blue glow
SALON'S TV PICKS
Thursday, Sept. 18, 1997_|_BY JOYCE MILLMAN
N E W--S E R I E S Nothing Sacred (8 p.m., ABC) has already come under fire from one Catholic group protesting the drama's premise: A young hunky priest at an urban parish harbors doubts about the existence of God and has decidedly liberal views on abortion. Other viewers may welcome this attempt to portray divisions of belief within the Church. Kevin Anderson plays rebellious Father Ray. S P O R T S Baseball: Mets at Braves (7:35 p.m., TBS). S E R I E S On a rerun of Seinfeld (9 p.m., NBC), Kramer has a run-in with Raquel Welch and Jerry and George team up to keep Jerry's demanding girlfriend happy. 48 Hours (10 p.m., CBS) reports on road rage. ER (10 p.m., NBC) reruns last season's finale in which Greene suffers from post-traumatic stress syndrome and Carter comes to a career crossroads. 20/20 (10 p.m., ABC) has a segment on a possible link between frequent bike riding and impotence. Yikes! T A L K Kim Basinger visits Rosie O'Donnell (syndicated); Drew Barrymore appears on a rerun of David Letterman (CBS); Jay Leno (NBC) hosts Noah Wyle and Kate Capshaw; screenwriter Paul Rudnick is a panelist on Politically Incorrect (ABC); scheduled guests on Charlie Rose (PBS) include Danny Aiello and author Kitty Kelley; Conan O'Brien (NBC) features Lucy Lawless, Bob Odenkirk and David Cross and Ani DiFranco. ETC. The new drama Cracker (9 p.m., ABC), which premieres tonight, is
one of the surprises of the fall season. It's an American version of the
British TV series of the same name about a police shrink who's a bit of a
head case himself. Yeah, yeah, I know -- why does American TV always have
to remake some British thing that was perfectly fine in the first place? I
have no answer. But as remakes go, this "Cracker" is a good one, preserving
the darkly comedic and gritty tone of the original while making it a wee
bit more accessible for American viewers. Robert Pastorelli (who used to
play the painter on "Murphy Brown") is amazingly charismatic as sarcastic,
hard-living "Fitz" Fitzgerald, who works about a dozen jobs (including LAPD
forensic psychologist, radio shrink and college lecturer) but still can't
manage to pay the bills. Besides being a bad provider, Fitz has intimacy
issues; he's such a moody jerk to his loved ones (two teenagers, an
accidental baby and a long-suffering wife played by Carolyn McCormick of
"Law & Order") that his household is a literal and emotional mess. If
you're not staunchly anti-remake, this is worth watching. Besides,
"Seinfeld" is a rerun.
BLUEGLOW FOR Wednesday Sept. 17, 1997
Illustration by Rachael Sbuttoni |
