TV REVIEW : An ‘Afterschool Special’ With <i> Real</i> Adults

After-school TV dramas often deal forthrightly and effectively with such teen concerns as drug use and peer pressure, but invariably most adults in the shows are nothing more than cardboard cutouts. Today’s thoughtful “ABC Afterschool Special” presentation, “Montana Crossroads” (3 p.m., Channels 7, 3, 10 and 42), is different.

Not only is this the story of a teen-ager struggling to overcome her mother’s objections to her art-school aspirations, it is also about allowing an aging man his dignity and mending tattered bonds between generations.

High school graduate Samantha (Kellie Martin) and her divorced mother, Julie (Jacklyn Zeman) are spending the summer with Samantha’s grandfather, Frank (Don Murray), on his Montana ranch.

Frank has just recovered from a heart attack and the visit is an excuse for Julie to scout out a retirement home for him, without his knowledge.

It soon becomes clear, however, that Julie is no villain. Beneath her officiousness and Frank’s defensiveness is hurt over years of estrangement and misunderstanding.

Julie’s rejection of her daughter’s dream is a repetition of Frank’s overprotectiveness long ago when he feared that if he allowed Julie her freedom, he would lose her.

Written by Marilyn Webber from a story by Regge Bulman, and directed by Clay Eide, the resolution is predictable but moving nonetheless as Julie and Frank learn to trust and Samantha is given her chance.