THE DAILY NEWS WATCH-O-RAMA HIGHLIGHTS AND LOWLIGHTS OF THE COMING TV WEEK.Byline: David Kronke ``Line of Fire: Eminence Front'' (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. Channel 7; 9 tonight) Think: ABC burns off a smart drama it inevitably torpedoed during the regular season with a ``movie'' starring Leslie Hope and Leslie Bibb Leslie Louise Bibb (born November 17, 1974 in Bismarck, North Dakota) is an American actress and former fashion model. Biography Leslie Louise Bibb was born in Bismarck, North Dakota, on November 17, 1974, and raised in Nelson County, Virginia. as FBI agents pursuing a crime syndicate run by the familial Jonah Malloy (David Paymer). An agent's daughter is shot, and her life hangs by a thread. Don't think: ABC in a nutshell - ``According to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. Jim'' survives for yet another year, and this show couldn't last half a season. In a nutshell: More compelling than almost anything you saw on ABC all season, which explains why they had to cancel it. Which its producers should consider a compliment, given Disney's similar handling of Michael Moore. ``The One That Got Away'' (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. Channel 4; 9 p.m. Monday) Think: A bachelor, Skipper Kress, dates women from his past. At stake: A happily ever after The term happily ever after is used in association with many works of children’s fiction and romantic fiction. It describes a happy ending, often a cliché in which all the good characters have emerged victorious and all the evil characters have been punished. for Skip and one of them ... and quality camera time for the others. Don't think: How sweet of NBC to give ol' Skip a chance to find true love. And all he has to sacrifice in exchange is his integrity. In a nutshell: ``I'm very independent, but I need a man to take care of me,'' one of his crushes announces unironically. ``I 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. how you can know him and not be in love with him,'' says another; we'd be happy to explain. Is the opposite of a guilty pleasure guilty agony? ``Cary Grant: A Class Apart'' (Turner Classic Movies; 8 p.m. and midnight Tuesday) Think: A celebration of the most suave man to grace a Hollywood film and an examination of the particulars that made that persona so difficult. Don't think: Archie Leach? Isn't that a character in ``A Fish Called Wanda''? In a nutshell: He was an oblique guy by nature - and TCM's efforts to uncover his truths are unfailingly compelling. Better still, TCM (1) (Trellis-Coded Modulation/Viterbi Decoding) A technique that adds forward error correction to a modulation scheme by adding an additional bit to each baud. TCM is used with QAM modulation, for example. will show many, many Grant classics: ``North by Northwest'' at 9:30 p.m., ``Notorious'' and ``Suspicion'' in the middle of the night, and ``Bringing Up Baby Bringing Up Baby, starring Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant, is a 1938 screwball comedy telling the story of a scientist winding up in various predicaments involving a woman with a unique sense of logic and a leopard named Baby. ,'' ``Arsenic and Old Lace'' and ``I Was a Male War Bride'' next week. Set your TiVos now. ``Summerland'' (The WB Channel 5; 8 p.m. Tuesday; thereafter, 9 p.m. Tuesdays) Think: Lori Loughlin stars as a 30-something whose perfect Southern California lifestyle is disrupted when she must care for her sister's kids ... Don't think: ... but the music suggests from the outset that the added responsibility will, in the end, make her life even more perfect than before. So the drama is pretty puny pu·ny adj. pu·ni·er, pu·ni·est 1. Of inferior size, strength, or significance; weak: a puny physique; puny excuses. 2. Chiefly Southern U.S. Sickly; ill. . In a nutshell: More phony and idealized i·de·al·ize v. i·de·al·ized, i·de·al·iz·ing, i·de·al·iz·es v.tr. 1. To regard as ideal. 2. To make or envision as ideal. v.intr. 1. than most WB fare. ``Come to Papa'' (NBC Channel 4; 8:30 p.m. Tuesday) Think: Comic Tom Papa's life is transformed into an utterly unfunny sitcom about a Jersey writer and his family and friends. Don't think: ``Come to Jesus'' is a more palatable invitation. In a nutshell: Sample punch line: ``Why don't you like pigeons? Because they're smarter than you? They're birds and they're smarter than you?'' Not a good sign when not one but two minor characters plausibly consider the lead character ``slow.'' If the broadcast networks want to convince viewers that they're not just burning off junk in the summer, this show is scarcely helpful. ``The Last Ride'' (USA; 8 and 10 p.m. Wednesday) Think: After botching a youthful heist despite having a really cool car, an ex-con (Dennis Hopper) seeks revenge on the man who betrayed him (Fred Ward) and