Expect top drama in ‘Beautiful Mind’
Tired of repeats? There’s quality viewing to be had if you don’t mind spending Saturday night at the movies.
Russell Crowe portrays a brilliant math professor beset by madness in director Ron Howard’s 2001 adaptation of the true-life story “A Beautiful Mind” (8 p.m. tonight, ABC). Time magazine critic Richard Schickel called the film “Mainstream moviemaking at its highest, most satisfying level.”
Other critics were not so ebullient. The Wall Street Journal’s Joe Morgenstern questioned the film’s deviation from its literary source and deemed it “an erratic work of fiction that’s part mystery thriller and part Hollywood schmaltz.”
But star Russell Crowe received near-unanimous praise along the line of Slate’s David Edelstein, who called his performance “a stupendous piece of acting.”
Turner Classic Movies invites viewers to spend a whole day with actor Jimmy Stewart. Highlights include “The Shop Around the Corner” (5 p.m. tonight), “Vertigo” (7 p.m.) and “Rear Window” (9:15 p.m.).
“Six Feet Under” (9 p.m. Sunday, HBO) wraps up its fifth and final season with an expanded 75-minute episode. Unlike most series finales, this one delivers, and it certainly will remind viewers of all the elements that made “Six Feet Under” so unique, rewarding and, at times, exasperating.
Not to give too much away here, but “Six Feet Under” concludes with each character facing life (and the afterlife, it seems) with a mixture of dread and anticipation. Brenda’s baby girl arrives prematurely, and the departed Nate appears frequently to give voice to her most dire fears.
Claire receives an exciting job offer in New York, but for her, Nate’s apparition serves as an encouraging sign – a message from beyond the grave to seize life’s opportunities.
The expanded episode concludes with a narrative trick that is both daring and gimmicky and that certainly should generate water-cooler conversation among the show’s faithful following. It also ends the series with an emphatic nail in the proverbial coffin, precluding any hope for a spinoff or sequel.
You can’t ask much more of a series ender.
David Ensor hosts “Dead Wrong: Inside an Intelligence Meltdown” (8 p.m. Sunday, CNN), examining how the CIA provided the Bush administration a “slam dunk” case for the existence of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction – evidence that was used to justify a pre-emptive invasion of a sovereign nation. As we all know, the information turned out to be false.
“Dead Wrong” chronicles struggles within the CIA as members of the administration and Defense Department began to “cherry pick” data implicating Saddam Hussein’s regime and ignore evidence that refuted their ideas.
Tonight’s highlights
A nanny is accused in a shaken-baby death on “Law & Order: Trial By Jury” (8 p.m., NBC).
Al Pacino, Robin Williams and Hilary Swank star in the 2002 thriller “Insomnia” (8 p.m., AMC).
Scheduled on “48 Hours Mystery” (10 p.m., CBS): the parents of a juvenile killer blame his prescription medication for his violent behavior.
Sunday’s highlights
Repeat reports scheduled on “60 Minutes” (7 p.m., CBS): missed chances to catch Osama bin Laden; parents who host drinking parties for teens; sea “gypsies” who avoided the Tsunami’s wrath.
Scheduled on “Dateline” (7 p.m., NBC): young victims of Uganda’s civil war.
Mekhi Phifer stars in “O” (8 p.m., WB), a 2001 adaptation of Shakespeare’s “Othello.”
Geoffrey is hesitant about “Hamlet” on “Slings & Arrows” (8 p.m., Sundance).
Ted Danson stars in the conclusion of the two-part 2002 miniseries “Living with the Dead” (9 p.m., CBS).
Chris Noth guest-stars on “Law & Order: Criminal Intent” (9 p.m., NBC).
“My Kind of Town” (9 p.m., ABC) visits Mt. Horeb, Wis.
Former abductees share a similar mystery ailment on “The 4400” (9 p.m., USA).
“Inside 9/11” (9 p.m., National Geographic, concludes Monday) presents a detailed timeline of gathering terrorist threats to America from Islamic extremists from the 1980s to 2001.
A farewell party for Carlos on “Desperate Housewives” (10 p.m., ABC).