He`s baaaaack.
Rev. Sun Myung Moon was once known for his mass weddings and flower-peddling minions called Moonies. He faded from view in the early `80s, tossed in the pokey for 13 months after being convicted of conspiracy and filing false tax returns.
But as a disturbing ”Frontline” details, Moon and his Unification movement are very much at play in U.S. politics, business and media. Their activities flirt with illegalities and might have a dangerous impact on U.S. politics.
In ”The Resurrection of Reverend Moon” (9 p.m. Tuesday, PBS-Ch. 11)
reporter Eric Nadler and producer Rory O`Connor show us how Moon`s fingers are messing with the media, through his ownership of the Washington Times; with politics, through the American Freedom Coalition, a well-funded conservative group; and with business, through various real-estate, commercial-fishing, video and auto-parts ventures.
It details the lengths to which Moon has gone to gain a presidential pardon for his misdeeds, trying to spin his conviction into religious-racial persecution. It shows us some of his unsavory pals, making a strong case that his main financial backer is Japan`s Ryoichi Sasakawa, a billionaire whose right-wing associations started with Mussolini.
The program offers a thumbnail sketch of Moon`s early years, and that won`t be enough for most viewers. I excuse this, given what the show does provide: the well-documented portrait of a man and an organization (not so much cult as conglomerate) determined to have a big influence on the American way. There`s little wonder why the Unification Church is threatening
”Frontline” with legal action over the show`s airing. – In ”Bed of Lies,” a made-for-TV movie airing at 8 p.m. Monday on ABC-Ch. 7, Susan Dey walks from behind the counter of the small town Texas diner wearing a uniform that seems ready to split at every seam.
When she`s wooed by a lawyer, son of the state`s former governor, she worries about what his friends will think of a match between ”Texas blue blood and a trashy blond waitress.”
Her worries are misplaced, as she discovers soon after marrying the lawyer (Chris Cooper). Politically ambitious and inherently arrogant, he ignores and then begins abusing his wife, all the while exercising his fondness for womanizing, bisexuality and drug abuse.
Based on a real story, ”Bed of Lies” is fairly traditional tawdry TV. And if it`s hard to believe that the ”trashy blond” would become almost immediately a virtuous wife-mom, Dey at least gives a sexy, solid performance. When she finally picks up a rifle and points it at her husband, you won`t be at all surprised. – ”Campaigning for the Presidency” (10 p.m. Tuesday, PBS-Ch. 11)
gathers some incisive and witty panelists for a forum about the intricacies of presidential elections. John Chancellor is a brilliant moderator, massaging conversations that take us back into the last 30 years of presidential politics and also give us Gary Hart, talking about what it was like to work for `72 Democratic candidate George McGovern.
