"Blue River" is a quality made-for-television movie. It comes from the folks at Hallmark.
And it's on Fox.Really.
Fox isn't exactly known for quality when it comes to TV movies, a fact that even Fox executives acknowledge.
"When I first took this job at Fox, one of the apparent real weak-nesses of the schedule was the movie night," Fox Entertainment President John Matoian understated to TV critics recently.
With a few rare exceptions, most of the fourth network's made-for-TV movies were, well, pieces of junk. Biopics about Roseanne or Madonna. Comedies about gar-bage-men. That sort of thing.
Which is why more than a few eyebrows were raised when Fox signed a deal with Hallmark earlier this year to make a number of TV movies.
"I know that some of you have some questions about the marriage between Hallmark and Fox - what could that possibly be?" said Trevor Walton, Fox's senior vice president of longform programming. "I've always thought that Hallmark stood for one thing, and that was quality programming. They are very, very smart people, and people like that like to spend money on their movies. I saw this as completely in sync with what I wanted to be doing.
"And because they're smart moviemakers, I knew that we could probably find stories that would attract us both."
Keep in mind, however, that movies like "Blue River" are not Hallmark Hall of Fame projects. They will air under the banner of Hallmark Entertainment Presents - with somewhat smaller budgets and aimed at a somewhat different audience.
The chances of one of Fox's Hallmark Entertainment presentations featuring Hume Cronyn or Joanne Woodward are slight.
"I always thought that Hallmark was about . . . great character-driven pieces," Walton said. "I think that why people enjoyed them so much is because they're relatable. You understand these people. They feel like they're real people and not TV people.
"And as I said to Hallmark, what I want to do is carry on that legacy of really believing in these characters. But they're going to be younger skewing to a large extent and perhaps a little bit more event-driven than some of the Hallmarks have been in the past."
Which pretty much describes "Blue River" (7 p.m., Ch. 13), which is based on Ethan Canin's award-winning book. It's the story of two brothers from a strange, disfunctional family.
The movie opens in the present day, when the younger brother (played by Nick Stahl as a teenager) is surprised by a visit from the drifter brother (Jerry O'Connell) he hasn't seen in 15 years. The story then flashes back to the events leading up to their estrangement.
And those events are an often strange mix of love, violence and hypocrisy that leads up to revenge, arson, suicide and disappearance.
(Parts of "Blue River" are too intense for younger children.)
The movie does uphold that Hallmark tradition of involving characters. Even when you're not happy about what they're doing, these characters come across as believable.
And the supporting cast includes Susan Dey and Sam Elliott.
If this is the direction that Fox is moving in with its TV movies, maybe the fourth network really is growing up.
TRY, TRY AGAIN: Fox has decided how it's going to try to compete with Jay Leno and David Letterman.
And it won't be with another talk show.
No, the former home of Joan Rivers and Chevy Chase is going in a completely different direction.
Would you believe - a soap opera?
The "late-night continuing drama," which isn't scheduled to debut for more than a year - January 1997 - is designed to capture "the magic, mystery, music and passion of New Orleans." (Fox's words, not mine.)
The hourlong show will air Monday through Friday and is "designed to capture both male and female viewers with provocative and sensual subplots of murder, intrigue and romance among the city's aristocracy, working class, tourists and the musicians who give Bourbon Street - and the series - its lively beat."
Fox is looking upon this as-yet unnamed soap as "ideal counterprogramming," and they're hoping to re-create the success they've had in prime time with "Melrose Place" and "Beverly Hills, 90210."
And despite its recent attempts to grow up a bit, will anyone be surprised if Fox - which has never felt particularly constrained in prime time - pulls out all the stops for a late-night soap?
CBS STRUGGLES CONTINUE: CBS has dropped - at least temporarily - two-thirds of its Wednesday lineup. What exactly it's going to air instead has yet to be determined.
The struggling third-place network has given "Courthouse" the ax. That's no great loss - this was a truly crummy series.
"Central Park West" has been sent on hiatus until after the first of the year, when it will be "relaunched" in a time slot that has yet to be determined.
In the meantime, CBS is going to fill up Wednesdays from 8-10 p.m. with a series of specials through the end of the year.
(If this sounds rather desperate, it is.)