Television: Grievous Burden

By Richard Zoglin

What's the difference between a feature film and a TV movie? For this week's lesson, compare the taut, engrossing 1990 theatrical film adapted from Scott Turow's first novel, Presumed Innocent, with the flabby, enervated miniseries ABC has made from his second, THE BURDEN OF PROOF (Feb. 9-10, 9 p.m. EST). To be sure, this later novel -- about a prominent defense attorney who uncovers a web of shady dealings and family secrets after his wife's suicide -- is a more complex, less easily digested work. Still, it might have clicked if the convoluted plot had not sprawled over four padded hours. Or if the made-for-TV cast had been better. Hector Elizondo plays the defense attorney in one monotonous key: prissy naivete. Victoria Principal, Stefanie Powers and Mel Harris, randomly chosen from a bin marked EX-PRIME-TIME STARS LOOKING FOR WORK, leave no impression whatsoever as the women in his life. The Burden of Proof is darker and more nuanced than most TV movies, but that doesn't make sitting through it any easier to bear. R.Z.