george reeves

COLLEGE FOOTBALL -- Can a team that for five straight seasons has appeared in a BCS bowl game, won at least 11 games and finished no lower than No. 4 be even better this season? You bet. Meet the USC Trojans, who behind quarterback John David Booty are primed for another national title. Tonight they're in Lincoln, Neb. (8 p.m., ABC)


THE BONE COLLECTOR -- You can't keep a good man down for long. Denzel Washington stars as a quadriplegic ex-cop whose will to live is restored by the realization he can still stop a sadistic killer -- with the help of an officer (Angelina Jolie) he recruits to do his legwork. (8 p.m., Bravo)

HOLLYWOODLAND -- The mystery surrounding the alleged suicide death of 1950s TV "Superman" George Reeves (Ben Affleck) fuels Paul Bernbaum's script in this smart melodrama. Adrien Brody plays a private detective who finds personal resonance in the Reeves case, since it involves power and infidelity. (8 p.m., HBO)

HEAVYWEIGHTS -- Food fight! No, not the kind where you throw the stuff at one another. This new series revisits memorable battles between food-industry heavy hitters for the hearts, stomachs and wallets of America. The first episode, "Frozen Feuds: Haagen-Dazs and Ben & Jerry's," looks at the competition for dominance in the high-end ice cream market. Later episodes cover the cola, pizza, chip, snack cake and chocolate wars. (9 p.m., Food Network)

HIGHLANDER: THE SOURCE -- Like its hero, this fantasy franchise just won't die. Adrian Paul is back as Duncan MacLeod, whom he played in the "Highlander" TV series and one other movie. Duncan can be killed only by beheading and is destined to fight the rest of his kind until only one is left. (9 p.m., Sci Fi Channel)

TENACIOUS D IN: THE PICK OF DESTINY -- The result isn't exactly the same kind of movie-and-music tie-in that the Beatles had with "A Hard Day's Night," but Jack Black is a musician as well as an actor, and this comedy fictionalizes the birth of his actual band. (10 p.m., Cinemax) 10 P.M. (Cinemax) TENACIOUS D IN THE PICK OF DESTINY (2006) Jack Black and Kyle Gass (at left, from left) play a metal-rock duo out to become the greatest band on earth. They plot to steal an exotic green guitar pick from a rock 'n' roll museum to make their dream come true. Ben Stiller and Dave Grohl of Foo Fighters co-star; Meat Loaf and Tim Robbins have cameos. "As it wobbles from one episode to the next, 'The Pick of Destiny' is a garish mess, and some of it feels padded," Stephen Holden wrote in The New York Times. "But it has enough jokes to keep you smiling, and the spirit Mr. Black brings to it is a fervent (and touching) affection for the music he spoofs but obviously adores."

2:30 P.M. (CMT) REBA McENTIRE WEEKEND CMT continues its monthlong tribute to some of country's biggest stars with two days of programming devoted to Ms. McEntire, starting with "CMT Insider Special Edition: Reba," which looks at the making of "Reba Duets," in stores on Tuesday. At 3 the network rebroadcasts Ms. McEntire's "CMT Crossroads" special with Kelly Clarkson, featuring their new single, "Because of You."

8 P.M. (CNN) LIFTING THE VEIL "CNN: Special Investigations Unit" examines women's lives ― the hope and the oppression ― in post-Taliban Afghanistan.

8 P.M. (HBO) HOLLYWOODLAND (2006) Ben Affleck plays George Reeves, television's original Superman, and Diane Lane is the older, richer studio executive's wife who may have been the reason Mr. Reeves wound up with a bullet in his head. Adrien Brody is the detective who investigates the mysterious death.

8 P.M. (Sundance) UNFOLDING FLORENCE: THE MANY LIVES OF FLORENCE BROADHURST (2006) Gillian Armstrong ("Oscar and Lucinda") examines the mysterious life of Broadhurst, a flamboyant Australian designer known for her handprinted wallcoverings ― and her endless reinvention of herself. She was murdered in 1977.

9 P.M. (Sci Fi) HIGHLANDER: THE SOURCE (2007) Adrian Paul returns as Duncan MacLeod, who, yearning for happier times, joins some companions to find the source of their immortality.

10 P.M. (BBC America) THE GRAHAM NORTON SHOW Gérard Depardieu discusses wine and women; Tori Amos sings "Bouncing Off Clouds" and talks about why she feels sorry for Britney Spears.

11 P.M. (Fox) MAD TV Jerry Springer is host of the 13th-season premiere of this sketch comedy series, which features audience members on the set of his talk show discussing controversial skits, including "The Wizard of Oz: The Lost Footage," "Hot in Here" and a music video that lampoons church sex scandals.

