Showtime (Sat., Aug. 17, 9 P.M. ET)
C
Rosanna Arquette plays a seer who is carted around the low-rent revival circuit by her alcoholic father (Jason Robards). When, in a trance, she accurately predicts a series of violent deaths, she attracts the interest of a reporter (Tom Hulce) as well as that of a determined killer (Mark Joy).
The plot begins to fray almost immediately, but at least in the beginning, Mike Hodges's direction is loaded with ominousness. Unfortunately, Hodges uses up all his eerie atmosphere long before this movie about a medium runs out of tedium.
HBO (Sun., Aug. 18, 9 P.M. ET)
C
Curses, foiled again. This anthology series has a solid concept—dramatizing short stories about couples by famous American authors—and impeccable talent. Why then is it so stale and ungainly? Ray Liotta and Andie MacDowell star in "A Domestic Dilemma," Carson MeCullers's tale of suburban alcoholism in the 1950s. In Irwin Shaw's "Return to Kansas City," Matt Dillon plays a 1940s boxer trying to mollify his shrewish wife, played by Kyra Sedgwick. (Kevin Rooney, Mike Tyson's former trainer, has a cameo as Dillon's corner man.) Scott Glenn and Juliette Binoche star in Henry Miller's "Mara," about an encounter between an American writer and a hard-luck Parisian prostitute.
Though this triptych is less overwrought than last year's premiere show, it is still notably lacking in emotional impact. The actors have the too-studied air of people intent on doing "important work."
TNT (Mon., Aug. 19, 8 P.M. ET)
A-
A respected high school principal (Christine Lahti) shocks her Texas community when she takes up with the school's Mexican janitor (Rubén Blades). That may sound like another social-issue-of-the-week movie, but director Thomas Schlamme delivers a sweet romantic comedy, with all the small-town charm of the 1979 film Breaking Away.
Lahti's desire to start a family overwhelms her rather too suddenly. Still, the script is often clever, and the supporting cast, which includes William Russ, Mary Kay Place, Louise Latham, Bibi Besch, Robyn Lively and Tommy Muniz, is first-rate. Lahti, as usual, is superbly natural.
Syndicated (Check local listings)
B-
Making her first appearance in 20 years, Rhonda Fleming plays the wife of a farmer dying of cancer (Robert Mitchum). His last act is to build a sailboat in his cornfield. Noah in the Field of Dreams, anyone? Jameson Parker and Zachary Bostrom co-star in this parchment-thin parable of redemption, which is better acted than it deserves to be.
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!
