Let’s Hope For Better ‘Morals’
“Public Morals” at 9:30 is the last of CBS’ new fall shows to premiere.
Has the network saved the best for last? Decidedly not.
The comedy, from Steven Bochco (“NYPD Blue”) and Jay Tarses (“The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd”), puzzles me.
Critics were offered a crude but, at times, funny pilot last summer. Tonight’s debut, an entirely different episode, doesn’t contain the same outrageous language. But it isn’t nearly as funny.
The setting is a New York City police vice squad run by a bumbling lieutenant (Peter Gerety). He oversees officers who range from the pitifully dumb to an out-of-place Ivy Leaguer (Can you say “Barney Miller”?).
They take exception tonight when they’re taunted by the underage drinkers in a bar they raid. The incident makes them question the importance of their work.
Both Bochco and Tarses have given us more intelligent entertainment. Bochco makes no excuses.
“This is a comedy about vice cops,” he told me a few weeks ago. “By definition, it’s a pretty low-brow enterprise. I don’t apologize for that.
“I like it. I think it’s funny. I think there’s a lot of room for it to get better, and I hope it does.”
It will have to. Gerety stands out from a cast that otherwise fails to distinguish itself. The premise has potential. But you have to look hard to see it tonight.
Highlights
“Wings,” NBC at 8: A telltale heart brightens a funny Halloween episode in which the gang puts party plans on hold when a cooler containing “the gift of life” is misplaced in the terminal waiting area.
“The New Explorers,” KSPS at 7: The season premiere, “Manatees: Red Alert,” examines the mysterious deaths decimating the species. Scientists race to find the answers in this dramatic hour.
“Party of Five,” FOX at 9: In keeping with the season, Claudia (Lacey Chabert) becomes convinced that the house is cursed and hires an exorcist to investigate.
“Cincinnati Pops Holiday: Erich Kunzel’s Halloween Spooktacular,” KSPS at 9: Robert Guillaume, Tom Wopat and illusionists The Pendragons join the orchestra. Included in the program is the perfect Halloween composition: Mussorgsky’s “Night on Bald Mountain.”
Parents’s Pick
“Halloween on Ice,” TNT at 5: Nancy Kerrigan, Scott Hamilton and Paul Wylie are among the skaters who perform in Halloween costumes.
Cable Calls
“Twin Peaks Marathon,” BRAVO at 5: OK, “Peaks” freaks. Here’s your chance to use up all those blank videotapes in the house. Bravo airs the series pilot at 5, followed by all 29 episodes of the David Lynch saga. The marathon wraps up at approximately 11 p.m. Thursday.
“Trilogy of Terror II” (1996), USA at 9: Dan Curtis (“Dark Shadows”) waited 21 years for a second “Terror” movie, and it is worth the wait. Lysette Anthony stars in all three tales, the best of which is the first, co-starring Geraint Wyn-Davies (“Forever Knight”). If you’re terrified of rats, this nightmarish caper will leave you a bit shaken.