THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, October 12, 1996 TAG: 9610100075
SECTION: TELEVISION WEEK PAGE: 1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LARRY BONKO, TELEVISION COLUMNIST
LENGTH: 101 lines
WOULD THE SMART, savvy, ambitious, well-educated and well-connected Elizabeth Dole and Hillary Clinton make better candidates for the White House than the men they married? Lifetime, the cable channel that bills itself as television for women, thinks so.
In an Oct. 20 special at 10 p.m., the Lifetime producers show how these two driven women are in some ways more qualified to run the country than their husbands.
Before then, CNN puts the women under the microscope in the latest chapter of its politics-made-watchable ``Democracy in America '96'' series Sunday night at 9. The ``CNN Presents'' special is called ``They Don't Bake Cookies.''
No, they don't.
Elizabeth Dole left the chocolate chips to others as she became a lawyer, held two Cabinet positions, headed the American Red Cross and helped to orchestrate her husband Bob Dole's run for the White House.
Hillary Rodham Clinton has been too busy getting her law degree, reforming the school system in Arkansas when she was the first lady in that state, drafting a plan for national health care and campaigning for Bill Clinton's re-election to have her nose in a cookbook.
``Buy one, get one free,'' Bill Clinton said four years ago as he campaigned with Hillary at his side. Now that we've come to know the first lady, CNN suggests we are turned off by her sharp edge.
CNN asks, ``Is she too tough, too driven?''
Of Mrs. Dole, CNN correspondent David Lewis comments, ``Some wonder if the personal grace she shows is just a facade. Her strength is in the background. She's a most untraditional woman playing a traditional role.''
Why should we strive to know these women better? Because after watching the CNN and Lifetime specials, one gets the impression that both have very much to do with how the men in their lives conduct the business of politics.
``They call the shots,'' says CNN. The Lifetime hour, ``Intimate Portrait: Hillary Clinton and Elizabeth Dole,'' is better than CNN's because it has more about the early lives of the women. Hillary's relationship with her demanding father is explored. It's also a slicker production, hosted by Cokie Roberts of ABC News.
In both documentaries, this impression bubbles to the surface: North Carolina-born Liddy Dole exerts power with grace while Midwesterner Hillary Clinton hits you on the head with her political clout. On Lifetime, she's heard to say it's easy for her to knock Bosnia, the Middle East or other breaking news off Page One.
``All I have to do is change my hair style,'' said Clinton. Dole's 'do also varies in style and color many times. There's no fuss.
So why is everybody picking on Hillary?
Lifetime and CNN strive to explain why these women are perceived as they are. With the November elections near, the documentaries are must-see TV.
In political programming of a lighter note, American Movie Classics on Tuesday night at 8 launches ``D.C. Follies.'' AMC pulls together film clips from more than a dozen movies with political themes such as ``The Last Hurrah,'' tosses in newsreel footage, campaign commercials and brings aboard Robert Klein as host of the documentary.
``Watching these films will show that the issues have changed very little over the last century,'' said ``D.C. Follies'' executive producer Lewis Bogach.
Elsewhere on television in the week to come, the miniseries keep on rolling on Public Broadcasting stations. The latest, ``Genesis: A Living Conversation with Bill Moyers,'' begins Wednesday night at 8 on WHRO.
In this 10-part series, Moyers calls on biblical scholars, writers, artists, psychotherapists and others to discuss and debate what the Genesis stories mean to America in the 1990s.
On Sunday at 12:20 p.m., the Disney Channel tells the story of the daring flying team that often visits southside Hampton Roads in ``America's Flying Aces: The Blue Angels' 50th Anniversary.'' Disney promises behind-the-scenes stuff with lots of footage of what it calls ``aerobatics.''
The PBS documentary series ``Frontline'' reviews the unsettling events in the Navy's recent past including the Tailhook scandal in ``Navy Blues,'' which airs Tuesday at 9 p.m. The rise of women in the Navy created ``political fireworks,'' says producer Michael Kirk.
On Saturday at 11 p.m., VH-1 launches a late-night talk show hosted by the man who would be woman, RuPaul. While his wardrobe and makeup are stunning, the host of ``The RuPaul Show'' is no Charlie Rose when it comes to interviewing. After about five minutes, the novelty wears off and it's time to reach for the remote.
While RuPaul has made a good life for himself as a cross-dresser, others who do as he does often find they are less accepted by society. Cinemax explores the lifestyles of four heterosexual men who are cross-dressers in ``All Dressed Up and No Place to Go'' on Thursday night at 11:30.
Also of note: The Discovery Channel focuses on the recent attempts to salvage a piece of the Titanic's hull in ``Titanic: The Investigation Begins'' on Sunday night at 9. Discovery promises to reveal new insight into the great ship's collision with an iceberg in 1912. . . . ``Eyewitness,'' the PBS series that is just about the coolest-looking programming on TV, begins its new season Monday at 8 p.m. with ``Volcano.''. . . Home Box Office put together a powerhouse cast (Demi Moore, Sissy Spacek and Cher) in an original TV film about unwanted pregnancies. The story is told over three decades by women who lived in the same house, starting 40 years ago when abortion was illegal. First up in ``If These Walls Could Talk'' on Sunday night at 9, is Moore's story of a nurse in 1952 who is desperate to end her pregnancy. It recalls the era of back-alley abortions. ILLUSTRATION: CNN will air "They Don't Bake Cookies" at 9 Sunday
night. At 10 p.m. Oct. 20, Lifetime will air "Intimate Portrait:
Hillary Clinton and Elizabeth Dole." by CNB