ABC and CBS get heavy Sunday night with a pair of made-for-TV movies addressing spouse abuse and drug-addicted women giving birth.
Surprisingly, neither is ripped from the headlines.The better of the two movies is "Men Don't Tell" (8 p.m., Ch. 5), which looks at spouse abuse from a different angle - it's the husband who's getting knocked around by his wife.
Peter Strauss plays the husband, a man who's far from perfect but who does his best in the marriage. Judith Light ("Who's the Boss?") is the wife, a victim of abuse as a child who vents her frustrations on her long-suffering spouse.
This is not the case of a strong woman beating up on a weak man. Strauss creates a believable victim - a man who doesn't want to beat up a woman, even when she's beating him. And, most believably, a man who doesn't want anyone to know his wife is abusing him.
The ending is rather too convenient, but overall "Men Don't Tell" is an above-average TV drama.
On the other hand, "Lies & Lullabies" (8 p.m., Ch. 4) is average at best. Susan Dey, who also produced the telefilm, is miscast as a young cocaine addict who gives birth to a drug-addicted baby - a baby who is promptly taken away from her mother by social services.
In the first part of the movie, Dey's character is throroughly unlikable - thinking of no one but herself. To the scriptwriter's credit, she does not instantly reform. There's some backsliding into drugs and alcohol.
But midway through, Dey turns herself around and the film goes from being an indictment of drug-addict mothers to an indictment of the social services system.
Throughout, Dey and the producers seem intent on making her play a character who's at least 10 - if not 15 - years younger than the actress. It's a mistake that sometimes just looks foolish.
Once again, the ending to "Lies" is just too convenient. Not ineffective, but too convenient and emotionally manipulative.
You're better off watching "Men Don't Tell."