Television Reviews : Fireworks Fizzle in ‘Too Good to Be True’

NBC’s “Too Good to Be True,” tonight at 9 on Channels 4, 36 and 39, might be more aptly called “Too Bad to Be Viewed,” as zaftig Loni Anderson and “Dallas” star Patrick Duffy team up in a limp fizzle about obsessive passion.

Instead of fireworks a la “Fatal Attraction,” the chief excitement in Timothy Bradshaw’s cardboard teleplay, based on Ben Ames Williams’ 1944 novel “Leave Her to Heaven,” is director Christian I. Nyby’s generous, lingering shots of Anderson’s elaborate wardrobe and plunging decolletage.

Anderson, as bad and beautiful Ellen, throws over her dry fiance (James Sikking) when she develops a sudden pash for Richard (Duffy), a widower with a disabled son. A few hints from Richard’s friends and from Ellen’s mother (Julie Harris, shamefully wasted) and adopted sister (Glynnis O’Connor) suggest that Ellen is a little different , but we never learn why. We never get inside her head at all.

Never fear, for in case we might join the cast in not being able to tell that Anderson’s automaton-like Ellen is not just different but downright creepy, we see her secret evil smile and hear a trill of mood music.

The lovely Anderson is no more at a loss than anyone else here. It’s difficult to take seriously a plot that hinges on the fact that Ellen, choking with hysteria and gesturing wildly for a glass of iced tea just out of reach, doesn’t get it until her sister stirs in a packet of sweetener.

Well, someone’s got to keep a cool head in a crisis.