Chump's choices 3; Chair vs. Chamber

"The Chair" and "The Chamber" are two of the sickest, most brain-damaged, not to mention reprehensible shows ever foisted upon the viewing public. Naturally we thought you should know more about them. "The Chamber" raises the hybrid reality show to almost gruesome perfection, while "The Chair" only wishes it could. Both programs are based on the premise that if you combine the quiz elements of "Millionaire" with an endurance contest a la "Fear Factor," you could attract an audience the size of both shows combined. Which is to say, these days, pitiful. One of these would be enough, but for whatever reason ABC and Fox got into a gunny-sack race to see which network could get their version of the extreme quiz show on the air first. (Fox won, by two days.) Thus for at least the near future, viewers will have two opportunities a week to watch hand-picked idiots whiff on softball questions while being barraged with unnerving stimuli - flames, high winds, oxygen deprivation, John McEnroe, what have you. For sheer sadism, Fox's "The Chamber" has the edge over ABC's "The Chair." "Chamber" contestants are strapped into a modified executioner's chair and sealed inside a large shiny box that host Rick Schwartz accurately describes as "this steel hellhole." The box has two settings: rotisserie oven and freezing car wash. The conditions aren't too bad at first, but as the contestant correctly answers more questions, things get much worse. Heat lamps, icy showers, jolts to the extremities - any or all of these non-Amnesty International-approved tactics are used against contestants to keep them from answering 25 questions for a $100,000 top prize. By comparison, the contestants in "The Chair" have it easy. Because they sit out in the open, it's not possible to turn on the water jets without soaking the studio audience and McEnroe, the tennis commentator who was suckered into emceeing this show. On both shows a contestant's vital signs are monitored constantly, and if he or she can't keep calm while being hit with electroshocks, well, it's game over for that sissy. The oleaginous Schwartz feigns supportiveness ("Steve, I'm concerned about you," he says to one victim whose head is covered in so much slush he looks like a human snow cone). McEnroe taunts contestants, albeit with scripted comments that lack that McEnrovian meanness. "C'mon," he says to one, unenthusiastically, "I wanna give you the money!" Sure he does. So far ratings for both shows have been better than expected. But it's unclear how many times viewers will want to see the same tortures inflicted on people who obviously have no chance at the big money. On "The Chamber," for instance, the aforementioned Steve survived three rounds and looked fit enough for more when Schwartz ordered him out. Seems that Steve's "stress quotient" - a number determined by a system slightly more complex than data encryption - was too high. Afterward, Schwartz came down to have a look. "You're shaking violently," he told Steve. Steve wasn't. On "The Chair" contestants wear an ordinary heart monitor, which seems even easier to juice than a stress quotient. Wouldn't just being on national television be enough to double your pulse rate? Already anticipating a dropoff in interest, Fox is promising to unleash flying insects and, for all we know, anthrax spores inside its chamber. ABC's "Chair" already seems out of gas, though maybe McEnroe could pretend the contestants are in an umpire's chair and unleash one of his classic profanity-laced tirades. So now you have what you need to make an informed decision: Smarmy host or smirky host? Thrill ride or cardio test? Easy questions or super-easy questions? "Chair"? "Chamber"? Change channel. To reach Aaron Barnhart, call (816) 234-4790 or visit www.tvbarn.com. "The Chair" airs at 7 p.m. Tuesdays on Channel 9. n "The Chamber" airs at 7 p.m. Fridays on Channel 4. @ART CAPTION:Top: Loudmouth specialist John "Crybaby" McEnroe beckons you to "The Chair"; Fox's "the Chamber" your leader in sadism. @ART:Photos (2)

You won't find a better deal than 'Super Commercials'

If tradition holds, the highlight for many viewers on Super Bowl Sunday will not be the game but the commercial breaks. And yet, for all of the hours that television spends dissecting the game, isn't it funny how it never analyzes the ads? That's changing this year thanks to John Forde, the irreverent host of "Mental Engineering," the first TV series devoted to commercial criticism. Forde's lively panel show - "McLaughlin Group" meets Madison Avenue - normally isn't picked up by KCPT. But thanks to the backing of PBS, its Super Bowl special, "Super Commercials," will air at 9:30 p.m. Sunday on Channel 19, or about 45 minutes after the game ends. Forde's panel will include former "Daily Show" wit Lizz Winstead and "Talk Soup" host Aisha Tyler offering their spins on some of the ads featured during the Super Bowl. Pay attention to the other two panelists, Leola Johnson and Chris Vigliaturo, who are "Mental Engineering" regulars. You may not know their names but you won't find two people more adept at cutting to the heart of what a commercial message is really saying ... about us and the emotions that make us spend money. Speaking of post-game shows, the panelists of "Ruckus" will discuss President Bush's State of the Union address Tuesday on KCPT immediately following the speech. The broadcast will last 30 minutes or until someone takes Rich Nadler's clipboard away. "How's My News?," a delightful documentary airing at 6 p.m. Tuesday on Cinemax, follows five mentally disabled adults on a coast-to-coast tour interviewing Americans. It's the brainchild of Arthur Bradford, a writer who met them all at Camp Jabberwocky, a special summer camp, and taught them to make their own videos. The videos got a huge response, so Bradford decided to take the show on the road. That's where Ronnie Simonsen, who has cerebral palsy, displayed his remarkable recall for '70s TV stars (particularly Chad Everett); Larry Perry, who has severe spastic cerebral palsy, challenged passers-by to engage him even though he cannot talk; and Susan Harrington, mentally disabled but sharp as a tack, got to live out her dream of being a news reporter. Sean Costello and Bobby Bird, who have Down syndrome, also are featured. It may take some getting used to but by film's end you will be totally charmed by the "How's Your News?" crew and their unaffected, guileless, highly entertaining approach to news-gathering. Carrie Fisher interviews the man who made her famous, "Star Wars" creator George Lucas, on her Oxygen talk show, now renamed "Conversations From the Edge," 9 p.m. Wednesday. Look out, it's that rarest of creatures, the successful movie sequel. "Rush Hour 2" is now playing round the clock on pay-per-view. To reach Aaron Barnhart, phone (816) 234-4790 or visit the TV Barn Web site at www.tvbarn.com.

Hallmark hits meaningful marks in 'My Sister's Keeper'

