MOST of the interesting action in Medicine Man (Pearl, 9.30pm) went on behind the scenes. Sean Connery and Lorraine Bracco, the two stars, did not take kindly to each other and it shows. Bogart and Bacall they are not, although Connery's performance comes close to saving the day. Both seem irritable, a state of mind compounded perhaps by the lack of a decent script.
This was one of those intended big-budget blockbusters, directed by John McTiernan, which was doomed from the start. The miscasting was the straw that broke the camel's back. But to be fair to Connery and Bracco, there are greater forces at work.
The greatest of which is the story, an unpalatable mix of romance and ecology. Tom Schulman was reportedly paid US$3 million for the script, with another US$1 million spent on rewrites. And they still got it wrong.
Connery is a research scientist, holed up in the Brazilian rain forest, who has found a cure for cancer, but can't duplicate it. Bracco is his brainy superior, sent from the US to lend a hand. The long-delayed outcome is predictable from the opening minutes.
AS is much of The Mighty Quinn (World, 9.35pm) which is, nevertheless, a pleasant time-filler, thanks to the Caribbean scenery. Denzel Washington is the independent-minded police chief of a small island who is determined to get to the bottom of a murder, disputing the fact that the evidence seems to implicate his boyhood friend, a now-notorious character played by Robert Townsend. James Fox and Mimi Rogers co-star.
A RECENT scientific paper claims that the dolphin may have descended from the camel or the cow. Robin William's origins are harder to fathom. In In The Wild (World, 8.35pm), he seems to be happier with the mammals than he is with the humans. Williams, star of everything from Mork & Mindy to Mrs Doubtfire, was asked by the programme's producers which animal he would most like to encounter in the wild. The irony of his choice is not lost on the director - dolphins are the best visual and vocal mimics in the animal kingdom, save Williams himself.
NOT only does she look good in a swimming costume, but Yancy Butler can cook too.