HORROR
Things American popular culture can do without: one more vampire tale and another film taken from the voluminous writings of Stephen King.
Of course, that's a grumpy critic talking. Those who've been feeling empty since Angel ended last month may think this four-hour thriller fills a critical vampire gap. And the legion of King devotees will note that 25 years have passed since his bulky novel Salem's Lot was first turned into a miniseries. Hey, TNT isn't sucking the concept dry–it's reinterpreting a masterwork.
Even though I didn't approach it with a genre fan's enthusiasm, I will allow that this remake offers its share of scares. But first we have to accept an absurd framing device for the flashback narrative. Right after getting shot and crashing through a window, a severely injured writer (competently portrayed by Rob Lowe) recounts his vampire-hunting experiences in gory detail to a hospital nurse. "Wait, there's more," Lowe gasps at the end of Part 1.
The protagonist's battle with the blood drinkers begins when he returns to his small hometown and finds that the community's obligatory haunted house has been rented by a suave but creepy antiques dealer (Donald Sutherland, lavishing style on a role too small). Turns out Sutherland is the front man for a nocturnal gent (Rutger Hauer) who effectively plays on human insecurities in recruiting new members for the undead fraternity.
The town's growing vampire population can climb walls, fly through the air and otherwise take a man unawares, so Lowe needs backup from, among others, a high school teacher (Andre Braugher), an alcoholic priest (James Cromwell) and an attractive waitress (Samantha Mathis). Cromwell's character is interestingly complex, while Braugher's is under-written. We'd like to see Lowe and Mathis find romance, but there's a time and a place, okay? These two start kissing a second after he tells her about a particularly gruesome murder-suicide.
Nick at Nite (Sun., June 20, 9 p.m. ET)
ANIMATION
Bill Cosby stirred controversy last month with barbed generalizations about poor parenting among lower-income blacks. But he seems to be poking a little fun at his magisterial side in this mildly amusing cartoon series (premiering on Father's Day before moving to Tuesdays at 9 p.m. starting June 29).
Inspired by Cosby's 1986 book of the same title, the show centers on Arthur Bindlebeep (voiced by Blair Underwood), a high school teacher obviously proud of his doctorate. (The series' creator bills himself as William H. Cosby Jr., Ed.D.) Dr. Bindlebeep is given to delivering pompous—albeit well-reasoned—lectures on responsibility, and you sense that his wife (ex-Cosby Show daughter Sabrina Le Beauf) and three kids have heard it all before. This dad has comic potential, but the first two episodes settle for an occasional chuckle.
HBO (Sat., June 26, 9 p.m. ET)
DRAMA
It has no stars, very little action and a title that suggests something mundane. Still, don't pass up this flavorful ensemble piece.
The slice-of-life film focuses on a venerable Brooklyn diner that stands in the path of progress–a grand plan for condos and trendier eateries. The young Jewish owner (Jordan Gelber) decides to sell out to the developers and delegates his 60-year-old black maitre d' (Stephen McKinley Henderson) to tell the staff–mostly black and Hispanic–that the place will close in a few weeks. As the day goes on, racial tensions surface, guilt feelings grow, and lives are reassessed. Some viewers may feel the ending leaves too many options open, but the varied characters really breathe, and the small, revealing moments will stay with you.
ABC (Tuesdays, 10 p.m. ET)
DOCUMENTARY
Though it comes from Terence Wrong, the ABC News producer behind the worthwhile Hopkins 24/7 and Boston 24/7, you may wonder if this seven-week study of the New York City police force is nothing more than a glorified Cops.
What distinguishes NYPD 24/7 (premiering June 22) are its shaded portraits of officers who aren't perfect. Foremost among these is Lt. Vic Hollifield of the Emergency Service Unit, who appears in the second and fifth episodes. Though his two decades of experience serve him well most of the time, we can see he's losing his cool as well as his zest for an incredibly stressful job. "I've seen enough," says Hollifield, haunted by his unit's losses on Sept. 11, 2001. "I've seen too much."
Meeting such a memorable character makes the show's faults forgivable. The majority of the episodes cut back and forth between stories, often to our frustration. One murder case takes an abrupt turn that cries out for more explanation. And narrator Dennis Franz, attired as Det. Andy Sipowicz, shouldn't introduce each episode from the set of NYPD Blue. It's as if real-life cops need validation from one who exists only on TV.
National Geographic Ultimate Explorer (MSNBC, June 20, 8 p.m. ET)
Lisa Ling reports on China's one-child policy and the adoption of Chinese baby girls by American families.
Jack (Showtime, June 20, 8 p.m. ET)
A teen (Anton Yelchin) gets a double shock in this TV movie: His folks (Ron Silver and Stockard Channing) are splitting, and Dad is gay.
History Detectives (PBS, June 21,9 p.m. ET)
The second-season debut goes deep for the story of Civil War submarines.
A Tribute to Meryl Streep (USA, June 21,9 p.m. ET)
The versatile star gets the American Film Institute's Life Achievement Award, plus salutes from Jim Carrey and Clint Eastwood.
Who Wants to Marry My Dad? (NBC, June 21, 10 p.m. ET)
There's a mole lurking among the 13 wife candidates as the reality series opens its second run.
The DVD debuts of two vintage series and a current hit offer a choice between escapist network TV and more explicit cable fare.
QUANTUM LEAP: THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON ($39.98) In this quirky 1989-93 sci-fi series, an experiment-gone-awry has physicist Sam Beckett (Scott Bakula) leaping into the bodies of characters from the '50s to the '80s. The result is a wildly uneven ride. Skip Sam's sappy stint as a baseball player and savor his sensitive turn as a black servant in the segregated South.
Extras: Bakula introduces all eight episodes; he, Dean Stockwell (Sam's holographic sidekick, Al) and Leap creator Donald P. Bellisario reminisce about the show's origins.
NIP/TUCK: THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON ($59.98) Talk about guilty pleasures. This five-disc set contains all 13 fabulously lurid episodes of FX's hit series about two fat-sucking plastic surgeons (Dylan Walsh and Julian McMahon). N/T pushes the envelope sexually (handcuffs, three-ways, orgies–it's all here) and with its squirm-inducing medical procedures.
Extras: A satisfying assortment, including deleted scenes, a peek at how the surgeries are faked and creator-producer Ryan Murphy explaining that his goal was "to do a depthy show about superficiality."
THE A-TEAM: SEASON ONE ($39.98) The 1983-87 action series that made Mr. T a household consonant. He joins George Peppard, Dirk Benedict and Dwight Schultz as Vietnam vets who thwart drug lords, rogue cops and other baddies in wry, stogie-in-cheek style.
Extras: Disappointingly, none.
- Contributors:
- Terry Kelleher,
- Mike Lipton,
- Leah Rozen.
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!