Tonight the "Hallmark Hall of Fame" presents "My Sister's Keeper," the story of a woman forced to care for her schizophrenic sibling after their mother dies. If this story line sounds a wee bit familiar to you, congratulations. You have a long memory. "My Sister's Keeper" echoes the 1986 "Hall of Fame" production of "Promise," in which the James Garner character took over the care of his schizophrenic brother (played by James Woods) after the death of their mother. "Promise" won every award a television show could win, including the Emmy and a Peabody. Since then, daytime talk shows and newsmagazines have increased public awareness and understanding of schizophrenia. Given that, and the fragmenting of television audiences since 1986, it's unlikely "My Sister's Keeper" will have anywhere near the impact that "Promise" did. That said, there hasn't been a "Hall of Fame" production this emotionally honest or unsentimental in a long time. This is due in large part to virtuoso performances from Kathy Bates and Kimberly Brown, each of whom brings fresh energy to a familiar acting challenge: portraying the invisible torment of the mind. But "My Sister's Keeper" is about a more universal theme. The film asks and unflinchingly answers the question: What if the one person you'd spent your life avoiding suddenly became your dependent? It happened to Margaret Moorman, who wrote the 1992 memoir on which "My Sister's Keeper" is based. She is depicted in the movie as Judy (Elizabeth Perkins), a successful magazine editor who lives in New York, far away from her sister, Christine (Bates). The sisters have been estranged since adolescence, when Christine first began to manifest the angry and erratic behavior associated with her disorder. Before Bates or Perkins makes an appearance, the movie is nearly stolen by Brown as a teen-aged Christine. With the aid of sound effects, we hear the angry noise of schizophrenia as it roars through her head like a freight train from hell. Brown effectively evokes the terror of that ride, as well as the depressing air of resignation that marks her re-entry into a "normal," medicated life. (Brown's performance seems to have passed muster with the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill. The advocacy group is urging people to watch "My Sister's Keeper.") Time passes. Judy leaves home as soon as she is able, urged by her mother (Lynn Redgrave) to "have a life" and not be consumed, as she is, with the care of Christine. As one might expect, this only postpones the inevitable. When Mom passes, Judy must finally come to grips with Christine and the cloud of unresolved issues that hangs over their relationship. Many "Hall of Fame" presentations are set in the not-too-distant past. This one is set in the present, and it admirably steers clear of the sentimental mush in which Hallmark sometimes indulges. Only the scenes involving Christine and a neighbor boy - who is precocious in the way most TV neighbor boys are precocious - strike a false note. In the movie's decisive scene, Christine goes off on a manicky tirade while Judy listens uncomfortably. It's as though an invisible remote control is changing Christine's channels every few seconds, from brutal frankness to stunning clarity to grandiose delusions. Yet there is a signal pulsing through all the static, and Judy eventually dials it in. Though we discover this only in later scenes, Christine's outburst has decisively shifted the balance between the two women. "It was very different from the other moods I had to play in the film," Bates said in a phone interview. "(Christine's) mind is moving very fast. But I think that's what she enjoys about her manic phase - her mind is so nimble. She's multitasking. Her ideas and visions for the future are limitless." And though it's not apparent until well into this film, Judy desperately wants a vision for her future as well and is unconsciously relying on Christine to give it to her. "My Sister's Keeper" is, in the end, a story of interdependence, and disability is the red herring that distracts people from showing each other the empathy, respect and devotion they deserve. To reach Aaron Barnhart, phone (816) 234-4790 or visit the TV Barn Web site at www.tvbarn.com "My Sister's Keeper" airs at 8 tonight on Channel 5. @ART CAPTION:Kathy Bates (left) plays a woman who has schizophrenia, and Elizabeth Perkins portrays her sister in the 212th Hallmark Hall of Fame production. @ART CAPTION:Kimberly Brown (left) and Hallee Hirsh play the sisters as children. @ART:Photos (2, color) @ART CREDIT:MICHAEL TACKETT

Sundance gives HBO 'star' his biggest stage yet Mizzou grad Pete Jones unveils his 'Project Greenlight' film

PARK CITY, Utah - The Prospector Square theater is renowned for drawing large and enthusiastic crowds at the Sundance Film Festival. But even by Prospector Square standards, the Jan. 12 turnout for Pete Jones' directorial debut, "Stolen Summer," was one for the books. About 300 ticketholders formed a line that extended down the theater's long corridor and out the front door. Parallel to this ran another line of 300 wait-listers, some of whom spent hours hoping against hope for a seat at Sundance's hottest screening. Outside the theater, a throng of TV cameras greeted "Stolen Summer" producers Ben Affleck and Matt Damon and the film's stars: Aidan Quinn, Kevin Pollak, Bonnie Hunt ... and 32-year-old Pete Jones, a University of Missouri J-school graduate and one-time insurance salesman turned Hollywood insider. Usually a first-time director doesn't command this kind of attention. But Jones beat out 7,000 other amateur screenwriters in an Internet contest and was given a $1 million budget to make "Stolen Summer" while being shadowed by HBO cameras. The results are being shown on "Project Greenlight," a 12-week series that has become one of this winter's most talked about TV shows. As Hunt joked to a CNN reporter at the screening, "It was like being on 'Cops.' Every time you turn around there's a camera on you." From the get-go it was clear that "Project Greenlight" would reveal aspects of the filmmaking process rarely seen by the moviegoing public. And what an ugly, inefficient, ego-driven process it was. A co-star who was all but signed didn't. A scene below Chicago's el tracks was planned without the film's audio engineer, who would've pointed out the havoc that el trains wreak on an audio track. An outdoor shoot was rained out and the whole day lost because nobody arranged a backup shoot. A dangerous stunt had to be redone because the director of photography failed to photograph it. Through all this, "Project Greenlight" gave viewers the distinct impression that Jones was an affable, likable, hard-working guy who was in completely over his head. The crew seemed to acquiesce to the director's misguided whims far too often and bickered constantly among themselves. Until "Project Greenlight," Chris Moore was known mostly to industry insiders as the producer long associated with his friends Affleck and Damon. Thanks to HBO, he's now known as the blunt-talking, whip-cracking, perpetually disgusted overseer of "Stolen Summer," known for his colorful pronouncements (sample: "They're all chickens with their heads cut off and no bleeping idea what's going to happen next"). In the Prospector Square lobby, I asked Moore what he thought the audience's expectations would be for "Stolen Summer." "If they've been watching the show, they're probably really low," he said, hastening to add, "but that's OK because the movie's really good." At the front of the wait-list line stood Robin Rothstein, an aspiring screenwriter living in New York. She arrived at the theater at 1:15 p.m. for the 5:30 screening. For her perseverance she was rewarded with a ticket - the only wait-lister to get in. "I've been watching the show and finding it really intriguing," Rothstein said. "I know a lot of films have those problems, so I'm rooting for it to be good. I want it to be good." The best movie we can make "Stolen Summer" takes place in Chicago in 1976. A young Jewish boy is dying and his Catholic friend (based on a young Pete Jones) wants to make sure he gets into heaven. The script was nobody's first pick to win. The Project Greenlight judges - Affleck, Damon, Moore and key Miramax executives - compared it to an "ABC Afterschool Special." But after arguing for hours in a hotel room, the judges were deadlocked. So they called in three finalists for one more round of interviews. And that's where Jones, in a fine show of salesmanship, gave an impassioned speech ("let's make the best movie we can!") and sealed the deal. From the TV show's point of view, that was Pete's moment of glory. What followed was two months of humiliating setbacks. First, Jones learned that his script would cost more than $2 million to make, or twice his budget. He made sizable concessions but also got more money from Miramax. Next, Jones thought he had Marg Helgenberger sewn up as the film's co-star. But after no one got back to her regarding a minor schedule change, the "CSI" star bailed, setting off a mad scramble to sign somebody else. Bonnie Hunt came on board with hours to spare; on the TV show Jones emphasizes "how lucky we are" to sign her. Besides the fiascoes with the el train and the rainout, a scene with Hunt wearing 1970s clothes and driving a 1970s station wagon had to be sped up so viewers wouldn't see the late-model SUVs parked on the street. Most of a "Project Greenlight" episode dwells on this snafu. But those who were there say the HBO version of "Stolen Summer" is a highly selective account of the slip-ups and tensions that are endemic to the filmmaking process. "Most of the crew from the TV show came from reality TV," Jones said. "They were all coming from 'Fear Factor,' 'Survivor,' 'Temptation Island' ... I should've known that's how the show was going to be." "It's too bad HBO didn't have time to show everything," said line producer Pat Peach, adding sarcastically, "Like pre-production." Aside from the Helgenberger problem, that part apparently went well. But then, the evening news doesn't report the cars that didn't crash. Then came the cheers As the closing credits for "Stolen Summer" rolled, it appeared Moore's prediction had come true. The audience at Prospector Square clapped and cheered enthusiastically. They cheered when Jones thanked his wife in the credits and cheered again when he stepped to the front of the theater for a Q-and-A session "What advice would you give to aspiring filmmakers?" he was asked. "I would recommend no documentary crews following you," Jones said. Laughter, more applause. (Nearby, the "Project Greenlight" crew was rolling tape.) As the audience filed out, movie critics Roger Ebert and Richard Roeper stood in the lobby, taking note of the unusually positive buzz. The Sundance organizers scheduled two extra screenings for "Stolen Summer." "People kept coming up to me and saying, 'Wow!' " Jones said. "I think people really enjoyed the movie and started questioning the validity of the documentary." A week later I spoke on the phone with Rothstein, the woman who waited four hours to see "Stolen Summer." "I found it very tender and engaging in a lot of spots," she said. "Whoever edited that section with the el train did a brilliant job. I would never have known they had those problems. The acting is terrific." She did have "a lot of questions about the script," but overall, "it was pretty much what I expected." For someone who went in "rooting" for the film to be good, that's high praise. Miramax is releasing "Stolen Summer" March 1, while the memory of "Project Greenlight" is still fresh in the public's mind. Ironically, HBO's portrayal of Jones as a bumbling ingenue may be the best thing that happened to this film, endearing the chubby-cheeked director to thousands of moviegoers like Rothstein. This weekend's episode is no exception: Jones is blamed for making his child actors spend hours in freezing Lake Michigan during an interminable shoot. "I get beat up pretty bad," he said. To reach Aaron Barnhart, phone (816) 234-4790 or visit the TV Barn Web site at www.tvbarn.com. @ART CAPTION:Pete Jones premiered his movie "Stolen Summer" at Sundance; it opens in theaters March 1. See him Sunday on HBO's "Project Greenlight." @ART:Photo (color) @ART CREDIT:BRANDON HICKMAN

