Avoid Exposure To Abc’s ‘Overexposed’
The Nielsen ratings tell me that more than two-thirds of Americans aren’t watching the Olympics on a given night.
The ratings also show, however, that the folks who aren’t interested in international sports and that special brand of jingoism that American television brings to Olympic coverage aren’t paying much attention to what’s on the other channels, either.
Tonight’s Olympic alternatives are slim. CBS goes with reruns of its Monday lineup. ABC and FOX air repeat movies.
ABC is hoping that the scent of sex and voyeurism will draw viewers to 1992’s “Overexposed” at 9.
The fact-based movie has a plot that sounds like it was lifted from a daytime soap opera. An attractive woman (Marcy Walker) has an affair with her husband’s (Dan Lauria) business partner (Terence Knox).
When she decides to break it off, he goes on the offense, flooding the neighborhood with copies of an explicit videotape.
If you can feel sorry for a woman who cheats on her husband and has sex-on-tape with his business partner, you’ll probably be totally absorbed. Even more so if you think Terence Knox is the Marlon Brando of the ‘90s.
What I’m trying to say is avoid exposure to this dud.
At least “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” (FOX at 8) won’t insult you by taking itself at all seriously.
Kristy Swanson stars as a high school cheerleader who discovers she is the latest in a long line of women chosen throughout the ages to kill vampires. She gets counsel from a creepy mystery man (Donald Sutherland) and falls for a rebellious teen (Luke Perry).
The 1992 comedy has a few clever flashes - Paul Reubens (a.k.a. Peewee Herman) as a vampire among them - but eventually it becomes more silly than anything else.
Highlights
“Summer Olympics,” NBC at 9 a.m. and 4:30 and 9:40 a.m.: Can the individual gymnastics competition top the drama of last week? Tune in for the men’s and women’s finals.
Also, finals in track and field and men’s springboard diving. In the later evening telecast it’s volleyball, women’s basketball and the heavyweight weightlifting finals.
“Evening at Pops,” KSPS at 8: A night of Spanish rhythm features soprano Denyce Graves, the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet and Maria Benitez Teatro Flamenco.
“Will You Marry Me?” ABC at 8: These stories make the morning paper and the evening news.
Here’s an hour’s worth of romantic tales of unusual marriage proposals. But a little bit goes a long way.
Dick Clark and Suzanne Somers are hosts. Repeat.
“Cybill,” CBS at 9:30: Wendie Malick (“Martin”) guest-stars as Ira’s (Alan Rosenberg) new girlfriend who, Cybill (Cybill Shepherd) discovers, has multiple personalities. Some good laughs pepper this funny repeat.
Cable Calls
“Biography,” A&E at 5 and 9: “I laugh at really crude, base humor. And apparently millions of other people do too.” That’s about all you need to know about radio personality Howard Stern.
“Howard Stern: Radio Rebel” is a thin profile, an hour so flattering it could have been written by the shockjock’s publicist.
Everybody talks about how profound and intelligent he can be. So why is there so little evidence to be found here?
“The Right Stuff” (1983), A&E at 6 and 10 and Tuesday at 6 and 10: The high-flying adaptation of Tom Wolfe’s saga of NASA and the original Mercury astronauts stars Sam Shepard, Scott Glenn, Fred Ward and Dennis Quaid.
“The Puppet Masters” (1994), SHO at 12:05 a.m.: Robert A. Heinlein’s 1951 novel gets a fair treatment, one that will more than satisfy those who love sci-fi space monster movies of the ‘50s.
Donald Sutherland stars as a government alien investigator assisted by his son (Eric Thal) and another associate (Julie Warner).
They check out an alleged flying saucer landing in Iowa and discover that a race of space invaders is taking over the bodies of unsuspecting earthlings. It’s sort of “The X-Files” meets “Invasion of the Bodysnatchers.”