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TV REVIEW : Another Weird Episode of ‘New Television’

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That offbeat weekly PBS showcase dubbed “New Television” returns tonight (at 11 p.m. on Channel 28) and again proves itself absolutely the weirdest half-hour on public television, certain surreal episodes of “MisterRogers” and “MacNeil/Lehrer” not withstanding.

The second season kicks off with “Waterproof,” a work from French video artist Jean-Louis Letacon that begins with about a dozen male and female dancers gracefully pivoting and pirouetting to some operatic soprano strains--at the bottom of a swimming pool. It treads fairly innocent water for a while, but then the dancers get nekkid and the creepy music starts sounding more like “Revolution No. 9.”

Esther Williams or the Olympics it ain’t.

But pretty it is. Letacon manages to create images of tremendous beauty even while purposefully disorienting his viewers. One series of shots seems to show a dancer running across a layer of water in slow motion, but is actually seen to be an upside-down picture of a submerged swimmer whose toes are tapping on the surface of the pool from below.

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Later, the underwater dancers--sometimes seen wearing opaque goggles--float and become inert, seemingly lifeless, even. One extended sequence has a man on the lip of the pool pushing and pulling a passive woman in and out of the water, twirling her around and slapping water on her swimsuit, crafting a subtly disturbing scene that could easily be interpreted to be dance-as-violence.

Interpretation seems superfluous here, though. The proper way to approach this material, if at all, is first to be in the right mood, and then to sit back and let Letacon’s shimmering blue video imagery wash over you, as it were. If there is indeed meaning in this madness, it’s been watered down.

Those who prefer dialogue with their experimental film making might be happier with the next couple of weeks of “New Television” installments. Then again, they might not. Though you can look forward to actual speaking roles commencing with next week’s pseudo-documentary, “Double Take,” that and other upcoming episodes offer even greater indulgence than “Waterproof,” with less reward.

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