It doesn't take long to grasp what A.E. Hotchner, a friend and biographer of Ernest Hemingway's, was up against in fashioning a screenplay from the master's 1930s story After the Storm. Just read the original—all six pages of it. Faced with the spare tale of an unnamed man who finds a wrecked ship in deep water but fails to extract the valuables it contains, Hotchner reinvented the protagonist as Arno (Benjamin Bratt), a Bahamas beachcomber and American expatriate. Arno reluctantly enters a treasure-hunting alliance with a sleazy businessman named Jean-Pierre (Armand Assante). Joining the operation are Arno's girlfriend (Mili Avital) and his ex-lover (Simone-Élise Girard), who happens to be Jean-Pierre's wife. For a little Jaws flavor, Hotchner added a hungry shark to the mix, though Papa's story is explicitly sharkless.
Arno's backstory (including war service that parallels Hemingway's) is about as convincing as Assante's French accent. And we could do without Ortega (Nestor Serrano), a secondary villain who snarls, "Nobody cuts Ortega and gets away with it." Otherwise, the drama succeeds on its own terms—particularly once the scavengers start scheming against one another. And Hotchner's effective ending suggests that riches lost may mean wisdom gained.
Bottom Line: Not perfect but worth salvaging
ABC (Wednesdays, 9:30 p.m. ET)
This new comedy series digs a hole for itself in its March 14 premiere by turning police brutality into gag material. But the talent of the cast, the overall quality of the writing and the genuine New York City atmosphere should compensate for an occasional lapse in judgment.
Denis Leary stars as Mike McNeil, a detective who smokes and drinks too much, pops pain pills as if they were breath mints and has a wife in the suburbs and a lover in town. Though creators Leary and Peter Tolan are taking a risk by asking us to follow such a flawed protagonist, they've wisely filled the cop shop with well-drawn supporting characters, including a straight-talking female (Diane Farr), a rotund wise-cracker (Lenny Clarke) and Mike's likable partner (Bill Nunn). Who needs a glamorous guest shot by Elizabeth Hurley in the second episode?
Bottom Line: Could earn its shield
E! Entertainment Television (Sun., March 18, 9 p.m. ET)
Kathie Lee Gifford as you've never seen her—portraying a Hollywood harridan who abuses drugs, degrades colleagues and shouts near-profanities like "I don't give a rip!" and "I'm a little frickin' frazzled!"
That's the major selling point of this TV movie, and it's true that Regis Philbin's former partner vaults almost gleefully over the top as Amanda, the spoiled-rotten star of the fictitious hit sitcom Whaddaya Want, Mom? But Spinning Out of Control really belongs to Howie Mandel as Marty, the harried manager who tries to keep Amanda from destroying her career and his. A relatively restrained Mandel makes Marty sympathetic as well as funny, even when the character's ethics and sincerity are most in question. In a satire that's sometimes clever, sometimes labored, Mandel's performance is a reliable source of amusement.
Bottom Line: Howie's in control
Showtime (Mondays, 10 p.m. ET)
Show of the week
STARS "1"
A music star portrays himself in a weekly comedy blending fact and fiction. What have we here—a male version of Bette? No, more like a rock and roll Larry Sanders Show.
Chris Isaak's TV venture gets off to a slow start March 12 with an episode involving a location shoot for a video. But the series starts to gel March 19, when the singer falls for a policewoman while his trouble-prone keyboardist (a made-up character played for maximum laughs by Jed Rees) pays a high price for parking violations by doing "hard" time on a road-cleanup crew. The fourth episode—in which Chris worries about a sweetly obsessive fan, hires a semipro private eye and jams with Joe Walsh of the Eagles—firmly establishes that this show will be as casually engaging as the man at its center.
Bottom Line: Rocker with a wink
>Sunday, March 18 SUICIDE HBO (10 p.m. ET) A documentarian whose brother took his own life illuminates the anguish suicide leaves behind.
Monday. March 19 SECRETS OF SAN SIMEON Travel Channel (9 p.m. ET) Patricia Hearst leads viewers on a two-hour tour of her grandfather's mansion.
Tuesday. March 20 BIOGRAPHY: GIORGIO ARMANI A&E (8 p.m. ET) Slip into the life story of the elegant designer.
Wednesday. March 21 THE JOB ABC (9:30 p.m. ET) Denis Leary heads the cop crew in this comedy series' debut (see review, page 30).
Thursday, March 22 WHO WANTS TO BE A MILLIONAIRE ABC (9 p.m. ET) In the "Classic TV Star Edition," Regis Philbin teases the brains of old-rerun leads like Adam West and Florence Henderson.
Friday, March 23 ANCESTORS IN THE AMERICAS PBS (9 p.m. ET) A new "documemoir" series looks at early Asian immigrants.
Saturday, March 24 WIT HBO (9 p.m. ET) Emma Thompson plays a woman fighting cancer in Margaret Edson's drama.
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!
