Some fin viewing

IT is difficult to say which is worse - Jaws III (Pearl, 9.30pm) or the trailers for it. If you have not seen the trailers they feature two badly-made shark models talking to each other in what is presumably shark language. One says: ''I feel like a bite.'' The other says: ''get your teeth into this . . .'' and so on.

The plastic shark model in the film is bigger, but looks as though it was made by the same people. It is easy to say this film misses the Spielberg touch, but it is also very true. He had gone on to bigger and better things and so Jaws III was consigned to the less-than-capable hands of Joe Alves.

The film was originally called Jaws 3-D, its claim to fame being that in the cinema punters could purchase spectacles that would make the shark jump through the screen at them like a thing possessed. The effect will be lost on television, but it was not much of an effect to begin with. Take it from one who waited in the rain in Birmingham, England, for his three dimensional spectacles.

The cast also bears little resemblance to the original. Roy Scheider and Richard Dreyfuss are out; Dennis Quaid and Simon MacCorkindale are in, with briefer appearances by Louis Gossett Jr and Bess Armstrong.

As far as the plot is concerned, the shark is on the loose in Florida's Sea World. You can guess the rest. DO not confuse The Bridge At Remagen (World, 9.30pm) with Bridge On The River Kwai, A Bridge Too Far or even The Bridge. All are films about World War II and in all of them the lead is played by a bridge.

In early March 1945, only one bridge stood over the Rhine - the Ludendorff in Remagen. If it is destroyed, the Allied advance into Germany will be halted. If it is not destroyed, the Allies will march all the way to Berlin, Hitler will commit suicide in his bunker and the war will be all over bar the shouting.

The plot is familiar, but there are good explosions for those that care and the acting - from George Segal, Robert Vaughan and Ben Gazzara - is a cut above.