Thursday, April 27, 2000

1001 Arabic sights livens miniseries

ABC has three wishes for its "Arabian Nights" event airing at 8 p.m. Sunday and Monday: That viewers won't yawn at yet another splashy lit-based miniseries; that teamed with "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" as a lead-in, the four-hour "Nights" mini will make ABC fat on sweeps ratings; and that NBC's "'70s" show, its chief competition, will sink like a wet platform shoe.
   They might just win that trifecta.
   Drawn from the 14-volume collection of centuries-old Persian, Indian and Arabian folktales called "A Thousand and One Nights," the exotic "Arabian Nights" stylishly serves up several of the best-known stories: Ali Baba and his thieves, Aladdin and the genies of the lamp, the king who swaps lives with a beggar.
   Telling the tales is the beautiful Scheherazade (played by Mili Avital), cleverly delaying her ordered execution by keeping her angry betrothed, the mistrustful Sultan of Baghdad (Dougray Scott), awake night after night with colorful yarns.
   Helping Scheherazade dream up the stories is The Master Storyteller (Alan Bates), who is sure that the girl's dramatic skills will help win the sultan's love.
   Jason Scott Lee stars as Aladdin, John Leguizamo as Aladdin's two genies and Rufus Sewell as Ali Baba.
   It's a lively, lovely cast, acting against gorgeous scenery in Turkey and Morocco.
   Producer Robert Halmi, Sr., who also brought "Merlin" and "The Odyssey" to television as sweeps specials, says "Arabian Nights" is his best work yet.
   "This miniseries has everything that good entertainment has to offer," said Halmi. "It's based on literature. It is a fantastic script (by Peter Barnes). And we could show off acting talent and special effects. It also has a lot of deep morality, if you wish to listen, and it's very entertaining for all ages."
   Next up for Halmi and Hallmark Entertainment, NBC's myth-inspired miniseries "Jason and the Argonauts," airing May 7-8 on NBC. After that, it's onto a six-hour ABC project called "Dinotopia" about a lost continent where dinosaurs and humans live together. That one will take at least two years to film.
   Radio waves
   "Big Al" Jones, half of KNCN-FM/101.3's "Two Guys in the Morning" DJ team (with Rex Gabriel), has been nominated "Music Director of the Year" by Radio and Records Magazine. The radio industry's annual awards ceremony will be held in Los Angeles in June. Nominees are selected from among the best in the music biz. "Big Al" is one of six in his category.
   Country station KRYS-FM/99.1 (K-99) has gone global. As of this week, the station's live broadcasts are available 24/7 on the Internet. To hear the top-rated twang via computer, visit www.krysfm.com and click on "Links."
   When Howard Stern's contract with CBS/Infinity Broadcasting expires this summer, the self-proclaimed "King of All Media" might be looking at his own Internet deal. Clear Channel, the mega radio conglomerate with more than 800 stations, had expressed interest in bidding for Stern's services as a syndicated daily shock jock, but he let them know that he's ready to move beyond radio.
   Industry sources say Stern wants to form a partnership with AOL and CBS/Infinity to air his show live on the Internet with streaming video. Just what the 'net needs, more nekkid chicks.
   Stern's radio strangeness is televised weeknights at 10 and 10:30 p.m. on cable's E! Entertainment channel. When the weather's right, Corpus Christi radios can pick up Houston's KTRH-AM/740. Know how the news-talk station got its call letters? It used to broadcast from The Rice Hotel.
  
  

 
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