Jumping a few years into the future, producer Dick Wolf, the man responsible for one of TV`s best and most realistic dramas, ”Law & Order,”
has gone daffy with a new series called ”Mann and Machine” (7 p.m. Sunday, NBC-Ch. 5).
This is one of those high-concept (I often think of them as one-drink-too-many) ideas that combines elements of ”Robocop” and ”Alien Nation”
and adds some of the man-woman police-team spice of ”Hunter.”
This sort of combination, almost laughable on paper, is even more preposterous on screen.
David Andrews, who looks like a dime-store Kevin Costner, plays Bobby Mann, a cop of the maverick stripe that has become a TV and film cliche. When his robotic (or is it android? cyborg? we are never fully informed on this point) partner is ”killed,” Mann demands ”a new partner . . . and one who doesn`t need a lube job every six months.”
He gets one, in the pretty person of Eve Edison (Yancy Butler), an
”information specialist” (i.e. computer specialist). Together they go about the business of solving a series of murders.
It`s a strained relationship. Though Eve is intellectually advanced,
”emotionally she`s only 7.” There`s much she doesn`t understand.
”I`m sorry that I bit your head off,” says Mann.
”Bit my head off?!?” says Edison.
The world in which they live is never convincingly futuristic. Mann`s means of transportation is a Humvee, the tank-like vehicle used in Desert Storm. The San Francisco Giants are based in Tokyo, and 24 percent interest on a bank loan is considered a good rate.
These are trivial tidbits, hardly inventive enough to hold our interest and not nearly enough to keep us from realizing that ”Mann and Machine” is a limp and ludicrous show.
Lighter, but only modestly more engaging, is ”Stand by Your Man” (9 p.m. Sunday, Fox-Ch. 32), a series based on the successful British comedy
”Birds of a Feather” and the vehicle that totes yet another standup comic, Rosie O`Donnell, onto the small screen.
O`Donnell plays Lorraine, stuck in a trailer park with a philandering husband named Artie (Rick Hall) while her sister Rochelle (Melissa Gilbert-Brinkman) is happily-ever-aftering with husband Roger (Sam McMurray) in a tasteless, nouveau riche mansion.
In the premiere, the husbands are put in jail for robbery, forcing the sisters to cohabit in the mansion. Cultures clash.
”My God, this place is unbelievable,” says Lorraine. ”It`s like something out of `Knots Landing.` ”
Miriam Flynn, one of my Second City favorites, enlivens things a bit as Adrienne, the next-door neighbor. But it appears probable that she will be employed as little more than a foil for the sisters` antics and a target for their insults.
The talented O`Donnell-in size and style, a watered-down Roseanne Arnold- and Gilbert-Brinkman prove attractive and amusing in the roles, even while reading the inanities and double-entendres of a script that is surely from Skid Row.
– And now, for some fairly racy stuff for the networks:
”I don`t know if I`m coming or going,” says he.
”I know which one I`d prefer,” says she.
”Seduction: Three Tales From the Inner Sanctum” (8 p.m. Sunday, ABC-Ch. 7) begins with the voice-over, ”Between ecstasy and anguish lies the inner sanctum.” It sounds like a perfume commercial but proves not quite as interesting to watch.
The show displays, such as it is, the acting versatility of Victoria Principal, who plays three women in different eras caught up in romantic escapades.
In ”Ecstasy,” she plays the modern wife of a high-powered executive who enjoys an active fantasy life with his computer. In ”Sacrifice,” she`s the devoted girlfriend of an artist tormented by having seen as a child his mother`s infidelity, circa 1930s. And in ”Temptation,” she`s a manipulative blond who meets and seduces a man into more than just sex, circa 1950s.
Each of the segments smacks of leftover ”Alfred Hitchcock Presents”
scripts. The effect of all this Principal at once is an overdose of pert.
John Terry, a lesser-known but slightly more capable actor, also appears in each story: He`s the husband, the artist and the seduced man.
Based on the original ”Inner Sanctum” radio series, this collection shows all the signs of being conceived of as a possible series.
At the conclusion of the final tale we hear Principal say, ”See you next time.” Not likely.
– – –
– ”A Child`s Garden of Verses” (5 p.m. Friday, HBO), the latest work of animation from ”HBO`s Storybook Musicals,” is a quiet but textured gem for kiddies and their parents.
Based on the experiences of Scottish essayist, poet and author Robert Louis Stevenson (”Treasure Island,” ”The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde”), its mellow tone, soft-hued drawings and relaxing tunes should settle down even the most hyperactive youngsters.
The story outlines in broad strokes Stevenson`s early years. Born in Edinburgh in 1850, he was the son of a wealthy civil engineer. His poor health made it difficult for him to attend school as a child, but his vivid imagination led him to become a world-famous author.
Among the Stevenson verses set to music by Broadway composer Charles Strouse are pieces that describe the joy of going up in the air on a swing and a child`s fascination with his own shadow.
Narrated by actor Jonathan Pryce (star of Broadway`s ”Miss Saigon”) and produced and directed by Michael Sporn, this half-hour production is intriguing for its simplicity and fidelity in capturing childhood emotions and sensitivities.
– Sinister glances play a big part in ”Clarissa,” a lavish costume drama from ”Masterpiece Theatre” (9 p.m. Sunday, PBS-Ch. 11) about a virtuous country girl betrayed by her scheming brother and sister, abducted then raped by an aristocratic but dissolute dandy, and disavowed by her authoritative father.
Boiled down to three hourlong installments from 18th Century British author Samuel Richardson`s 1 million word epistolary novel, it airs at 9 p.m. Sundays through April 19 on WTTW. Saskia Wickham does a fine job as the virginal Clarissa, and Sean Bean puts in an all-too-creepy performance as the rake Robert Lovelace.
A tale of obsessive sexual desire, ”Clarissa” lacks the harrowing intensity of ”Fatal Attraction” but makes up for it with its subtle depiction of a head-strong heroine, a feminist ahead of her time.
SOURCE: Barbara Szul.
”Live! From Death Row” (7 p.m. Friday, Fox-Ch. 32) may sound like a teaser for an upcoming ”Geraldo,” but this implausible, made-for-TV drama about a hostage situation at a maximum security prison awkwardly tries to address the issue of capital punishment.
Bruce Davison stars as Laurence Harwin Dvorak, a Ted Bundy-like serial killer and self-taught lawyer who has helped 16 fellow inmates file appeals to stay their executions. Joanna Cassidy (”Who Framed Roger Rabbit”) stars as Alana Powers, a burned out tabloid reporter who interviews Dvorak three hours prior to his scheduled electrocution.
During the interview, Dvorak is able to distract and disarm one of the two guards on watch and takes Powers and her cameraman hostage. Name a prison in America where a convicted mass murderer who bludgeoned 27 women wouldn`t be in handcuffs and leg irons.
The live feed continues throughout the hostage ordeal, despite Dvorak`s and his motley crew of Death Row inmates` beating a security guard and a suicide. Wouldn`t there be some debate among the TV news executives, the remote crew and prison authorities about continuing to broadcast live?
Dvorak preaches into the camera that he believes capital punishment won`t deter crime. He maniacally orchestrates the interviews with his fellow convicts: a crack-addicted black youth, a disgruntled black militant, a Vietnam veteran and a mommy murderer. If this isn`t a ”Geraldo” guest list, it`s surely a ”Hard Copy” segment. SOURCE: Maurice Weaver.
