'NIGHTS' TO REMEMBER HALMI OFFERS TV AUDIENCES A VEILED TREAT.

Byline: David Kronke Television Writer

Small-screen spectacle producer Robert Halmi Sr. has lately become synonymous with kitsch or worse. His 10-hour epic miniseries ``The 10th Kingdom'' was roundly considered NBC's Waterloo last sweeps period (and was even cited as the reason the network's head of movie development was sent packing).

Truth be told, the guy hasn't been saddled with a wholly unfair reputation, though, to continue with our recent propensity for honesty, ``Arabian Nights,'' his latest (at least until ``Jason and the Argonauts'' debuts next week), stands as a pretty engaging effort. Boasting opulent production design, impressive TV-quality special effects and a modicum of oddball wit, the miniseries, running tonight and Monday, has fun with its exhibitionism.

Its set-up is a smidgen verbose: The Sultan of Baghdad (Dougray Scott) - having murdered one queen for venal infidelity - is loathing marrying again, but pesky rules insist he must. All the members of his harem realize he has gone mad and will murder his next wife before he even consummates the marriage; only the brave Scheherazade (Mili Avital), who remembers the Sultan in nobler days, agrees to be wed.

Scheherazade has what passes in these things for a plan: She will divert his attentions with a series of fanciful stories. If she can continue to pique his interest, she will survive. Otherwise, so long, it's been good to know ya.

``The audience must be hooked in the first moments, or you've lost them,'' a wizened Storyteller (Alan Bates) informs Scheherazade early on as a life-saving measure. Given that, it seems odd that screenwriter Peter Barnes and director Steve Barron take nearly a half-hour to set up their fairly simple premise. Once things get moving, however, the young bride's tales, however familiar, take on an agreeable new life in these environs.

There's ``Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves,'' with cool dragons and an even cooler (and saliva-prone) camel. There's ``Aladdin,'' going the network's mothership Disney one better with not one, but two hyperactive genies. There are a couple of O. Henry-esque tales: one a grim variation on ``The Prince and the Pauper,'' the other an Egyptian, cleverer take on, of all things, ``Weekend at Bernie's.''

And the last yarn, with its duel atop a flying carpet whizzing through red-rock canyons, attempts to evoke both the ``Indiana Jones'' and ``Star Wars'' flicks in its gee-whizzery. The climactic effort to tie all the stories together falls flat by comparison, but at least allows the viewer time to separate the inventiveness from the hokum.

With all the spectacle, performances don't seem to be a high priority, though John Leguizamo is very funny in his dual role as Aladdin's two genies (particularly the kvetching Ring Genie). Avital serves as an elegant hostess for the two evenings. But perhaps the most soulful and evocative turn comes from Saffron the camel, whose flings of viscous slobber will move you - at least a couple of more feet away from your set.

THE FACTS

--The show: ``Arabian Nights.''

--What: Fantasy miniseries inspired by ``A Thousand and One Nights.''

--The stars: Mili Avital, Dougray Scott, John Leguizamo, Alan Bates, Rufus Sewell, Jason Scott Lee, Tcheky Karyo.

--Where: ABC (Channel 7).

--When: 9 tonight and Monday.

--Our rating: Three stars.

THIS ONE'S AS DULL AS DENVER

There are a number of things wrong with John Denver's life that make it less-than-perfect TV biopic material. One: It doesn't so much end as simply just fizzle out. Two: There's not much in the way of dramatic struggle early on in his career. Three: The middle's pretty dull, too.

Put Chad Lowe, he of the particularly watery disposition, in the role of Denver, and what was a tale of mild drama is diluted all the more. Let's put it this way: The most convincing moments of ``Take Me Home: The John Denver Story'' come while Denver and his wife, Annie, discuss his fertility problems.

This is a connect-the-dots show-biz story: His father (Gerald McRaney) doesn't understand him; his early career is uninspiring; at a gig, he sees a girl in the crowd and his jaw literally drops. He follows her with the assiduousness of a stalker: Had a record label not eventually signed him, you get the sense he might've gunned for a president.

But he tells Annie (Kristin Davis, whose only physical change from 1965 to 1995 is her hairstyle), ``You follow the rules, huh? So do I. We (musicians) are supposed to be dark and brooding, but I guess it's not in me.'' And he wonders later why critics find him bland.

``Take Me Home'' charts the course of Denver's career, from the halcyon days of the '70s to the sallow '80s and '90s, through the troubled times with Annie and their subsequent divorce and his second failed marriage after that. John and Annie's arguments are a little on the staggeringly uncompelling side - they both just come off as spoiled, petulant little kids who have plenty, but want the one thing that the other won't give them.

