Mesmer

(Romance Classics) 8 tonight

Nearly everyone uses the word "mesmerizing" with ease. If only this film, starring the formidable, handsome Alan Rickman as Viennese physician Franz Anton Mesmer (1734-1815), were as compelling as the word coined from the good doctor's name.

Mesmer, a proponent of "animal magnetism," was utterly interesting. At a time when bleeding was standard practice, Mesmer introduced his version of psychology, hypnosis, chiropractic, massage and therapy.

Rickman, fortunately, is an engaging performer. And what impressive behind-the-scene talents! Written by the late, versatile Dennis Potter ("Pennies From Heaven") and directed by the equally versatile Roger Spottiswoode ("And the Band Played On"), this beautifully shot and costumed 1994 film definitely has issues. The film has a difficult time: It doesn't spoon-feed its audience, but in the process, it makes too many assumptions that viewers know Mesmer's story and have a firm grasp of the setting and time.

NBC recently aired a telefilm ("Touch of Hope") about contemporary touch-healer Dean Kraft. Mesmer was the original: theatrical, flamboyant, persistent, captivating and mystical (and probably, a convincing charlatan). While the story may not be entirely successful in its telling, "Mesmer" does show that there's always human hope for alternative cures.

N.F. Mendoza



LOVE CHRONICLES

(A&E) 4 p.m. Saturday

A&E's new series succeeds by way of fascinating facts meeting lots of good humor. Nixing the adage that love is an elusive element in our lives, "Love Chronicles" tells us things about ourselves and our love lives that we never imagined.

In the first installment, "Sexual Chemistry," the news isn't all good. It seems that in the old chemistry department of the male brain, the female with the most estrogen in her body is the one men want: She's (sort of) blond, (sort of) Caucasian and has a waistline proportionately smaller than her hips (for child-bearing purposes). According to the research and many university experts, this is a genetic kind of thing: long in the hereditary tooth and culturally transcendent.

The other news in this series from Arnold Shapiro Prods. is that the scent of a woman -- or a man -- is a big part of one's sexual attractiveness. Other items to know: By age 5 or so, we already have mental pictures of whom we want for mates.

For more startling news, delivered at a fast clip and with a deliciously humorous slant, tune in for future episodes in this informative and probably surprising series -- because life still is the survival of the sexiest.

Marilyn Moss



BRITNEY SPEARS AND JOEY McINTYRE IN CONCERT

(Disney) 7:30 p.m. Saturday

This hourlong concert/ad is hopelessly cute, endlessly perky and relentlessly Disney. Between the concert footage -- backdropped by Disney World's newest ride attraction -- we see them merely traipse from Disney Studios to shopping at Downtown Disney to ... you get the idea.

Sadly, all that is easier to take than the tepid performances these young millionaires give in "Britney Spears and Joey McIntyre in Concert," from Automatic Prods. in association with the Disney Channel. Ex-New Kid on the Block McIntyre at least elicits a hint of soul from his songs. A live band (no, really) and backup singers do their best, and there's a welcome lack of dancers, but a Bootsy Collins-type bass line doesn't magically transform a dull song into compelling concert fare. McIntyre's theater background is apparent; he seems to be reciting rather than performing from the gut.

Spears gets top billing in this show for good reason -- about 7 million good reasons. But the songs from her monster album don't flow gracefully to the stage. Whether it's lipped or live doesn't even matter -- that faux funk of her signature single is enough to make you scramble for the mute button. Even with the sound gone, her show is a mess. The dancing is often so rank amateur that it resembles the early rounds of your high school talent contest. But you think the crowd cares? The girls squeal, and the boys gawk.

Offstage, we learn that Spears covets Barbie (hmmmm ... ) and "loves all types of music." The goopy reminiscing about her stint with the Mickey Mouse Club is silly when you remember that this girl is only 17.

That body. That wrinkled forehead. That spit-polished act. Happy new year, Dick Clark, there's a new "world's oldest teenager."

Erik Pedersen



EXCELLENT CADAVERS

(HBO) 8 p.m. Saturday

Unlike many recent films and programs that put a glamorous veneer on the mob, this HBO Pictures presentation portrays organized crime as a loathsome, brutal hydra-headed dragon. The heroes are two Sicilians, modern-day dragon slayers, who knowingly risk their lives to kill the beast. Their true story is captured in a stirring and well-acted film that is as much a crime drama as a memorial to their bravery.

"Excellent Cadavers" (a Sicilian term for assassinated government officials) stars Chazz Palminteri as Giovanni Falcone, a magistrate specializing in bankruptcy who, in 1980, volunteers to turn his talent for investigative work to the prosecution of the Sicilian mafia. Andy Luotto plays Paolo Borsellino, Falcone's partner and good-hearted friend, who also risks his life in the dangerous pursuit of underworld prosecutions. F. Murray Abraham is Tommasso Buscetta, the former mafia kingpin who becomes the main witness in exchange for protection of what's left of his family.

