Show of the week
When I heard that TNT would present a TV movie of Animal Farm with animatronic puppetry from Jim Henson's Creature Shop, I questioned the wisdom of turning George Orwell's anti-Stalinist allegory into something like Babe III: The Agricultural Collective. But this adaptation, while not without flaw, faithfully conveys Orwell's satiric yet indignant view of ideals perverted and power abused during the Russian Revolution.
Shooting in and around a specially built studio in Ireland, director John Stephenson adroitly mixes real and artificial animals with a few human actors in telling the tale of a pig-led rebellion against man's unjust, inept management. Inspired by the Marxist philosophy of the revered boar Old Major (voiced by Peter Ustinov), the animals are initially successful at operating the farm and repelling a human counterattack. But Napoleon (Patrick Stewart), the brutal Stalin-esque pig, soon turns totalitarian and drives the visionary Snowball (the Leon Trotsky type voiced by Kelsey Grammer) into exile.
The script makes a number of changes in Orwell's 1945 story, some of them gratuitous. But it was a capital idea to grant the revolutionary leaders the use of film and television in manufacturing propaganda that's both funny and frightening. And the ending reflects the crumbling of the Soviet bloc while hinting at the pitfalls of the post-Communist future.
Bottom Line: Well-crafted fable of piggy politics
ABC (Fridays, 9:30 p.m. ET)
For openers, what about the title of this adolescent new sitcom? It's about a 15-year-old boy, Andrew (Erik von Detten), who feels like a discrimination victim in a house dominated by females—his widowed mother, Julia (Markie Post from Night Court); his playgirl aunt, Jordan (Jessica Capshaw); and his sisters, aspiring model Paige (Natalia Cigliuti), 14-year-old nonconformist Val (Vicki Davis) and 10-year-old smarty-pants Elizabeth (Marina Malota). But Andrew does live there, right? So why not Odd Man In?
Call the show what you will, Andrew and his ever-present pal Keith (Trevor Fehrman) seem determined to confirm the belief that teenage males have one thing on their minds. Though lank-haired Andrew is a rather goofy kid (except when he's unexpectedly citing 14th-century history or faulting Keith's "bad metaphors"), the chicks appear to dig him. The Sept. 24 premiere finds him with two hot prospects, and in an upcoming episode a well-built blonde in the senior class invites him to come to her house and "bring the condoms." Keith, on the other hand, constantly bemoans his datelessness and slavers and gibbers whenever Paige comes near.
When the hormonal hilarity lets up, at least the obligatory heart-to-heart talks don't get too drippy. In fact, the mentions of departed Dad are remarkably jocular considering that he has been dead only a year. This is a family that lives for the battle-of-the-sexes banter of today.
Bottom Line: Not for mature audiences
NBC (Thursdays, 9:30 p.m. ET)
Frankly, this sitcom is not off to a sidesplitting start. But its talented costars give hope of improvement, and its enviable time slot (between Frasier and ER) offers some expectation of survival.
Created by Just Shoot Me's Steven Levitan, the series turns on the personality clash between eccentric, temperamental horror novelist Ian Stark (Tony Shalhoub from Wings) and Henry McNeely (Neil Patrick Harris, 10 years after the debut of Doogie Howser, M.D.), the jumpy, phobic editor assigned to keep Ian on the ball. The premiere got its share of laughs while establishing the character types beyond doubt: Henry compulsively rubbed "antibacterial sanitizer" on his hands; Ian impulsively drank the stuff. But the Sept. 30 outing, in which Ian urges Henry to add kinks to his sex life, is dreadful. The show rebounds a bit in a future episode that has Henry mistakenly assuming Ian's romantic interest in a waitress. Still, the editor will need to start working with other authors if this publishing comedy is going to keep me turning the pages.
Bottom Line: Little to rave about so far
CBS (Sun., Oct. 3, 9 p.m. ET)
Mia Farrow gives an affecting performance in this TV movie as Diane McGowin, a 51-year-old law-office manager with early-onset Alzheimer's Disease. You'll be gripped by her panic when she becomes disoriented at a professional function, and you'll be moved by her anguish when she tells a doctor, "I feel my thoughts just...slipping out of my brain." But the film, based on a true story, strains to find a few light moments in the friendship between Diane and a fellow Alzheimer's sufferer played by Colm Feore. (He: "Are you out of your mind?" She: "Natch. I've got Alzheimer's, remember?") And a pat conclusion papers over her problems with her insensitive husband (Martin Sheen).
Bottom Line: Inconsistent drama
PBS (Sun., Oct. 3, 9 p.m. ET)
Take The Odd Couple, add the weight of sadness and an element of British class-consciousness, and you have A Rather English Marriage, the latest Mobil Masterpiece Theatre production and a worthwhile acting exercise for distinguished veterans Albert Finney and Tom Courtenay.
Fate conjoins Reggie (Finney) and Roy (Courtenay) when their wives die in the same hospital on the same day. Though Reggie (a randy blow-hard living on his World War II exploits and his spouse's money) and Roy (a retired milkman, decent but prim) would seem incompatible, a social worker gets the "rather wild idea" that the widowers should live together in Reggie's mansion, with Roy cooking and cleaning for his keep. Unlikely indeed, but a good excuse for the stars to play off each other in a series of humorous and poignant scenes. As a lady who accepts Reggie's affection with an eye on his presumed wealth, Joanna Lumley (Absolutely Fabulous) does her best with a role that could be better defined. The script pushes too many emotional buttons, but Finney and Courtenay are quite the pair.
Bottom Line: Rather fine performances
>Sunday. Oct. 3 ROAD RAGE NBC (9 p.m. ET) Jere Burns stalks Yasmine Bleeth after she cuts him off on the freeway in this rush-rush TV movie.
Monday, Oct. 4 THE KING OF QUEENS CBS (8 p.m. ET)
Dexterous Doug (Kevin James) staples his pants—while wearing them.
Tuesday, Oct. 5 FRONTLINE: SECRETS OF THE S.A.T. PBS (10 p.m. ET) Maybe you'll score a 1,600 after watching this study of the all-important test for the college-bound.
Wednesday, Oct. 6 AS TIME RUNS OUT CBS (9 p.m. ET) 7th Heaven's Stephen Collins stars in this TV movie as a wealthy widower whose son is kidnapped.
Thursday, Oct. 7 WASTELAND ABC (9 p.m. ET) Six friends in their 20s face reality in the premiere of this drama series.
Friday, Oct. 8 LOVE & MONEY CBS (8:30 p.m. ET) An heiress and a handyman start working their way toward romance as this sitcom premieres.
Saturday, Oct. 9 EXECUTIVE DECISION ABC (8 p.m. ET) It's Kurt Russell and Steven Seagal vs. skyjackers in this 1996 thriller. Terrorists haven't a chance.
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!
