NBC (Sun., Oct. 18, 8 P.M. ET)
C+
In a now familiar strategy, NBC rolls out another mammoth melodrama to compete with a major sporting event, the World Series on CBS.
This lavish five-hour miniseries, which concludes Tuesday night, tells the story of a wealthy young heiress (Annette O'Toole) in the '30s. Rebounding from a miserable marriage, she travels to Europe and falls in love with and weds a dashing British duke (Anthony Andrews), who installs her in a sumptuous French château. Decades slide by, the war intrudes, children are born and grow up as Mama becomes an international jewel dealer.
This unrelievedly trite saga is stylish looking. But it would make for tedious viewing were it not for the exquisitely urbane Andrews. Unfortunately, he is only a sporadic presence. And Jewels loses what luster it possesses as soon as he is gone.
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