Preview ’92 : Pulp, Mega-Stars and Politics : Fall movies and miniseries rely on fantasies, fact and friction

New miniseries and movies for the fall will include the story of the Jackson family (that’s Michael Jackson), fantasies from romance-novel divas Danielle Steel and Jackie Collins, a reunion on cable of Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie, plus Katharine Hepburn in a movie she has said will be her last.

Here are some of the highlights:

Miniseries

Biography

The Blue Eyes-authorized, Tina Sinatra-produced “Frank Sinatra Story” chronicles the legendary singer’s life from early childhood to the present. The five-hour film stars newcomer Philip Casnoff, Olympia Dukakis and Rod Steiger, Nov. 8 and 10, CBS.

“The Jacksons: An American Dream” follows the singing family from obscurity to pop chart sensations. The two-part film was authorized by the family and was produced by Jermaine Jackson and Margaret Maldonado Jackson, Nov. 15 and 18, ABC.

Western

A sequel to Larry McMurtry’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel and popular miniseries, “Return to Lonesome Dove,” follows the surviving characters in this six-hour film, CBS.

Romance

The four-hour sequel to “Lucky/Chances,” “Jackie Collins’ Lady Boss” is about Lucky’s determination to become the most powerful woman in Hollywood. Kim Delaney, Jack Scalia and Vanity star, Oct. 11-12, NBC.

The five-hour “Danielle Steel’s Jewels,” starring Annette O’Toole and Anthony Andrews, traces four decades in the life of an American woman and the royal family she marries into, Oct. 18 and 20, NBC.

“Sidney Sheldon’s Sands of Time,” a four-hour, two-part miniseries, stars Deborah Raffin, Michael Nouri, Amanda Plummer and James Brolin, November, KTLA.

Mystery

The four-hour, fact-based “Shattered Vows” chronicles murder and corruption that reaches to highest levels of the Chicago police department and judicial system. Starring Brian Dennehy, Treat Williams and Susan Ruttan, NBC.

Made-for-TV movies

Biography

“Fergie and Andrew” tells the story of the rise and fall of the royal marriage, Sept. 28, NBC.

“Stalin,” starring Robert Duvall, was filmed in Moscow and Budapest, covering four decades in the life of the dictator. Jeroen Krabbe and Joan Plowright also star, November, HBO.

Comedy

Two inept ex-cons meet humorous calamities in “T-Bone N Weasel,” starring Gregory Hines, Christoper Lloyd, Rip Torn and Ned Beatty, Nov. 2, TNT.

“The Man Upstairs,” about a small-time thief who escapes from jail and finds friendship with an older woman, stars Katharine Hepburn and Ryan O’Neal, Dec. 6, CBS.

Angela Lansbury and Omar Sharif star in “Mrs. ‘Arris Goes to Paris,” about a charwoman who finds adventure in Paris, December, CBS.

Roseanne and Tom Arnold star in “Graced Land,” a comedy about a woman who becomes fascinated with Elvis Presley. Bill Bixby directs, ABC.

Small-town schoolteacher Jean Smart’s life is changed when an old classmate-turned rock star writes about her in his latest hit in “Just My Imagination,” NBC.

A divorced couple working as business partners discover their divorce wasn’t legal in “Mr. and Mrs.,” Family Channel.

Drama

Reigning Miss America Carolyn Sapp portrays herself in “Miss America: Behind the Crown” about her abuse at the hands of her lover, Sept. 21, NBC.

“Running Mates” stars Diane Keaton as a woman whose life is turned upside down when her high school crush, who is running for president, re-enters her life, Oct. 4, HBO.

Blair Brown stars as a five-star general who becomes the first woman nominated for President of the United States in “Majority Rule,” October, Lifetime.

An ex-preacher and loner who has become a gambler travel to a New Mexico border town to solve the death of an old friend in “Wild Card.” Powers Boothe, Cindy Pickett and Rene Auberjonois star, October, USA.

“Doc: The Dennis Littky Story” is the story of the high school principal whose determination changed a school. Starring Michael Tucker and Jill Eikenberry, Nov. 30., NBC.

“The Betty Broderick Story: Part II,” starring Meredith Baxter, continues the fact-based story of a woman who killed her ex-husband and his new wife in cold blood, November, CBS.

Two women’s friendship is tested when one learns she is dying and asks the other to raise her daughter in “A Message From Holly,” December, CBS.

“Hostages,” a look at Western hostages in Beirut, stars Kathy Bates, Harry Dean Stanton, Colin Firth and Natasha Richardson, December, HBO.

“Disaster at Valdez,” about the 1989 massive oil spill off Alaska, stars Christopher Lloyd, John Heard and Rip Torn, December, HBO.

“Child of Rage” is a fact-based story of a girl who suffered from severe abuse and neglect from her natural father, CBS.

“Desperate Rescue” follows a mother (Mariel Hemingway) when her daughter is taken by her ex-husband for a weekend visit--and never returns. When she learns he has taken her to his Middle Eastern homeland, she hires ex-Delta Force members for the rescue, NBC.

Filmed on location in Little Rock, Ark., “The Ernest Green Story” tells of the only black student of the original “Arkansas Nine” to graduate from desegregated Central High, Disney Channel.

