . King , st

aff director of the Senate Committee onRules and Administration , which issued t

he notice May 25 . The new rules became effective on Wednesday . `` But that 's 

speculative . It might not be a choice spot , but there will be parking spaces a

vailable ( for members and staff ) if you drive around long enough . '' The new 

tax regulations , which also apply to House members and their staffers , have ge

nerated little grumbling on Capitol Hill so far , and for good reason . It was C

ongress , after all , that approved a little-noticed amendment to the 1992 Energ

y Policy Act requiring workers who receive free or subsidized parking from their

 employees to pay income taxes on the value above $ 155 a month . Rep. Robert T.

 Matsui , D-Calif. , drafted the amendment to raise revenue to offset the cost o

f tax credits for employers who offer employees mass transit vouchers . A spokes

man for Matsui said that his office has received a number of `` queries '' about

 the parking provision but no complaints . At the time the legislation was appro

ved , some assumed that the parking-tax provision would apply primarily to well-

paid corporate executives working in urban centers . But IRS regulations circula

ted early this year indicated that the free , reserved underground spaces provid

ed to members of Congress and their aides , were worth far more than $ 155 a mon

th and were subject to taxation . A recent survey conducted by the accounting fi

rm of Ernst & Young for the Architect of the Capitol showed that parking in the 

congressional office buildings has a fair market value of $ 290 a month . Techni

cally , those continuing to receive free reserved underground space on Capitol H

ill would be subject to taxes on $ 135 a month ( $ 290 minus $ 155 ) or $ 1,620 

a year . Those in the 36 percent tax bracket would have to pay an additional $ 5

83 a year in taxes . However , executives at the IRS who were also subject to th

e tax recently found a way to mostly sidestep the new law and save themselves hu

ndreds of dollars annually , according to news reports . The IRS officials disco

vered that a monthly permit at nearby commercial lots that guaranteed a space ev

ery day but not a particular space cost only $ 178 a month . Assessing IRS parki

ng that way would mean that officials who didn't insist upon a particular space 

would have to pay tax on only $ 23 a month the difference between the $ 178 fair

 market value of the space and the $ 155 threshold in the law . Now the Senate i

s following the IRS 's lead , ruling that members and staff who agree to hunt fo

r a parking space in the underground garages are not subject to additional taxes

 because the cost of comparable unassigned parking nearby is less than $ 155 a m

onth .

 WASHINGTON As the acting chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee , Rep. 

Sam Gibbons , D-Fla. , has big shoes to fill . He also has some catching up to d

o to match the prowess of Rep. Dan Rostenkowski , D-Ill. , at filling campaign c

offers . Membership on the tax-writing committee long has been a magnet for camp

aign donations , especially from corporate America , where small changes in the 

federal tax code can greatly affect a firm 's bottom line . As one veteran commi

ttee member remarked : `` I just send out the invitations ( to fund-raising even

ts ) and the money pours in . '' Rostenkowski , who turned over the chairmanship

 to Gibbons under House Democrats ' rules , raised and spent $ 1.5 million in th

e 1992 election , and spent $ 1.8 million more to win a contested primary electi

on in March and pay legal fees in connection with the investigation that led to 

his indictment on corruption charges this week , according to Federal Election C

ommission records . He still had more than $ 1 million in the bank as of March 3

0 . Gibbons , who has been chairman of the trade subcommittee , spent $ 960,000 

in the 1992 election to win 53 percent of the vote over an opponent who spent ab

out $ 50,000 . Gibbons had $ 41,000 in the bank after the close call . In the 15

 months ended March 30 , he raised $ 490,000 and had $ 166,000 left in cash . Gi

bbons has raised money from many of the same sources and in the same proportion 

as Rostenkowski , according to Josh Goldstein , of the Center for Responsive Pol

itics , who analyzed Congress 's 1992 fund-raising habits for a forthcoming book

 . Gibbons and Rostenkowski raised about 60 percent of their money from politica

l action committees ( PACs ) , the most visible source of special interest money

 . Each raised his largest chunk of money from financial circles , including ban

ks , insurance and securities firms . Goldstein noted that Gibbons ranked 23rd a

mong House members in receipts from health and insurance businesses with the big

gest stake in health care reform . Rostenkowski ranked second . Goldstein added 

that the health care industry was still a major source of funding for the new ch

airman . The only sector in which Gibbons outraised Rostenkowski in the 1991-92 

election cycle was among donors identifying themselves as lawyers or lobbyists ,

 the center 's analysis found . Gibbons 's son , Clifford , is a lobbyist , alth

ough he is not listed as giving to his father or anyone else in the 1992 cycle .

