As a vocalist, songwriter, composer, instrumentalist and clotheshorse, Jimi Hendrix has never been matched. Both a hero and a victim of his times, he lived large and died sordidly but tragically young (of drug-related asphyxia, at 27, in 1970). All the right stuff for an emotion-packed bio flick–and yet, until now, fans have never seen his tale told on film. (Anybody willing to try again?) Starting with a script that seems lifted from news clippings, Hendrix plays like a VH-1 dramatization, but with lots of lingering shots of nude groupies. While the film takes time to re-create the moment when the guitar hero's name is changed from Jimmy to Jimi (eureka!), it pays scant attention to his relationship with his mother, who left home when he was 8 and died seven years later. Without cooperation from Hendrix's estate, producers could not include a note of his actual music; covers like "Hey Joe" and "Wild Thing" are performed by Hendrix mimics. Actor Wood Harris dons duds and chomps gum like Hendrix. But there the verisimilitude ends. Bottom Line: Star-mangled bummer
Court TV (Sundays, 10 p.m. ET)
This latest excursion into reality programming brings us actual videotaped criminal confessions from police precincts and district attorneys' offices. The show starts with a note: "Disturbing as they are, confessions provide a rare glimpse into the killer's mind." Not so, given that the suspects in the first two half hours mostly seem demented.
You can, however, glean something about the brains of the show's producers, who show unenviable skill in providing an entertaining mix of murderers: a flaky pothead who cooked his roommate on the stove, a Hispanic would-be tough guy whose riffs sound as if they were scripted by John Leguizamo, and so on. What's shocking is that Confessions isn't shocking. Although the Sept. 10 premiere will be followed by an experts' discussion, the pilot, at least, provides virtually no context. The victims are abstractions, unrepresented by so much as a photo. This frees us to sit back and enjoy the suspects' comical stupidity. Confessions has got to be one of the most cynical, senseless and dehumanizing shows ever. Bottom Line: Gallows humor of the worst kind
Fox Family Channel (Sun., Sept. 17, 8 p.m. ET)
Show of the week
He left these shores just over two months ago, and already we have a two-hour movie about Elián, the Cuban boy who survived an ocean crossing and his mother's drowning, learned the pleasures of chocolate milk while living with Miami relatives and sparked an ideological war that ended with his reunion with Papa. If he had stayed longer, perhaps he'd get an instant miniseries.
As it is, this is a useless, feeble docudrama. All the participants in the complicated tale, from Uncle Lazaro to Attorney General Janet Reno, are given equal weight and equal sympathy. Castro himself (played in a brief scene by Michael Sorich) seems kindly when he asks Juan Miguel Gonzalez (Esai Morales) whether he wants his boy back. (Was Juan really given the option to let Elian stay?) The show is aimed at families, but kids shouldn't necessarily be given the impression that world events are shaped by nice people. Like Elian's milk, history has been made sweet and bland. T.G. Bottom Line: Little boy lostmilk, history has been made sweet and bland. T.G.
Bottom Line: Little boy lost
UPN (Mondays, 9:30 p.m. ET)
UPN (Mondays, 9 p.m. ET)
How's this for a promo? "Stay tuned after Moesha for a spinoff, a castoff and a rip-off!"
Leave aside The Parkers, the sophomore series that sprang from Moesha, and consider what's new in UPN's Monday lineup: The Hughleys, relocating Sept. 11 after two ABC seasons, and Girlfriends (premiering the same night), an African-Americanized Sex and the City.
The four principals live in L.A., not Manhattan, and one is married (though hubby's safely out of sight in the first two episodes). But Girlfriends' debt to the HBO hit is screamingly obvious on Sept. 18 when attorney Joan (Tracee Ellis Ross, daughter of Diana), law-firm assistant Maya (Golden Brooks), real estate agent Toni (Jill Marie Jones) and perennial student Lynn (Persia White) sit around a restaurant table discussing the rules of romance. With nothing better to do, Lynn could write a sex column.
In the opener, Toni wounds Joan by taking up with Joan's former flame (prized for his toe-sucking talent) and contemptuously calls Maya Miss Ghetto Superstar. Maya accuses Toni of "stinkin' up the joint" and threatens to kick her behind. With girlfriends like these, who needs enemies? Joan could be smart and likable if given the chance, but her blatant booty-shaking and sexual desperation suggest that the writers are determined to embarrass the character. And she deserves a kick every time she talks to the camera.
D.L. Hughley's soul-man-in-the-suburbs act is getting old, but his show's season premiere departs from sitcom routine by turning a home-remodeling misadventure into a Survivor parody (with a cameo by castaway Gervase Peterson). Surprisingly, the spoof is less amusing than the setup, which pits suspicious householder Hughley against a conceited contractor (Burke Moses). Bottom Line: Monday's forecast is mostly cloudy
Sunday, Sept. 17
THE '70S: THE DECADE THAT CHANGED TELEVISION
ABC (7 p.m. ET)
A two hour celebration of the era of M*A*S*H, MTM and Archie Bunker.
Monday, Sept. 18
TWIN FALLS IDAHO
Cinemax (8 p.m. ET)
Oddball 1999 movie about Siamese twins, with a romantic conundrum.
Tuesday, Sept. 19
ANCIENT AUTOPSIES
TLC(10 p.m.ET)
How mummy DNA can help us understand our modern illnesses.
Wednesday, Sept. 20
BEHIND THE SCENES OF WHO WANTS TO BE A MILLIONAIRE
ABC (8 p.m. ET)
For those who would like to understand in even greater depth the human marvel that is Reege.
Thursday, Sept. 21
MYSTERY!
PBS (check local listings)
In Pilgrim of Hate, a whodunit with Derek Jacobi as medieval monk Cadfael, some unholy soul dumps a corpse in the abbey.
Friday, Sept. 22
DIE HARD 2: DIE HARDER
HBO (8 p.m. ET)
Another killer-diller caper with Bruce Willis. This one (from 1990) has him outwitting airborne terrorists.
Saturday, Sept. 23
BIG BROTHER
CBS (8 p.m. ET)
Recap of the week's tensions among the roomies.
- Contributors:
- Steve Dougherty,
- Tom Gliatto,
- Terry Kelleher.
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!