11:15 P.M. (HBO) INSIDE DEEP THROAT It was made by a hairstylist, financed with mob money, shot in six days for $25,000 and earned an estimated $600 million. This documentary looks at the legacy of the landmark 1972 pornographic film "Deep Throat" through interviews with Dennis Hopper, Dick Cavett, Warren Beatty, Carl Bernstein, Helen Gurley Brown, Francis Ford Coppola, Alan M. Dershowitz, Larry Flynt, Al Goldstein and the film's director, Gerard Damiano. It also includes graphic film footage from the original movie. KATHRYN SHATTUCK

JERICHO Things get nasty between the residents of Jericho and the folks from a neighboring town. When the latter group attacks Jericho, the consequences are fatal for one of the local leaders. As for the long-term consequences, the new season premiere is not far off. Skeet Ulrich and Sprague Grayden star in the season one finale. (CC/HDTV/TVPG) (1 hr.) (7 p.m. Ch. 11)

HEAVYWEIGHTS This new series revisits memorable battles between food-industry heavy hitters for the hearts, stomachs and wallets of America. The first episode, "Frozen Feuds: Haagen-Dazs and Ben & Jerry's," looks at the competition for dominance in the high-end ice cream market. Later episodes cover the cola, pizza, chip, snack cake and chocolate wars. (N) (30 mins.) (8 p.m. FOOD)

HOLLYWOODLAND The mystery surrounding the alleged suicide death of 1950s television Superman George Reeves (well-portrayed by Ben Affleck) fuels Paul Bernbaum's script in this smart melodrama. Adrien Brody plays a private detective who finds personal resonance in the Reeves case, since it involves power and infidelity. Diane Lane, Bob Hoskins and Robin Tunney also star. (CC/HDTV) (2 hrs. 15 mins.) (7 p.m. HBO)

COMEBACK SEASON Ray Liotta stars as a middle-aged man who has an affair � thus ruining his relationships with his wife and daughters (Glenne Headly, Rachel Blanchard, Brooke Nevin). In trying to repair his mess, he meets a young man (Shaun Sipos) who also is going through major life changes. (CC) (2 hrs.) (8 p.m. LIFE)

HIGHLANDER: THE SOURCE Adrian Paul is back as Duncan MacLeod, whom he played in the Highlander TV series and one other movie. Duncan is an Immortal who can only be killed by beheading and is destined to fight the rest of his kind until only one is left. Here, he and some other Immortals travel into the future in search of clues to their origin. Sunday, September 16, 2007TED MAHAR The Oregonian Staff
"My Brilliant Career" (1979), 6 a.m. Sunday and 6:55 a.m. Friday, The Movie Channel. While not the first film for three of its major participants, this was the breakthrough opus for Australian director Gillian Armstrong, Australian actress Judy Davis and New Zealand actor Sam Neill.

Set around 1900, like many of Australia's so-called New Wave (sometimes Second Wave) of the late '70s and early '80s, this film is adapted from an autobiographical novel by Stella Marian Sarah Miles Franklin (18791954). She finished it in 1899 and saw it published in 1901 under the simplified byline Miles Franklin.

Book and film follow the progress of a headstrong, out-of-step lass who is a budding feminist in a rural society where the phenomenon is unheard of. Named Sybylla Melvin for the film, the heroine lives in the form of Davis, who was 24 during filming. Sybylla is not immune to romance but feels unsuited for marriage ("rabbit work," Franklin later called it), a major reason for conflict with rich, sincere suitor Neill.



Franklin's later career could fuel a dozen novels as she traveled, worked, wrote and campaigned in feminist causes and others in America, England and Australia. Davis and Armstrong create a strong sense that the character we see here had the grit to live such a strenuous and tenuous life. In 1946 Franklin published a long-delayed sequel, "My Career Goes Bung."

Despite the good it did her, Davis has often called "Career" her least-favorite film, an ordeal to make and a bad memory. She has said that she refuses to watch it.

"Hollywoodland" (2006), 7:45 p.m. Tuesday, HBO. A little irony, surely unintended, here as one actor whose career is said to have mired plays another whose career definitely mired. Ben Affleck does a sterling job as George Reeves (1914-59), a B actor whose career seemingly was smothered by his one success -- movie and TV serials as Superman, the Man of Steel.

Reeves appeared in 78 films, series or serials, but is remembered only as Superman, as Sgt. Maylon Stark in "From Here to Eternity" (1953) and as Brent Tarleton in "Gone With the Wind." Like many actors, his career slumped after World War II military service.

Affleck is excellent as Reeves, and Diane Lane is fascinating as his lover Toni Mannix, wandering wife of mogul Eddie Mannix (Bob Hoskins). They make an engagingly cynical couple.

Details of the real lives are debated, and we see them partly via a fictional private eye (Adrien Brody). Reeves left Toni and was dead five months later. It is most widely assumed that he killed himself, but the film rehearses the other theories, that Toni Mannix murdered him, or had him murdered, or that her husband did.

In any case, Affleck shows that he can deliver the goods and deserves more chances to prove it.

"The Sign of the Ram" (1948), 8:45 p.m. Thursday, Turner Classic Movies. Here is a sad curiosity, a Hollywood studio film built around the disability of a leading actor.

All but forgotten today, Susan Peters (1921-52), gives a strong performance here as the wheelchair-bound wife of an older man (Alexander Knox). She oozes sweetness but manipulates her husband and her stepchildren for her own odd, dark purposes.

Peters used a wheelchair since a 1945 hunting accident left her paralyzed. She had appeared in 20 earlier films, not always credited, but was a rising star who had earned a best supporting actress Oscar nomination for "Random Harvest" (1942).

"Ram" is low budget and set-bound but is an interesting family drama along the lines of "The Little Foxes," and Peters is fine in it. Instead of seeking a sympathetic role, she strove to show that she was a working film actor. (She also worked on radio and stage.)

Alas, "Ram" fared poorly at the box office. Peters' only later screen work was the 1951 daily 15-minute TV series "Miss Susan," about a wheelchair-using lawyer. It lasted less than a year. Peters suffered various ailments, got understandably depressed, became anorexic and died at 31.