 He does raise money for his father 's campaigns , according to news accounts , 

and has taken a client the president of Mutual Life Insurance Co. to meet his fa

ther in the House dining room . `` That takes to an extreme level the incestuous

 relationship that exists between lobbyists and members of Congress that we see 

all the time in Washington , '' Goldstein said . Gibbons spokesman Rich Davis sa

id the congressman and his son `` have a strict understanding . Son will not lob

by father and father will not ask son about his clients , nor will he discuss bu

siness before the Ways and Means Committee with his son . ''

 WASHINGTON Thegrown-ups leave the press conference looking like kids , carrying

 big cardboard `` toolboxes '' bigger than lunch boxes . In a landscape littered

 with fashionable new literacies , they 've been pitched yet another : `` media 

literacy , '' a set of skills for intelligent handling of one 's relationship wi

th TV . The curriculum for kids , dubbed `` Master Control , '' is a refreshing 

break from mostly circular discussions about violence on TV and how to control i

t . The favored current approach , especially by Congress , seems to be to jawbo

ne the networks to change their ways and , every so often , make dark allusions 

to the possibility of censorship the rhetorical equivalent of my father 's once-

habitual `` Turn that thing off , kids , or I 'll throw it out the window . '' C

ontinental Cablevision , the cable company that 's launching the toolbox , has a

n obvious interest in refocusing the discussion on how parents can influence the

ir kids ' experience of TV from the kids ' end . Of course , teaching consumers 

to resist your own prime product is a double-edged task . The campaign 's tag li

ne betrays that tug-of-war : `` Learn how kids can control the impact of TV and 

enjoy it more than ever ! '' But what they say makes sense . Producers and broad

casters of violent programming , no matter how educationally minded , no matter 

how leaned upon by Congress , no matter how spattered by public-opinion spitball

s , still are driven by a nearer and more urgent set of incentives to sell their

 products . Most consumer attempts to influence TV content directly are manifest

ly ineffective . Boycotts , though popular , are clumsy , indirect and slow . Th

e occasional family `` takes the pledge '' to manage without TV altogether or st

arts a campaign to encourage others to do so ; this is especially popular among 

the home-schoolers ' and evangelical movements . But no one really expects socie

ty to back away from TV altogether . How much better to give kids a cultural vac

cination by teaching them how to approach their TV viewing intelligently , parse

 what they watch for bias and decide actively what 's worth watching . The liter

acy `` toolbox '' is basically a kit for running school or family workshops , ac

companied , of course , by videotapes ; the theme is that `` media are not windo

ws on the world , media are not mirrors of society , but carefully manufactured 

products . '' The exercises expand on the notion . `` TV has a point of view . C

hallenge it . TV isn't real life . Spot the illusions . TV manipulates . Identif

y its techniques and your reactions . TV is limited . Guess what was left out . 

TV is a business . Understand your economic role-and power-as a viewer . '' That

 last point contains , if subtly , the most explosive concept in the package : t

he notion that the viewer who doesn't like the answers to the questions can alwa

ys turn the TV off . `` The on-off switch is the number one product control devi

ce , '' says Continental Cablevision executive Henry James , `` and every TV has

 one . '' The opening workshop sequence on TV news coverage , which takes the L.

A. riots/Rodney King coverage as its specimen for dissection , ends with the big

 question : `` Did parents consider the option of turning off the television whe

n the events were being covered ? '' Not surprisingly , this concept is otherwis

e handled in gingerly fashion . Most of the exercises use a measure of indirecti

on , not just because , as James says , `` We believe there 's a lot of good stu

ff on TV , '' but also because it 's more effective psychologically to let kids 

figure out by themselves that they may be watching too much . In one game , kids

 guess how much the family watches in a week and then check the estimate ( invar

iably it 's low ) by keeping a notebook . Another is intended to illustrate the 

limits inherent in the standard evening-news version of any event : `` Think of 

something that happened to you today or yesterday . Something significant . Some

thing you want to tell your family . Try to explain it in 90 seconds ( the avera

ge length of a TV news item , according to the package ) . Can you do it ? What 

parts of the story might you decide to leave out if you only have 90 seconds ? '

' The target isn't TV news per se but the tendency `` to watch TV , not TV progr

ams , '' passively sitting in front of whatever 's on . And yet this is exactly 

the tendency on which networks depend , the one programming decisions are calcul

ated to create . To many sponsors , any mention of the on-off switch is anathema

 . The resistance comes through also in the words of David Kleeman , director of

 the American Center for Children 's Television sponsor of the children 's telev

ision `` Ollie '' awards who is hoping Congress will grant , and the networks wi

ll agree to , an antitrust exemption so that networks can work together on devel

oping the `` children 's educational programming '' mandated by a 1990 act . Kle

eman recently mapped out a vision of the future if this exemption were granted :

 Ideally , networks would agree not to compete directly for the same hour , but 

instead to spread their children 's programming throughout the day , thus avoidi

ng a `` roadblock '' a time when adults would have nothing to watch and might wa

nder off . If segments could be shorter than the standard half-hour , `` a faile

d experiment wouldn't ruin the entire schedule '' kids wouldn't turn off the set

 even if they got bored . Promotion departments would `` pitch the children 's h

ours as too unpredictable to miss even a single day , '' and kids would `` quick

ly make them ` appointment viewing. ' ' ' Children , Kleeman says , `` could ben

efit from all the programs and not have to choose among them , providing kids wi

th a lineup that ran straight from the end of school to dinner time . '' Great .

