Whoopi soars in so-so ‘Day Late, Dollar Short’
By quirk of scheduling, two Hollywood stars and former Oscar hosts appear in very different original features Saturday night. Whoopi Goldberg heads an impressive ensemble cast in the 2014 television movie adaptation of Terry McMillan’s novel “A Day Late and a Dollar Short” (7 p.m., Lifetime).
Viola Price (Goldberg) is short of breath and short on time. She’s been told by her doctor that her next major asthma attack may be her last. So she sets out to reconcile her fractured family while she can. Ving Rhames plays her cantankerous estranged husband and Mekhi Phifer her brilliant but troubled son.
Kimberly Elise (“Diary of a Mad Black Woman”), Anika Noni Rose (“Dreamgirls”) and Tichina Arnold (“Everybody Hates Chris”) round out the cast as bickering daughters who can’t even keep their feuding out of the hospital room as Viola hovers near death.
Goldberg is a master of timing and delivers her lines brilliantly. Unfortunately, that dialogue is often forced, unnatural and melodramatic. The best parts of “Day” are Viola’s blunt observations, delivered as interior monologues, and her mute reactions to the shenanigans around her. At her best, Goldberg proves a raised eyebrow can transcend a mediocre script.
On HBO, Billy Crystal stars in “700 Sundays” (8 p.m.), an adaptation of his popular two-act, one-man autobiographical stage play that debuted in 2004. The title refers to the number of weekends he got to spend with his beloved father, who died when Crystal was only 15. We learn that his father and uncle were pioneering record producers and jazz impresarios, and that in addition to Crystal’s Jewish relatives, he was surrounded by a warm extra family of jazz musicians, including singer Billie Holiday. Crystal recalls sitting on her lap when he went to the movies for the very first time to see “Shane.”
“Sundays” is filled with Crystal’s patented mix of silly and maudlin, affectionate and scatological, reverent and ridiculous. He has always been a show-biz throwback, more likely to channel Al Jolson and Louis Armstrong than more contemporary artists. Now we know why.
“Poignant” I can handle. But “poignant” and “heartwarming” in the same sentence sets my teeth on edge. That was my reaction to the promotion for “Signed, Sealed, Delivered” (7 p.m. Sunday, Hallmark), a new series from longtime TV producer Martha Williamson (“Touched by an Angel”). She has made a career extolling the power of positive storytelling, but there’s a fine line between uplift and saccharine.
“Signed” follows a group of earnest Postal Service “detectives” whose job is to make sure undeliverable mail finds its destination. And they find a way to do that, often at just the right moment.
Eric Mabius (“Ugly Betty”), Kristin Booth (“Supernatural”), Crystal Lowe (“Smallville”) and Geoff Gustafson (“Primeval: New World”) form the quartet of mystical, magical mail people who speak in a strange, affected manner, as if toiling in some twilight realm or auditioning to be Santa’s elves. The tone and content of “Signed” is more appropriate to a one-off Christmas movie for children than a weekly series. Even viewers in need of uplift have their limits.
Nick (Mike Vogel) and Natalie (Katharine McPhee) share the perfect relationship. But they are not exactly sleeping together. In fact, they only appear in each other’s dreams, and they have just seven days to figure out how to turn their subconscious reveries into romantic reality before these fleeting encounters vanish forever. Talk about an anxiety nightmare. That’s the plot to “In My Dreams” (8 p.m. Sunday, WAT-TV Channel 24), a 2014 Hallmark Hall of Fame presentation. JoBeth Williams co-stars.
SATURDAY’S HIGHLIGHTS
Produced in 1956 and an Easter weekend TV tradition since 1973, “The Ten Commandments” (6 p.m., WATN-TV Channel 24) still commands respectable ratings. Charlton Heston, who stars as Moses, was commemorated with a postage stamp, released April 11.
Sarah searches for her daughter on the secondseason premiere of “Orphan Black” (8 p.m., BBC America).
A business opportunity takes a career woman (Kristy Swanson) far from her loved ones in the 2014 romance “A Lesson in Romance” (8 p.m., Hallmark).
“The Real History of Science Fiction” (9 p.m., BBC America) looks at our love and fear of robots.
Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, and Jamie Foxx appear on “The Graham Norton Show” (10 p.m., BBC America).
SUNDAY’S OTHER HIGHLIGHTS
Scheduled on “60 Minutes” (6 p.m., WREGTV Channel 3): A hedge fund Robin Hood donates $1.25 billion to charity; people with super memories revisited; an orchestra blooms in the Congo.
A woman on the verge of foreclosure bakes up a way to save her family’s house in the true-love tale “Apple Mortgage Cake” (6 p.m., UP).
The Peanuts gang celebrates the holiday with “It’s the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown” (6 p.m., WATN-TV Channel 24) and “Charlie Brown All Stars!” (6:30 p.m., WATNTV Channel 24).
Alicia discovers she’s been on the NSA’s radar on “The Good Wife” (8 p.m., WREG-TV Channel 3).
Winter wants to keep Bo’s story under wraps on “Believe” (8 p.m., WMCTV Channel 5).
Scientists determine age of the Earth on “Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey” (8 p.m., WHBQ-TV Channel 13).
Sam doubts the safety of Castle Black on “Game of Thrones” (8 p.m., HBO). It has been renewed for two more seasons.
A new development on “Crisis” (9 p.m., WMCTV Channel 5).
Pete finds his way as Peggy receives a token from a stranger on “Mad Men” (9 p.m., AMC).
Peter learns he isn’t the master of his domain name on “Silicon Valley” (9 p.m., HBO).