EVEN the extensive nudity of the first hour, most of which will be subjected to the careful nips and tucks of TVB's censors, cannot save Meridian (World, 9.30pm) from becoming a poorer version of 1983's Beauty and the Beast.
This was the film in which Susan Sarandon became Klaus Kinski's prisoner and found that love can conquer all. In 1987 it became an outrageously melodramatic television series with Ron Perlman wallowing broken-heartedly in America's sewage system while Linda Hamilton tried to convince herself he was not ugly, just misunderstood.
Meridian has its twists, notably that British actor Malcolm Jamieson's beast is twins - one good and one evil. A troupe of wandering minstrels adds the Shakespearian touch, but throughout it all director Charles Band concentrates too much on the removal of clothing and not enough on the story.
Band has turned these Gothic romps into his house speciality. He was also responsible for Dungeonmaster and The Alchemist.
EXTENSIVE nudity might have put the kick back in Kickboxer II: The Road Back (Pearl, 9.30pm). Instead there is nothing but extensive corn. It starts in Thailand, where kickboxing champion Kurt Sloan has defeated the brutal Tong Po and attempts to leave the country. But Po, as crazy as a cut snake, ambushes him. If you think Jean-Claude can't act, watch this.
IT is camper than a field of boy scouts, but The Green Hornet (World, 9pm) is always fun. The cast list says it all; Barbara Babcock plays an Attractive Girl, Jerry Catron plays First Tough and Roydon Clarke plays Second Tough.
In tonight's episode, Programmed for Death, the Hornet and his trusty Oriental aide, Kato, capture a ring of phony diamond merchants who have caused the death of one of Britt Reid's reporters. Hurrah for the Hornet and for Kato.