Prime-Time Primate

Twenty-year-old Willie B. is a diehard TV addict. He hates news and talk shows, but he loves football and gets so excited over food commercials that he sometimes charges at the set, waving a fist. Says a friend: "He's like a little child."

Willie B. is a 450-lb. gorilla at the Atlanta Zoo. In December a Tennessee TV dealer heard about Willie B.'s lonely life as the zoo's only gorilla and gave him a TV set. Then, last week, someone stole the set mounted outside the cage.

Zookeepers feared that Willie B. might lapse into a severe depression. But within a few days, the zoo received more than 50 offers of free TVs, as well as a surveillance system to keep Willie B.'s TV from ever being stolen again. The first replacement set to arrive, a 19-in. color model, was immediately installed in Willie B.'s cage. So, this Sunday, like millions of other fans, Willie B. will surely be jumping up and down in front of his TV, watching the Super Bowl.

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