Report Examines Tragic Struggle
“Dateline NBC” at 9 goes to the heart of an agonizing controversy with a report on the case of Robert Wendland.
In 1993 Wendland drove his pickup truck off an onramp, flipping it over several times. The Stockton, Calif., man suffered a severe brain injury and immediately fell into a coma.
He surprised doctors by coming out of the coma, but to this day he cannot speak and can only consistently control a few awkward movements. He has remained “stuck in a bizarre limbo doctors do not fully understand,” according to correspondent John Larson.
Wendland’s wife, Rose, and brother, Michael, want to end his life by taking him off life support. But they are now locked in an emotional battle with his mother and two sisters, who have hired a lawyer and obtained a court order to keep Wendland alive.
The confrontation hinges on “quality of life vs. preservation of life,” according to a doctor who has testified on Rose and Michael’s behalf. Everyone has voiced an opinion, except Wendland himself.
Larson’s thorough and balanced report - both sides are presented as well-meaning - is as dramatic as it is thought-provoking.
It’s a slice of life from a place we hope we never have to go.
Highlights
“JAG,” CBS at 8: Harm (David James Elliott) is in a hospital with a knee injury when Islamic terrorists invade the place, taking an Israeli diplomat and other patients hostage. Co-star Catherine Bell puts her fluent Farsi to use in this episode.
“Sabrina, The Teenage Witch,” ABC at 9: Robby Benson guest-stars as Sabrina’s (Melissa Joan Hart) father. He shows up to introduce his new girlfriend (Charlene Fernetz), who is not an instant hit with Sabrina.
“Crisis Center,” NBC at 10: People hate this. The series ends its midseason run with a cliffhanger. Gary (Dana Ashbrook) is shot while attempting to foil a burglary at the center.
Unless the show is picked up for the fall, you’ll never know exactly how the drama is resolved.
Cable Calls
“Biography,” A&E at 5 and 9: Just because you’re a host of the show doesn’t mean you can’t be the subject of an entertaining hour. “Peter Graves: Mission Accomplished” highlight’s Graves’ career from “Stalag 17” and “Fury” to “Mission Impossible” and beyond.
Martin Landau, Leonard Nimoy and “Mission Impossible” producer Herb Solow are interviewed.
“Back in Business” (1996), HBO at 10: Like most Brian Bosworth movies, this one is full of action and violence and is not all that different from every other one of The Boz’s flicks. This time he plays a dishonorably discharged Los Angeles cop trying to clear his name by nailing a drug lord and a bad cop.