Ex Joins ‘Frasier’ For Snobbish Mission
Bebe Neuwirth’s guest role on a two-part “Frasier” last season was one of the highlights of the series’ illustrious run.
She’s back tonight (NBC at 9) as Frasier’s buttoned-down ex-wife Lilith Sternin. Neuwirth, a two-time Emmy winner as Lilith on “Cheers,” is always a treat. But her return to “Frasier” is mildly disappointing.
Not to worry. David Hyde Pierce and John Mahoney engage in some wildly funny antics in this holiday-themed episode.
Lilith summons Frasier (Kelsey Grammer) to Boston to help get their son Frederick into a snooty private school. Paxton Whitehead plays the school’s headmaster.
Nearly all of Neuwirth and Grammer’s business has to do with kissing up to the aloof administrator. The repeated gags get a little tiring.
But Niles and Martin have joined Frasier on the trip. They’re left at home with little Frederick, where one comic disaster follows another.
Slapstick anyone?
Highlights
“Cliffhanger” (1993), FOX at 8: Sylvester Stallone plays a mountain rescuer who finds himself in the middle of a botched sky-robbery of a Treasury Department air transport. John Lithgow is the villain, and Janine Turner (“Northern Exposure”) is the love interest in the flashy nail-biter set in the Rockies (although filmed in the Italian Alps).
“Mad About You,” NBC at 8: Some good honest laughs are coming out of Jamie’s (Helen Hunt) pregnancy.
In this half-hour, Paul (Paul Reiser) deals with every man’s gestational dilemma: His hormones are on overdrive, but wild sex just doesn’t seem right. And speaking of sex, Paul walks in on his parents at an inopportune moment.
“Something So Right,” NBC at 8:30: Carly and Jack (Mel Harris, Jere Burns) take a trip to Carly’s family beach house, where they catch her divorced parents (Shirley Jones, Bob Barker) - both remarried - in a sexual tryst. Are we spotting a trend here?
“In Cold Blood” (1996), CBS at 9: The conclusion of the chilling movie remake begins with the discovery of the murdered Clutter family.
The Kansas Bureau of Investigations descends on the crime scene, and the hunt for the killers begins. This adaptation, starring Anthony Edwards, Eric Roberts and Sam Neill, never quite matches the stark, unsettling 1967 film.
Edwards, cast against type, is fascinating. Roberts has been reigned in - almost enough to make it work.
These are two fine character sketches. And Neill delivers a memorable performance as the investigator who pursues the killers.
“Frontline,” KSPS at 9: “Secret Daughter” is a deeply personal saga of “Frontline” producer June Cross, the illegitimate child of a white woman and a black vaudevillian. Her mother literally gave her away to be raised by a black family.
I began watching with complete disinterest and ended up hanging onto every word and image.
“Caroline in the City,” NBC at 9:30: Judd Hirsch (“Taxi”) guest-stars as Richard’s (Malcolm Gets) father, a former vaudeville comic.
Cable Calls
“Ralph Emery: On the Record,” TNN at 5 and 11: Emery talks with Andy Griffith, one of film and television’s most beloved stars.
Don’t think that Griffith has been resting since “Matlock” left the air. His recently released gospel album, “I Love To Tell The Story,” has sold a million copies.
On the big screen, he appeared in last summer’s “Spy Hard.”
The two-part interview concludes Wednesday at 5 and 11.