HOLOCAUSTS FIND A HOME ON U.S. TV

Nukertainment--Kremlin style.

A little more than three years after ABC showed the nuking of Lawrence, Kan., in “The Day After,” a Soviet-made movie on nuclear holocaust is finding a home on American TV.

Dubbed in English, the 85-minute “Letters From a Deadman” depicts the aftermath of a nuclear war between unspecified (guess who?) nations, a disaster triggered by a critical computer error. Its scheduled air date is Feb. 12 on Atlanta’s WTBS, the cable superstation owned by Johnny come-liberal Ted Turner.

Once an arch conservative who saw red at the sight of a Red, Turner now speaks frequently of increased contact with the Soviets as being the surest route to a safer world.

The Soviet movie will be followed on WTBS by a discussion among American and Soviet experts on nuclear technology and superpower relations.

“Letters From a Deadman” has already been shown theatrically in the Soviet Union. Turner bought it from Lenfilm Studios in Leningrad. It is not part of his remarkable TV deal with the Kremlin calling for a program exchange and joint production that has already resulted in last July’s first Goodwill Games telecast on WTBS. Also still to come is a documentary on the Soviet Union co-produced with Soviet TV.

Clashing tones and philosophies continue.

“Letters From a Deadman” will arrive on WTBS the same week that Phil Donahue’s syndicated “Donahue” series (on KNBC) originates from the Soviet Union. Donahue, who has already co-hosted two spacebridge telecasts with the Soviets, will tape his batch of Soviet shows later this month.

However, “Letters From a Deadman” also will air three days before the premiere of ABC’s Bad Will Games. At least that’s the label some critics would put on “Amerika,” ABC’s 14 1/2-hour miniseries depicting a Soviet takeover of the United States using United Nations troops to do the dirty work.

“Amerika,” which was premiered Monday in Lincoln, Neb., (see story, Page 1), rests on the premise that occupation of the United States is high on the Soviet agenda and that we would give in without a fight. Hence, “Amerika” could be interpreted as a call for more American missiles, not less.

Some critics of “Amerika” insist that it’s ABC’s concession to conservatives who charged that “The Day After” was an attempt to undermine the U.S. deterrent to Soviet nuclear attack.

Public opinion surveys revealed, however, that “The Day After” alone had little or no impact on American public opinion, which was already running very high in favor of a nuclear freeze.

Cumulative impact is another matter, though. In the last five years, American TV has frosted over with nuclear winters. In addition to “The Day After,” conceived-for-TV nuclear-disaster stories during that period have included “World War III” and “Special Bulletin” on NBC, “Countdown to Looking Glass” on HBO, “Testament” (first released theatrically) on PBS and “Threads” (from Britain) on WTBS. Coming Wednesday on CBS, moreover, is “My Dissident Mom,” a story about a family clash resulting from a woman’s protests against her husband’s association with a firm that makes nuclear weapons.

“Letters From a Deadman” will get exposure here at a time when the Soviets continue to press for sweeping arms reductions tied to stunting development of President Reagan’s Strategic Defense Initiative or “Star Wars” plan.

So, isn’t the Soviet movie part of a wider propaganda effort?

“We’re not trying to be an apologist or propagandist for the Soviet Union,” Robert Wussler, executive vice president of Turner Broadcasting, said from Atlanta. “We’re not trying to fool anyone. And we don’t think we are going to get blockbuster ratings, either.”

Turner and Wussler first saw “Letters From a Deadman” shortly after the Goodwill Games.

“What struck both of us was that it talked about Christmas and religion and things the Soviets usually don’t talk about,” Wussler said. “It talked about the basics of life, whether you are American, Chinese or Soviet.”

The movie’s central character is a man named Larsen, who is initially seen writing to his dead son from an underground bunker. Larsen is the scientist who developed the computers whose error triggered a devastating missile exchange that destroyed his family and country.

Whatever country that is.

“It’s set in Western Europe,” said Martin Killeen, the WTBS producer on the movie project. “It could just as easily be Eastern Europe. But the way the Soviets do it, it feels like it would be a Scandinavian country. Having it set in a Western country, I think, allows the film makers more freedom. Obviously, in the Soviet mind, this (making a mistake that causes nuclear holocaust) is not something they would do. I just can’t see them doing a story about a computer error if it were in the Soviet Union.”

That sounds more like a strong tilt. However, Killeen insists that the movie is no anti-West polemic.

“It’s very dark, very melancholy, very interior. The action on the surface is not very dramatic. The Russians work in very symbolic ways. There’s a sadness to the movie that I think the Russians would indulge more than Americans would.”

Killeen said that the story ends with Larsen dead and a group of orphans in slickers and gas masks, going off to face the nuclear terror.

Soviet model or American, the results are the same.