Take note

Heppner cancels show Tenor Ben Heppner has laryngitis and has canceled his winter recital tour, including the Feb. 1 show at the Folly Theater. The singer's management said Tuesday that Heppner's doctor has recommended that he rest at home to recover fully from the ailment, which forced him to cut short a Jan. 17 recital in Toronto. "I think, for us all, I need to stop," Heppner told the Canadian audience from the stage. The Harriman Arts Program said it hopes to be able to announce a replacement for the Feb. 1 date by the end of the week. - Paul Horsley/The Star 'Zoom' gets local input Beginning Friday, episodes of the PBS kids' show "Zoom" will include segments produced by KCPT, Channel 19, with children from the Kansas City area. Among upcoming segments: students at Pinkerton Elementary School in central Kansas City volunteer their time to be with elderly people, and two sisters raise money to help a shelter for abused children. It's part of an experiment by PBS to create local components to nationally distributed programs like "Zoom," which recently was revived after a successful run in the 1970s. "Zoom," which airs at 6:30 a.m. and 4 p.m. weekdays on KCPT, will feature the Kansas City segments on Fridays. A companion Web site will go online next month at www.KCPT.org/zoom. - Aaron Barnhart/The Star

'Family,' 'That '80s Show' are disappointments

"American Family" Airs: 7 tonight (pilot episode and regular time period); bonus episode 8 p.m. Thursday, KCPT; Topeka's KTWU will repeat episodes each night at midnight and 2 a.m. Stars: Edward James Olmos, Constance Marie, Rachel Ticotin, A.J. Lamas, Austin Marques, Kurt Caceres, Raquel Welch Kind of like: "Once and Again" with more yelling Aaron says: Try it (if there's nothing else on). This family drama, which PBS picked off the CBS reject pile, becomes the first broadcast series with an all-Latino cast. I hope it gets a lot better quickly or, failing that, I hope PBS executives understand that it was not the show's premise or ethnic makeup that drove viewers away. "American Family" is full of poorly drawn characters who utterdreary, soap opera-level dialogue when they are not frantically dashing around in some hokey, contrived action scene that is obviously concocted to distract viewers from the show's defects. "American Family" falls far short of "Resurrection Blvd.," television's other Latino drama, although that program is limited to Showtime customers and there are scenes in it suitable only for adults. PBS is asking a dozen or so national Latino groups to form "strategic community partnerships" to promote "American Family." What it should be doing is hiring some script doctors. (See the Showtime page for an interview with "American Family" creator Gregory Nava.) "That '80s Show" Airs: 7 tonight, Fox (Channel 4) Stars: Glenn Howerton, Tinsley Grimes, Geoff Pierson, Eddie Shin, Brittany Daniel, Margaret Smith, Chyler Leigh Aaron says: Avoid it! Imagine walking into a resale shop filled with clothing, music and gizmos from the mid-1980s. Imagine you have one hour to write a comedy script using as many artifacts inside the shop as possible - and it's a near-certainty you would come up with something funnier than "That '80s Show." In the first episode alone we see people dressed like Boy George, early Madonna, Don Johnson on "Miami Vice" and a punk rocker; there are jokes about cordless phones, exercise fads, motivational tapes and "Dynasty." Actually, if you just made a documentary using all these items, you'd have something funnier than "That '80s Show." The same team that created "That '70s Show" is behind "That '80s Show," which means executives at Fox fell for that old ruse that producers make hit shows. Writers and actors make hit shows and not always in that order. Most of the cast of "That '70s Show" can make you laugh without even saying a word. The number of funny people on "That '80s Show," to quote a quintessential '80s book, is less than zero. To reach Aaron Barnhart, phone (816) 234-4790 or visit the TV Barn Web site at www.tvbarn.com. @ART CAPTION:"That '80s Show," above, has its premiere at 7 tonight on Fox opposite "American Family" on KCPT. @ART:Photo (color) @ART CREDIT:Fox

'Nightline' favors us with rest of Congo series

In early September "ABC News Nightline" began a five-part series on the continuing strife in the central African nation of Congo. "Strife" is too mild a word for it, actually. More than 2 million people have died of war wounds, malnutrition and disease, and millions more have had their lives turned upside down in a conflict that has involved up to eight countries and been called "the African world war." But after Sept. 11, "Nightline" put the Congo series on the back burner. This was understandable for a while, but as September gave way to October and then November, "Nightline" could not stop dialing 9-11, even when there wasn't enough news to justify the wall-to-wall treatment. When "Nightline" finally blinked, it was to devote a program to ex-Beatle George Harrison when he died. Harrison, who always considered himself a citizen of the world, would probably have wished "Nightline" spent that night on its Congo series instead of his obituary. At any rate, the series, "Heart of Darkness," will air this week in its entirety, starting at 12:05 a.m. tonight on ABC (Channel 9). It's gut-wrenching, rage-inducing video journalism of the highest caliber. Tape it. I arrived at this newspaper five years ago and, not long afterward, made the acquaintance of a smart, funny, painfully shy young woman. She cloaked herself in big thick glasses and high-necked casual wear and masked her emotions in heavy sarcasm. I fell for her instantly. Her name was Daria Morgendorffer. It seemed like we had met before. Someone said she was the tart-tongued girl on MTV's "Beavis and Butt-head." Of course. But now ... she looked different. More serious and refined. I soon learned why: MTV had gone out and hired better animators to draw her for her spinoff show. Rarely did I see a show with such perfect pitch and sense of direction as "Daria," which is leaving television tonight with a wrap-up movie, "Daria: Is It College Yet?" at 7 p.m. on MTV. Daria gave voice to teen angst in a most un-MTV-like way, twisting the usual complaints about life into a wonderfully jaded running commentary. Like most series finales, the movie, which MTV is graciously airing commercial-free, shows the main characters taking decisive steps forward in their lives. For Daria and her best friend, Jane, that means college; for her irritating little sister, Quinn, that means having to get a dreaded j-o-b; and for the rest of us, it means saying goodbye to one of the few MTV shows that didn't give us a headache. I know she was just a low-budget figment of someone's imagination, but I'm going to miss her. Later, Daria. Another woman who entered my life five years ago was Ally McBeal, though I paid her a lot less attention. Frankly, she was one of the least interesting people on "Ally McBeal," a show that marks its 100th - but not yet final - episode at 8 tonight on Fox (Channel 4). Thanks to the goofy ensemble that surrounded Ally, the show was a pop phenomenon for a while. Ally supposedly stood for the retreat from feminism. It was she, and not Calista Flockhart, who played her, who made the cover of Time. But the charge didn't stick, mainly because the whole show was such a retreat from reality (public unisex bathrooms? Sting at the piano bar?). The show's creator, David E. Kelley, said all along that "Ally" was a hot show and that someday the public would put it on ice. That day has come. Ratings are way down. Many viewers, in fact, see Ally's face only during the commercial breaks on "Boston Public," the show that precedes it on Fox. The folks at KCPT hate it when I write about programs that they could be carrying but aren't. Last week, for instance, if you lived somewhere other than Kansas City you might have seen "The Good War and Those Who Refused to Fight It," the story of 37,000 conscientious objectors who served their country in World War II. The show aired on PBS stations in Warrensburg, Mo., and Topeka, but not here. This week the best program you won't be able to see is "Sunflower Journeys," the cultural and historical travelogue produced by Topeka's KTWU. It signs on for its 15th season with reports from three annual Kansas festivals (Prairiesta in Russell, Svensk Hillingsfest in Lindsborg and Wichita's Riverfest). If you're in Johnson County or points west of there, you can watch it at 7 p.m. Thursday on KTWU. Otherwise, you're out of luck. To reach Aaron Barnhart, phone (816) 234-4790 or visit the TV Barn Web site at www.tvbarn.com. @ART CAPTION:"Daria: Is It College Yet?" airs tonight at 7 on MTV. @ART:Graphic (illustration) @ART CREDIT:MTV

