THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, November 26, 1994 TAG: 9411240050
SECTION: TELEVISION WEEKLY PAGE: 01 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LARRY BONKO, TELEVISION COLUMNIST
LENGTH: Long : 112 lines
IMAGINE EUROPE and the rest of the world if the Allied invasion at Normandy in 1944 had been thrown back into the sea.
Imagine if the Third Reich had survived into the 1960s.
Think of Hitler living to be an old man of 75.
That's the grim picture offered Saturday night at 8 on Home Box Office in ``Fatherland,'' an original film starring Rutger Hauer and Miranda Richardson. Hauer is the only decent sort in a Nazi uniform that you'll find in this movie.
The story in a nutshell: Hitler, still fighting the Russians as 1964 dawns, moves to restore diplomatic relations with the U.S. through an American president named Kennedy - Joseph P. Kennedy.
Hitler is hiding a terrible secret that will blow the deal.
The world has yet to discover the Nazi's ``Final Solution'' - the extermination of millions of European Jews in death camps. When Hauer and Richardson, playing an American journalist, find a trail leading to the gas chambers, the wheels of drama start to turn.
``Fatherland'' is slow going at times, the curse of most made-forTV films. And there are problems with the actors' accents. Richardson, a Brit, talks like an American while other British actors playing Germans sound, well, British.
``The idea here,'' Hauer said in a chat with TV writers in Los Angeles not long ago, ``was to challenge the viewer for an hour and half and see if we could get the viewer to believe that this frightening state exists in Europe.''
``Fatherland'' is worth some couch time if for no other reason than to see what Hitler might have looked like at 75. A Czech actor plays the part.
And there is a chilling scene in which Jean Marsh, as raging anti-Semite Anna Von Hagen, reveals the Third Reich's awful secret. The Jews, she said, all disappeared in a puff of smoke.
``Fatherland'' plays again on HBO on Tuesday as well as Dec. 1, 5, 11 and 16.
In the week ahead on TV, you get Hitler, Madonna and the return of Jim Rockford.
Fox on Tuesday night at 8 shows us an unknown actress named Terumi Matthews doing a pretty darn good impression of Madonna in her early years in ``Madonna: Innocence Lost.''
That is when she was ambitious and ruthless and said, ``I take what I need and move on.''
James Garner, who swore that he would never again play Jim Rockford because of financial troubles with the studio that produced the old ``Rockford Files,'' is back in that role Sunday night at 9 on CBS in ``The Rockford Files: I Still Love L.A.''
Garner told TV writers in Los Angeles that he and the producers kissed and made up and that he is pleased as punch to be in the role again.
``The Rockford character is a wonderful anti-hero, not your average, run-of-the-mill fictional hero,'' he said.
``Because of my bad knees,'' he said, ``I've asked the writers not to put me into situations where I have to run and carry on.''
The folks at The Family Channel headquarters in Virginia Beach are ushering in the holiday season with a goodly amount of original programming starting Saturday night at 8 with ``Good King Wenceslas,'' which stars teen hunk Jonathan Brandis.
It's about ancient times when a cruel queen, played by Stefanie Powers in a very hammy performance, orders that the peasants be beaten and starved into submission. For good measure, she raises their taxes.
On Wednesday at 8 p.m., The Family Channel makes a bid to be the first network with a full-blown Christmas music special in 1994 with ``Aaron Neville's Christmas in New Orleans.'' Linda Ronstadt joins in with the three other Neville brothers: Art, Charles and Cyril.
In ``Look Who's Laughing,'' a special airing on PBS and WHRO on Monday at 10 p.m., the idea is to laugh with and not at the comics, all of whom have physical disabilities. Brett Leake of Maidens, Va., who has muscular dystrophy, is included with the six headliners. The special was shot on location at comedy clubs.
Courtney Thorne-Smith, the long-suffering Alison Parker on ``Melrose Place,'' tries to break out of that whiny role Thursday night at 9 in ``Breach of Conduct,'' a movie on the USA network. Trouble is, Thorne-Smith is the same ol' Alison here, playing the victim to villianous Peter Coyote, who kidnaps her for immoral purposes. Poor Courtney.
Other TV tidbits to munch on when the turkey leftovers are gone:
A crew from the A&E channel was in Williamsburg recently to film part of ``The American Revolution,'' which begins Sunday at 8 p.m. Part 1 of this three-parter deals with the Colonists' rising anger against British rule . . . Bud Greenspan, a master documentarian, tidies up the 1994 Winter Olympics in a two-part package premiering on The Disney Channel at 9 Sunday night, ``Lillehammer '94: 16 Days of Glory.'' It's a wonderful journey backstage at the Olympics to meet, among others, Oksana Baiul, the 16-year-old Ukrainian girl who beat our Nancy Kerrigan in the figure-skating finals. She was an orphan at 13 . . . Break out the cake. ``Blossom'' on NBC marks its 100th episode Monday at 8:30 p.m. Mayim Bialik also did a turn this month as a guest star on the John Larroquette sitcom - a 1960's Deadhead hippie trapped in the 1990s. Cool.
The timing is splendid for The Learning Channel's three-part miniseries about the life of Jesus Christ. ``Jesus and His Times: Ancient Journeys Holiday Special'' begins Sunday at 10 p.m. with the story of Jesus' birth and early childhood . . . The PBS ``American Masters'' series shines a light on the famous ranch hand, rodeo rider, writer, movie star, philosopher and friend of politicans. ``Rediscovering Will Rogers'' airs Wednesday night at 9. Rogers on ignorance: ``Everybody is ignorant, only on different subjects.''. . . More from PBS: A ``Frontline'' rebroadcast of a special about teenage runways.``Children of the Night'' airs Tuesday at 10 p.m. . . . Also on Tuesday at 10 p.m., The Discovery Channel makes sense of our senses on ``The Brain: Our Universe Within Perception.'' TV you can taste and smell. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
Miranda Richardson and Rutger Hauer are caught in a mystery that
could topple the Third Reich in HBO's ``Fatherland,'' premiering
Saturday at 8 p.m.
by CNB