NOVEL APPROACH TO MINISERIES: JULES VERNE VS. MARIO PUZO.Byline: Keith Marder Daily News Staff Writer In what must be the first-ever inter-network theme night, ABC ABC in full American Broadcasting Co. Major U.S. television network. It began when the expanding national radio network NBC split into the separate Red and Blue networks in 1928. and CBS (Cell Broadcast Service) See cell broadcast. will present Sleeping With the Fishes tonight with two miniseries based on novels written in different centuries. CBS offers up the longer and superior tale, ``Mario Puzo's The Last Don,'' a Mafia story that continues on Tuesday and Wednesday, while ABC delivers a submarine and squid story, ``Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea,'' which continues Monday. OK, it's doubtful that the coincidental fish stories were planned. What was probably planned was the counter-programming. The two stories are polar opposites. Ironically it's ``20,000 Leagues,'' which was written in 1870, that features more high-tech gizmos. ``The Last Don,'' a three-part, six-hour show is a shoot'em-up gangster piece teeming teem 1 v. teemed, teem·ing, teems v.intr. 1. To be full of things; abound or swarm: A drop of water teems with microorganisms. 2. with deception, corruption and execution. Lots of execution. (CBS laughably would not send out photos with guns in them because that is not the way they wanted to promote the show). There are many similarities between Puzo's other classic story of made men and the guys who whack them, ``The Godfather.'' In both stories, someone gets killed in a ``fishing accident,'' there is a big wedding scene, a family member has to move to Sicily to beat the heat, an estranged es·trange tr.v. es·tranged, es·trang·ing, es·trang·es 1. To make hostile, unsympathetic, or indifferent; alienate. 2. To remove from an accustomed place or set of associations. wife tries to take a mobster's kids away and the Don likes to garden. Hey, if you're going rip off someone, might as well rip off yourself. You probably won't get accused of plagiarism Using ideas, plots, text and other intellectual property developed by someone else while claiming it is your original work. . This is not as good as ``The Godfather,'' but, then again, almost nothing is. But, for the most part, it is good television. It is a well-written, well-acted piece with a fine story and a whopper Whopper - WarGames of a cast that includes Jason Gedrick, Danny Aiello (a little too Marlon Brando-ish), Joe Mantegna (a standout), Daryl Hannah, Penelope Ann Miller, Rory Cochrane (plays a great ruthless killer), Kirstie Alley, Robert Wuhl and k.d. lang (a scream as an insane Hollywood director). ``20,000 Leagues,'' has some beautiful underwater scenes and also some excellent performances, most notably by Michael Caine (as Capt. Nemo), Patrick Dempsey (as Pierre Arronax) and Adewale (as Cabe Attucks). Call it the cloning of ``Gulliver's Travels.'' The popular miniseries last year on NBC NBC in full National Broadcasting Co. Major U.S. commercial broadcasting company. It was formed in 1926 by RCA Corp., General Electric Co. (GE), and Westinghouse and was the first U.S. company to operate a broadcast network. has spawned not only this show, but another classic fable, next week's ``The Odyssey'' on NBC. It's almost like two years ago, when every sitcom seemed to be a rip-off of ``Friends.'' This is not much better. If you don't know Don't know (DK, DKed) "Don't know the trade." A Street expression used whenever one party lacks knowledge of a trade or receives conflicting instructions from the other party. the story by now, it's probably intentional. CBS even showed the same thing two months ago, albeit in a much less ambitious project. To be honest, this belongs on PBS PBS in full Public Broadcasting Service Private, nonprofit U.S. corporation of public television stations. PBS provides its member stations, which are supported by public funds and private contributions rather than by commercials, with educational, cultural, . But to be fair, it's good enough that they'd show it during a fund drive. The miniseries: ``Mario Puzo's The Last Don.'' The stars: Danny Aiello, Joe Mantegna, Daryl Hannah, Jason Gedrick, Penelope Ann Miller, Rory Cochrane, Robert Wuhl, k.d. lang and Kirstie Alley. Behind the scenes: Directed by Graeme Clifford. Written by Joyce Eliason, based on the novel by Mario Puzo. Executive produced by Larry Sanitsky, Frank Konigsberg and Eliason. Running time: Six hours. Playing: 9 tonight, Tuesday and Wednesday. Station: KCBS KCBS Kansas City Barbecue Society KCBS Korea Christian Book Service (now called KCB; Seoul, Korea) KCBS Kerala Catholic Bible Society (Kerala, India) (Channel 2). Our rating: B-plus. The miniseries: ``Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.'' The stars: Michael Caine, Patrick Dempsey, Mia Sara, Bryan Brown and Adewale. Behind the scenes: Directed Rod Hardy. Written by Brian Nelson. Executive produced by Keith Pierce, Richard Pierce and Jeffrey Hayes. Running time: Four hours. Playing: 9 tonight and Monday. Station: KABC KABC Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children (Channel 7). Our rating: C-plus. CAPTION(S): 2 Photos PHOTO (1) Danny Aiello plays the aging boss of a powerful Mafia family in ``Mario Puzo's The Last Don.'' (2) Michael Caine is Captain Nemo in ``Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.'' |
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