Cable comes to Sundance; TV is buying some of the indie festival's most adventuresome films

PARK CITY, Utah - The most talked-about movies at this year's Sundance Film Festival included a comedy about a teen-age boy infatuated with a much older woman, a wrenching documentary about a Vietnamese woman's reunion with her long-separated daughter and a look at crime and responsibility in urban Chicago. Diverse as they were, these films had one notable thing in common: They were all made for American television. In fact, at the pre-eminent festival for independent cinema, more than a dozen entries - including the film chosen for the opening night gala, "The Laramie Project" - were made possible by HBO, Showtime, PBS and other TV networks. Many others will rely on television to reach a wider audience. The hard truth is that many films that played here this week will never play widely, if at all, in movie theaters. Cineplexes have shied away from alternative fare in recent years, even as some traditional art houses go out of business. In that sense, TV has been a godsend to indies. Every self-respecting movie director clings to seeing their work on the big screen but a deal is a deal, and increasingly TV is the only bidder who comes to the table. "Independent movies are being made (but) they're not being seen, and that is something we can help with," said Colin Callender, president of HBO Films, which gave three movies their premiere at Sundance. Take last year's Sundance Grand Jury Prize winner in drama, "The Believer." This portrait of a ruthless white supremacist never found a distributor, so Showtime picked it up. "The Believer" will air in March. Another acclaimed film from last year's festival was Allison Anders' "Things Behind the Sun," a searing account of the psychological after-effects of rape. Anders actually had an offer for theatrical distribution but, as she told an interviewer last year, "I wanted to make sure that people would see the movie." Again, Showtime came to the rescue. "Allison Anders will get more people seeing her film on Showtime than she will putting it into theaters," said Matt Riklin, the network's executive in charge of distribution. "Filmmakers who have a message, who want their film out there - and it isn't a $75 million special-effects film - they want their film seen. They want maximum exposure." Originals Many of the movies being made by the cable networks cater to non-mainstream tastes. They have provocative themes and feature name directors and stars. These films are then aggressively marketed to the indie crowd at filmfests like Sundance. Take this year's "Our America," a drama directed by Ernest Dickerson and based on the true story of two urban children who speak out against violence in their community. The movie got a big rave earlier this week from critic Roger Ebert; Showtime, which produced "Our America," will air it in June. "Tadpole," in which a teen boy tries to seduce his stepmother, played to packed houses all week. It's one of 10 films being shot with digital hand-held cameras for InDigEnt, a division of the Independent Film Channel (which can be seen locally only on satellite dish). What's really eye-catching about "Tadpole" is its financial sheet: It cost a mere $150,000 to make. Everyone involved - from star Sigourney Weaver down to the boom operator - agreed to work for scale in exchange for a chunk of the movie. That chunk turned to gold Tuesday, when Miramax Films bought the film for $5 million. Director Gary Winick, who is producing all 10 digital films for IFC, was thrilled but insisted he didn't make "Tadpole" with commercial success in mind. "These films are about taking chances," Winick said. "We're making student films at a professional level." "Real Women Have Curves," a coming-of-age movie set in a working-class Latino neighborhood, is from HBO Films, which also produced "Hysterical Blindness" and "The Laramie Project." "Hysterical Blindness" is loaded with indie cachet: It stars Uma Thurman, Gena Rowlands and Juliette Lewis and is directed by critics favorite Mira Nair ("Monsoon Wedding"). "Part of the problem if you're an American independent is there is no institutional structure to support you," Callender said. British and European TV networks keep important film directors on their payrolls. Callender believes HBO Films performs a similar function with talented U.S. directors. What's up? Docs HBO also is a leader in the Sundance category that television now dominates: documentary film. More than half of the entries this year were funded by HBO or the Independent Television Service, a major supplier of programming to PBS. Last week Robert Redford, co-founder of Sundance Institute and its cable TV network, Sundance Channel, announced a spinoff channel that will be devoted to documentary films. During my short time at Sundance, which closes today, I saw three outstanding documentaries. My favorite was "Blue Vinyl," a "toxic comedy" about vinyl siding, of all things. Co-directors Judith Helfand and Daniel B. Gold have set a new standard in activist filmmaking - hilarious, outrageous and energizing - with their convincing brief against the vinyl industry. It airs May 5 on HBO. "Senorita Extraviada," a disturbing investigation into the killings of more than 200 young women in Juarez, Mexico, and "Daughter From Danang," the Vietnamese reunion story, were produced by Independent Television Service for PBS. "Senorita" will air this summer on the "P.O.V." series, and "Daughter" airs in 2003 on "American Experience." To reach Aaron Barnhart, phone (816) 234-4790 or visit the TV Barn Web site at www.tvbarn.com. @ART CAPTION:Sigourney Weaver stars in the film "Tadpole," which played to packed houses at the Sundance Film Festival. >>> @ART CREDIT:TERESA DILLON @ART CAPTION:The Egyptian Theatre, on Main Street in Park City, Utah, is the site of the Sundance Film Festival. @ART CREDIT:Knight Ridder Tribune @ART:Photos (2, color)

'Glory Days' taps into mystery

Airs: 8 tonight, WB (Channel 62). Stars: Eddie Cahill, Poppy Montgomery, Frances Fisher, Theresa Russell, Jay R. Ferguson, Amy Stewart, Emily VanCamp, Ben Crowley. Concept: "Murder, 'Scream' Wrote." Aaron says: Tape it. Once again the WB network pours new wine into old wineskins for underage drinkers with this whodunit from "Scream" and "Dawson's Creek" creator Kevin Williamson. Strange things are happening in the once-sleepy Pacific Northwest island town of Glory. So hometown boy Mike Dolan (Cahill) has come back to check it out. He's an aspiring mystery novelist who immediately displays a penchant for trying to do the crime-solving job of the local sheriff (Ferguson) and solve crimes. And if this all sounds a tad familiar, well, Jessica Fletcher was one of the most popular characters in the history of TV. Actually, I give points to "Glory Days" just for trying to pump new life into the murder-mystery genre by adding a dash of teen-horror spice and the maximum number of quirky small-town characters allowed by law (including a kooky coroner who likes to store her corpses in the back yard). "Combat Missions" Airs: 9 tonight, USA. Stars: "Survivor" coot Rudy Boesch and 24 military and law enforcement vets. Concept: "Boot Camp, Professional Edition." Aaron says: Men, try it. Could "Survivor" impresario Mark Burnett have timed this one better? This red, white and blue adventure game features two dozen seasoned tough guys who have served their country well in the past. Now they're encamped in a small compound led by "Survivor" 70-something Boesch. It's his military staff, though, that barks out most of the orders and runs the contests, a macho mix of war games (with real tanks, choppers and guns) and endurance contests best described as "Survivor" on steroids (e.g., teams carry a 500-pound log around until someone drops). Viewers who find "Survivor" contestants too whiny won't have that problem here, though the volatile mix of testosterone and losing does provoke some men to extreme irritation. Games that are measured by "kills" aren't my idea of entertainment, even when the ammo isn't live. Still, this show does capture the excitement of simulated combat (no easy task) and Burnett proves once again that no one is better at crafting games of skill, diplomacy and luck. To reach Aaron Barnhart, phone (816) 234-4790 or visit the TV Barn Web site at www.tvbarn.com @ART CAPTION:Poppy Montgomery as Ellie Sparks, Eddie Cahill as Mike Dolan and Jay R. Ferguson as Rudy Dunlop in 'Glory Days' @ART CAPTION:Boesch @ART:Photos (2, color and b/w)

A Missouri storyteller in Ken Burns' court; For at least one night, 'Twain' is fine entertainment

