CBS (Tues., Mar. 4, 9 p.m. ET)
A
And here, at last, is a TV movie that isn't garbage. Instead, it's about garbage. Alan Arkin plays an ex-con who goes to work for a New Jersey trash hauler. He discovers that the business is run by the mob and polluted with murders, payoffs, price rigging and even prostitution. That, he can take. But then he finds out that the haulers are dumping toxic chemicals in our water and on our land, endangering all. So Arkin goes to the FBI and risks his own life to expose the crime. The show, unfortunately, makes a few too obvious attempts at subtlety: See Arkin see the light as he watches kids cavort in a stream he polluted. But Arkin puts in a fine performance; so does Armand Assante as his slick mob boss; so do all the mobsters. A Deadly Business is a true story—that makes it important. But the writer, director and cast also make A Deadly Business exciting, compelling and dramatic. The top of the heap on TV.
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