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TNT Offers a Dickens of a Holiday Tale

© F. Colin Kingston

I usually don't participate in the typical overblown media-hype about a television program but this week I'm making an exception. The program in question is the upcoming remake of A CHRISTMAS CAROL by Charles Dickens. My reason for giving it advance praise is that it involves noted stage actor and STAR TREK veteran Patrick Stewart.

I have had the pleasure of seeing Stewart's one-man Broadway Stage version of A CHRISTMAS CAROL three times. Each time it was more magical than the first. It consists of nothing more than Stewart and two props on an empty stage. In it he literally becomes each character in the beloved Christmas classic.

Stewart thoroughly knows and loves the material. It is for this reason that I am confident that he would be involved in nothing less than a first-rate telling of the Dickens' classic.

A CHRISTMAS CAROL premieres on the TNT cable network on December 5th at 8:00 p.m., PST. Even though you may have seen other versions of this story, I urge you to watch this version with your entire family. It has a darker feel than most versions but that is because it is faithful to the original.

Now for some News and Notes from the World of Television:

The ABC Television Network is about to win their first Sweeps Week victory in several years. This is due largely to the success of the incredibly popular games show WHO WANTS TO BE A MILLIONAIRE? During the week of November 8 - 14 the series placed seven episodes in the first top 15 programs. I guess it proves that the answer to the question of WHO WANTS TO BE A MILLIONARIE? is, "just about everybody."

NBC Shuffles Their Programming Line-up NBC has done some re-arranging to their weekly programming schedule. Monday nights now begin with the critically acclaimed FREAKS AND GEEKS at 8:00 p.m. followed by DATELINE at 9:00 p.m. Their new action/adventure series THIRD WAVE rounds out the evenings at 10:00 p.m.

Saturday nights on NBC now consist of THE PRETENDER at 8:00 p.m. followed by PROFILER at 9:00 p.m. and WORLD'S MOST AMAZING VIDEOS at 10:00 p.m. Beginning February 5th a new drama entitled THE OTHERS will occupy the 10:00 p.m. slot on Saturday nights.

NBC is also moving their hot new drama series LAW AND ORDER: SPECIAL VICTIMS UNTI to Friday nights at 10:00 p.m. I'm sorry to see the series disappear to the Friday evening timeslot but the adult subject matter of the series definitely makes it a 10:00 p.m. show. I'm glad NBC is finally moving it from the earlier timeslot.

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