‘Ultimate Lie’ Offers True Quality A Trite, Sleazy Premise Is Salvaged By Standout Performances And Avoidance Of Cliches
NBC’s “The Ultimate Lie,” at 9, has the kind of sleazy premise that may send you scrambling for the remote control.
A law-school dean who leads a secret sex life discovers that his troublesome daughter has a secret of her own: She’s a prostitute.
This would be pretty unsavory stuff if not for a standout performance by Blair Brown as betrayed wife and shocked mother Joan.
Michael Murphy plays her husband Malcolm. Kristin Davis (formerly of “Melrose Place”) portrays their daughter Claire.
Writer Rob Fresco has avoided a lot of TV-movie cliches in getting to the heart of what turns out to be an above-average family drama. He spends virtually no time explaining how Claire became a prostitute other than to show that she’s always marched to her own beat, defying her parents by dropping out of college.
The opposite of her law-school brother Ben (George Eads), she’s the family’s self-described “designated screwup.”
Similarly, there’s no immediate reason why Malcolm would cheat on his wife. But it becomes apparent when you see the way he attempts to hold together his family and his career once the truth is spilled.
Blair, a five-time Emmy nominee, is superb as a woman who’s seemingly perfect life turns out to be a facade.
She’s paid a price for being the dean’s wife. And in the middle of the family crisis she realizes how much of herself she has lost.
That’s the heart of the movie, and Brown nails it.
“The Ultimate Lie” may give the first appearances of being just another trashy TV movie. But it deserves a second look.
Highlights
“Second Noah,” ABC at 8: Ricky (James Marsden) has to decide whether to remain true to Darby (Joey Lauren Adams) when he begins spending time with a popular cheerleader.
“Melrose Place,” FOX at 8: Kimberly (Marcia Cross) turns to Peter (Jack Wagner) when she fears she’s developing a new personality. Billy (Andrew Shue) persuades Julie Newmar (guest-starring as herself) to be an ad-campaign spokesperson.
“Almost Perfect,” CBS at 8:30: Mike (Kevin Kilner) makes his debut as an extra on Kim’s (Nancy Travis) cop show, which turns out to be a big mistake. David Clennon (“thirtysomething”) is funniest as burned-out writer Neal Luder.
Talk Time
“Tonight,” NBC at 11:35: Actor-comedian Jon Stewart, actor Luke Tarsitano and singer Wynonna.
“Late Show With David Letterman,” CBS at 11:35: Talk-show host/actress Ricki Lake, William Shatner (“Rescue 911”) and comedian Ray Romano.
“Late Night With Conan O’Brien,” NBC at 12:35 a.m.: Model Claudia Schiffer, actor-comedian Ralph Harris and author Joe Queenan. Repeat.
xxxx Cable Calls “Biography,” A&E at 5 and 9: Aptly named “Jim Carrey: The Joker’s Wild” chronicles the actor-comedian’s career. Carrey was all but washed up as a stand-up comedian before his big break on FOX’s “In Living Color.” His roles in “The Mask,” “Batman” and “Dumb and Dumber” have made him one of Hollywood’s best box-office bets. “Letting Go: A Hospice Journey,” HBO at 10:15: You’ll be emotionally drained after watching this intimate film that profiles three families facing death. The most difficult to watch is the story of 8-year-old Michael Merseal Jr., a Missoula boy born with a fatal brain disease. If you have children, you may not be able to bear watching him slip away in the arms of his weeping parents. But the 90-minute film demonstrates how family members, with assistance from hospice workers, survive life’s most difficult passage.