HORROR writer Stephen King was granted an injunction forbidding the use of his name in connection with The Lawnmower Man (Pearl, 9.30pm). It should have been called Stephen King's The Lawnmower Man, but King decided he wanted nothing to do with it. The producers were allowed to say the film was 'based on a story by . . .' but could go no further.
King was upset because he had little involvement and believed director Brett Leonard would make a hash of the project. This Leonard duly did, producing a film which is notable only for spectacular special effects, many of which will be reduced to naught on the small screen.
Otherwise, it's a drab and predictable science fiction movie. Hong Kong, with its passion for all things virtual, loved it.
Jeff Fahey and Pierce Brosnan, recently promoted to James Bond, star. Brosnan is the brilliant-but-loony scientist who experiments with drugs and computers to improve the mind of his retarded gardener (Fahey). The results, needless to say, are startling and unforeseen.
WHICH is more than you can say for anything that transpires in Fortune Hunter (Pearl, 8.30pm), a poor man's spy series with shades of Mission Impossible or The Man From U.N.C.L.E. but with too much contemporary gloss for its own good. Mark Frankel stars as secret agent Dial, this evening looking for a hi-tech mini research submarine that has gone missing. Careless.
TWO programmes to be avoided if at all possible are Fox's Rock 'N' Roll Skating Championships (World, 9.30pm), the ice skating 'spectacular' first show last year featuring Nancy Kerrigan; and Top Models, Oh La La! (World, 8.30pm) which promises - this from the synopsis - superb models getting dressed and undressed for the viewer's pleasure.
It also shows 'models who have made it, with all the advantages this entails - getting up late in the morning, visiting high-class restaurants and smart nightclubs'. It was shot in London, New York and Paris, as if the locations are of interest.
