TV REVIEWS : Gutsy Heroine in NBC’s ‘Remember’

Last Sunday it was Danielle Steel. This Sunday, just in case there is a seventh game in the World Series, NBC is back with Barbara Taylor Bradford in an effort to counterprogram for women--another lavish, made-for-TV glamour film that features a gutsy heroine, international settings, big stars, romance, suspense and seduction.

In “Remember,” viewers with nothing else to do--no dogs to walk, books to read or grout to scrub--will find a lightweight, intermittently watchable Donna Mills vehicle based on Bradford’s best-seller. It airs in two parts, Sunday and Monday, at 9 p.m. Channels 4, 36 and 39.

Mills, lovely but stiff, plays world-renowned TV correspondent Nicky Wells, who gradually discovers that her hot investigation of terrifying terrorist Abu Nayef is somehow linked to the mysterious drowning death of her fabulously rich and handsome fiance, Charles Devereaux (Derek De Lint). As she sorts that out, she must deal with the love of a fabulously talented, world-renowned photographer. And save the Middle East Peace talks.

Also in the cast are Claire Bloom as Charles’ mother, Anne; Ian Richardson as Anne’s unlikable, secretive love interest; Stephen Collins as the dashing photojournalist and gorgeous Daphne Deckers, who manages to bring a quirky charm to her role as Monique, a seduction-minded model.

If there was an ounce of chemistry between the actors, this good-looking, if unbelievable, extravaganza might have scored a hit.

Filmed in Amsterdam, Dublin and Barcelona, the script was a joint effort, written by executive producers Jonathan Estrin and Shelley List, director John Herzfeld and Mart Crowly.