This Thanksgiving Go For The Delicious TV Leftovers


Overall it’s a slightly lackluster collection of holiday viewing choices; I’m surprised more networks aren’t being at least a little creative and taking advantage of strange viewing patterns to throw something out there. Congrats to those few who have stepped up to the plate; here are some highlights for the next couple of days:

Tonight, Trio begins a mini-miniseries marathon thing with the 8pm premiere of a new special Epic TV: The Top Ten Miniseries of All Time, hosted by ‘70s and ‘80s mini queen Jane Seymour (Awakening Land, East of Eden, and the notorious genre bellyflop War and Remembrance). Minis were an exciting innovation in their time, giving producers the opportunity to spread lavish literary adaptations over several nights, allowing a network to dominate publicity and audience attention. These productions became truly special events, and though the titles posited on Trio’s special are most remembered as major broadcast network offerings, the miniseries also contributed in a large way to forming the current TV landscape with its myriad of choices.

Savvy (and graying) viewers may recall Operation Prime Time, an initiative designed to help make independent station outlets competitive in primetime with the networks. A line-up of impressive (for indies, which subsisted primarily on reruns and syndicated movie packages) first-run miniseries were programmed, and they worked, too, thanks to titles like The Captains and the Kings, A Woman Called Golda, and too many others to keep count. It was really the Miniseries format, with its attendant promotional clout and ample TV-level impressive star power, normally not found on anything but the Big Three, which enabled the world of TV viewing patterns to change forever. The success of minis during sweeps periods led to the rise of incredibly strong independent stations in many markets. This shift of audience began the long and inevitable siphoning of viewers away from the networks over to first the indie stations, then the weblets (which wouldn’t have come about if indies weren’t strong enough to handle the step up), and finally to the assortment of cable nets out there now.

Though the broadcast networks can no longer risk the drawn-out multi-night commitment that a miniseries entails -- their regular series are the winners these days -- channels on the way up looking for a publicity and a temporary viewing boost can still get a kick out of a well-programmed mini. Sci Fi got out-of-this-world numbers with Taken, and other multi-hour events have been announced for other networks, channels still eager to take a gamble that their production will have enough oomph to keep viewers engaged for the long haul. If you win, you win big. If you lose, well…that’s show biz.

I’d also like to put in a word for a miniseries that pushed the content envelope for the stations that aired it, and boy, were they happy about the resultant ratings. Shaka Zulu, from 1983, was the exciting and well-produced epic story of the 19th century African hero who vexed and impressed the colonial British. Not only was the history compelling, but Shaka Zulu was filled with topless women, and back in the early ‘80s you just didn’t see much of that on American TV. As always, a bit of boob was guaranteed ratings fodder; nothing’s changed much. The creepy thing is that the local station managers were basically able to get away with showing the bare-breasted women only because the actresses were black. Cynically invoking the “National Geographic Defense” -- likening themselves to the venerated family magazine which for years had gotten away with showing topless native women precisely because they were African -- the stations went ahead and showed the mini uncut and frequently half-nekkid. Yes, it was great to push the envelope, but they used an unseemly racist -- then and now -- excuse to do it. If Elizabeth Montgomery or Barbara Parkins, both frequent ‘80s miniseries stars, had been up there peeling off their brassieres, well…you wouldn’t see much besides a comely bare back. It was blatant hypocrisy and a little hard to stomach, especially when your station didn’t have the mini and you knew it was going to go through the roof, which was my perspective.

But enough of the personal perimenopausal musings. In addition to their special Trio will present three top-drawer minis, Holocaust, Brideshead Revisited, and Shogun. Their schedule is a little too complicated to go into here, but suffice it to say that over the next few days, you’ll be able to see what I think are mostly complete versions, although I’m not quite sure how some of them are being subdivided, as it were, or how much will be missing for commercials. It’s probably best to check out Trio’s schedule for the details of all airings. I think it's a little weird that it doesn’t look like any of them is being presented complete on one day anywhere, but think of each day as a kind of a continuing sampler and you’ll be all right.

