THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, December 17, 1994 TAG: 9412150080
SECTION: TELEVISION WEEK PAGE: 1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LARRY BONKO, TELEVISION COLUMNIST
LENGTH: Long : 117 lines
KATHARINE HEPBURN, who has been making films since 1932, continues to grind 'em out with a supporting role on NBC Monday night at 9 in ``One Christmas,'' a made-for-TV movie based on a Truman Capote short story.
Where does she find the stamina?
At 87, Hepburn has back and ankle miseries and an eye infection that won't clear up. She has trouble getting the words out. But she hangs in there as a crusty grand dame of New Orleans society, snapping off dialogue as though she were biting into something hard.
There's a nice little scene with Capote (T.J. Lowther) in which her character softens, admitting that she believes in Santa Claus and that everyone else should, too.
``I'm still acting and showing off, and I'm adorable as always,'' Hepburn said a few months ago when Turner Network Television was about to put her life story on film.
She expects to work until she draws her last breath. ``Hard work never hurt anyone,'' she said.
And when death comes, she will be prepared to meet it. ``I do not fear death. It must be wonderful, like a long sleep.''
``One Christmas'' is a mess with Henry Winkler miscast as a womanizing hustler. He's The Fonz in any role he plays. Lowther is thoroughly lost as the boy from Alabama who can't adjust to life in New Orleans.
This flick is worth a look only to see Hepburn as she heads for her 90s.
If she is criticized for her performance as Cornelia here, I doubt she will forget and forgive.
In reviewing her career, she makes reference to a critique of her work ages ago by Dorothy Parker, who wrote that Hepburn's emotions on stage ran the gamut from A to B.
But so what? Didn't she say she's always adorable?
Before Hepburn shows up on NBC Monday night, Woody Allen arrives on ABC Sunday night at 8 in his first made-for-TV movie, ``Don't Drink the Water.'' You know it's a TV movie because Mayim Bialik of ``Blossom'' is in it.
Allen as a New Jersey caterer finds himself in trouble behind the Iron Curtain when there was an Iron Curtain.
Not vintage Allen here. Weak film.
Allen's attorney's fees must be enormous. Why else would he sell himself to ABC in this loser? Meeting with TV writers in Los Angeles - by way of satellite from his Manhattan home - Allen said that he had some doubts about adapting ``Don't Drink the Water'' for television.
``When I got the call from ABC,'' he said, ``I asked myself if I could pull this off in the middle of two feature films I was doing. ABC encouraged me to give it a try. It was just a casual idea that was seized upon and became a reality before I knew what hit me.''
At last! Santa Claus' shocking past exposed on TV!
No, ``Hard Copy'' isn't doing it. Or ``A Current Affair.'' Come Tuesday at 10 p.m., the Discovery Channel shows viewers how demons and pagans figured in the jolly old elf's past lives on ``The Mystery of Santa Claus.''
And on Monday at 8 p.m., A&E's ``Biography'' series puts Santa under the microscope in a one-hour special hosted by Jack Perkins. In the old days, Santa Claus was Sinter Klaas. Hear Santa myths revealed!
Also from ``Biography'': ``The Three Stooges'' Friday at 8 p.m. Nyuk. Nyuk. Nyuk.
Here's more Christmas programming:
``Disney's Christmas Fantasy on Ice'' is scheduled for Friday at 8 p.m. on CBS. I can see Nancy Kerrigan, Katarina Witt and Scott Hamilton on this special. But Bronson Pinchot? At 10 on CBS, it's ``Television's Christmas Classics,'' a string of bits with holiday topics from shows on which everyone from the Temptations to Bob Hope to Eddie Murphy appeared.
Saturday night at 8 on ABC, the camera takes you into the homes of Vince Gill, Amy Grant, Kenny G, Aretha Franklin, the lovable Olsen twins and others on ``Christmas at Home With the Stars.'' Maybe Kenny G will share his egg nog recipe.
Also Saturday night, the McGuire Sisters - remember them? - join the Statlers at 9 on The Nashville Network for ``The Statler Brothers Christmas.''
On The Family Channel Friday night at 8, it's more music for the holidays with Glen Campbell and Louise Mandrell belting out the ho-ho-ho's on ``A Branson Country Christmas.''
The Harry Connick Jr. Christmas special will be seen Sunday night at 9 on The Disney Channel, followed by a Bing Crosby hour, ``Christmas Like the Ones We Used to Know.'' You'd be un-American to let the season pass without hearing Crosby sing ``White Christmas.''
Those fun kids on ``Melrose Place'' will be on the air Monday at 8 p.m. with their holiday special.
And Wednesday night at 8, the other fun bunch from producer Aaron Spelling's stable, the ones who hang out at the Peach Pit on ``Beverly Hills, 90210,'' will celebrate the holidays.
Brandon and Kelly have the house to themselves while the Walshes fly off to London to visit Brenda. You remember Brenda.
Other TV bits as tasty as mom's fruitcake:
The year in show biz comes marching in review on E! Entertainment Television Friday night at 8:30 . . . All aboard for the last train across Canada. It's part of the ``Travels'' series on PBS airing Saturday night at 8. Viewers tag along as Austalian journalist Murray Sayle makes a 7,000-trip by rail . . . Here's your chance to overdose on the early years of ``Saturday Night Live.'' Comedy Central is serving up ``SNL'' marathons that start Sunday at noon and resume at 7 a.m. Monday. See ``SNL'' when it was great. OK. Near great.
PBS on Monday at 9 p.m. profiles Tennessee Williams on ``American Masters: Orpheous of the American Stage'' . . . With the year almost history, it's time for MTV to count down the Top 100 music vidoes. It begins Saturday at 10:30 a.m. and resumes Sunday at 8 a.m. . . . Two old pros, Richard Crenna and William Shatner, go at it in ``A Silent Betrayal'' on CBS Tuesday night at 9. This is the latest in the Lt. Frank Janek series which CBS has built for Crenna. The film is padded, as are most made-for-TV pictures, but you might get a kick out of Shatner's over-the-top performancee as a boozing Broadway producer . . . On the Discovery Channel, Walter Cronkite hosts a special about religion and politics Wednesday night at 10, ``The Cronkite Report: Christianity Reborn. Prayer and Politics.'' ILLUSTRATION: ASSOCIATED PRESS
Katharine Hepburn, four-time Academy Award winner, stars as Cornelia
in Truman Capote's short-story classic "One Christmas." The two-hour
movie will air Monday at 9 p.m. on NBC.
by CNB