‘Beyond Belief’ Toys With Credibility
Back for a new season is FOX’s “Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction?” at 8, a show that serves as an inadvertent reminder that most of what you hear about unexplained phenomena and the supernatural is so much bunk.
Jonathan Frakes (“Star Trek: The Next Generation”) hosts the unique hour, which presents several tales of “improbable and fantastic occurrences in the lives of everyday people.” The studio audience and those watching at home are asked to pick the stories that are a total fabrication.
I guess I don’t have much faith in the producers of shows that use dramatizations - filled with dead-serious narration, eerie music and weird special effects - to present so-called “unexplained” stories. Need I remind you that it was here on FOX that millions tuned in to see that ridiculously phony alien autopsy special?
When “Beyond Belief” admits that some of its stories are made up, it’s really a tricky way of getting you to believe that the rest are irrefutable. You be the judge.
But if something sounds beyond belief, you’re probably better off not believing it.
Highlights
“Dateline NBC,” NBC at 8: Profiled are photographers Susan Middleton and David Littschwager, whose specialty is capturing images of plants and animals facing extinction. Included is a visit to Lowry Park Zoo in Tampa, Fla., to shoot a panther, which proves to be no mean task.
“The Gregory Hines Show,” CBS at 8:30: Ben and Carl (Gregory Hines, Wendell Pierce) try to persuade their ailing dad (Bill Cobbs) to retire, especially when they discover that his barbershop is barely breaking even. But in this well-intended episode they discover there is more to running a neighborhood business than making a few bucks.
“Skating,” NBC at 9: From Washington, D.C., it’s the World Professional Skating Championships. Top pros compete, including Kristi Yamaguchi, Katarina Witt, Ekaterina Gordeeva, Brian Boitano and Renee Roca and Gorsha Sur. Nancy Kerrigan, Kurt Browning and Rudy Galindo also take part.
“Sabrina, the Teenage Witch,” ABC at 9: Special effects drive this episode in which Sabrina (Melissa Joan Hart) casts a spell that turns Libby (Jenna Leigh Green) into a puzzle. Easy to reverse? Not when some of the pieces turn up missing.
A “Sabrina” repeat airs at 8.
“Millennium,” FOX at 9: Black (Lance Henriksen) ignores the orders of the Millennium Group when he travels to the Alaska wilderness to search for a missing teenager.
Cable Calls
“Turbulence” (1997), MAX at 8: If you want to be sympathetic, you might say that this movie parodies those slasher movies where the monstrous villain refuses to die.
Here, it’s a Boeing 747 and, unfortunately, “Turbulence” is dead serious.
A pair of prisoners being transported on Christmas Eve slaughter their guards, the passengers and most of the flight crew. It’s left to a flight attendant (Lauren Holly) to land the plane.
She keeps it aloft despite a series of crashes into Los Angeles buildings.
Ray Liotta is way over the top as one of the crazed bad guys. This flight should have been grounded due to a lack of credibility.
“Blacula” (1972), AMC at 8 p m. and 1:30 a.m.: Here’s a film that unjustly has been thrown in with some pretty awful black exploitation action movies of the ‘60s and ‘70s.
In fact, it’s a well-executed thriller with a crisp script and several fine performances.
When Dracula puts the bite on a black prince, the vampire stalks Los Angeles.
William Marshall, Denise Nicholas and Vonetta McGee star.
Talk Time
“Tonight,” NBC at 11:35: John Lithgow (“3rd Rock from the Sun”) and actress Famke Janssen.
“Late Show With David Letterman,” CBS at 11:35: Actor John Travolta, NBA star Grant Hill and singer Sinead O’Connor. Repeat.
“Politically Incorrect With Bill Maher,” ABC at 12:05 a.m.: Elmore Leonard, Dave Chappelle, and Brook Lee, the 1997 Miss Universe.