Word: spielbergisms
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...presidential primary campaigns, high expectations can often be dangerous. The expectations have seldom been higher than last September, when the networks prepared to unveil four new weekly anthology series. The shows boasted big-name directors and writers (headed by Hollywood's ubiquitous mogul Steven Spielberg), harked back to fondly remembered series from TV's past, and promised liberation from the straitjacket of recurring characters and continuing story lines. If the anthology shows worked, it seemed, a programming revolution might be in the offing...
...that disappointment almost inevitably swept the land. When Spielberg's Amazing Stories debuted on NBC, the reaction from critics and viewers was a widespread yawn. The show's ratings, along with those of NBC's Alfred Hitchcock Presents and CBS's The Twilight Zone, settled into the lackluster middle of the Nielsen pack. A fourth anthology entry, George Burns Comedy Week, was canceled. Some revolution...
...world view is considerably sunnier on Amazing Stories. Creator Spielberg sees the supernatural as an object of wonderment and a source of fun: in one clever installment, an actor portraying a mummy wanders off a movie set and encounters a real mummy. Too many episodes have strained for comic-book laughs revolving around TV in-jokes (some teenagers contact an outer-space civilization that is reproducing old TV sitcoms). Yet even the worst shows have had moments of wit and a let's-try-anything charm...
...entire season of duds, however, would have been offset by The Mission. The hour-long tale, directed by Spielberg himself, followed a World War II bomber crew on its "bad luck" 23rd mission. The plane's landing gear is knocked out in a dogfight, and a young gunner finds himself trapped inside a turret in the plane's belly. The scenes inside the aircraft had the claustrophobic intensity of Das Boot; the crew members were credibly scared and human; and the suspense built as relentlessly as in Jaws. Despite a fanciful and unsatisfying climax, the show was a small masterpiece...
MARRIED. Steven Spielberg, 37, Hollywood supermogul (Young Sherlock Holmes, TV's Amazing Stories); and Amy Irving, 32, actress (Micki & Maude) and the mother of their six-month-old son Max; both for the first time; in Santa...