TV REVIEW : JACKSON’S ‘BAD’ VIDEO NOT SO GOOD

Monday was Michael Jackson Day. There may not have been any official designation, but the superstar released “Bad,” his first album since 1982’s “Thriller,” that morning and the media ranneth over with coverage. Part of the blitz was a CBS-TV special Monday night.

The show served to premiere the video of “Bad’s” title track, and almost all of the 16-minute, Martin Scorsese-directed video lives up to the title. Not bad as in good . Not bad as in tough . Just bad as in stinkeroo .

It starts off in black-and-white with some nonsense about Jackson’s character, Daryl, coming home from a fancy prep school to endure the derision of his ghetto buddies. No wonder. You try sitting on the stairs with the homeboys when you look like a wax dummy and see what kind of reaction you get.

Everything in the 10 minutes leading up to the inevitable song-and-dance routine is so dumb that the big musical number, switched to color and set in a subway station, could hardly help being an improvement. But after Jackson’s two previous extended-video extravaganzas (“Thriller” and “Captain Eo”), the thrill is gone.

The dancing is predictably choreographed, with Jackson and company doing the same sort of show-off/stand-off moves seen in the previous videos, though with less imagination and excitement. Any chance to see one of the great dancers of our time in motion is worthwhile, but Jackson is not at his best here. It doesn’t help that the song is repetitive and uninvolving, too.

In fact, the one minute or so that really does grab you--a little--comes when the recorded version stops and Jackson sings an a cappella call-and-answer coda with his gang. Suddenly there’s some electricity--but it quickly gives way to the expected ending, where old Daryl is accepted by his impressed pals. Well, maybe. They walk off and leave this strange dude alone--and the camera swivels back for one final shot of Jackson in black-and-white again, his dance partners gone, too.

Preceding the video was a superficial overview of Jackson’s career. The half hour ended with a new Pepsi commercial with only tantalizing glimpses of Jackson on stage, followed by a Jackson-themed plug for an upcoming CBS show (“Frank’s Place”) that was more clever than anything in the previous 29 minutes.