‘Will’ Packs More Issues Than Emotion

There’s an occasionally intriguing story coursing through “A Will of Their Own.” But it only emerges sporadically, and far too rarely, over the five hours of this ambitious miniseries.

Charting the passage of social history through several generations of a single family is not exactly a new idea, of course, but if done right it can provide a useful dramatic structure. The key words in that sentence, of course, are “done right.” And, too often, “A Will of Their Own” is done wrong.

The social history, implied in the miniseries’ title, is that of women’s rights. The story encompasses nearly a century--from 1894 to 1985--essentially framing the life of the central character, photojournalist Amanda Steward (played by Lea Thompson of “Caroline in the City”).

The spirited, ambitious Steward symbolizes the cutting edge of the women’s movement. Her passage takes her from demonstrations in support of Margaret Sanger to a dangerous outing as a front-line photographer in World War I, from single parenthood to divorce, from the wide open lifestyle of Greenwich Village in the ‘20s and ‘30s to a defiant appearance before the House Un-American Activities Committee.

Other issues--suffrage, abortion, spousal abuse, equal employment and ageism--also emerge, some in the sidebar stories of Steward’s daughter, Sarah (convincingly played by Paris Jefferson) and granddaughter Susan (Charlotte Ross).

Important concerns, all of them. The problem is that the production has largely failed to bring them to life, tending instead to make its social issue points in the form of speeches that pour out of the actors’ mouths like editorial polemics.

“A Will of Their Own” has a further problem in the casting of Thompson in the crucial central role. Working with a character whose shifting, dramatic life changes far exceed her acting skills, Thompson’s dynamic range essentially consists of moving between two extremes, from hysterically loud (accompanied by swelling, melodramatic music cues) to passively quiet (typified by close-ups that fail to reveal any depth of character).

Director Karen Arthur and executive producers David L. Wolper, Mark Wolper and Lynn Roth have attempted to give this often overbaked saga a sense of place and time within the obvious budgetary constraints of television.

But there’s an unfortunate irony in the manner in which they have undercut their own message about women’s rights. In its quixotic effort to showcase Thompson’s largely absent versatility by having her age seven decades, the production avoids the more logical choice of utilizing another actress (as “Titanic” did) to play the character in later years. This despite a scene in which Thompson, as Amanda, loses a job because of her age. A similar concern for the rights of older women apparently didn’t enter into the casting decisions of “A Will of Their Own.”

* “A Will of Their Own” airs at 8 p.m. Sunday (Part 1) and at 9 p.m. Monday (Part 2) on NBC. The network has rated it TV-14 (may be unsuitable for children under the age of 14).