Show of the week
Seeing our existence cluttered with modern conveniences and distractions, many of us sigh that we'd like to travel back to a simpler time. This unusual four-part documentary puts nostalgia to the test.
The producers found a turn-of-the-century house in a London suburb and remodeled the interior to 1900 specifications. Out with electricity and indoor toilets; in with gas lamps and chamber pots. Then they challenged Joyce and Paul Bowler and four of their five children to occupy the place for three months, limiting themselves to products, appliances and amusements available 100 years ago. They learn that life can be arduous without a washing machine and icky without shampoo and toothpaste. But the burdens and strictures of late-Victorian middle-class life force the family to work and play together, and the closeness sometimes seems worth the price. Though The 1900 House should have skipped over some of the preparation (hour 1) and reflection (hour 4), it's a worthwhile experiment.
Bottom Line: Live in the past
ABC (Fridays, 9 p.m. ET)
For those who've managed to stick with this reality series—which premiered in March, went off during May sweeps and now airs Fridays in back-to-back half-hour episodes—the reward comes June 23. That's when we learn which five would-be pop idols (out of seven finalists) were chosen to make up the new "boy band" called O-Town. The aspirants and their handlers take the whole business so seriously that I sometimes want to scream with laughter, but I can't deny I'm curious to see whether outspoken Jacob Underwood and brooding Ikaika Kahoano bury the hatchet and harmonize. Please, kids, do it for art's sake.
Bottom Line: Strangely watchable
A&E (Sun., June 18, 8 p.m. ET)
"He's tellin' you somethin' and you know he's full of prunes, but it's profound, whatever it is, ya know?" That's how a former associate describes the communication skills of Sam Phillips, founder of Sun Records, discoverer of Elvis Presley and subject of this two-hour Biography, subtitled The Man Who Invented Rock 'n' Roll. Written by Elvis biographer Peter Guralnick, the documentary may set off your prune detector as narrator Billy Bob Thornton and a few interviewees use rather grandiose terms to explain the social significance of Phillips and the music he championed. And when Phillips, now 77, does the expounding, you suspect his favorite sound is that of his own voice. But the program is more than redeemed by vivid reminiscences from performers such as Ike Turner, Jerry Lee Lewis and Johnny Bragg, whose all-inmate group the Prisonaires recorded what might be termed a breakout hit in Phillips's Memphis studio.
Bottom Line: Pretty good rockin' tonight
TNT (Sun., June 18, 8 p.m. ET)
A rape-murder trial has entered the penalty phase, and prosecutor Ned Stark (David Caruso) is calling for the ultimate punishment. Suddenly, retired prison guard Jacob Doyle (Charles S. Dutton), the convicted killer's father, is waving two guns, taking the jury hostage and issuing an ultimatum: The assistant D.A. has 24 hours to prove defendant Demond Doyle (Jo D. Jonz) innocent or captives start dying.
The extreme situation grabs your attention, all right, and Caruso and Dutton are stars with the strength to hold it. (As if Dutton didn't have enough acting to do here, his character is bleeding from an ear wound and suffering from a migraine.) But it's hard to ignore this TV movie's plausibility problems—beginning with the unlikelihood that Jacob would take such rash action and culminating in the incredibly convenient discoveries that lead Ned to the truth of the case. The script wedges in a couple of valid points about unequal justice for the non-affluent, but the preponderance of the evidence is against Deadlocked.
Bottom Line: Too many reasonable doubts
>Sunday, June 18 KAZAAM ABC (7 p.m. ET) Shaquille O'Neal plays a genie in this 1996 comedy. He can grant wishes, but can he make free throws?
Monday, June 19 PETER JENNINGS REPORTING: JESUS ABC (8 p.m. ET) A two-hour special goes beyond the Bible (and the miniseries) to seek the Jesus of history.
Tuesday, June 20 SUDDENLY SUSAN NBC (8 p.m. ET) Sorry this show wasn't renewed? Console yourself by watching Brooke Shields visit a strip club.
Wednesday, June 21 PLAY ON! PBS (9 p.m. ET) Forget Prince Hamlet. Shakespeare meets Duke Ellington in this Great Performances musical.
Thursday, June 22 DIAGNOSIS MURDER CBS (8 p.m. ET) Jerry Van Dyke joins brother Dick in the first of back-to-back repeats.
Friday, June 23 SUMMER JAM CONCERT ABC (8 p.m. ET) Christina Aguilera, Enrique Iglesias and others warm up Disney World.
Saturday, June 24 NOTTING HILL Showtime (8 p.m. ET) Screen goddess Julia Roberts finds love with humble bookseller Hugh Grant in this 1999 hit.
>Anita Hill
When she appeared on national TV in 1991, Anita Hill was a University of Oklahoma law professor testifying before a Senate committee about the alleged sexual misconduct of her former boss, Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas. The ensuing uproar rattled her. "There were threats of death, rape, a bomb at my house," she says. "Once you have had your life threatened, it's not something you get over."
Nine years later, Hill, now 43, single and a professor of law, social policy and women's studies at Brandeis University, is back on-camera as an occasional contributor to Court TV's Crier Today, a daily talk show on which Hill and host Catherine Crier hold forth on cases ranging from a police shooting in New York City to the flying of the Confederate flag at the South Carolina State House. Live television "is not as glamorous as you might think," she says. Once, when a guest cut her off, she recalls, "I said, 'I was speaking. Please don't interrupt me.' This is what comes with being a teacher." So how would Professor Hill grade Justice Thomas? "I can't see that he's had a positive impact," she says.
- Contributors:
- Anne Driscoll.
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!
