TV REVIEW : ‘Bed of Lies’ an Unkempt Story

Yes, we’ve had “L.A. Law” to prepare us for this. But postbaby boomers will know they’re really getting older when they watch Laurie Partridge, as a mother of four getting beaten up in some terribly vivid wife-abuse scenes, in the TV movie “Bed of Lies” (at 9 tonight on ABC, Channels 7, 3, 10 and 42).

Susan Dey takes her shot at a Suh-thun accent here, even as she accidentally takes a fatal shot at her slap-happy on-screen husband.

In both cases, she acquits herself admirably, though it hardly makes for mandatory viewing. Dey loses herself in her lower-class character; so, as it happens, does the movie, which is luridly entertaining up to a point.

Based on ye olde True Story, this is yet another example of the woman-accused-of-murder-and-in-danger-of-losing-her-kids genre so popular on the networks these last months. Dey plays a Texas burger-joint waitress who inspires the lust of lawyer and political heir Chris Cooper, who happily ignores her protestations that he’s crossed over onto the wrong side of the tracks.

Once he’s negotiated her divorce and married her, though, Cooper turns from a pussycat into the husband from hell. By the time she puts a bullet in his chest, most viewers will have the pompons out cheering for his demise.

Then it’s into the courtroom for the third--and weakest--act with filthy-rich relatives of the deceased (Mary Kay Place and John Anderson) and their attorney (G.W. Bailey) waging a battle for custody of the kids, versus beleaguered homicide suspect Dey and her saintly lawyer (the always likable Fred Dalton Thompson).

Unfortunately, nothing happens in these climactic trial scenes that marks even an attempt at a surprise, rendering the whole build-up of the story rather pointless.

The one ingredient that does make “Bed of Lies” more interesting than the norm is the initial characterization of Dey as not so bright and a bit of a tart--as opposed to the usual Noble Sufferer--but by the end, the only concrete growth we’ve witnessed is her improved taste in mini-skirts.