TV REVIEW : A Whirlwind Tour of Hollywood on ’48 Hours’

Bang, bang, bang.

If that’s the sound and pace and content of most Hollywood movies these days, then tonight’s “48 Hours” matches them bang for bang. Five nights before the annual Academy Awards, CBS News’ “48 Hours” (8 p.m. on Channels 2 and 8) spends 60 minutes looking at Hollywood--but not looking long in any particular direction.

Anchored by Dan Rather, the program whizzes from one scene to another, beginning and ending with a Hard Rock Cafe waitress who also auditions for acting parts as many as 30 times in one day. In between we briefly see everyone from tourists (the Moore family from Salt Lake City, who aren’t very impressed) to producers (Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer, who with “Top Gun,” both “Beverly Hills Cops,” et al. seem to possess a magic sense of what movie audiences want).

“48 Hours in Hollywood” has a lot in common with their pictures--it’s fast, slick and superficial. But it’s also accurate and balanced in its kaleidoscopic way, and for people who never tire of behind-the-scenes glimpses at the dream factory, it’s fun.

The show sometimes zips past its subjects so fast that you wish it had simply skipped a few to give more time to others, and when it does occasionally settle down on someone for a few minutes, the choices seem a bit odd (i.e., a section on the already over-exposed, Chicago-based film critics Siskel and Ebert). Also, it doesn’t tell you much you didn’t already know about how many people aspire to be stars, how tough the road up is, how much movies cost these days, and so forth.

But just try tuning out if you’re a movie fan: This may be microwave-popcorn TV journalism, but it’s as tasty as it is fast.