In 2000 Indiana University basketball coach Bobby Knight was fired after 29 seasons, five Final Four appearances and three national championships. This original movie, ESPN's first, is a foul-mouthed reminder of why Knight's menacing, sometimes violent, temper eventually cost him his job.
Brink, based on the 1989 book by John Feinstein, focuses tightly on Indiana's 1985-86 season. For the Knight portrayed here, screaming obscenities is as much a part of coaching as diagramming plays. In the preview tape provided by ESPN, the coarse language was mostly bleeped out rather than cleaned up. The bleeps make his outbursts seem more foolish than ferocious, but that's not such a bad thing for a drama that could be accused of taking "General" Knight (now coaching at Texas Tech) a little too seriously. But despite detours into esoteric hoops mechanics, Brink gives the ordinary viewer an uncomfortably close look at Knight's leadership-by-intimidation style.
At 63, Brian Dennehy is too old to be playing Knight in his mid-40s, and a hairpiece doesn't help. But the star has the formidable presence the role requires, and he cleverly keeps us wondering how much of Knight's rage is genuinely uncontrolled and how much is the coach's peculiar idea of a teaching tool. Whatever Knight's motivation, you may wish some civilian would sneak into the locker room and remind the Hoosiers that it's only a game.
Bottom Line: Fairly high shooting percentage
HBO (Sundays, 9 p.m. ET)
Show of the week
This sophomore series is up to its old tricks—slowly drawing us into the strange world of Fisher & Sons Funeral Home, artfully blending drama and dark humor so we don't know what to expect from scene to scene, making us ponder the meaning of life while immersing us in the business of death.
On Six Feet Under, irony is the rule and feelings are hardly ever unmixed. In the first of 13 new episodes (March 3), Nate (Peter Krause) learns he has a brain condition that may prove fatal. But here's the good news: He passed his state funeral director exam! In the second episode his mother, Ruth (Frances Conroy), starts falling under the influence of a self-actualization group founded on a life-as-a-house metaphor. Ruth's psychobabble is funny until episode 4, when a misguided attempt at frank communication with her gay son David (Michael C. Hall) ends with both parties emotionally wounded.
This challenging show offers the viewer nary a morsel of TV comfort food. But uncommonly good writing and acting are satisfying too.
Bottom Line: Digs ever deeper
UPN (Tuesdays, 9:30 p.m. ET)
Three guys in their 20s--aspiring music critic Alex (Will Friedle from Boy Meets World), cheeky layabout Todd (Sean Murray) and geeky dental assistant Wiseman (Joshua Ackerman)--share a Manhattan loft, look for chicks, etc. Small wonder that I approached this sitcom (premiering March 5) with low expectations, but The Random Years managed to exceed them. Well, slightly.
Friedle is likable and Murray delivers the wisecracks with lazy aplomb. Natalia Cigliuti should freshen up the frat-house atmosphere as Casey, the attractive new neighbor. On the down side, Ackerman pushes his oddball caricature too hard. If Wiseman's hair gets any bigger, he may morph into Seinfeld's Kramer.
Bottom Line: Just gets by that I approached this sitcom (premiering March 5) with low expectations, but The Random Years managed to exceed them. Well, slightly. Friedle is likable and Murray delivers the wisecracks with lazy aplomb. Natalia Cigliuti should freshen up the frat-house atmosphere as Casey, the attractive new neighbor. On the down side, Acker-man pushes his oddball caricature too hard. If Wiseman's hair gets any bigger, he may morph into Seinfeld's Kramer.
Bottom Line: Just gets by
Court TV (Wed., March 13, 9 p.m. ET)
Court TV's first original movie makes its case loud and clear: Mandatory minimum sentencing laws are bad.
Mercedes Ruehl stars as Susan, innocent victim and widowed mother of two. When she discovers that her boyfriend Russell (Alex Carter) is selling drugs, Susan makes him promise to stop. He goes back on his word; she breaks up with him. So she's clean, right? Think again. When Russell's drug ring is brought to justice, Susan gets 20 years as a coconspirator. The judge says he has no discretion in sentencing, although there's every reason to believe that Susan's involvement—if any—was unwitting and peripheral.
"What's wrong with this system? How can this happen?" Susan cries in prison. And she has many more words to that effect. Though Ruehl is not innocent of overacting when Susan vents outrage, you have to sympathize with someone in her nightmarish situation. The problem with the film is its relentlessly black-and-white approach. The prosecutor isn't merely overzealous; he seems to take satisfaction in destroying Susan's "cozy little middle-class life."
Bottom Line: Okay, we get the message
ABC (Sun., March 10, 7 p.m. ET)
"Believe whatever story makes you feel better," a 17th-century Dutch painter known as the Master (Jonathan Pryce) tells the audience as this revisionist take on Cinderella concludes. "The truth of it, while perhaps not as magical, is, in the end, far more beautiful."
Of course the Master prefers this version. The traditional tale doesn't include him. For my money Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister could have used a fairy godmother to doctor the script (based on the novel by Gregory Maguire). Kids are likely to find it slow and confusing, and it lacks sufficient wit to hold adults for two hours.
Clara (Jenna Harrison), a tulip merchant's reclusive daughter, complains of being seen only as a beauty and winds up rubbing cinders on her face to protest the objectification of women—or something like that. Her stepsisters aren't wicked after all. Artistic Iris (Azura Skye) wins the Master's favor and the heart of his apprentice (Matthew Goode). Dull-witted Ruth (Emma Poole) means well. The only real villain is Clara's stepmother (Stockard Channing), but it turns out she too may be a bit misunderstood. Where's the fun in that?
Bottom Line: Glass slipper doesn't fit
Sunday, March 10 9/11 CBS (9 p.m. ET) Robert De Niro is host for a special featuring eyewitness video of the World Trade Center disaster.
Monday, March 11 SNL REMEMBERS JOHN BELUSHI NBC (10 p.m. ET) Jimmy Fallon and Tina Fey salute the funny man 20 years after his death.
Tuesday, March 12 THE WHO PBS (9 p.m. ET) Listen up, pinball wizards. The band plays on at London's Royal Albert Hall.
Wednesday, March 13 RANK: THE 25 HOTTEST HOLLYWOOD COUPLES E! (9 p.m. ET) Jennifer Aniston-Brad Pitt and Susan Sarandon-Tim Robbins are among the starry twosomes.
Thursday, March 14 MY GUIDE TO BECOMING A ROCK STAR The WB (8 p.m. ET) Oliver Hudson, son of Goldie Hawn, stars in the debut of this comedy series.
Friday, March 15 TANK SCHOOL Discovery Channel (9 p.m. ET) Track the Marines training at Fort Knox, Ky.
Saturday, March 16 E.T.: THE EXTRATERRESTRIAL 20th ANNIVERSARY NBC (8 p.m. ET) A behind-the-scenes special boosts the rerelease of Steven Spielberg's classic.
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!