Suzanne Sommers stars as an investigative reporter in “Exclusive,” ABC.

“House of Secrets and Lies” stars Connie Selleca and Kevin Dobson about a wife addicted to her womanizing husband, CBS.

Ray Sharkey and Peter Boyle star in “In the Line of Duty: Street War,” about police partners who patrol the same streets they grew up on, NBC.

Based on the true story of a pregnant inmate, “The Jerry Sherwood Story” is about a former inmate who searches for a son she had given up for adoption to later discover he was murdered. She gathers enough evidence to charge the adoptive mother with murder, NBC.

“Miracle on I-880” profiles the dramas that unfolded during the San Francisco earthquake. Reuben Blades, David Morse, Len Cariou and Sandy Duncan star, NBC

“A Mother’s Right” stars Bonnie Bedelia as Dr. Elizabeth Morgan, who went to jail rather than reveal the whereabouts of her daughter, whom Morgan claimed was sexually abused by her ex-husband, ABC.

Susan Dey stars as a cocaine-addicted mother whose baby is taken away from her, in “Sad Inheritance,” ABC.

Joanna Kern and Bruce Davison star in “Solomon’s Choice,” about the ties that bind families--and those that drive them apart, NBC.

“Who Speaks for Jonathan?” stars Chris Burke about an institutionalized Down’s syndrome child caught between his parents and the social worker who cares for him, NBC.

Mystery

In the fact-based “Memory of a Murder,” Shelley Long is a woman who accused her father of the 20-year-old murder of her best friend, NBC.

Romance

Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie, who appeared together 19 years ago in “Don’t Look Now,” star in “The Railway Station Man,” about unexpected love set in Ireland against the backdrop of political conflicts, Oct. 18 at 5 p.m. on TNT.

“Bonds of Love” stars Treat Williams, Kelly McGillis and Hal Holbrook in a fact-based story of a mentally disabled man and the woman who loves him, CBS.

Jaclyn Smith and Corbin Bernsen star in “Kindred Spirits,” about a lawyer who gives up her practice to become a private eye and works with the ghost of a murdered man in seeking his killer, NBC.

Family

The Bayside High School kids travel to Hawaii to visit Kelly’s grandfather (Dean Jones) in “Saved by the Bell Hawaiian Style,” Nov. 15, NBC.

Holiday

Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen, the twins who play Michelle on “Full House,” star in “To Grandmother’s House We Go,” as a pair of twins who give their mother a Christmas vacation away from them. But on the way to their grandmother’s house they are kidnaped and held for ransom by two bumbling thieves, December, ABC.

Thriller

The politically themed “The President’s Child,” based on Fay Weldon’s book, stars Donna Mills and William Devane, Oct. 27, CBS.

“My Husband Is Going To Kill Me,” based on a true story about a family scarred by abuse, stars Michele Lee and James Farentino, November, CBS.

Bruce Boxleitner, Rachel Ward, Sally Kirkland and Sela Ward star in “Double Jeopardy,” about a married school principal who witnesses his former girlfriend commit murder. The principal is forced to become her reluctant witness when she goes to trial, November, Showtime.

A teen is plagued by terrifying visions after the death of his daredevil father in “Liar’s Edge.” The teen’s mother’s volatile fiance (David Keith) and his brother (Joseph Bottoms) mark the teen as a fall guy in their real life game of deception, robbery and murder, December, Showtime.

Jane Seymour, Don Ameche and Steven Railsback star in “Sunstroke,” about a mysterious woman who travels through the Arizona desert, leaving a trail of victims behind her as she supposedly tries to locate her missing daughter, Sept. 23, USA.

Joe Penny stars in “Danger of Love,” based on the true story of Carolyn Warmus, an obsessive woman who charmed her way into the lives of a New York couple with disastrous results, CBS.

Rosanna Arquette and Anthony Perkins star in “In the Deep Woods,” about a serial killer who stalks young, successful career women, NBC.

“Janek: Grand Central Murders,” starring Richard Crenna, Joan Van Ark, Cliff Gorman and Swoosie Kurtz, is about a serial killer stalking New York’s teeming Grand Central Terminal, CBS.

Two opposite brothers who do not know each other fall in love with the same woman in “Killer Rules,” starring Sela Ward and Jamey Sheridan, NBC.

Parker Stevenson and Emma Samms seem to have it all, until a weekend at the beach unravels their lives in Nighttide, NBC.

Shannen Doherty and Clare Carey star in a movie about a man in his 50s who fulfills his dream with a much younger woman ... until she becomes “Obsessed,” ABC.

A woman in a shaky marriage gets “tricked” into an extramarital affair with a man who tapes their amorous adventures; when she tries to end the relationship, he begins sending the tape to everyone she knows in “Overexposed,” ABC.

“Overkill,” starring Jean Smart and Park Overall, is based on the true story of Aileen Carol Wuornos, the first convicted female serial killer in the United States, CBS.

“With a Vengeance” stars Melissa Gilbert-Brinkman, Michael Gross and Jack Scalia in a psychological thriller about a woman who loses her identity and her past, CBS.

Western

An optometrist crusades for better vision while fighting alongside Wyatt Earp against outlaws in the Wild West in “Four-Eyes and Six-Guns,” Dec. 7, TNT.