We're still in the midst of the November sweeps, so it isn't surprising that ABC, CBS and NBC are pulling out high-profile movies to do battle against each other on Sunday night.
ABC weighs in with the first part of yet another dubious Kennedy miniseries - "JFK: Reckless Youth." CBS reunites one of television's all-time favorite families in "A Walton Thanksgiving Reunion."And NBC presents a family that's the polar opposite of those Waltons in "A Family Torn Apart" - by brutal murder, no less.
- It would be easy to attack "JFK: Reckless Youth," which begins Sunday at 8 p.m. on Ch. 4, as just another lurid Kennedy miniseries.
Or revile it as dubious biography. Not only is it based on Nigel Hamilton's much-maligned book of the same name, but it takes the usual liberties that go along with translating a book to TV.
Or scorn it - and ABC - for scheduling this soap opera around the 30th anniversary of the president's assassination, which is Monday. ("JFK" concludes Tuesday at 8 p.m.)
But none of that is really necessary. Looking at this miniseries strictly as entertainment - it isn't. It's dull, ponderous and confused.
Plot points are brought out but never developed. Some are dropped altogether. Some suddenly reappear hours later.
Young Jack is told he probably has leukemia. No problem. We don't even hear about it again until years later, as the time-line goes.
Young Jack is going to propose to a girl, who turns out to be engaged to somebody else. But . . . no relationship between the two is ever developed.
And you'll quickly lose track of all of the beds young Jack is hopping in and out of.
In short, this is four hours of pseudo-biography mush.
Patrick Dempsey does an adequate job as the young JFK, but he's not really up to the task. Most of the other actors and their characters are entirely forgettable, with the exception of the two Kennedy parents - for entirely different reasons.
As portrayed by Diana Scarwid, Rose Kennedy is straight out of Stepford. A more robotic performance would be difficult to imagine.
Terry Kinney's Joseph P. Kennedy Sr., on the other hand, is the miniseries' one truly fascinating character. Kinney's old Joe can be summed up in one word - jerk.
And his relationship with his children is portrayed as rather maniacal.
Just remember, it's only that - a portrayal. This is not history, it's just a rather lavishly produced facsimile.
And it fails the ultimate television test - it's boring.
- "The Walton Thanksgiving Reunion" (Sunday, 8 p.m., Ch. 5) also deals with JFK, but in a considerably classier way.
Set in 1963, the entire family reunites back at the old homestead for the holiday. But the celebration is tempered by news of President Kennedy's assassination.
Revisiting the Walton clan is like going home for fans of the 1972-81 series as well. John (Ralph Waite) and Olivia (Michael Learned) are still home on the mountain. Grandma (Ellen Corby) is visiting Mary Ellen (Judy Norton) - who's now a doctor.
John-Boy (Richard Thomas) is a writer and television commentator who only now is thinking about settling down.
Jason (Jon Walmsley) is a musician, which takes him away from his wife and kids far too often. Erin (Mary Elizabeth McDonough) is a schoolteacher and the divorced mother of three.
Ben (Eric Scott) and his wife are still mourning the death of their daughter two years earlier. Jim-Bob (David Harper) is a small-time pilot. And Elizabeth (Kami Cotler), a botanist, doesn't know what she wants to do with her life.
This two-hour TV movie gives all of them - as well as Ike and Corabeth Godsey and the moonshining Baldwin sisters - their own plot lines. Which is the movie's greatest weakness - there's just too much going on, and not enough time to develop any of the stories.
(There's also the question of the time line. Set in 1963, it's some 15 years after we left the story back in the early '80s. But all the Walton children seem a bit younger than they'd actually be. Mary Ellen, for example, is the mother of three young children in this movie. Whereas in 1963, her first child from the series - who is not in this movie - would be in his early 20s.)
But that really isn't what's important here. This is about love and honor and pulling together - those good ol' family values.
And a chance to get together with the Waltons again is well worth the time.
- "A Family Torn Apart" (Sunday, 8 p.m., Ch. 2) is another true-crime drama, but it manages to transcend the format.
It's based on the story of a family that, to all outside appearances, was largely a success story. Joe (John M. Jackson) and Maureen (Linda Kelsey) Hannigan, a strong, church-going couple who are unable to have children, adopt three boys. Although one of their teenage sons, Daniel (Johnny Galecki), is currently being evaluated in a mental institution, the other, Brian (Neil Patrick Harris) has always been the perfect child.
Any illusions of the perfect family are shattered when Joe and Maureen are brutally, horribly murdered one night. Although suspicion initially falls on Daniel, it's soon Michael who is the focus of the investigation.
And unbelieving family friend (Gregory Harrison) gradually learns the truth about the family he knew but didn't know - that Joe and Maureen abused and terrified their adopted children, both mentally and physically.
The performances here are excellent - particularly Harris, who rises above his Doogie Howser days, and Galecki, who's best known for his recurring role on "Roseanne."
Both Michael Bombeck's script and Craig Baxley's direction handle a difficult subject with discretion and taste. Although an unspeakable crime is at the center of the story, this is not a gore-fest - the violence is largely implied and subdued.
And the story unfolds layer upon layer, revealing how wrong a family off to such a good start can go.
"A Family Torn Apart" is too intense for younger children, but adults will be enthralled and horrified at the same time.