One bit of narrative cheating: John saves his marriage, temporarily at least, in 1976 by writing ``Annie's Song''; it actually was released in 1974. Their divorce is played as so devastating that he's off meeting his next wife in the very next scene. Likewise, when the singer reaches an emotional rapprochement with his father, there's no need, dramaturgically speaking, for him to be around anymore, so Pop promptly dies. Denver's social activism is shunted off to the side as well.

Lowe, who at times bears a striking resemblance to his subject, doesn't exactly command the screen - the actors playing his grown children look older than he does - and overacts while lip-synching to Denver's songs. In fact, the best - or worst, depending on your point of view - of this exercise may be rediscovering Denver's syrupy music all over again.

- D.K.

THE FACTS

--The show: ``Take Me Home: The John Denver Story.''

--What: Biopic about the singer/songwriter.

--The stars: Chad Lowe, Kristin Davis, Gerald McRaney.

--Where: CBS (Channel 2).

--When: 9 tonight.

--Our rating: Two stars.

FALL AWAY FROM GENERATION GAP

History as written for the Ritalin Generation, the miniseries ``The '70s'' serves up a pop soundtrack of the usual suspects playing over montages of archival footage of the decade's biggest news stories, and then surrounds all that with an epic tale of monumental idiocy.

``The '70s,'' like ``The '60s'' which preceded it (the miniseries, not the decade, though certainly the decades line up chronologically as well), focuses on a small, tight-knit group of folks, at least one of whom is conveniently present at nearly every major American news event of the era. This requires some massive leaps of narrative faith - you just sort of have to switch off your brain to believe that someone who was at the Kent State massacre in 1970 would become a close Nixon aide embroiled in Watergate and, subsequently, an environmentalist, or that that same ramrod-conservative Nixon supporter would be chummy with an African- American who was chummy with white women, and so on.

That character, Byron (Brad Rowe), has the loopiest arc, but his black pal, Dexter (Guy Torry), embarks upon a pretty circuitous path as well, from National Guardsman to movie-theater owner to radical black activist to doting stepdad to Trans Am owner to cult deprogrammer. Byron's girlfriend, Eileen (Vinessa Shaw), travels a more credible path, from dutiful girlfriend to feminist icon - she's the centerpiece of an early sexual discrimination lawsuit - but still ends up the dutiful companion. Byron's sister, Christie (Amy Smart), travels the most hackneyed route - slut to model to cokehead to New Agey bozo. Byron's wealthy, booze-swilling father (Robert Joy) pops up occasionally to dispense the out-of-touch snifflings of the pompous Older Generation.

As our heroes fall easily into and out of jobs and relationships, the tumult of the decade swirls about them, and they learn important lessons but none more than friendship is good. Interestingly, based on this miniseries, more time was spent in the Me Decade dancing than playing sports (couldn't Dexter have joined the Olympic team that went to the terrorist-tainted Munich Games?), developing medical advancements and ratcheting up the junk-food industry combined.

Performances seldom rise above the amateurishness of the material. But if one can compress the complexities of the '70s into four hours for the attention-deficit disordered, why not into 15 seconds? So here goes, the '70s according to ``The '70s'':

Kent State: Terrible.

Nixon: Even worse.

Racism and sexual discrimination: Even worse, if possible, than Nixon.

Feminism: OK, but don't get carried away.

Streaking: See Feminism.

Environmental activism: OK, but not that interesting a plot point, so let's move on.

Rock music: Best thing about the decade, even if, or maybe because, it led to promiscuous sex.

Promiscuous sex: OK, thanks to the pill, but don't let it lead to drugs.

Drugs: Iffy, but don't overdose or let it lead to a rudderless spiritual quest.

Rudderless spiritual quests: See Kent State.

Disco: See ``Nixon.''

- D.K.

THE FACTS

--The show: ``The '70s.''

--What: Miniseries about friends enduring the Me Decade.

--The stars: Brad Rowe, Vinessa Shaw, Guy Torry, Amy Smart.

--Where: NBC (Channel 4).

--When: 9 tonight and Monday.

--Our rating: One and one half stars.

CAPTION(S):

2 photos, 3 boxes

Photo:

(1) Mili Avital and Dougray Scott star as the enchanting Scheherazade and the Sultan of Baghdad in ``Arabian Nights.''

(2) Chad Lowe stars in ``Take Me Home: The John Denver Story,'' airing tonight on CBS.

Box: (1-- 3) THE FACTS (see text)