The latest Ken Burns production, "Mark Twain," takes up four hours of PBS prime time this week. While I thoroughly enjoyed it, my advice to all but hard-core public TV geeks is to take in tonight's first part and, instead of Tuesday's second part, watch "24" or else - dare we suggest it? - read an essay or two by the master himself. Tonight's installment, airing at 7 p.m. on KCPT and 8 p.m. on KTWU, recounts the rough-and-tumble journey of Sam Clemens from his boyhood home of Hannibal, Mo., to the Wild West and then out East. Along the way he finds his voice and the moniker that would soon define and dominate American literature. Burns salts his script with dozens of Twain's bon mots (spoken here by Kevin Conway). More than a century later, most are either hilarious or searing, depending on the effect Clemens intended them to have. As he reached the pinnacle of personal and professional success, Clemens built for himself and his family a jaw-dropping mansion in Hartford, Conn. Nothing catches the fancy of Ken Burns quite like a beautifully restored relic that can be photographed nine ways from Sunday, and toward the end of tonight's program his cameras give us the grand tour. After that, it's all downhill. Tuesday's installment is a sad chronicle of Clemens' later years, when he suffered financial setbacks and heartbreaks. It's as different from Part 1 as "Tom Sawyer" is from "Letters From the Earth," the dark, cynical essays Clemens wrote in his twilight that weren't published until after his death. Other highlights: I was not looking forward to "Monday Night Mayhem," the TNT movie that dramatizes the rise of Howard Cosell and "Monday Night Football." Based on the book co-written by Bill Carter, and with a screenplay by Carter, it shows how Humble Howard and ABC made "MNF" a cultural touchstone that changed the way football, and ultimately all games, was shown on TV. My reluctance comes from the last book and script Carter wrote: HBO's "The Late Shift," which detailed the late-night TV battles of the early 1990s. It featured two prosthethic Frankensteins trying to do full-body impressions of David Letterman and Jay Leno. They were awful. To my surprise, "Monday Night Mayhem" succeeded - completely - despite a very similar premise. John Turturro has been reshaped to look like Cosell, and he certainly tries to mimic the famous Cosellian dialect. But what puts Turturro over the top is that he becomes Cosell. He understands that his subject was, for all his bluster, a man of many passions. Cosell yearned to be important; he craved approval; he was utterly devoted to and dependent on his wife, Emmy (smartly played by Patti LuPone); above all, he loved the English language and nothing pleased him more than "telling it like it is," in sentences as well-designed and exciting as any touchdown play. "Monday Night Mayhem" airs at 8 tonight on TNT and repeats seven more times this month. "Roots: Celebrating 25 Years" is airing on NBC rather than ABC, the network that brought us the path-breaking miniseries based on Alex Haley's book. ABC officials passed on the idea, which was brought to them by the producers of "Roots," thinking the program would appeal only to old duffers who shouldn't be watching ABC anyway because they drive down advertising rates. NBC seems to feel otherwise. It scheduled "Roots: Celebrating 25 Years" in the attractive "Providence" time period (7 p.m. Friday on Channel 41). As for the special, it doesn't feel old at all. Besides the usual memory-lane material, the producers have woven in testimonies from ordinary viewers who say their lives were changed after those eight nights in 1977. Most of them were just kids back then, making them advertiser-friendly 30- and 40-somethings today. One advantage of using a rival's airwaves: Several times the special points out how little faith "the network" had in "Roots" way back when. Take that, ABC. "The Job" - Denis Leary's version of "Barney Miller" - is back, airing at 8:30 p.m. Wednesday on ABC (Channel 9). Somehow, despite all the teary-eyed tributes to New York's finest, this irreverent show actually seems funnier now. To reach Aaron Barnhart, phone (816) 234-4790 or visit the TV Barn Web site at www.tvbarn.com. @ART CAPTION:Mark Twain gets the Ken Burns treatment on PBS. @ART:Photo @ART CREDIT:Courtesy of PBS

When 'Sopranos' go silent; Crime drama's hiatus means it won't be eligible for this year's Emmys

Does it seem to you like something is missing this winter? Let's see ... Chiefs out of the playoffs, check. Seen all the good movies, check. Can't decide which interests you less, the Golden Globes or the Grammys. Check. Suddenly it hits you: "The Sopranos"! What happened to "The Sopranos"? It's January. Shouldn't the new season be starting soon? Or at least the advertising campaign? Yes, this is usually that time when America's most talked-about TV show makes its midseason appearance on HBO for 13 blessedly rerun-free weeks. But not this year. In a development unheard of for a show as popular as "The Sopranos," its fourth season will not begin until September - or 16 months after the third season finale. The story behind this is one as old as television, but with an HBO twist. Executives at the cable channel wanted to extend "The Sopranos" through at least its fifth season in 2003. But the show's fussy creator, David Chase, wasn't sure he had that in him. "My deal goes through four seasons," he told The New York Times last February, "and at present (it) would be my wish that the show end then." Understandably nervous about losing their biggest hit, they offered Chase serious dollars to reconsider. As important as the money, however, was the time. Chase had already persuaded HBO to delay the third season of "The Sopranos" by two months so he could flesh ut story lines. In July HBO enriched Chase and gave him a generous window to prepare his next two seasons. At the time "Sopranos" fans were teased with the possibility that the fourth season might be pushed back only to June. But HBO later confirmed the September start date. Either way, "The Sopranos" would not be eligible for the 2002 Emmy Awards. The Academy of Television Arts and Sciences won't confirm anything until it issues its rules for the 2002 Emmys later this month. But it seems unlikely that the academy would fiddle with its longstanding calendar guideline, which states that an episode must air in prime time between June 1 of the preceding year and May 31 to qualify for that year's prime-time awards. And this all but guarantees another excruciating Emmys night for "Sopranos" fans, as representatives from their hated competitor, "The West Wing," graciously accept trophy after trophy. Indeed, the only suspense at the 2002 Emmys will be whether "The West Wing" will best its record for most hardware at a single ceremony (it won nine Emmys in 2000). And that would seem a cinch thanks to the disappearance of James Gandolfini - the gun-toting, cigar-chomping, SUV-driving soccer dad on "The Sopranos" - from the Best Actor category, and the fact that "The West Wing" already has aired one episode this season seemingly tailor-made for Emmy voters. I refer, of course, to the "Terrorism 101" special that appeared shortly after and in response to the Sept. 11 attacks. Here the show's supporting actors (Emmy record: a perfect 4-for-4) stood before a group of schoolchildren and lectured them - that is, us - on the peaceful nature of Islam and the importance of not adding to the plight of the Afghan people through another bloody war. What will really gall "West Wing" haters is that when Emmy voters look at this episode a few months from now, they're going to think the show was positively prescient. Assuming the actual war on terrorism continues its current methodical course to total victory, the success of President Bush seems destined to rub off on "The West Wing's" fantasy of a chief executive, played by Martin Sheen. As President Bartlet, the MS-stricken professor-turned-politico, he combines Clinton's star qualities with Truman's grit, Wilson's intelligence, FDR's frailty ... and a curiously Clintonesque lack of a domestic or foreign agenda. Only Tony Soprano's defining and domineering role on "The Sopranos" has kept this award out of Sheen's hands. Until now. The envelope, please Perhaps one other tiny bit of suspense will be what lucky shows and stars get the nominations usually filled by "The Sopranos." Here are some likely candidates: "Six Feet Under." Although it did not rapidly build into a national sensation the way "The Sopranos" did, HBO's freshman drama was beautifully shaped by "American Beauty" writer Alan Ball, whose characters took on incredibly lifelike qualities thanks to a talented cast. "24." Though its Nielsen ratings are not stellar, more people usually watch Fox than HBO, and voters will have an easier time recalling those nonstop "24" episodes than the low-key "Six Feet Under." Kiefer Sutherland would be my pick to take Gandolfini's spot in the Best Actor category for drama. (Andre Braugher won't be nominated this year, either - his show was canceled.) "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." This year might be the best shot for a show that critics love but many older academy members have likely never seen. "Boston Public." Super-producer David E. Kelley has a way with Emmy voters. This sophomore series may also gather a Best Actor nomination for Chi McBride. To reach Aaron Barnhart, phone (816) 234-4790 or visit the TV Barn Web site at www.tvbarn.com. @ART CAPTION:The grim truth is that Edie Falco, Robert Iler and James Gandolfini of "The Sopranos" won't be eligible for Emmy competitionthis year. @ART CAPTION:Peter Krause, left, and Michael C. Hall are featured in "Six Feet Under." @ART CREDIT:HBO @ART:Photos (2, color and b/w)

