TV REVIEWS : ‘Polly Comin’ Home’ a Too- Sweet Sequel

She’s ba-a-a-ck . That oh-so-saintly orphan Polly pops up again in “Polly Comin’ Home,” a sequel to last year’s musical “Polly,” airing Sunday at 7 p.m. on Channels 4, 36 and 39.

This time, social relevance enters the picture. Polly must save not only her aunt’s romance and the orphanage, but also liberty and justice for all.

Set in a small ‘50s Southern town, the sequel again stars “The Cosby Show’s” Keshia Knight Pulliam as Polly and Phylicia Rashad as her wealthy aunt. Polly has come home, after months of therapy for a spinal injury, to many changes.

Her aunt’s romance with Dr. Shannon (Dorian Harewood, a welcome dose of sharp-edged vitality) is on the rocks. The new headmaster of the all-black orphanage is a white, upper crust Englishman (Anthony Newley). And the burned-down bridge that segregated the prosperous black and white sections of town has been rebuilt.

But after setting up conflict, William Blinn’s simplistic teleplay masterfully sidesteps it.

The new headmaster, briefly shocked that his charges are all black, dresses them in suits and ties and says he’ll turn them into gentlemen. He falters a bit by teaching them all to be auto mechanics, but after a 60-second conversation with Dr. Shannon, peppered with references to Emerson, Thoreau and Rousseau, he sees the error of his ways.

In the local mayoral race, meanwhile, the white candidate wants to shut down the orphanage and has a statue of a black jockey in front of his home. Uh oh. But providence removes him from the race before anyone gets very upset.

When the election--with a replacement white candidate--is a tie, wise Polly restores racial and political harmony with one brief speech, backed up by a letter from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. no less.

Some of the musical numbers rise above the goo--Debbie Allen again directs and choreographs, and Harold Wheeler (“Wiz,” “Dreamgirls”) wrote the music--but that’s not enough to keep viewers from being smothered in saccharine.