A Private Matter
Saturday, HBO Canada, 8 p.m.
Another great gem from the HBO archives. This movie was very controversial when it aired in 1992. Directed by Joan Micklin Silver, it's a dramatization of the true story of Sherri Finkbine. In 1962, Finkbine was a married mother of four children in Arizona and the host of the Romper Room program for kids on local TV. Early in her fifth pregnancy, she read newspaper stories about the drug thalidomide, which she had taken. She learned that it had been found to cause birth defects when pregnant women took it. A family doctor thought a termination of the pregnancy was possible even though Arizona prohibited abortion in most cases. However, through a series of events, Finkbine's name became public and many in her community and nationally, reacted with fury. She lost her job on TV and her husband (Aidan Quinn) also lost his job. She received vile hate mail and threats. Here, Sissy Spacek is excellent as the woman compelled to rebel and assert control over her body.
2011 Billboard Awards
Sunday, ABC, 8 pm.
Neil Diamond gets the Icon award. So, be forewarned - there could be singing of Sweet Caroline. The annual music shindig, live from Las Vegas, also has Beyonce getting the Billboard Millennium Award for her work as "an innovative artist who is currently defining her times." Maybe she'll do Single Ladies. That would liven it up. Presenters include Justin Bieber, Selena Gomez, Joe Jonas, Matthew Morrison (Mr. Scheuster the teacher on Glee), Kylie Minogue and Tim Allen. Performers include Black Eyed Peas, Cee Lo Green Rihanna, Nicki Minaj, Ke$ha, Keith Urban, Pitbull, Lady Antebellum, Far East Movement, Ne-Yo, OneRepublic and Taio Cruz. According to Billboard, the Awards "will take a holistic look at artist performance based on key fan interactions with music including album, single and digital sales, touring, streaming, as well as social interactions on MySpace, Facebook and many of the other popular online destinations for music." Holistic? Should we watch on a yoga mat?
Jesse Stone: Innocents Lost
Sunday, CBS, 9 p.m.
While most networks have given up on the TV-movie genre, CBS is sticking with these stand-alone movies featuring Tom Selleck as Stone, a seemingly over-the-hill homicide detective who has relocated to a small town. In this locale, the crimes are often small-scale but the meat of the story is in the details and in Selleck's ability to bring humour to the material. At times he seems to be gently mocking his past as the hot-shot on Magnum P.I. (he's also a producer and co-writer, though the original material is based on stories by the late Robert B. Parker). Here, Stone's got personal troubles, of course - the demon drink and an ex-wife. He's no longer the police chief of little Paradise, Mass., and a teenager he once helped is found dead. Meanwhile, he's poking around in the case of a person convicted of murder who might be innocent. Kathy Baker is back in the supporting cast along with Gloria Reuben (from ER), William Devane and Canadians Stephen McHattie and Saul Rubinek.
The Borgias
Sunday, Bravo!, 10 p.m.
The sizzling and addictive series reaches its season finale tonight. (It will be repeated on CTV this summer.) It is Bravo!'s most-watched program in years, since Sex and the City aired on the channel and it's a hit because there is both sex and skulduggery in Vatican City. Also, some very pretty clothes, of course. Jeremy Irons is truly great as Pope Alexander, a man who ruthlessly ensured his elevation and struggles to keep his wife, mistress and children on-board as his ambitions unfold. His major enemy, Cardinal Della Rovere (Colm Feore), has searched far and wide to create an alliance to unseat the Pope and, to date, we've met many memorable characters in this Italy that seems to swarm with duplicitous people. Of course the Pope is the most duplicitous of them all. As this season ends - the show has been renewed - Lucrezia (Holliday Grainger) comes to the fore as the woman on whose pretty shoulders all the Borgia family fortunes seem to rest. Witty, by times melodramatic and yet incisive about politics and power, it's gloriously good TV.
Check local listings.