The Baltimore police detectives of NBC’s superior “Homicide: Life on the Streets” return in one of the most fulfilling TV movies ever.
The show, scheduled for 8 p.m. Sunday on WMAQ-Ch. 5 (the 49th NBA All-Star Game starts at 5 p.m. and might push the movie’s start time), brings back every co-star of the 1993-99 series, which was unjustly canceled last year.
The movie smoothly displays the series’ strongest suit, cops who talk and work in a realistic and straightforward way. The case they tackle makes that interplay even more compelling and it’s big enough to bring past and present detectives together: The life of Al Giardello (Yaphet Kotto), the gruff former shift commander of the Baltimore homicide division who is running for mayor, is hanging in the balance after he is almost killed by an assassin.
“All the old boys and girls gathered again, everyone palsy-walsy,” sneers longtime “Homicide” nemesis Capt. Gaffney (Walt MacPherson)
“For `G,’ we came on our own,” says Tim Bayliss (Kyle Secor), who returns from a mysterious leave of absence.
The reasons behind Bayliss’ walking away from his job, and the fates of several of Baltimore’s finest, are revealed in “Homicide: The Movie.” That includes the show’s most complex character: edgy, arrogant, effective ex-cop Frank Pembleton (Emmy-winner Andre Braugher), who is now a university philosophy teacher.
Also back are original cast members Melissa Leo (Kay Howard), Ned Beatty (Stan Bolander), and Daniel Baldwin and Jon Polito, who as Beau Felton and Steve Crosetti, respectively, were killed off years ago.
With more than 20 characters, not everyone gets enough screen time. There should be more of Clark Johnson’s enjoyable Meldrick Lewis. Relegated to cameos are Michelle Forbes as former coroner Julianna Cox, Reed Diamond as disgraced ex-cop Mike Kellerman, and Isabella Hofmann as former shift commander Megan Russert.
But the team of Pembleton and Bayliss is more dynamic than ever (watch for a wonderful dance between them near the movie’s end), and Braugher again proves he took a huge emotional chunk of the series when he left in 1998.
Sunday
– The cute-but-devastating superhero trio of Powerpuff Girls celebrates a new episode at 6 p.m. with a daylong marathon starting at 11 a.m. on Cartoon Network.
– My-diddly-goodness! A regular dies on “The Simpsons” at 7 p.m. on WFLD-Ch. 32.
– A&E’s new Hercule Poirot mystery “The Murder of Roger Ackroyd” has David Suchet back as Agatha Christie’s famed detective at 7 p.m.
– Showtime’s “It’s Black Entertainment” traces African-Americans in movies at 7 p.m. Immediately following at 8:30 p.m. is a conversation between filmmaker Charles Burnett (“To Sleep with Anger”) and actor Delroy Lindo (“Clockers”), who did well in interviewing director Spike Lee for the Independent Film Channel some months ago.
– One can’t help but think CBS made “Sally Hemings: An American Scandal” in part because the four-hour mini-series on the affair between Thomas Jefferson and his slave before, during and after the White House reminds one of another recent adulterous scandal.
– The mini-series at 8 p.m. Sunday and Wednesday on WBBM-Ch. 2 is somewhat soulless in part one, mostly because the filmmakers over-romanticize the relationship, given the times. Part two is more honest in depicting the couple’s later years. Britain’s Carmen Ejogo redeems her woeful, ingenue-like performance on Sunday with a deeper portrayal of Sally as a resilient older woman on Wednesday; Sam Neill is fine as Jefferson.
Monday
– The casts of “Freaks & Geeks” and “Popular” square off all this week on “Family Feud” at 11 a.m. on WPWR-Ch. 50.
– Island minister Daniel Cooper (Cameron Daddo) misplaces a winning lottery ticket on Pax TV’s “Hope Island” at 7 p.m. on WCPX-Ch. 38.