 Not exactly what you 'd hope if the aim is to `` evolve a practical definition 

of ` quality ' children 's programming , '' as the group states . But it does su

ggest that network self-regulation no less than congressional ham-handedness off

ers limitations . When it comes to the viewer and the off switch , the stuff in 

the toolbox sounds a lot more promising .

 WASHINGTON Cynical reporters generally act like blood-sniffing sharks when a me

mber of Congress is indicted . But much of the coverage of Rep. Dan Rostenkowski

 , who has known some Washington journalists for 35 years , has been strikingly 

sympathetic . As a federal grand jury charged the Chicago Democrat this week wit

h defrauding the taxpayers of more than $ 500,000 , a number of reporters and pu

ndits portrayed the 17-count indictment as a Beltway tragedy . `` Anybody who th

inks that what Rostenkowski did deserves a prison sentence , I think they 've go

t a distortion of reality , '' Robert Novak said on CNN 's `` Capital Gang . '' 

Washington Post columnist David Broder called the charges `` a source of genuine

 sadness , '' writing that `` Rosty is a warrior , someone who is willing to tak

e on tough fights . '' `` The idea that we 're even considering sending someone 

to prison for ( no-show employees ) strikes me as kind of a bizarre perversion o

f the judicial process , it 's so widespread , '' Chicago Tribune columnist Jon 

Margolis said on `` Washington Week in Review . '' The obvious affection for the

 longtime House Ways and Means Committee chairman contrasts with the generally n

egative coverage that surrounded the resignation of former House speaker Jim Wri

ght , the sexual harassment allegations against Sen. Bob Packwood and the recent

 indictment of Sen. Dave Durenberger . Had another lawmaker been charged with em

bezzling cash for House postage stamps and hiring `` ghost employees '' who mowe

d his lawn and picked up his laundry , the press probably would have pilloried h

im as a symbol of congressional corruption . James Warren , the Tribune 's Washi

ngton bureau chief , said that while the congressman deserves the presumption of

 innocence , `` I find preposterous the notion of Rostenkowski as a victim of ch

anging political and ethical mores . If what the indictment alleges is true , es

pecially about ghost payrollers , jury tampering and other chiseling of federal 

funds .. . a lot of this is old-fashioned illegality . '' Yet Warren 's own pape

r , in a front-page story , described the indictment as `` new politics taking s

harp aim at the old ways . '' And the Tribune 's Margolis has called Rostenkowsk

i a `` giant '' being `` toppled by pygmies . '' Some journalists acknowledge th

at personal relationships can color their perceptions . Broder , a Chicago nativ

e , said he feels `` a common bond '' with Rostenkowski because they have often 

chewed over Illinois and congressional politics . `` I have a real bias on this 

one , '' Broder said . `` I would hate to see Rosty end up in jail . My sympathi

es are entirely with Rosty . '' Said Margolis : `` I concede that I kind of like

 him. .. . It still makes no sense to me that this guy would steal money in smal

l amounts . '' Cokie Roberts said on National Public Radio that `` by way of ful

l disclosure , I 've known Dan Rostenkowski for more than 30 years and consider 

him a friend , so I am not completely impartial about this , but I think that ev

en people who don't feel that way about him can say that this is a sad end to wh

at has been a noted political career . '' Roberts said in an interview that `` I

 just thought that was appropriate to say ; otherwise I 'd be criticized for not

 saying it . Even though he 's gruff and bluff , he 's a likable sort of guy . '

' Novak , for one , says the press has treated Rostenkowski gently because `` he

 's for all the things all the reporters are for big government , health care , 

redistribution of income . '' As for the indictment , Novak said : `` That 's th

e trouble with the country we live in a federal prosecutor makes a charge and ev

eryone thinks he 's guilty . '' Some South Florida hotels are pulling the plug o

n the Fox station in Miami , saying its heavy diet of crime stories is scaring t

heir guests . WSVN-TV helped popularize a tabloid news format that relies on sen

sational headlines , slow-motion footage , dramatic music and such features as `

` Crime Check '' and `` Most Wanted . '' But the formula has proved too lurid fo

r some area hotels , which are blocking WSVN from their cable systems . Victor F

arkas , who has shut off WSVN at his Thunderbird and Chateau by the Sea hotels ,

 told the Miami Herald that the station is `` doing an injustice to local reside

nts and especially to tourists . They look at Channel 7 and they 're afraid to g