Even in an age when network television is overrun with true-crime dramas, there's still room for entries in the genre that are particularly well-made.
"In a Child's Name" is just such a production - taut, engrossing and thought-provoking.Valerie Bertinelli, in perhaps her finest performance to date, stars as Angela, a young woman fighting to gain custody of her murdered sister's young son.
In Part 1, which airs Sunday at 8 p.m. on Ch. 5, Angela's sister, Theresa (Karla Tamburrelli), brings home her fiance, Ken (Michael Ontkean), who appears to be the perfect man - he's handsome, athletic, attentive and a dentist.
But Ken turns out to be a smooth but sick man. After nearly beating Theresa to death on their honeymoon, he does kill her after the birth of their son.
Angela, convinced that Ken is a murderer, prods the police to investigate Theresa's disappearance. The proof of his crime comes at the end of Part 1 in a scene so chilling it will leave you gasping.
Part 2, which airs Tuesday at 8 p.m., takes us through Ken's trial and his attempts to manipulate the custody proceedings of his son.
Angela and her husband end up with custody of their nephew, but the paternal grandparents, who live in Indiana, illegally adopt the boy in violation of a New York court order.
The ensuing legal and moral atrocities are all the more disturbing because the telemovie closely follows the actual events.
Bertinelli finally grows up in this role. She's excellent as a woman who won't stop fighting for what's best for her nephew.
And Ontkean is absolutely chilling as the killer.
Although it's probably too intense for younger children, this is a movie well worth a watching.LUCCI SINS: "All My Children" star Susan Lucci headlines the made-for-TV movie "The Woman Who Sinned" on Sunday night (8 p.m., Ch. 4), but it's Lucci who sinned in deciding to star in this silly potboiler.
Imagine, if you will, a thriller in which the identity of the killer is revealed even before the credits have stopped rolling - and any idiot can figure out exactly what the motive was.
It doesn't exactly add to the suspense.
Anyway, Lucci portrays a married woman whose only alibi to the murder of her next-door-neighbor is that she was conducting an extramarital affair at the time. But when police can't find any trace of the guy she was with, she's charged with murder.
"Sinned" resorts to the time-honored television cliche of blaming everything on a psychopathic killer and also includes the world's dumbest female private detective. Not to mention a message that "I can forgive you of adultery because I committed adultery myself."
Whoo, boy!
Lucci gets to chew the furniture to her heart's content, overplaying an already silly role. And Tim Matheson is pretty much wasted as her husband.
Many television thrillers have holes in the plot, but this one is more holes than plots. It's like watching a car slowly break down on the highway - it grinds to a halt before reaching its destination.
The conclusion is so unlikely it's funny - and this was not supposed to be a comedy."FUTURE" SHOCK: "Back to the Future, Part III" makes its television debut Sunday night on NBC (7:30 p.m., Ch. 2) - but if you miss it, you can just tune in to NBC the following Friday and catch it then.
That's right. Same movie. Same channel. Same time. Same week. Two different showings.
The Peacock is taking a page out of pay-cable's book on this one.
It's common practice for HBO, Showtime and other premium channels to debut a movie on a weekend night, then repeat it later in the week. (And several other times during the month.)
And, NBC is in the same position as the pay channels on this particular movie. "Back to the Future, Part III" is going straight to broadcast television without making any stops at pay cable first - it's never been seen on any television outlet before.
There's no way of knowing how this double-pump strategy will work in the ratings, but if it's successful, expect to see a lot more of it in the future (no pun intended).
At any rate, "Part III" is a worthy finale to the "Back to the Future" trilogy. It lacks the magic of the first installment but is a considerable improvement on the second.
And if you miss it Sunday, you can always watch it Friday.