TV REVIEWS : ‘My Name Is Kate’ Has Strong Message

“My Name Is Kate” (tonight at 9 on Channels 7, 3 and 10) is a well-intentioned story about one woman’s struggle to overcome alcoholism. Indeed, this TV movie strives so hard to be socially constructive that at times it feels like an advertisement for Alcoholics Anonymous.

Considering the vast number of individuals whose lives have been adversely affected by alcohol addiction, that’s not an entirely negative quality. This film could very well inspire a significant number of alcoholics to seek help.

But for those viewers looking for a more complex human drama, “My Name Is Kate” will probably disappoint. There have been enough films made about substance abuse that it’s no longer satisfying to simply watch a straightforward movie about alcohol addiction. Much-used material like this requires new perspective or insight. Instead, this drama seems content to push the most obvious buttons.

Predictably, the opening segments of “My Name Is Kate” find Kate Bannister (Donna Mills) losing her grip on life. A professional woman with a successful husband (Daniel J. Travanti), a 19-year-old daughter who’s married to a doctor and a bright teen-age son, she seems to have everything to live for.

But her drinking causes her to become unreliable and irrational. Soon she is without a job and her family is about to disown her when she finally agrees to admit herself into a treatment clinic for women.

Still, Kate remains in deep denial. It takes the efforts of a nurturing counselor (Eileen Brennan) and several of her fellow residents at the clinic to make her face her drinking problem. Kate is particularly indebted to her new roommate (Nia Peeples), a feisty and caring Hispanic woman who is trying to kick a crack addiction.

Many of these clinic scenes seem to have been almost designed to offer hope to people with alcohol and drug problems. In this unusually friendly and open atmosphere, the counselors and residents always seem to be available to lend each other support and guidance. All of this is nice, but not entirely realistic. In addition, Kate’s transition from a hostile drunk to a loving mother and wife is too easily made.

In the end, “My Name Is Kate” is an earnest but deeply flawed attempt at making a positive social statement.