Director Ricky Tognazzi gives this blood-splattered film an appropriately gritty look. He concentrates on the story's dramatic chain of events with few artistic embellishments and shows admirable restraint in depicting the frequent, unavoidable violence by filming murder scenes of officials who are secondary characters in grainy black and white. Most importantly, though, he and screenwriter Peter Pruce elevate this crime story to a heartfelt testimony to men who put their passion for justice ahead of all else.

Barry Garron



100 DEEDS FOR EDDIE McDOWD

(Nickelodeon) 9 p.m. Saturday

In revamping its Saturday night "Snick" lineup, Nickelodeon premieres this new series, which is sure to strike terror in parents everywhere who want to reduce the nastiness quotient in their kids' lives. Imaginative though it is, "Eddie" is one mean-spirited half-hour.

In the premiere, "Tagged," Eddie is a dog of indeterminate lineage who's chased by a dogcatcher and jailed in the pound. There, Eddie (voiced by Seth Green) tells his tale to his cellmates (yes, the animals talk). Just that morning, Eddie was a real kid, a successful school bully who committed his last nasty deed by hanging another kid (Brandon Gilberstadt) up on a flagpole.

Later that day, Eddie met a mysterious drifter (Richard Moll), who turned him into a dog, saying he'd have to perform 100 good deeds before becoming a kid again. An added hitch: The only boy who will hear him (talk, that is) is the last kid he hurt (Gilberstadt).

As the episode concludes, Eddie finds and then defends Gilberstadt against some bullies -- not from any sense of good will, but because he still wants to rule. As boy and dog walk off together, we can only wonder when -- in the course of the 99 deeds/ episodes to come -- Eddie will change his nasty ways.

Marilyn Moss



PABLO PICASSO: A PRIMITIVE SOUL

(A&E) 7 p.m. Sunday

Molly Thompson's two-hour, History Television Prods. biography of the larger-than-life Spaniard excels in its dazzling use of images.

True, it sticks to a safely centrist interpretation of Picasso as a difficult man but an undeniably protean artist tied closely to his art and time.

But set against a panorama created through extensive comments from family, friends, biographers and other interested parties (including Norman Mailer and David Hockney), and a wealth of archival films clips and illustrations, Thompson's flexibly and subtly manipulates Picasso's works as if they were the main actors in the extravagant melodrama of his life.

Above the stunning visuals, Len Cariou's narration tells the great man's breathless, restless, desperate and fertile story as if it were the treatment for a major motion picture.

Laurence Vittes



IN A CLASS OF HIS OWN

(Showtime) 8 p.m. Sunday

"In a Class of His Own," despite its ultimately uplifting true story, falls into a familiar category.

Rich Donato (Lou Diamond Phillips) isn't merely the high school janitor; he's counselor, fix-it guy and friend. When it's revealed that he doesn't have his diploma (he's a dropout), the amiable Donato needs to take the GED to keep his job. When he fails, he takes it again.

When he fails yet again, he's discouraged, but for Donato's third try, his wife (Cara Buono) and a teacher (beautiful Joan Chen) enlist the aid of the students and community in helping Donato, now diagnosed as having mild ADD and dyslexia, pass the exam.

Writer-director Robert Munic selects a top-notch supporting cast. Phillips is a "big" if not slightly self-conscious actor, and his recent years on stage have rendered his work intense and hyper-passionate. Still, given what the real Donato (who has a cameo) went through, Phillips' ardent portrayal may be appropriate.

Munic's characters, save for one villain (a jealous counselor), are earnest, motivated and supportive. "In a Class of His Own" may be derivative, but it's a family feel-good film.

N.F. Mendoza



LARRY DAVID: CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM

(HBO) 10 p.m. Sunday

Larry David is one of the curiosities of the murky sitcom world. An unsuccessful stand-up, he co-made the "Seinfeld" series, including shaping George's aggravating character in his own image. That may sound like slander (as we remember George), but David makes good use of that annoying persona in his post-"Seinfeld" comeback attempt. It's delicious nonsense, whether David is like this or not.

The mood and mode of it is camera-on-the-wall-type fictional reality, for lack of a better definition. David's manager wants to do a special for HBO in which he is filmed constantly as he prepares for his stand-up act, including working small comedy clubs to polish his material.

It's an odd bit of straight-faced improvisation by a cast that never gets caught acting. Like acting verite.

There is no credited writer as such, but Mark Farrell is producer, Robert B. Weide is director and David is executive producer (with Jeff Garlin and Gavin Polone) and plays a perfect jerk.

David (at least as portrayed here) joins an array of interestingly flawed and unpleasant characters on the telescreen, including Basil Fawlty, Larry Sanders, George Findlay ("The Newsroom"), Buffalo Bill Bittinger et al. Flaws can work nicely, if all you have to do is watch them.

Irv Letofsky