New on the tube

"JKX: The Jamie Kennedy Experiment" Airs: 7 p.m. Sunday, WB (Channel 62) Stars: Jamie Kennedy Formula: Two parts "Candid Camera," one part "Tracey Takes On" and a dollop of Tom Green-style humor Aaron says: Try it (maybe). Think of "JKX" as a sketch comedy show in which the cast includes a few unsuspecting players. Using hidden cameras and a disguise, Kennedy concocts situations that are (depending on your point of view) outrageously daring or just plain sick, while ordinary folks look on in horror. In the show's funniest bit, a young woman invites her mom and sister to meet her boyfriend. It's Kennedy, posing as a clueless white-suburban rapper, who nearly brings the mom to full meltdown. Unfortunately, the two other bits I saw suggested where this show is probably headed. In one, an audience at an infomercial taping gasps after a presenter suffers what appears to be serious injury. This "gag" is drawn out over several minutes, during which time Kennedy squanders most of the show's comedic promise. To reach Aaron Barnhart, phone (816) 234-4790 or visit the TV Barn Web site at www.tvbarn.com. @ART CAPTION:Kennedy @ART:Photo

The 'Laramie' circle; Matthew Shepard's story goes from stage to screen at Sundance

SALT LAKE CITY - Two years ago "The Laramie Project," Moises Kaufman's documentary-style play about the brutal murder of a 21-year-old gay man, made its world premiere before 250 theatergoers in Denver, a site chosen in part for its proximity to the town where Matthew Shepard lived and died. On Thursday night the film based on that play debuted on a much larger and showier stage: opening night at the Sundance Film Festival, Robert Redford's signature showcase for independent film. In recent years Sundance has come to be defined - some would say overrun - by the huge media crush and caravan of movie stars and studio executives that descend upon it each January. Kaufman, a native Venezuelan, has been acclaimed for his work in New York theater the last decade, but this is his first try at directing a movie. Outside the 2,800-seat Abravanel Hall, a dramatic wedge of brick and glass that serves as home to the Utah Symphony, he worked the press line, answering questions in Spanish and English, looking unruffled and totally at ease. Kaufman may be better prepared than most for this part of the director's life. In developing "The Laramie Project," he and the members of his Tectonic Theater Project spent a year on the Shepard case, extracting moments of quiet authenticity from the blinding glare of TV cameras and the din of facile interpretation. "The play is now touring the country and it has a life of its own," said Kaufman, whose play was produced last summer at the Unicorn Theatre. "This feels like the beginning of something new." In more ways than one "The Laramie Project" was an ideal choice for opening night at Sundance. It was Sundance that supplied extra money and resources to Kaufman and Tectonic to complete their stageplay. The company made several trips to Wyoming to interview residents about Shepard, who was savagely beaten and left to die on a fencepost outside Laramie in the fall of 1998. More than 200 interviews were distilled into the three-act play, featuring more than 60 speaking parts, each with its own perspective on Shepard, his killers and the fateful events that bound them together. Kaufman included parts for the Tectonic members, several of whom are gay, so the audience would be able to scrutinize the group's own viewpoints as well as that of their subjects. Using an innovative stageplay that unfolds more like a documentary, "Laramie" is an experiment that succeeds in casting new light on the complex kinship between hate and forgiveness. It's also fitting that "The Laramie Project" was produced by HBO, the cable network that has assumed a leading role in small-film production. As independent producers and directors find it harder to secure funding and distribution through conventional channels, television - particularly cable TV, with its seemingly insatiable demand for movies - is coming to the rescue. HBO, Showtime, PBS, the Independent Film Channel and, of course, Sundance Channel are backing more than two dozen premieres at this year's festival. Sundance Institute also supplied major support for the HBO adaptation. To Kaufman, bringing the finished product to opening night "was the perfect end, like closing the circle." This marks the 15th year of the festival and the 20th anniversary of Sundance Institute, and Redford used his opening remarks Thursday night to remind his audience of the urgent need for alternative voices in the creative mainstream. In the confusion and self-searching that followed the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Redford said, "here comes independent film, which provides a nice vehicle for that search." Redford is a man who needs no introduction and he certainly didn't wait for one before stepping out on stage to open this year's festival. As he began speaking, the press herd, which had been let in through a side door, crowded beneath the podium and added to Redford's aura with television lights and flashbulbs. With a chuckle, he told the audience, "This is also part of the Sundance process." When one of the herd's cell phones went off, Redford snapped, "If it's for me, tell them I'm speaking!" The audience cheered. After a few words from the festival's co-directors and Kaufman - on stage, he appeared nervous for the first time all night - the movie began. The logos and names of corporate sponsors filled five screens of mostly small type. This, too, is part of the Sundance process. With a running time of 97 minutes, "The Laramie Project" is an hour shorter than its stage version. Yet other than the obvious use of video editing to tighten some scenes and a thorough rewrite of the stageplay, the film and the play share a common vision that each carries out with integrity. As Kaufman suggested, the film has taken on a life of its own. It premieres in March on HBO, scheduled between action movies, boxing matches and people having sex in the back of taxicabs. Wherever "The Laramie Project" is performed in theaters, audiences typically respond by rising out of their seats and cheering, sending waves of gratitude over the actors assembled on stage. The world premiere of the "Laramie" movie was also well-received, but after applauding for a minute or so, the audience, still in their seats, silently watched the rest of the credits. Every now and then a name would come on screen - a member of the crew or an HBO executive - and, somewhere in the hall, a small group of the person's friends would cheer. The film festival continues through Jan. 20 with most screenings in the nearby ski village of Park City. You can reach Aaron Barnhart through the TV Barn Web site at www.tvbarn.com. @ART CAPTION:HBO's "The Laramie Project," about the beating death of a gay college student in Wyoming in 1998, opened the Sundance Film Festival Thursday night. Pictured (from left) are actors Andy Paris, Nestor Carbonell, Grant James Varjas, Clea Duvall and Kelli Simpkins. "The Laramie Project" will air in March. @ART CREDIT:HBO @ART CAPTION:"Laramie Project" director Moises Kaufman, left above, and actor Ben Foster were at Thursday's premiere in Salt Lake City, Utah. Joshua Jackson, above right, plays the bartender. @ART CAPTION:Robert Redford, right, addressed the festival audience at the premiere of "The Laramie Project." This is the festival's 20th year. @ART CREDIT:The Associated Press @ART:Photos (4, color)

New on the tube; Imagine that - a good premiere

"Imagine That" Airs: 7 tonight, NBC (Channel 41) Stars: Hank Azaria, Jayne Brook, Joshua Malina, Suzy Nakamura, Katey Segal, Julia Schultz A lot like: A lot of other shows Aaron says: Tape it. Azaria, whom you may recognize from "Tuesdays With Morrie" (or as the voice of Apu and Moe on "The Simpsons"), plays Josh, a writer for a TV comedy show who likes to daydream. Given that familiar-sounding premise, and the fact that "Imagine That" comes from the network that has already subjected us to "Emeril" and "Inside Schwartz," and the uninspiring, standard-issue sets used here (the office looks like it was borrowed from "Just Shoot Me"), not to mention a predictable cast of characters - wife, bizarro boss, jaded co-worker, sexy co-worker - let's just say I went into this one with low expectations. Surprisingly the sum is much better than the parts. Fueled by snappy writing and excellent casting (Brook, formerly of "Chicago Hope," and Malina, the nerdy guy on "Sports Night," mix well with Azaria), "Imagine That" is funny from the get-go. Also tonight, "A Cook's Tour," a reality series featuring chef and author Anthony Bourdain, makes its premiere at 9:30 tonight on Food Network. In Monday's FYI, I wrote that there doesn't "seem anything fake about Bourdain, which bodes well for this engaging series." To reach Aaron Barnhart, phone (816) 234-4790, or visit the TV Barn Web site at www.tvbarn.com. @ART CAPTION:Jayne Brook and Hank Azaria @ART CREDIT:NBC @ART:Photo (color)

