TV Reviews : Plot Twists Spice Sheldon’s ‘Midnight’

OK, you Sidney Sheldon fans, get out the popcorn and kick up your feet because another Sheldon romantic potboiler, “Memories of Midnight,” parades its gaudy extravagance in a four-hour miniseries tonight and Tuesday (KTLA Channel 5 at 8 p.m.).

You remember Catherine, the betrayed wife given up for dead at the end of “The Other Side of Midnight,” who miraculously wound up in a Greek nunnery? Well, “Memories of Midnight” continues her ordeal all over Europe, and Jane Seymour is gorgeous in the role, those wide eyes soaking in the Mediterranean, St. Moritz, Amsterdam and Venice.

And who better to play an obscenely rich, manipulative, debonair cad of a Greek shipping tycoon than Omar Sharif? He plays the role with the jaded elegance of a man who sleeps in his tuxedo.

Seymour and Sharif are glamorous, picture-perfect characters you’ve seen a million times in other movies. You’ve also seen Ken Howard’s strong, kindly character whom our heroine just can’t feel romantic about (he’s not dangerous enough). Another stereotyped character is Stephen Macht’s earnest psychiatrist, who leads Catherine out of amnesia and falls in love with her.

But even with all these unoriginal characters, the plot twists are fun and surprising, and four of the supporting roles are flavorful enough to make you reach for another bag of popcorn: an idiot savant (Paul Sand), a determined and vengeful Greek wife (Taro Meyer), a rival tycoon (Thaao Penghlis) and a double-dealing attorney (Theodore Bikel in a vivid, Grand Guignol turn).