– A&E’s “Biography” at 7 p.m. has a lovely, textured story on singer Ella Fitzgerald, heightened by spiffier-than-normal graphics, some graceful film and video performances of Ella, a 1986 interview with the lady herself, a willingness to include a little history on jazz, be-bop, swing and pop, and more-than-usual on-camera appearances by host Nancy Wilson.
– Hosted by comic/actress Julia Sweeney, Romance Classics’ “My Funny Valentine” offers a look at love and romance through the eyes of innocent 7-year-olds and cynical female stand-up comics at 7 p.m.
– Dog lovers get a special Valentine’s Day treat: “A Dog’s Life,” a new, three-hour mini-series hosted by “Frasier’s” Kelsey Grammer, at 7 p.m. on the Discovery Channel; and two-day coverage of the 124th annual Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show on the USA Network, also at 7 p.m., on Monday and Tuesday.
– WTTW-Ch. 11 airs “The Black Press: Soldiers Without Swords,” a documentary on African-Americans journalists, at 9 p.m.
Tuesday
– Director Sydney Pollack guests as Will’s (Eric McCormack) father, and former “Riptide” co-star Perry King plays a man who may be Jack’s (Sean Hayes) dad, on NBC’s “Will & Grace” at 8 p.m. on WMAQ-Ch. 5.
– Say goodbye to Detective James Martinez (actor Nicholas Turturro’s getting a comedy on the WB) on ABC’s “NYPD Blue” at 9 p.m. on WLS-Ch. 7.
– PBS’ “Frontline” enlists Forrest Sawyer to explore the sometimes-deadly rise of homophobia in America at 9 p.m. on WTTW-Ch. 11.
Wednesday
– Musician Beth Hart makes a special appearance on Fox’s “Beverly Hills, 90210” at 7 p.m. on WFLD-Ch. 32.
– There’s a shape-shifting alien lurking around “Roswell,” the WB’s teen sci-fi series, at 8 p.m. on WGN-Ch. 9.
– Edward James Olmos returns as Supreme Court nominee Roberto Mendoza on NBC’s “The West Wing” at 8 p.m. on WMAQ-Ch. 5.
– Whatever happened to Micheal Ray Richardson, the talented New York Knicks point guard from the late ’70s and early ’80s whose stirring rise in the NBA was derailed by drugs? TNT answers the question in the involving “Whatever Happened to Micheal Ray?” enlivened by narration made personal by comedian Chris Rock at 9 p.m.
– The stars let us peek into their lives through MTV’s “Diary,” which premieres at 9:30 p.m. The debut covers Celine Dion’s preparation for her sabbatical from music.
Thursday
– TNT, which created the Goodwill Games several years ago, focuses on cold-weather sports for the first time, with 16 hours of the 2000 Winter Goodwill Games from Lake Placid, N.Y., starting at 7 p.m. and going through Sunday.
– The Sundance Channel launches its first original series, “Conversations in World Cinema,” a monthly talk with international filmmakers, at 8 p.m. First up: Jane Campion, director of “The Piano” and the recently released “Holy Smoke!”
Friday
– “His Name Was Emmett Till” at 7:30 p.m. on WYCC-Ch. 20 is the story of the 14-year-old Chicago teen whose death is said to have sparked the Civil Rights movement.
– This two-hour “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” at 8 p.m. on WMAQ-Ch. 5 is a crossover with the original “Law & Order,” where the New York City cops and lawyers probe the murder of a man believed to be a sexual aggressor. But evidence points to the troubled daughter of a wealthy family controlled by guest star Jane Alexander.
Saturday
– WGN-Ch. 9 reporter Eddie Arruza hosts “Adelante, Chicago” (“Onward, Chicago”), a new Latino-affairs program scheduled for Saturdays at 6 a.m.
– The Sci-Fi Channel’s “Interceptor Force” at 8 p.m. is about a near-future team of soldiers specially trained to handle hostile aliens, and their investigation into a small town gone silent after an object hits Earth.
– David Brenner, who developed observational humor — later made famous by Jerry Seinfeld — performs live on HBO at 9 p.m.