1978’s Holocaust is notable not only for its subject matter but for a star-making turn by Meryl Streep, plus other strong performances by Ian Holm, James Woods, Michael Moriarty and many more. Brideshead Revisited from 1981, with the tantalizing relationship between Anthony Andrews and Jeremy Irons, was the swoon-making TV of choice for many gay guys that year, and well as engaging the more traditional PBS viewers of the time. Shogun preceded Richard Chamberlain’s other major mini triumph by in The Thorn Birds, and was a lavish and much lauded (11 Emmy nominations, 3 wins, including Outstanding Limited Series) triumph that made TV history. (You might want to watch Shogun now and compare it to the similar The Last Samurai which will be in theaters early in December. Shogun takes place in early 17th century Japan and Tom Cruise doesn’t get there until after the American Civil War, but who’s counting?)

But now onto some other networks. Spike TV is running a slew of James Bond titles over Thursday and Friday, Sci Fi has a mixed-bag line-up of titles in their weekend-long Science Fiction Movie Marathon, Bravo has a first season West Wing marathon running on Thursday and Friday, beginning at 11am and running for nine and ten hours, respectively. I think the best bet of all is Friday’s Dominick Dunne’s Power, Privilege and Justice marathon on Court TV, airing from 9am through 6pm. This show is terrific, and Dunne’s short, sassy and solid on-air bits quite entertaining. If you’re familiar with Dunne’s expertise on A-list amorality, then you already know exactly how intriguing this series is. Very highly recommended.

Another don’t miss is on Thanksgiving itself, and it’s the 9am episode of The Dick Van Dyke Show on TV Land. Nothing about turkeys, but the nutty (in so many ways) "It May Look Like a Walnut" is a classic of science fiction comedic paranoia, and not to be missed. Truly surreal and delightful. And speaking of surreal, if you need to catch up on the last three episodes of HBO’s Carnivale -- and they’ve been good ones, full of lots of sexual intrigue and dark deeds, though still short on the explanations -- they’ll be replayed on Friday starting at 9pm. Of course, the final episode of the season is on this coming Sunday night when it will have to duke it out with The Reagans on Showtime. Thank goodness for encores!

Happy Thanksgiving!


Check out Trio's website for the complete and convoluted schedule for their Epic TV marathon.

For an erudite essay on Brideshead Revisited's place in TV history, take a look at this from the Museum of Broadcast Communications.

And for an only slightly less-erudite but infinitely entertaining Cliff notes-type look at Brideshead, check this out.

As a companion piece to Thursday's Dick Van Dyke episode, submitted for your approval is this delightful review of a related comic book which never was but should have been, as written by Mark Evanier.

Visit Court TV's site for Dominick Dunne's series for Friday's complete line-up and more info on all the episodes.

 
The Last Tuesday of Sweeps

Nothing too unusual on tonight, but Fox's 24 at 9pm looks chockful of downright excitement. The fourth episode of this season promises a prison riot and more biohazard peril, but don't worry if you haven't watched so far this year. It's definitely not too late to join the party, although every week it becomes a little more convoluted and difficult to dive in without feeling a little lost. That's the curse of the show, and no doubt contributes to keeping 24's viewing levels well below what its quality and content merit.

At 8pm, given the competition -- ABC's comedies, a Queer Eye hour on NBC, a movie instead of WB's regular line-up, and, most horribly and inevitably, an American Idol Christmas music special -- this might be a great night to sample CBS' JAG spin-off Navy NCIS. Do it for just one reason, even: to see how amazingly well co-star David McCallum has aged. The just-turned-70-and-still-superb McCallum is, no surprise here, delightful in the show. NAVY NCIS and its progenitor have a comfortable throwback-y feeling, offering up solid storytelling wrapped up with enough flash and excitement to make Don Bellasario (Quantum Leap, Magnum P.I., among many others on his credit sheet) the real unsung producer hero of TV. Enough praise for Wolf and Bruckheimer, already; I'll save my praise for DB.

After NAVY NSCI and 24, your next fascinating choice tonight should be Court TV for their Court TV Investigates: The Laci Peterson Murder, hosted by Catherine Crier. Why would anybody choose to watch a fictional crime show like Law & Order: SVU (airing against it) when you can watch the far more disturbing real thing? Too unpleasant if it's a true story? Precisely. Watch it.



NAVY NCIS airs tonight at 8pm on CBS. Visit the eternally charming David McCallum's website for more information on this wonderful actor.

24 airs on Fox tonight at 9pm. Check out the 24 website for background info and for a quick refresher course if you need it.

Court TV Investigates: The Laci Peterson Murder airs tonight at 10pm on Court TV. For a complete timeline and dossier on the proceedings so far, take a look at their website. Fascinating!