Daly will make nightly 'Last Call'

I'm looking forward to Carson Daly taking over the ultra-late NBC talk show formerly known as "Later." "Last Call With Carson Daly" premieres at 12:37 a.m. tonight on NBC (Channel 41), immediately following "Late Night With Conan O'Brien." The host of MTV's "Total Request Live" - and best bud of wannabe rock stars everywhere - takes over a time slot in which NBC has been airing 20-year-old "SCTV" reruns for the past year since canceling "Later," a show that began in 1988 with Bob Costas and two overstuffed chairs. In a sense, "Last Call" returns to those humble origins. After being based in Burbank for seven years, the show once again will originate from New York. Gone, too, is the desk that was brought in for Greg Kinnear. But the similarities end there: Expect a studio audience that is young and excitable, that will no doubt whoop and holler when singer Alicia Keys (tonight) and rapper Suge Knight (Wednesday) are in the house. Besides bantering with Daly, the musicians will perform their latest hits; this week's other guests, Gwyneth Paltrow and Jon Stewart, presumably will not. I expect Daly to do well, and not just because this is a low-risk time period. He wears well. He doesn't try to shout over the din around him; instead, he blocks it out and talks directly to the home audience. He has a mild, self-effacing presence - not what you'd expect from one of the most influential people in the music business. All Daly needs is a game show or two to produce, and he'll be well on his way to Dick Clarkdom. Food Network launches three new series this week. At 9 tonight, "Follow That Food" features washed-up talk-show host Gordon Elliott visiting exotic locales around the world to see where familiar gourmet ingredients are produced. If this sounds vaguely familiar to you, that's because former Channel 9 personality Dave Eckert had the idea first. His "Culinary Travels" airs at 3 p.m. Saturdays on KCPT. Next, at 9:30, is a cooking show in which Keith Famie - the "Survivor" chef who couldn't cook a decent pot of rice - visits exotic locales around the world to taste gourmet food. But these two programs are mere preludes to Tuesday's main course: "A Cook's Tour," featuring Tony Bourdain, one of the country's top chefs, surly author of the best seller Kitchen Confidential and clearly Food Network's pick to become the next Emeril. In the opening episode of "A Cook's Tour," airing at 9:30 p.m. Tuesdays (following "The Naked Chef"), Bourdain visits Japan and accompanies one of the country's top sushi chefs on his rounds. At the big Tokyo fish market, and again back at the kitchen, he is overwhelmed by what he sees and smells. "I'm going to start weeping," he says. Of a large, red, exotic-looking fish he murmurs, "This has a strange and terrible beauty to it." Later, at the sushi table, he groans, "I'm experiencing a pleasurable form of dementia." You get the feeling Bourdain isn't putting us on. He seems genuinely in awe of world food and the virtuosos who prepare it for human consumption. Of his Japanese hosts he declares, "There's a sense of solemnity here. No nonsense. No distraction. Nothing fake about it." Nor does there seem anything fake about Bourdain, which bodes well for this engaging series. "Hello He Lied," a new documentary airing at 9 p.m. Tuesday on AMC, offers a lively and useful introduction to the life of the Hollywood producer. Based on the book by Lynda Obst, the journalist-turned-producer of "Contact" and "Sleepless in Seattle," "Hello He Lied" doesn't offer any startling revelations but is filled with fascinating real-life vignettes from the lives of more than a dozen producers. The cameras follow these people everywhere - into contentious meetings with screenwriters, brainstorming sessions with staff and, of course, networking sessions over lunch. And Obst is an engaging host of the hour-long program. KCPT profiles three area Muslim families and asks them how their lives have changed since Sept. 11 on "East 31st Street," airing at 7 p.m. Wednesday on Channel 19. Comcast, which serves 100,000 cable customers in Independence, Olathe and other area communities, recently added C-SPAN3. Reach Aaron Barnhart at (816) 234-4790 or www.tvbarn.com. @ART CAPTION:Daly @ART:Photo (color)

Shallow pals Sexy cable shows often come up short

Television's two most sexually forward series return tonight with fresh episodes. "Sex and the City," last year's Emmy Award winner for Best Comedy, airs the first of six new episodes at 8 p.m. on HBO, followed by "Queer as Folk," a drama about gay life in Pittsburgh that begins its second season at 9 p.m. on Showtime. Though I've never much liked either one, if you're unfamiliar with these shows - and you don't mind the sight of bared flesh, some bump-and-grind and the promiscuous use of bad language - it's worth your while to sample one of them tonight. Both have a long list of accolades from TV critics and a devoted fandom. Both shows also break new ground in television with their willingness, even eagerness, to explore adult themes once considered off-limits even to premium cable channels. This novelty, I suspect, is a large part of their appeal. But move beyond the dirty talk and the erotic gymnastics and what do you have? Not much more than some very superficial single people in an endless pursuit of pleasure without commitment. Yet their desire to speak so frankly the language of intercourse suggests a heightened sense of responsibility, so when it turns out the opposite is true, it feels like a cheat. "Sex and the City," which made its premiere on HBO in 1998, is supposedly based on the column by the same name that Candace Bushnell wrote for the New York Observer in the mid-1990s. Despite the provocative title, Bushnell was actually compiling a detailed sociological study of Manhattan's upper crust. Her dishy and absorbing accounts teemed with information about social climbing and the various ways in which sex affected status in the elite's surprisingly fluid pecking order. In a way Bushnell's columns, later compiled into a book titled Sex and the City, formed the companion work, in a different voice, to Tom Wolfe's The Bonfire of the Vanities a decade earlier. HBO optioned Bushnell's book, and producer Darren Star, who created "Beverly Hills 90210" and "Melrose Place," punched it into a comedy about four luckless babes - Carrie, the narrator and lead character based on Bushnell, and her three high-powered friends - for whom bedding a man is laughably simple, yet male companionship is ridiculously hard to find. A typical episode of "Sex and the City" presents each woman with some sort of man problem, anything from an unusual carnal practice he insists on engaging in to the size of his endowment. The women then share these concerns in copious and explicit detail the next time they have lunch together, which seems to be every day. They spend hours sitting in restaurants regaling each other with commentary about their sex lives and men in general. Many female fans consider these table scenes the highlight of the show. Of course men get a little something, too - namely Kim Cattrall, the big-shouldered gal who plays the insatiable Samantha. While her compadres keep their clothes on, hardly an episode goes by when Cattrall isn't kicking hers off. This, along with her character's sexual voraciousness, has helped the 40-something Cattrall upstage Sarah Jessica Parker, the show's ostensible star. Samantha has the three best lines in tonight's episode, all of them variations on how quickly she can get a man out of her apartment after having sex with him. Though Samantha is the most aggressive of the bunch, all four women use their "Seinfeld"-esque badinage to convey a fascination with the mechanics of mating usually attributed to males. Just like the National Geographic Channel, the thrill here is in the hunt. Yet no one is prepared for the catch. And that is the unacknowledged sadness running through "Sex and the City." Even though the show's writers like to wrap up each episode with a tidy piety from Carrie about love and romance, it's obvious she doesn't have a clue. Her long-running affair with an industry mogul nicknamed "Mr. Big" (played by "Law & Order's" Chris Noth) was a classic in non-reflectiveness. In tonight's episode, when Carrie gets into a fight with her boyfriend, the tiff is never resolved - it's simply pushed aside in the name of romantic bliss. That's OK for a farce like "Frasier," where chronic haplessness with the ladies is part of the fun. But "Sex and the City" invests so heavily in physical intimacy that the emotional void can't be trivialized. Without a recognition of the stakes involved, everyone here seems miserably shallow. 'Queer as Folk' "Queer as Folk," which takes place in and around Pittsburgh's gay community, suffers from the same obsession with the flesh as "Sex and the City." As a drama, however, it at least attempts to talk through the emotional fog that blankets its main characters. The problem is that when people on "Queer as Folk" open their mouths to say something heartfelt, as often as not something insipid comes out. It's too bad Showtime didn't simply acquire the original "Queer as Folk," produced by Britain's Channel Four, and air it instead. I haven't seen it, but I'm told it's much better written, which isn't hard to believe. (Steamier, too.) I'm going to give away two scenes from tonight's second-season premiere, though only viewers who were stunned by the resolution of "Harper Valley P.T.A." will fail to see these whoppers coming from a mile off. In one scene, a lesbian character attends the wedding of her sister. It is the sister's third wedding in five years, yet she has the nerve to ask her gay sister and her partner to bring male dates, so as not to call attention to themselves. Oh and, incidentally, the gay sister has been called upon to give a toast at the wedding reception. She wouldn't try to wreck it with a little self-righteous posturing, would she? Another scene involving a gay-hating judge rates nearly as high a cringe factor. The good news is that a much better adult drama that deals in part with gay life returns in just two months: HBO's "Six Feet Under." Other cable premieres In addition to "Queer as Folk," two other Showtime series return this week. "The Chris Isaak Show," in which the rock singer pretends to have an offbeat life off-stage, begins its second season at 9:45 tonight, following "Queer as Folk." The black-oriented romance series "Soul Food" returns at 9 p.m. Wednesday with new episodes. HBO's "Oz" returns for its fifth season at 9 tonight. If this presents you with an impossible choice, just remember "Queer as Folk" repeats at 9 p.m. Tuesdays and "Oz" an hour later. Also this week, "The It Factor," a nonfiction series about struggling actors, premieres at 8 tonight on Bravo. The cameras follow 12 actors around New York as they try out for movie roles, bit parts on TV shows and soda commercials. To reach Aaron Barnhart, phone (816) 234-4790 or visit the TV Barn Web site at www.tvbarn.com. @ART CAPTION:"Sex and the City," starring (clockwise from top left) Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall, Kristin Davis and Cynthia Nixon, begins the first of six new episodes on HBO tonight. @ART CREDIT:CRAIG BLANKENHORN @ART CAPTION:"Queer as Folk," starring (from left) Peter Paige as Emmett, Hal Sparks as Michael and Scott Lowell as Ted, returns for a second season tonight on Showtime. @ART CREDIT:L. PIEF WEYMAN/Showtime @ART:Photos (5, color)

