HBO's 'Baghdad' tells CNN story with a blind spot

In "Live From Baghdad," we see an unlikely force wedge itself between the United States and Iraq in the months leading up to the Persian Gulf War. CNN became a conduit of information out of enemy territory, including a memorable broadcast of the war's opening air attack. As media stories go, "Live From Baghdad," airing at 8 p.m. Saturday on HBO, is a heck of a yarn. Well told, too. In fact, if I weren't so troubled by the movie's self-serving tone and supersize blind spot, I'd highly recommend it. "Live From Baghdad" was adapted from Robert Wiener's book about his eventful six-month assignment in Baghdad as a CNN producer. He'd been hired a decade earlier to run CNN's Hollywood desk. Reese Schonfeld, the network's first president, told me recently that Wiener had the swagger to play hardball with film executives. In the movie, which begins with Saddam Hussein's forces taking over Kuwait, Wiener (a lovable louse likably played by Michael Keaton) is assigned to set up CNN's Baghdad bureau in a hotel room. Upon hearing that the place he has booked is a dump, Wiener struts into a tonier hotel and greases the palm of the front-desk clerk. A luxury suite is soon his. And then, much more. Pushy and persuasive, Wiener (by his own account) lands a number of scoops for CNN. But he's after the ultimate "get": an interview with Hussein. In the process, he acquires something far more valuable. His Iraqi handlers give him exclusive use of a "four-wire," a relay box that sends voice transmissions, uncensored, back to CNN studios. The four-wire is what Bernard Shaw, Peter Arnett and John Holliman are yelling into the night that bombs start dropping over Iraq. There is a moral quarrel throughout "Live From Baghdad" about whether CNN is trading airtime for access. At a bar, Wiener and colleague Ingrid Formanek (a charmingly jaded Helena Bonham Carter) get into a shouting match with the other networks. "You let Saddam spout off his garbage without challenging it," sneers a rival producer. But the argument is stacked in CNN's favor: after all, who winds up bagging the big story? More interesting, to me at least, is the big story itself, and how it changed CNN. During the Gulf War, CNN's ratings soared. Then, once hostilities ceased, they fell 80 percent from their peak. CNN executives took away exactly the wrong lesson from this. Having spent a decade distinguishing itself from broadcast rivals, CNN now felt compelled to chase the same big stories as the networks. But the networks didn't have 24 hours a day to fill with news. CNN was (and is) uniquely able to keep several smaller stories in play at one time. After Iraq, however, it abandoned that formula in favor of big stories. But there never would be another Gulf War. CNN had to share O.J.'s trials with E! and Princess Di's death with everyone. Today, Fox News is the dominant provider of cable news, and that is partially a credit to its format, which resembles the madcap all-news jukebox that CNN used to be. "Live From Baghdad" doesn't touch this, or anything else that might tarnish CNN's Pyrrhic victory in Iraq. (Remember, HBO and CNN are corporate sisters.) Still, you may not find that omission troubling, in which case you'll likely enjoy "Live From Baghdad." I can recommend it only in the way I recommend "Jackass: The Movie," as mindless entertainment. For a more honest document, you'll have to wait at least until 8 p.m. Sunday, when MSNBC presents "Back to Baghdad." The National Geographic special features Arnett returning to the country he covered for a different network in a different era. "Brilliant But Cancelled," 8 p.m. Sunday, Trio (Channel 255 on Time Warner Cable). Little known and little seen, the Trio channel has come up with a surefire way to generate publicity: pander to TV critics. Every night in December, Trio will feature programs that over the years were darlings of newspaper scribes but spurned by viewers. Shows like "East Side/West Side," a bold 1963 drama set in Harlem starring George C. Scott and introducing Cicely Tyson; or "Profit," a grimly delicious 1996 series about an evil executive that lasted a month on Fox. The documentary "Brilliant But Cancelled" is meant to complement the month's offerings. It does the job, though I could've done without two dozen or so utterances of the word "brilliant." I was expecting something not quite so workmanlike from the producers of "The Eyes of Tammy Faye." The narrator is Andy Richter, who narrowly avoided cancellation with his own brilliant comedy ... "Andy Richter Controls the Universe," 8:30 p.m. Sundays, Fox (Channel 4). After first hinting that it would drop this show from Conan O'Brien's ex-sidekick, the Fox network ordered a batch of new episodes for early 2003. The reason they're airing now is that Fox realized it had scheduled a new comedy in December and "The Grubbs" wasn't what it had in mind. Be thankful you never saw "The Grubbs," a toxic mash of Randy Quaid, Homer Simpson and "Deliverance." On the other hand, the slick, gut-grabbingly funny "Andy Richter" deserved better than the weak time slot where it debuted earlier this year. Judging from the episodes I previewed, Richter is making the most of his second chance. Look for my story this weekend on "Hallmark Hall of Fame's" presentation of "The Locket," based on the Richard Paul Evans novel. Proof that shows don't have to be brilliant to get canceled: WB's "Birds of Prey" and "Off Centre." Besides "The Grubbs," Fox last week yanked a second show, "Septuplets," before airing an episode. To reach Aaron Barnhart, phone (816) 234-4790 or visit the TV Barn Web site at www.tvbarn.com. @ART CAPTION:Richter @ART CREDIT:ANDREW COOPER/HBO @ART CAPTION:Helena Bonham Carter and Michael Keaton in 'Live From Baghdad,' the story of CNN's gulf war coverage @ART:Photos (2, color and b/w)