With today’s technological advances, and the lead actor’s reputation for over-the-top acting, there were ample opportunities to make the new television movie “Don Quixote” a visual extravaganza. Thankfully, those opportunities were handled responsibly. The TNT feature is a satisfying, low-key retelling of some of the adventures of literature’s famous windmill-tilting eccentric.
Premiering at 7 p.m. Sunday, the film brings to life several “impossible dreams” from Miguel de Cervantes’ 1,000-page novel about the misguided Spanish nobleman from La Mancha who loses himself in chivalrous interludes, the product of his addled mind.
With his faithful squire Sancho Panza at his side, Don Quixote roams the countryside in a series of episodes that find him hallucinating — looking at windmills and seeing giants, looking at squalid country inns and seeing castles.
John Lithgow plays Quixote with more restraint than he displays in his regular Emmy-winning job as wacky alien Dick Solomon from NBC’s “3rd Rock from the Sun.” He isn’t too restrained, however — after all, he is playing a nut case.
Providing comic relief is Bob Hoskins as Sancho, who is loyal to Quixote, even though he knows the man’s windmills don’t make complete revolutions. Vanessa Williams is nothing more than an object of beauty as a common woman who, through Quixote’s eyes, is the regal Dulcinea, the grand love of his life.
There are some nice optical touches from executive producer Robert Halmi Sr., but it seems as though he and fellow executive producer Lithgow were more intent on examining Quixote’s psychosis rather than overloading the film with special effects. The result is whimsical — and sometimes sweet.
Sunday
– CBS has scheduled coverage of the final round of the Masters Golf Tournament starting at 3 p.m. on WBBM-Ch. 2. n Here’s something that’s not so completely different: A&E’s two-hour “Biography” on influential ’60s British comedy troupe Monty Python starts at 7 p.m.
– Coming on the heels of the 25th anniversary of “Jaws,” author Peter Benchley goes back to the water for “Great White, Deep Trouble,” a new “National Geographic Explorer” showing how the shark population is facing a rapid decline. “National Geographic Explorer” is at 7 p.m. on CNBC.
– Oscar-winner Geena Davis (“The Accidental Tourist”) sits with James Lipton on Bravo’s “Inside the Actors Studio” at 7 p.m.
– George Clooney stars and produces a live version of the 1964 nuclear thriller “Fail Safe” at 8 p.m. on CBS-Ch. 2. His all-star cast includes “ER’s” Noah Wyle, Richard Dreyfuss, Harvey Keitel, Brian Dennehy, Sam Elliot, Don Cheadle and others. Turner Classic Movies tried an end-around on Clooney by scheduling the movie version of “Fail Safe” earlier in the day, but Clooney flexed some muscles, and TCM will instead run the film at 1:30 a.m. Monday.
– A new PBS documentary profiles all 41 of the U.S.’ chief executive officers in the 10-hour “The American President.” The project includes interviews with living former presidents, plus Bill Clinton, but excludes the ailing Ronald Reagan. Bob Dole, Colin Powell, Walter Cronkite and other public figures voice the past presidents. The documentary airs from 8 to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday on WTTW Ch. 11.
– Tony (James Gandolfini) finally has a face-to-face with the mother (Nancy Marchand) who has been “dead” to him because of her supposed part in an attempt on his life in the second-season finale of HBO’s “The Sopranos” at 8 p.m.
– Discovery Channel airs the strenuous Eco-Challenge competition from 8 to 10 p.m. Sunday and Monday, where more than 200 participants endured strenuous conditions in Argentina.
Monday
– When Helen Todd found out in November 1991 that her 20-year-old son had been killed by Indonesian military officers for demonstrating for democracy on the island of Timor, it set her on a three-year odyssey to bring his killers to justice. “Punitive Damage” is a documentary of that journey, and it airs at 5:30 p.m. on Cinemax.
– With Holy Week fast approaching, Fox’s “That ’70s Show” spoofs religion when the Forman family tries to get St. Peter (Mac Davis) to let them into heaven. The comedy is on at 7 p.m. on WFLD-Ch. 32.
– The WB’s teen sci-fi series “Roswell” moves from Wednesdays to Mondays at 8 p.m. on WGN-Ch. 9.
– An investigative reporter (Linda Hamilton) travels to Paris for a story about a woman (Jacqueline Bisset) renowned for pairing beautiful young women with powerful European men, in the fact-based “Sex & Mrs. X,” a newLifetime movie set for 8 p.m.
– Always-stressed teen Grace Manning (Julia Whelan) learns a painful secret about her trifling dad Jake (Jeffrey Nordling) on ABC’s “Once and Again” at 9 p.m. on WLS-Ch. 7.
– Home & Garden Television views some of the most opulent mansions in the country, including several in the Chicago area, all this week on “Fantasy Open House,” Monday through Saturday at 9 p.m.
Tuesday
– VH1’s popular “Divas” series for the first time salutes just one: Diana Ross. But the former Supremes lead singer will get plenty of help through an array of vocalists. The special is at 8 p.m.
– Barry Manilow-the man who wrote the songs the whole world sings-is singing country with Trisha Yearwood, Jo Dee Messina and others, on TNN at 8 p.m.
– “Talk to Me,” ABC’s loud new comedy starring Kyra Sedgwick (“Phenomenon”) as an outlandish radio talk show host, isn’t nearly as good as the show it’s replacing, “Sports Night.” In fact, “Talk to Me,” which premieres at 8:30 p.m. on WLS-Ch. 7, isn’t good, period.
Wednesday
– Harrison Ford, the thinking man’s action star, is hailed by the American Film Institute on CBS, with Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Sharon Stone, Carrie Fisher and Chewbacca from “Star Wars” expected as guests at 7 p.m. on WBBM-Ch. 2.
Thursday
– If your souffle falls, or a dinner party of eight suddenly turns into 14, who you gonna call? “Food 911,” a new Food Network series premiering at 8 p.m. that will solve the worst food dilemmas.
Friday
– On Fox Family Channel’s “Paranoia,” TV’s first live interactive, multi-player game, one contestant steps into a wired studio to face adversaries on more than 100 monitors around the country, and many more through telephone and internet hookups, who are trying to take money and prizes that the in-studio contestant possesses. Sounds easy, right? Find out at 6 p.m.
– As part of its “Hate and Violence: No Simple Answers” initiative, Discovery Channel hosts a town meeting on the subject of hate in Memphis, Tenn. It will air live simultaneously with a Web cast at 6 p.m., and followed by a three-hour special on extremist groups at 7.
– History Channel International, the History Channel’s offshoot network geared towards extensive global historical events, previews from 7 to 11 p.m. with “World Timeline: Egypt’s Greatest Pharaohs,” a mini-series hosted by former WBBM-Ch. 2 reporter and “Access Hollywood” co-anchor Giselle Fernandez.
Saturday
– Will Smith, “Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me” and “Toy Story 2” each have four nominations on Nickelodeon’s 13th annual Kids’ Choice Awards, where the channel’s fans select their favorites in movies, music and television. The special is at 7 p.m.
– Michael Rapaport discovers biological father Robert Forster is a “made man,” in the mobbed-up Starz comedy “Kiss Toledo Goodbye” at 7 p.m.
– “Mary, Mother of Jesus,” a moving NBC film that aired in November, is replayed on the Odyssey Network at 7 p.m., with Pernilla August (“Star Wars: Episode I, The Phantom Menace”) as Mary and Christian Bale as Jesus.
