Reeve Adds Emotion To Cbs’ ‘Step’

In “A Step Toward Tomorrow” (CBS Sunday at 9), a mother (Judith Light) with a sharp tongue strikes back against the medical insurance business.

Her son Georgie (Kendall Cunningham) needs an experimental procedure to relieve his back pain and possibly paralysis caused by a diving accident. His mom will stop at nothing to get her wheelchair-bound son proper treatment.

There’s a bit too much blaming going on in this mother-knows-best tale. But it’s awfully hard to resist a movie in which Christopher Reeve appears. Have some hankies handy for the poignant scenes in which he tries to improve young Georgie’s spirits.

Highlights

“Profiler,” NBC tonight at 10: In an episode that’s more thriller than detective action, serial killer Jack of All Trades is back, and he’s stalking Sam (Ally Walker) more than ever. He murders a friendly old man, allowing Sam to get a better understanding of the murderer.

“The Simpsons,” FOX Sunday at 8:30: Homer has taken lots of punches over the years. This show explains how he has handled all the poundings. It seems he has a genetic condition that protects his brain from injury.

“Pandora’s Clock” (1996), NBC Sunday and Monday at 9: This two-part TV movie, based on John J. Nance’s novel, gives viewers an up-close-and-personal view of what frequent travelers dread: a major delay. Quantum Airlines flight 66 from Frankfurt to New York has been delayed for at least 48 hours.

The 245 passengers (among them Jane Leeves and Robert Guillaume) and crew (Richard Lawson, Richard Dean Anderson and Jennifer Savidge) have been exposed to a deadly airborne virus that kills in 48 hours. They are a flying Pandora’s box, which has European and U.S. officials baffled.

You probably don’t need to fasten your seat belts for Part 1. The focus is on introducing the huge cast of characters, many of whom you care little about. Part 2, however, requires seat belts.

“The Great War,” KSPS Sunday-Wednesday at 8: Another standout historic documentary profiles World War I, pointing out how the war had an impact on the world’s social and cultural development and the Russian Revolution as well as setting the stage for World War II.

The first installment of the sweeping eight-hour study traces how the women’s equal rights movement, the rise of the labor movement in Germany and conflicts with the Balkins led to the start of huge military mobilization in Europe.