The soft sell is not what's needed in this high-spirited musical about a con man who blows into a small Iowa town in 1912, promising to organize a boys' band if the citizens will kindly cough up the cash for uniforms, instruments and instruction (which he's totally unqualified to give). On Broadway and in the 1962 movie version, Robert Preston portrayed self-styled Professor Harold Hill with brass, brio and the strut of a born virtuoso at tooting his own horn. Matthew Broderick is a comparatively low-key Hill in this three-hour remake on The Wonderful World of Disney. Though likable as usual, Broderick seems constrained and tentative, as if the salesman lacked faith in the strength of his pitch. I'd like to say he's disarmingly different in the part, but I'm afraid he's just miscast. The same goes for Victor Garber (Alias), who isn't nearly funny enough as malaprop-prone Mayor Shinn.
The spotlight here falls on Marian (Kristin Chenoweth), the librarian who stirs Hill's conscience and succumbs to his charm. Atoning for Kristin, her ill-conceived NBC sitcom of 2001, Chenoweth sings beautifully on "Goodnight My Someone" and "Till There Was You" and looks radiant when Marian opens her heart to the huckster. Her work and Meredith Willson's irresistible songs ("Seventy-Six Trombones," "Ya Got Trouble") make The Music Man worth playing again.
BOTTOM LINE: Lend an ear despite some off notes
CBS (Sun., Feb. 16, 9 p.m. ET)
David (Chris Potter) leaves devoted wife Samantha (Christine Lahti) and takes up with a younger woman. Eventually the heel sees the error of his ways, but by then Samantha is interested in someone new. The basic plot of this TV movie, based on Elizabeth Berg's Oprah-endorsed novel, couldn't be more predictable. Only the quirky details make it a little different.
Samantha's post-David relationship is with hefty King (Daniel Baldwin), who seems like an appealingly ordinary guy till we learn he has a master's in astrophysics from MIT but prefers to earn a meager living at odd jobs because he's a people watcher. Don't judge yourself an awful cynic if you don't believe this. In another touch of eccentricity, Samantha imagines home-entertaining adviser Colin Cowie is talking directly to her on his TV show. In the book, Samantha gets her style tips from Martha Stewart, but I guess tastes change.
BOTTOM LINE: Don't buy this House
PBS (Thurs., Feb. 13, 9 p.m. ET)
Reform—it always sounds good. But this worthwhile two-hour documentary, which follows 10 Chinese citizens between 1998 and 2001, shows the pain as well as the gains resulting from the country's transition to a market economy.
A Beijing man started his own design firm and he's making it big. "As long as you have money, you can do anything," he says smugly in his family's spacious apartment. On the other side of the coin there's a chronically ill peasant in Shaanxi province who lost government-provided health care under the reforms. Now her family drowns in debt trying to pay for her treatment. "I don't care anymore whether I live or die," she says.
Getting to know these people means listening to them talk of workaday matters, and that can be less than exciting. We're left hungry for harder information on a can-do politician's downfall in a corruption case. Still, this valuable report reveals much.
BOTTOM LINE: Viewers will profit
Show of the week
Nickelodeon (Fridays, 9 p.m. ET)
Unbeknownst to Mom and Dad, Timmy has a dizzy set of fairy godparents, Cosmo and Wanda, who are disguised as goldfish. Their magical powers come in handy for the 10-year-old, but wands sometimes wilt and spells often go awry.
That's the premise of this overactive but entertaining cartoon show, which can be seen at its best in two episodes airing Feb. 14. It's fun with sexual stereotypes in the first half hour, as a rash wish by Timmy causes the town of Dimmsdale to split into warring camps of meat-chomping men and shopaholic women. In the second episode, the fairies enable Timmy to race down the information superhighway and try to retrieve an unfortunately worded e-mail to his stuckup dream girl. The clever jokes come fast and furious in a cyberthriller sure to tickle techno-savvy kids and any grownups who can keep pace.
BOTTOM LINE: Amusing oddity
Sunday, Feb. 16 HIGH SCHOOL REUNION WB (9 p.m. ET) The reality series ends with a party featuring Naughty by Nature.
Monday, Feb. 17 JOE MILLIONAIRE FOX (8 p.m. ET) Finally one woman wins Evan and learns he's not a gold-plated prize.
Tuesday, Feb. 18 FRASIER NBC (9 p.m. ET) The shrink plays the love game with an attractive gym teacher (guest star Jeanne Tripplehorn).
Wednesday, Feb. 19 THE BACHELORETTE ABC (8 p.m. ET) Trista taps Mr. Right in the two-hour finale.
Thursday, Feb. 20 THE SURREAL LIFE WB (9 p.m. ET) What a closing episode: MC Hammer officiates at Corey Feldman's wedding as Hugh Hefner looks on.
Friday, Feb. 21 GREETINGS FROM TUCSON WB (9:30 p.m. ET) Elizabeth's parents (guests Teri Garr and Martin Mull) come visiting.
Saturday, Feb. 22 TRUMPET AWARDS TBS (7 p.m. ET) Destiny's Child and Chaka Khan perform at a celebration of African-American achievers.
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!
