PBS (Wed., Aug. 17, 8 p.m. ET)
B
Angels are enjoying quite a renaissance, being celebrated in song, stage and screen. In most hip bookstores they've got their own section. Small wonder. It is estimated that nearly 70 percent of the American public believes in these celestial beings.
The point of this special, narrated by Debra Winger, is to argue that they've always been with us. The program ponders the ways that angels have been depicted and comprehended through the ages in religion and art. The first half hour glibly focuses on modern pop culture, so there are lots of film clips (a surprising number of them featuring James Mason) and even rock videos (e.g., R.E.M.'s "Losing My Religion"). Things take a turn for the metaphysical in the slower second half.
Thanks to a remarkable stream of paintings and statues of seraphim, cherubim and archangels, the special is never less than lovely to look upon.
PBS (Fri, Aug. 19, 11 p.m. ET)
A-
The subtitle is rather misleading, making The Who appear to be one of those fatuous soul bands that drift out of northern Britain every few years. Instead, as almost everyone knows, the London quartet was one of the four great rock bands to spearhead the British Invasion of the '60s. What they brought to the bacchanal, more so than the Beatles, the Kinks or even the Rolling Stones, was a nascent but nasty punk influence. (The band's signature—destroying their instruments—was also a pretty effective way to get out of doing encores.) And as proved by the wonderful footage in this appreciation (much of it previously unseen), The Who was the best of the bunch at playing live—at least until the death by overdose in 1978 of its ferocious drummer Keith Moon. (The band hasn't toured since 1989, although singer Roger Daltrey, along with bass player John Entwistle, is currently on the road with a tribute to the music of Pete Townshend and The Who.)
Woven throughout the program are kudos from fellow musicians Keith Richards, Bryan Adams and Chris Barron of the Spin Doctors. More interesting are the candid, articulate reflections of Townshend, the band's dominant personality. But at the heart of this special, a PBS pledge event, are the performance capsules, from "So Sad About Us" at the Marquee Club in London in 1967, with the band all decked out in formal Mod garb, to "Love Reign O'er Me" at New York's Shea Stadium in 1982.
Showtime (Sun., Aug. 21, 8p.m. ET)
B+
In this daffy double-header, Julie Brown spoofs two of last year's tabloid inamoratas. First, in an utterly unruly farce, she plays Tonya Hardly. The chain-smoking, asthma-atomizer-sucking, overweight skater is consumed with jealously for her competitor Nancy Cardigan (Khrystyne Haje). Her envy results in a conspiracy of dunces that makes the guys in Airheads look like a think tank. When the attack on Cardigan doesn't initially come off, Brown bemoans, "That was our entire hit-man budget. What are we going to do now?" That's just the appetizer. Then comes Lenora Babbitt, whose notoriety as a husband-gelder makes strong men faint dead away. Brown plays her as a sex-starved she-devil, a fractured-female Ricky Ricardo. "Yes," she bubbles to her media adviser (Sam McMurray) after her trial, "when the court declared me insane, it was the most happiest day of my life."
While this pair of infamous headline-generators present perfect targets for Brown's raucous, ribald satire, the fact is that both episodes seem a little dated already. Nothing goes stale faster than a juicy tabloid scandal.
TBS (Sun., Aug. 21, 9 p.m. ET)
A-
This two-part documentary from wildlife filmmakers Dereck and Beverly Joubert is strikingly reminiscent of Disney's hit The Lion King. An orphaned lion cub—like Simba—charts a perilous passage to adulthood, and hyenas are the drama's villains.
But the lions get, and deserve, top billing in these National Geographic Explorer episodes. No animator can do justice to these regal beasts.
>TUBE: Julie Brown spoofs Tonya Harding and Lorena Bobbitt in Attack of the 5 FT.2 Women; PBS traces the history of The Who; and TBS lionizes the king of beasts in Lions of Darkness
SCREEN: Which is sillier: Brendan Eraser's Airheads or Pauly Shore's In the Army Now? Hmmm. Let's ask Bug Hall. Like the rest of The Little Rascals, Bug knows from silly
SONG: C&C Music Factory tries for more hits; Joe Diffie lands on Third Rock from the Sun; Edie Brickell's Picture Perfect Morning is cloudy at best
PAGES: Something isn't cricket in Susan George's Playing for the Ashes; Anne River Siddons takes us Down-. town; Jim Bouton finds the Strike Zone
>TAPING TIP
DIDN'T GET TO SEE THE ULTIMATE POP diva on tour? HBO gives you another chance with Barbra Streisand: The Concert (Sun., Aug. 21,9 p.m. ET), taped in Las Vegas and Anaheim, Calif. By running numerous clips on the Jumbotron screen, Babs manages to weave her film career into the show. (On tour she actually duetted with herself in Yentl on "Papa Can You Hear Me?") Accompanied by a 64-piece orchestra conducted by Marvin Hamlisch, she performs in sumptuous outfits she designed and had Donna Karan seamstresses sew up. In between songs she zings out "ad libs" carefully scripted by comedian Elayne Boosler. Obviously, Streisand spared no expense for this extravaganza. Of course, when you're charging $350 a ticket, why skimp?
>PROGRAMMING NOTES
PANDEMIC PRODUCER AARON SPELLING has spewed out two new syndicated series. (Check local listings.) In Heaven Help Us, a couple (Melinda Clarke and John Schneider) die on the way to their honeymoon. Their sometimes visible spirits must stick around to help others if they ever want to see the Pearly Gates. Their guide? Ricardo Montalban.
In Robin's Hoods, Linda Purl runs a nightclub staffed by attractive ex-cons. They take on the cases the cops can't crack. One thing you can say about these two far-fetched flamers: They make Beverly Hills, 90210 look like an Ibsen revival.
Saved by the Bell Reunion
The hookups, the meltdowns, the memoires
The case reveals what was really going on what they think of each other now!
