Remote patrol

In "The Wednesday Woman" (8 tonight, Channel 5), Meredith Baxter plays a first-time novelist whose personal life begins to resemble that of the protagonist in her book. John Heard co-stars as her husband and Peter Coyote as the mystery man who comes into Baxter's life when she's assigned to write a story about him for a magazine. Coyote and Baxter play recovering alcoholics, and as they converse about addiction and abuse, Coyote uses the language of coping to seduce her. (A pivotal scene, in fact, happens at a 12-step meeting.) As the noose tightens around them, however, the therapy-speak turns vicious and manipulative. The dialogue is the best thing about "The Wednesday Woman." It's smart and rings emotionally true. But the movie gets untracked as it tries to make the novelist's life conform to the last minute detail of her novel. The result is an unacceptable finale that's degrading to Baxter. @ART CAPTION:Baxter @ART:Photo (color) >>>