E! Entertainment Television (Sun., Dec. 12,9 p.m. ET)
Show of the week
"It's the beginning of the Gilligization of television." That's how former San Francisco Chronicle critic Terrence O'Flaherty recalls his appalled reaction to the 1964 debut of Gilligan's Island, a proudly stupid sitcom about seven castaways that drew large numbers of undemanding viewers during its three-year run on CBS and forever after in syndication. (TNT currently carries it in the early mornings.) If you don't think TV is still Gilligized, consider that O'Flaherty makes his remark on a two-hour documentary devoted entirely to Gilligan's Island and its staggering cultural insignificance.
Okay, I'm off my high horse. In truth, I enjoyed a lot of this True Hollywood Story, from the corporate confessions of ex-CBS programmers Perry Lafferty and Mike Dann to the happy memories of Naomi "Trinket" Hale, widow of Gilligan's skipper Alan Hale Jr. But the E! cruise could have been shorter and breezier without so many teasers and recaps.
Bottom Line: Fun tour for trivia fans
Comedy Central (Thurs., 10:30 p.m. ET)
Ben Stein a talk show host? Haughty, long-faced Ben Stein? Hey, don't go by me. I probably wouldn't have green-lighted a game show with the former Nixon Administration speechwriter, and Win Ben Stein's Money has done quite nicely in 2½ years on Comedy Central.
The weekly Turn Ben Stein On, in a trial run through Jan. 13, is not on the money yet. The Dec. 2 premiere, with guests Carl Reiner and Katie Wagner (daughter of Robert), exemplified its flaws. The "growing up in Hollywood" theme shifted in and out of focus as Stein repeatedly interrupted or changed direction. On Dec. 9 he clearly enjoys chatting with journalist Carl Bernstein, a boyhood friend, but three's a crowd when they're joined by filmmaker Alexander Payne. If the show survives in its half-hour format, Stein needs to rein himself in or go with one guest, as he does on Dec. 23 in a relaxed and lively session with rock great Grace Slick. It would be a loss to the medium if know-it-all Stein failed in his latest venture. On Dec. 16 he likely becomes the first host to ask Bob Saget, "Have you ever read Freud's essay on wit and the unconscious?"
Bottom Line: Dangling conversation
USA (Sun., Dec. 12, 8 p.m. ET)
"Is he the luckiest man alive or the loneliest?" narrator Bobbie Arnstein (Natasha Gregson Wagner) asks rhetorically in this erratic TV movie, which purports to provide the skinny on the fleshly career of Playboy magazine founder Hugh Hefner (Randall Batinkoff). Arnstein, Hefner's personal assistant, died of a drug overdose in 1975. According to the film, she chose suicide rather than be pressured to testify falsely against him in a cocaine investigation. Under the circumstances, Arnstein doesn't sound too depressed. She even claims to have continued protecting Hefner's interests from beyond the grave.
Batinkoff, a bit of a Hefner look-alike, fares best in the snappy account of Playboy's early years. But the drama grows less convincing as Hef goes from lucky guy on the make to lonely guy at the top. Then again, credibility may not be the top priority for a film in which Pauly Shore appears as Lenny Bruce. "Maybe it didn't happen just like that," Arnstein tells us after one scene. "But that's how it felt to me." And who's to dispute the dead?
Bottom Line: Centerfolds are more revealing
CBS (Sun., Dec. 12, 9 p.m. ET)
The metaphor might be more apt at Easter time, but I have to fault this Hallmark Hall of Fame Christmas offering for gilding the lily. The heartwarming though improbable drama concerns a well-meaning woman (Chicago Hope's Carla Gugino) who runs off with the two children of her drug-addicted sister (Laura Dern) after a social worker (Kathy Baker) threatens to place the kids in foster care. Chance brings the fugitives to the friendly little town of Bethlehem, where Gugino is mistaken for the long-lost owner of a lovely old home. It's just too tempting for Gugino to go with the flow, particularly since she's falling for a handsome local cop (David Conrad). The film has an appealing hero and a positive holiday theme of hope and forgiveness; it doesn't need Patty Duke as a mystery character who materializes in various guises to give the characters what must be described as a heavenly nudge.
Bottom Line: Tries too hard for a miracle
>Sunday, Dec. 12 CHRISTMAS IN WASHINGTON TNT (8 p.m. ET) The Clintons make the holiday concert scene, and performers include B.B. King and Jewel.
Monday, Dec. 13 ALLY MCBEAL FOX (9 p.m. ET) No ho-ho's. Cage and Ally take the case of a fired department-store Santa.
Tuesday, Dec. 14 BIOGRAPHY: THE HOUSE OF WINDSOR A&E (8 p.m. ET) Gather round for a two-hour group portrait of the British royal family.
Wednesday, Dec. 15 SHATTERED TRUST CBS (9 p.m. ET) There's domestic discord in this TV movie as a med student (Tracey Gold) is suspected of murdering her dad (Powers Boothe).
Thursday, Dec. 16 FRASIER NBC (9 p.m. ET) Frasier lays on the tinsel for an extravagant Christmas party.
Friday, Dec. 17 KIDS SAY THE DARNDEST THINGS CBS (8 p.m. ET) Bill Cosby does a yuletide monologue and gets a crash course in Pokémon.
Saturday, Dec. 18 THE PREACHER'S WIFE ABC (8 p.m. ET) Denzel Washington is Whitney Houston's angel in this 1996 fantasy.
>Lauren Holly
Since joining the cast of CBS's medical drama Chicago Hope this season, Lauren Holly has had to confront her longtime physician-phobia. "I'm terrified by hospitals and terrified about ever having surgery," says Holly, 36, who plays Dr. Jeremy Hanlon, a free-spirited plastic surgeon, as a regular on the show. "I had my appendix removed 13 years ago, and I'm still traumatized by it. Being on the show sure doesn't help."
Nor has Hope helped her love life much. Holly, who filed for divorce from actor Jim Carrey in 1997 after 10 months of marriage, says the show's marathon 15-hour workdays aren't conducive to dating. "I'm single and looking," confesses the actress, who lives in Los Angeles. "But for the last six months I've really been loving [being single]."
She also has been getting the better of her hospital hang-ups. While filming those grim surgery scenes vérité style, "they give you raw meat, so when you're doing a cauterizing scene, you're really burning flesh," says Holly gleefully. "There's blood all over the place—it's very exciting."
- Contributors:
- Ulrica Wihlborg.
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!
