THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, February 11, 1995 TAG: 9502090054
SECTION: TELEVISION WEEK PAGE: 1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LARRY BONKO, TELEVISION COLUMNIST
LENGTH: Long : 131 lines
KRIS KRISTOFFERSON, believing that no sacrifice is too great for one's art, patiently spent two hours a day getting made up as Abraham Lincoln when The Family Channel's production of ``Tad'' was shooting in central Virginia last year.
The work of makeup artists Bob and Sally Harper will be displayed Sunday night at 7 when ``Tad'' premieres on The Family Channel as the showpiece in the cable channel's commemoration of Black History Month.
They dyed the actor's hair jet black.
``Tad'' is scheduled for repeat showings on Feb. 18 and 20 at 8 p.m. and on Feb. 25 and 26 at 4 p.m.
On Saturday at 8 p.m., and again on Feb. 26 at 2 p.m., The Family Channel repeats ``Race to Freedom: The Underground Railroad.''
The original ``Roots,'' based on the writings of Alex Haley, a former Coast Guardsman who once served in Portsmouth, will be seen in two parts on The Family Channel starting Sunday at noon and continuing at noon on Feb. 19. Also on Feb. 19 at 7 p.m., The Family Channel presents Cicely Tyson in ``The Marva Collins Story,'' which is the uplifting story about a teacher who succeeds in reaching ``un-teachable'' students in Chicago.
``Tad'' is about the Lincoln White House as seen through the eyes of the president's 7-year-old son, Tad, played by Bug Hall. (Hall has a brother named Gemini.) Lincoln, a most tolerant father, allows his children to have the run of the White House, even to the point of wheeling and dealing with office seekers and eavesdropping on cabinet meetings.
``Tad'' begins with the Lincolns - Jane Curtin of ``Saturday Night Live'' is a curious choice to play the depressing Mary Todd Lincoln - leaving Springfield, Ill., for Washington, D.C. But the celebrations are pushed into the background by the cannon fire that touches off the Civil War.
``Tad'' is slow going at times, but otherwise it's worth a couple hours of your couch time if for no other reason than to learn that a First Family can have as many problems as Any Family. You'll likely be surprised to learn what lousy shape the White House was in when the Lincolns moved in.
``I welcomed the chance to bring a historical character to life, to make him breathe again,'' said Kristofferson when he met with TV writers in Los Angeles not long ago. ``The more I learned about Lincoln, the more I liked him.''
It was no stretch for Kristofferson to play a father. He has eight kids.
Also on cable, The Discovery Channel's salute to Black History Month is an ambitious one with Morgan Freeman narrating ``The Promised Land,'' a five-hour miniseries about the migration of African Americans from the deep South to the industrial North starting in 1930.
``The Promised Land'' begins Sunday at 9 p.m. and continues Monday through Wednesday at 10 p.m. On Feb. 18, The Discovery Channel airs all five hours starting at noon. ``This miniseries will draw on never-before-seen archival materials gathered through hundreds of individual interviews. The miniseries will also draw on music of the period, from Delta blues to gospel,'' said Discovery spokeswoman Susan Bluttman.
For a short month, February is certainly a festive one, crammed with salutes to black pioneers, former presidents and players in the game of love. Right in time for Valentine's Day, TBS has produced a corking-good documentary about the rituals of courtship, the difficulties of staying married and the guilt of adultery. ``Anatomy of Love'' will be seen on TBS Tuesday and Wednesday at 8:05 p.m.
Best of all are the segments in ``Courtship,'' in which the TBS cameras follow 29-year-old Isabelle as she makes the singles scene in Manhattan, and ``Adultery'' in which a Japanese businessman named Motohito tells about his life with a wife, three children and four mistresses. ``I love my wife and my girlfriends seriously,'' he says. It's nice to know he's a devoted adulterer.
It's the February sweeps. You know what that means. The march of the network miniseries. First up, starting Sunday at 9 p.m., is ABC's ``Texas Justice,'' which gives Heather Locklear of ``Melrose Place'' plenty of opportunity to change wigs and wardrobe.
It's TV's version of a true-life murder case with Peter Strauss and Dennis Franz, minus his ``NYPD Blue'' moustache, co-starring with Locklear. Also on the way are miniseries from NBC and CBS, ``Tom Clancy's Op Center'' and ``Children of the Dust,'' as well as ``A Woman of Independent Means'' from NBC.
PBS and WHRO on Friday night at 10 airs Part 2 of ``The Human Language,'' a three-part series that looks into the mystery of the spoken word. It puts on camera some pretty solid language users such as George Carlin, Russell Baker and cartoonist Pat Oliphant. And there's the sign language used by teams playing Major League baseball.
The question of the hour on Saturday's segment: Do we inherit the proper use of grammar? Yes we do, say the experts. By the way, what's Czech for ``ostrich''? PBS enlightens you.
Elsewhere in Tubetown in the immediate future: Nick at Nite marks the release of the big-screen ``Brady Bunch'' movie this month with a weeklong revival of the TV series starting Sunday at 8 p.m. On Monday at 8 p.m., catch ``The Brady Bunch Variety Hour.''. . . It's back to Walton's Mountain in the Virginia Blue Ridge on Sunday at 9 on CBS in ``A Walton's Reunion: John Boy's Wedding.'' It's about time that John Boy asks his parents to stop calling him that. And he does. . . . If you haven't seen enough of Princess Di, who has visited the U.S. five times in the last year, A&E on Friday gives you more of Her Sexiness in ``Investigative Reports: The Rise and Fall of the Royal Family.''
``Nova,'' the PBS series that can be as boring as it is fascinating, puts one in the fascinating column Tuesday at 8 p.m. with ``Siamese Twins,'' the story of orphan girls joined at the pelvis with only three legs between them. Follow doctors as they decide if separating the twins will kill or cripple them. . . . Clint Black alert! The Nashville Network dishes out 60 minutes of Black, ``Close Up With Clint Black,'' on Wednesday night at 8. TNN says it will explore Black's mind. . . . Looking for a laugh to brush away the mid-winter gloom? Comedy Central on Saturday at 2 p.m. rolls out five hours of specials featuring the best stand-up comics in the biz. . . . On Tuesday, be glued to the ol' Sony at 8:30 a.m. and E! Entertainment Television to see who gets nominated for the 1994 Oscars. On Sunday at 10, E! reviews the nominees for the entertainment world's other biggie awards, the Grammys. . . . More sweeps special programming: Mark Curry on NBC Wednesday night at 8 hosts ``When Stars Were Kids.''
And speaking of lack of zits, NBC on Tuesday at 10 p.m. airs ``The Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Special: Class of 95.'' Supermodel Vendela hosts. This is the night, men, when your wives hide the remote. . . . Serious stuff on ``Sisters'' Saturday night at 10. The topic of assisted suicide comes up as Alzheimer's disease takes its toll. . . . On Sunday at 5:30 p.m., The Learning Channel focuses on Chincoteague in its ``Romantic Escapes'' marathon. See wild birds migrate South from Virginia. . . . Big news for dog lovers: The USA network beams in The Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show from Madison Square Garden in Manhattan on Monday at 8 p.m. and on Tuesday at the same time. . . . Can you believe it? Ten years have passed since all those big hitters in pop music recorded ``We Are the World.'' On Saturday at 4:30 p.m., The Disney Channel brings back the magic moment with Harry Belafonte. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
Kris Kristofferson...and Bug Hall...
Photo
Kris Kristofferson, left, spent two hours a day in makeup in his
attempt to look like Abraham Lincoln for the Sunday night movie
``Tad.''
by CNB