who raised his son (Will Patton) - who has a troublesome son of his own these days. Gee, with all this male angst, how will they find the time to race cars? Don't think: More ``The Zippy and the Petulant'' than ``The Fast and the Furious.'' In a nutshell: More an excuse for product placement for the car company sponsoring the movie than engaging drama. ``Peter Jennings Reporting Peter Jennings Reporting was a continuing series of documentaries produced and hosted by the late ABC News anchor Peter Jennings that aired on ABC. Many of these documentaries were produced by Peter Jennings's production company, PJ Productions, and are currently distributed : LAPD'' (ABC Channel 7; 9 p.m. Tuesday) Think: A compelling portrait of cops vs. gang neighborhoods in South Central and the rest of our city. Don't think: ``Until (politicians and taxpayers) are willing to give us everything that we need to win, they don't want us to win,'' one cop observes, reasonably if threateningly. In a nutshell: Ugly, disquieting dis·qui·et tr.v. dis·qui·et·ed, dis·qui·et·ing, dis·qui·ets To deprive of peace or rest; trouble. n. Absence of peace or rest; anxiety. adj. Archaic Uneasy; restless. - and must-see reportage in its depiction of both those who are equally victimized and those who victimize. ``Thomas L. Friedman Reporting: The Other Side of Outsourcing'' (Discovery Times; 10 p.m. Thursday) Think: The New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of Times' Pulitzer Prize-winning champion of globalization globalization Process by which the experience of everyday life, marked by the diffusion of commodities and ideas, is becoming standardized around the world. Factors that have contributed to globalization include increasingly sophisticated communications and transportation discovers its dark side. Don't think: At the rate things are going, Thai TV critics will be writing rave reviews of ``According to Jim According to Jim is an American situation comedy television series originally broadcast by ABC. The show premiered with little publicity in October 2001, following the surprise hit comedy My Wife and Kids. ,'' and you'll be seeing me panhandling on the Coldwater Canyon off-ramp. In a nutshell: Friedman was a longtime champion of the war with Iraq - until recently when he turned against it. Here he discovers globalization ain't all it's cracked up to be as well. For such a brilliant guy, he comes to seemingly obvious conclusions fairly late. Still, an eye-opening documentary. ``The First 48'' (A&E; 10 p.m. Thursday) Think: Reality-cop show about the first 48 hours of a police investigation. Don't think: Does the title refer to the first 48 times we've seen something like this? In a nutshell: An investigator pretentiously intones: ``When you deal with a death on a daily basis, you realize how precious it is and how fleeting it is.'' Duly noted. ``Degrassi: The Next Generation'' (The N; 8 and 10 p.m. Friday) Think: The tween tween n. A child between middle childhood and adolesence, usually between 8 and 12 years old. [Blend of teen1 and between.] soap returns for a new season, with more dating woes, driving-class angst, petty theft, peer pressure and other melodrama. Don't think: The ``Degrassi'' fans of today will be the ``As the World Turns'' fans of 2040. In a nutshell: Smarter and more realistic than most tween fare, with an emphasis on problems kids really face, so parents might want to watch with their progeny to begin discussions. My 14-year-old stepdaughter's favorite show. (A ``Degrassi'' marathon already in progress continues on The N through Memorial Day.) ``American Casino'' (Discovery Channel; 8 p.m. Friday) Think: Like Fox's upcoming ``The Casino,'' a look at the daily operation of a Las Vegas hotel. Don't think: By focusing on an upscale resort off the Strip, they automatically sacrificed the spectacle of the clueless clue·less adj. Lacking understanding or knowledge. clueless Adjective Slang helpless or stupid Adj. 1. hoi polloi mucking up the joint. In a nutshell: Pretty average stuff: An occasionally amusing moment but overall a fairly drab portrait of such a colorful environment. ``The AMC (Advanced Mezzanine Card) See AdvancedTCA. Project: Made in Hong Kong'' (AMC; 10 p.m. Saturday) Think: Chinese martial artists dream of outdoing Jackie Chan in this documentary. Don't think: An entire nation dreams of glory via being kicked in the face? ... In a nutshell: ... or kicking others in the face, yes. A vaguely involving examination of ``Chinese Idol,'' in which participants vie against one another for big-time fame by pummeling one another. Do we sense a future Fox reality show? David Kronke, (818) 713-3638 david.kronke(at)dailynews.com CAPTION(S): 2 photos Photo: (1) ``SUMMERLAND'' (2) ``AMERICAN CASINO'' |
|
||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion