‘Dateline’ Offers Dose Of Fresh Viewing
This is shaping up to be a great summer for going out on Friday nights. You won’t miss much on the tube.
It’s rerun city on the networks. ABC has been airing repeats of its “TGIF” comedies. NBC, now that the Chicago Bulls have closed out the National Basketball Association playoffs, is running old “Unsolved Mysteries” and “Homicide: Life on the Street” episodes.
CBS? Don’t get me started.
“CPW” somehow found a way to become less interesting. FOX helps out with a few first-run “Sliders” that it’s alternating with repeats, followed by “X-Files” reruns.
The newsmagazines offer some relief. But at press time, “20/20” tonight planned a show of previously broadcast segments.
All this is good news for “Dateline NBC” (NBC at 9). These guys don’t seem to be taking the summer off.
Tonight, it’s another engaging “Dateline” report put together with help from Court TV. Correspondent Sara James looks into two civil trials that test the limits of personal injury cases.
In one, a 19-year-old skier sued a Vermont resort for $4 million after he broke his neck while trying a dangerous ski trick the resort says he should never have attempted.
The second case involves a 26-year-old woman killed in a Florida diving accident after allegedly paying no attention to an instructor.
How the juries ruled provides an insight into a sometimes out-of-control justice system.
Highlights
“Due South,” CBS at 8: When Ray (David Marciano) is jailed for contempt of court, he’s a ripe target for the killer he’s trying to convict. Not to worry, Ray, your true-blue Mountie pal is on the case.
Fraser (Paul Gross) gets himself arrested so he can watch his partner’s back. Repeat.
“Sliders,” FOX at 8: The trouble with women in a parallel world is that you never know what you’re getting yourself into. Quinn (Jerry O’Connell) rescues a beautiful young woman (Rebecca Chambers), only to alienate her pathological boyfriend who goes by the name of El Cid. Repeat.
“Family Matters,” ABC at 8: An aphrodisiac puts Laura (Kellie Shanygne Williams) under Urkel’s (Jaleel White) romantic spell. And in an old, old comedy chestnut, Carl and Harriet (Reginald VelJohnson, JoMarie Payton Noble) have trouble taking off on their long-awaited romantic getaway. Repeat.
“Diagnosis, Murder,” CBS at 9: And you thought the Simpson trial ended dramatically.
Sloan (Dick Van Dyke) serves on a jury that acquits a Russian hit man because of a weak case by the state. But the defendant is free only minutes before he’s blown up outside the courtroom.
Dixie Carter guests-stars as the prosecutor. Repeat.
“Step By Step,” ABC at 9: To win Super Bowl tickets, Frank and JT (Patrick Duffy, Brandon Call) agree to take on two female wrestlers known as Assault and Battery (Spice Williams, Charli Haynes). How silly can you get? Repeat.
Cable Calls
“Footloose” (1984), TNT at 5: Credit Kevin Bacon for energizing an unimaginative script. He plays a city kid who shakes up a small town where a fire-‘n’-brimstone minister (John Lithgow) has forbidden dancing.
Lori Singer, Dianne Wiest and Sarah Jessica Parker co-star. Great soundtrack.
“Monty Python and the Holy Grail” (1975), COM at 8: You could do worse than a summer “Python” double feature. “Monty Python’s Life of Brian” (1979) follows at 10.
Both films dish out hearty laughs, but if you’re not into the sometimes arid Brit-wit, you’ll be channel surfing by 8:30.
“Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home” (1986), USA at 9: Some say this is the best of the “Trek” theatricals, mainly because it doesn’t take itself at all seriously. The Enterprise crew time-travels back to the 20th century to save humpback whales destined for extinction in the 23rd century.
Kirk and his compatriots land out of place in San Francisco in the ‘80s and try to blend in by passing as hippies. Highly illogical, Captain.
Talk Time
“Tonight,” NBC at 11:35: Singer Garth Brooks and Miss Piggy (“Muppets Tonight”).
“Late Show With David Letterman,” CBS at 11:35: Music group Presidents of the United States of America.
“Late Night With Conan O’Brien,” NBC at 12:35 a.m.: Nick Turturro (“NYPD Blue”) and comedian Bill Dwyer.
xxxx LIONEL HAMPTON FEATURE ABC’s “World News Tonight with Peter Jennings” at 5:30 tonight is scheduled to include a segment on jazz great Lionel Hampton. Footage is expected to include scenes from the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival at the University of Idaho.