He's bitter, lonely, difficult to communicate with and bored with his job as police chief in the tiny tourist hamlet of Paradise, Mass. All those liabilities make Jesse, played in morose, believable style by Tom Selleck, one of the most fascinating cops on television. Unfortunately, we don't see enough of him.
Jesse returns Tuesday night with the fourth CBS TV movie based on the character created by famed mystery writer Robert Parker. Having seen all four, I can testify that Jesse Stone: Sea Change (8 p.m.
Tuesday, CBS 4) is the best. While all have been first rate in acting, writing, production and direction, Sea Change stands out because Selleck keeps growing in his character. The more we see Jesse, the more we understand why he looks at life through dark glasses.
He still cares for his divorced wife, whom he calls at odd hours only to be rebuffed. The career of Jesse, once an admired Los Angeles cop, ended because of his love of premium Scotch. So now he's a police chief in a small town, writing a lot of traffic tickets.
Little wonder Jesse spends a lot of time in his rustic home with his loving Irish setter, Brahms recordings and a never-ending supply of Scotch. But Jesse's pride keeps his detective instincts sharp. In an effort to prolong his sanity, Jesse reopens an unsolved, 15-year-old bank robbery and murder, while also looking into allegations by an 18-year-old woman and her father that she was raped.
Sea Change is a thinking viewer's detective story, far removed from the predictable cadaver-cutting crime capers that clog the schedule. Selleck, executive producer of the series, contends he didn't want the adventures of Jesse Stone to become a weekly series because the quality would suffer. And he's probably right.
Sea Change, full of marvelous on-location production, includes other quality actors, including Kathy Baker as Jesse's assistant and William Devane as a former cop turned psychiatrist. Obviously, women take notice of Jesse's manly style. Sean Young portrays a visiting playgirl type who comes on to our hero, while Rebecca Pidgeon (The Unit) is an attractive local lady who holds a key to the 15-year-old crime.
For viewers accustomed to bang-bang cop action, Sea Change may drag a bit. It's a textured drama centering on a fascinating human being. Selleck has signed on as lead for next season's Las Vegas series on NBC, replacing James Caan.
But there will be a fifth Jesse Stone adventure. First up is the finale of 24 (7 p.m.
, Fox31) a two-hour epic with counterintelligence agent Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) trying to smooth things over with both China and Russia while saving his lover. Bauer, by the way, will be around for two more seasons - or make that two more days. Fox has renewed the series through the 2008-09 season.
Bauer probably will take a day off after that. Heroes (8 p.m.
, 9News) ends its first season with a conflict between good and evil centered in Manhattan. Stay tuned for the final 90 seconds, which reveals the theme for season two. The original story lines dealt with the panic surrounding a nuclear attack that destroyed Denver.
Residents of Jericho, a small Kansas town near the Colorado border, could see the mushroom cloud over our devastated city. Jericho geared up for a survival battle, which will never have a conclusion on television. Save your energy, Jericho fans.
The network won't change its plans. After 25 years at CBS 4, Marcia Neville has taken her knowledge and love of local high school sports to Fox31. Neville signed on after CBS 4 declined to give her a new contract.
The Fox-owned station is upgrading its prep coverage. On May 21, 1984, NBC aired the second half of a two-part drama, The First Olympics: Athens 1896, which detailed the efforts of the American athletes at the first modern Olympiad.
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