TV Reviews : AIDS-Epidemic Show a Glitzy Fund-Raiser

Probably the key phrase running through ABC’s two-hour mix of AIDS awareness and show-biz glitz, “In a New Light” (tonight at 8 on Channels 7, 3, 10 and 42), is 11 years into the epidemic .

You might be thinking: Eleven years into the epidemic, and there’s not only no cure, but AIDS-related deaths continue to rise.

You also might be thinking: Eleven years into the epidemic, and one of the Big Four networks is only now getting around to airing a prime-time special on this global tragedy.

The key word for “In a New Light” is caution .

The politics of AIDS may be at a crossroads, what with the recession-engendered epidemic of budget cuts increasing just as the need for a crash research program is greater than ever. But the really nasty issues surrounding AIDS are nicely swept aside in this show.

Instead, “In a New Light,” hosted by Linda Lavin, Bruce Davison and Robert Guillaume, is designed as a harmless fund-raiser (the ad proceeds will go to Design Industries Foundation for AIDS) and waker-upper: Viewers are encouraged to call the Centers for Disease Control’s AIDS hot line for information.

The target group here seems to be the vast couch-potato crowd that has presumably been asleep for 11 years, but it’s hard to believe that constant calls from everyone from Arsenio Hall to Christopher Reeve to “get involved” will be enough. Rather than make you get up off that couch, “In a New Light” generally lulls you into slumber land with sappy crooning from Barry Manilow or sappier snippets from “Heartstrings,” a touring concert-musical created to raise funds for AIDS research and education.

The moments of unfettered passion fly past: Nell Carter’s symphonic rendition of “High Life,” Arthur Ashe’s truly stoic living-with-AIDS soliloquy, Hollywood stars saluting the AIDS quilt. Magic Johnson, though, is hugely conspicuous by his absence, and Paul Rodriguez borders on the irresponsible when casually dismissing the notion that teens can abstain from sex.

“In a New Light’s” most vital contribution could very well be its call for people with AIDS to phone the Centers for Disease Control hot line and receive information on more than 50 experimental AIDS drug treatments. Finally, 11 years into the epidemic. . . .