Take note

Satellite connection Satellite TV services DirecTV and EchoStar recently expanded the number of local broadcast stations offered to their Kansas City area customers. Both have offered the big four affiliates since 2000. EchoStar added public station KCPT, WB affiliate KSMO, UPN affiliate KCWE and independent KMCI. But it did not add Pax's KPXE or signals from either St. Joseph (KTAJ) or Warrensburg (KMOS), even though Nielsen considers both cities part of the Kansas City market. DirecTV didn't add those stations or KMCI. The dish makers can refuse to carry stations whose signals they think are not strong enough to be retransmitted. Both charge $5.99 per month for local stations. About 20 percent of U.S. households, or 17 million customers, get cable channels via satellite. Exact figures are not available for the Kansas City area, though it's believed far fewer than 20 percent of local homes have dishes. Federal officials are reviewing a plan by EchoStar to buy DirecTV and consolidate the U.S. satellite market.

TV more than held its own in 2001; We turned to it for news and then for some escape

We may remember 2001 as the year when we learned to appreciate the little things. Like being alive. Spending time with loved ones. Taking vacation at home. And watching TV. Yes, it was a year when Americans stopped taking television for granted. When tragedy struck, we were riveted to our sets. No one had to tell us to be on high alert. Wherever we went, we gravitated to the nearest TV screen for the latest developments. When we needed a respite, TV delivered again, with the most extraordinary menu of entertaining diversions this critic has seen in years. I would gladly stay home for any of the following programs, even in repeats, than be stuck in a movie theater with another over-hyped movie like "Lord of the Rings." (I swear that during those three hours, I aged faster than Bilbo Baggins.) My top 10 of 2001, in no particular order: Coverage of the terrorist attacks. For 72 straight hours, America's broadcast and cable networks set aside their commercials - but rarely their objectivity - to inform and move us in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks. From the scrappy ground zero reports of Fox News Channel and MSNBC to the local coverage of New York 1 to the marathon shifts put in by Peter, Tom and Dan, TV responded to the tragedy with professionalism and poise. Kudos to broadcasters who, after taking a billion-dollar bath in lost commercials, didn't ask for a federal bailout. "Six Feet Under." Though an HBO series about the funeral business could have gone any number of deviant directions (undertakers by day, strippers by night!), "American Beauty" creator Alan Ball chose a surprisingly serious approach, using death as a stage for discussing fundamental issues - the essence of relationships, the yearning of the human spirit - that even the best TV dramas try to avoid. Backed by a cast that delivered routinely stunning performances and scripts that were (you might say) dead on, "Six Feet Under" left us feeling gloriously alive. "The Sopranos." This was the ugliest season yet for HBO's heavyweight champ. One woman was raped, another bludgeoned to death against a guardrail. Even poor Meadow, off at college, wound up sleeping with a creep. Some critics have accused "Sopranos" creator David Chase of glorifying mob life, but his cold-blooded assessments of the misogyny that runs rampant through that culture proved otherwise. Season 3 didn't end with a cliffhanger, but that did nothing to stem our impatience for more (there won't be new episodes until September). "24." No new fall series had more riding on it than this techno-thriller. It has lived up to its hype and then some. Though not a perfect show, "24" moves so quickly you'll learn to forgive (and likely forget) its errors. We're only six hours into the most fateful day in the life of federal counter-terrorism agent Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland), so there's plenty of time to catch up. Once you're on board this runaway train, you won't want off. This is a show you'll find yourself discussing with other fans, if only to piece together the dozens of things that happened in the last episode. "Late Show With David Letterman." Last year, after his hour of need, Dave Letterman shared his still-beating heart and won over ours. This year he opened his heart as never before, spilling out his anger and grief over the attacks on his adopted hometown. Audiences embraced Letterman as the cranky but resilient New Yorker we suddenly found endearing. On the eve of his 20th anniversary in late-night television, he's having his best ratings in half a decade. No one tells a better bin Laden joke. "100 Centre St." Before he agreed to this A&E drama about New York's night court system, director Sidney Lumet hadn't worked in television for 40 years. It was like he never left. Thanks to state-of-the-art digital cameras, each scene of "100 Centre St." is charged with the kind of intensity not seen since the old live dramas Lumet used to make. With quiet power, this show depicts how idealism and pragmatism can co-exist in a place where petty crimes are tried at night and high-level corruption walks freely by day. Alan Arkin alone is reason to discover this show. (It airs at 9 Tuesdays on A&E.) "Scrubs." The most ambitious comedy on TV today is this densely packed sitcom about life as a first-year medical intern. "Scrubs" isn't afraid to take on life-and-death issues, albeit briefly, in between frenetic, cartoonlike scenes of slapstick and fantasy sequences. Some of the fantasies work, others don't, but you have to admire a show that tries to do so much in so little time. "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." The ingenious three-part resurrection of Buffy Summers would have been ambitious enough for this cult favorite. But then it mounted the musical episode to end all musical episodes - an astonishing revue of lyrical delight and visual enchantment. The best show you're still not watching keeps getting better. "The Bernie Mac Show." Here's one way to create a celebrity sitcom: Find someone who's already a bona-fide star, not just another standup comic with an HBO special. Base the show on one of his most popular routines. And take some chances. The folks behind "The Bernie Mac Show" did all this in creating this offbeat family sitcom, giving their star an unconventional stage to show off his uncommon charms. "Reba." Another way to create a celebrity sitcom: Come up with a sparkling variation on a tried-and-true theme. Make it funny. Then find your celebrity star. That was the approach taken here, as creator Allison Gibson plotted a point in the dysfunction junction somewhere between "Roseanne" and "Married ... With Children." Later, country legend Reba McEntire was recruited to play the embattled mom, which she does with grit and crackle. If I had more space I would also tell you why I watch "Everybody Loves Raymond," "ER," Showtime's "Resurrection Blvd.," HBO's "Project Greenlight," "Boston Public," "The Guardian," "The Tick" and the amazing new National Geographic Channel. But if I did that, I would miss my deadline - and that's one of the little things in life one never takes for granted. To reach Aaron Barnhart, call (816) 234-4790 or visit the TV Barn Web site at www.tvbarn.com. @ART CAPTION:Dan Rather @ART:Photo (color)