Remote patrol

It's appropriate that "Norman Rockwell: Painting America," a new PBS special airing at 8 p.m. on Channel 19, opens with art historian Robert Rosenblum confessing that he came to appreciate Rockwell by accident, a result of a chance afternoon spent in the painter's longtime home of Stockbridge, Mass. That speaks broadly to the way the chattering classes - including those 300 people Tom Wolfe once accused of dictating art tastes to the rest of the country - have rediscovered the sentimental image-maker of Middle America. In a collage of archival footage, contemporary interviews and some crafty re-creations (e.g., a live-action version of his Thanksgiving classic "Freedom From Want") this special marks a sort of high culture watermark of Rockwell appreciation. >>>